Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.
(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Tuesday 5 November 2013

"May It Please The Kangaroo Court": Christian Scholar socks it to Britain's BDSer Methodists

Infamously, as is well-known, the pro-BDS Methodist Church in Britain (a dying church hijacked by leftists) posted some weeks ago a survey regarding BDS that has caused considerable controversy. (See a summary and the link on our old pro-Boycott pal Richard Hall's blog here.)

Among those who took the opportunity to respond was pro-Israel Nick Gray of the UK-based Christian Middle East Watch (see here).

Now, in an absolute corker of an "open letter" to the Methodist Church's Peter Tidey,  American Christian scholar and pro-Israel advocate Dexter Van Zile characterises the survey's fourteen questions as the products of a "kangaroo court" since 
'A quick perusal of the questions indicates that the church has already concluded that Israel is solely responsible for the continued existence of the Mideast conflict, and that the Palestinians (and their Arab supporters) bear no responsibility.'
Van Zile goes on:
"Despite my misgivings, I decided to respond to your survey.
.... I am responding as a Christian who has grown disgusted with the monomaniacal focus of so-called peace and human rights activists in the West, who have hijacked church bureaucracies in their campaign to demonize Israel.
Below are my responses to your church's interrogatories.
Question One: What do you understand to be the motivation/inspiration behind the call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions in relation to Israel?
The BDS campaign has, as intended by its organizers, proven to be a powerful vehicle in the effort to enlist people to the demonization and de-legitimization of the Jewish State, which represents the gold standard for human rights in the Middle East.
Israel treats its enemies, dissidents, minorities, and its own citizens with far greater humanity and respect than any other country, regime, or political movement in the region and yet it is the country that is being targeted by BDS activists both inside and outside the Methodist Church in England. Anti-semitism is clearly part of the equation in the BDS movement.
If you doubt that anti-semitism plays a role in this campaign, consider the following:
Saudia Arabia is responsible for broadcasting Wahhabism, a radical form of Islam, to other countries in the world. In addition to oppressing women and minorities, and supporting jihadis who have killed Christians in Syria, the Saudi regime has funded the construction of mosques in North America and Europe whose leaders have made it harder for Muslims to integrate into Western society. (Inhabitants of England may have some knowledge of this problem.)
Iran has oppressed religious and ethnic minorities and supports Hezbollah, an organization that has intentionally murdered civilians throughout the world. It is, by many accounts, pursuing a nuclear weapons program to provide an atomic umbrella to its proxies in Syria and Lebanon.
Syria has been the scene of a deadly civil war where more than 100,000 people have been killed in just over two years. The Assad regime has used poison gas against civilians.
Turkey brutally oppresses Kurds and has refused to accept responsibility for the Armenian Genocide, which resulted in the deaths of 1.5 million people between 1915 and 1922.
Many goods produced in China are manufactured by slave labor. The country oppresses religious and ethnic minorities and has occupied and brutally repressed Tibet.
Moreover, Christians are being ethnically cleansed in Iraq, with hardly a word of protest from their co-religionists in the West, although to be fair, people are coming around on this issue. (Just not the Methodist Church.)
Why is there no BDS campaign targeting these countries? Where is the Methodist outrage over these misdeeds?
Question Two: In your view, what would be the essential elements of any peace agreement in Israel/Palestine?
Personally, I used to think that the Clinton Parameters would bring an end to the conflict. Today I’m not so sure.
The problem we face is that the current crop of Palestinian leaders who have encouraged their people to fight against Israel for the past several decades cannot obtain anything that wasn’t already offered to them previously on a number of occasions.
If they were to accept a peace treaty now that was largely similar to what could have been achieved in 1947, 1948, 68, or at Camp David in 2000, Palestinians would ask: “What was the point of all the suffering we endured over the past several decades? Why did you send us off to war? What did we achieve with the death of our children?”
As a result of this reality, one essential aspect of peace is the departure of the current crop of aged leaders from the Palestinian scene.
Other essential elements of peace include an acknowledgement of Israel as a Jewish state by Palestinian leaders and a repudiation of the anti-Jewish hostility that has animated Palestinian public life for decades (and which has only gotten worse since the Oslo Accords).
A normalization and routinization of daily life for both Israelis and Palestinians would also be necessary. That would require the cessation of rocket and other terror attacks against Israel, which in turn, would allow the reduction of security measures that Palestinians complain about. This is not possible until Palestinian leaders of all stripes abandon their efforts to exercise a veto of Jewish national life in a sovereign state.
Peace will also likely require tolerance for the presence of Jews in the West Bank. The West Bank will not and should not be Judenrein, even if it is part of a Palestinian state. Israel has a 20 percent Arab population. Palestinians will have to tolerate the presence of the other in their state, just as Israel has.
Can the Methodist Church in England encourage Palestinians to accept the Jewish other?...."
This is impressive, highly relevant, stuff from Dexter Van Zile. Read his entire piece here

6 comments:

  1. Hi, its a bit off topic, but last year, annoyed by the Gaza = Warsaw rubbish, I did some comparisons. I pass them on, for what they are worth.

    Warsaw ghetto
    400,000 people
    less than 3 square miles (approx 7.5 square kilometers = 7,500,000 sq meters)
    population density per square km = 53,500
    In its 2 year existence, over 100,000 people died of starvation, disease and violence.
    By May 1943, all had been murdered
    Death rate 125/1,000 per year excluding the final deportations
    Infant mortality (this figure is too low, as all histories mention the over representation of children among the dead) 125/1,000
    Food - 186 cal per person

    Gaza
    1,600,000 people
    360 square kms = 360,000,000 sq meters (45 nations are smaller)
    Population density 4270/square km 5 states, including Hong Kong and Macau, exceed this.
    death rate 3.36/1,000 per year 217 nations have a higher death rate
    infant mortality rate 17.7/1,000 106 nations have a higher infant mortality rate
    life expectancy 73.7 112 nations have a lower life expectancy (incl Egypt, Brazil, Turkey and the Philippines – Russia is 66.16)
    food – 1800 cals per person/day minimum

    Comparisons
    Warsaw Gaza Ratio Nations in between Gaza and Warsaw
    Population density 53,500/sqkm 4,270/sqkm 1,250% more 5
    Death rate 125/1,000 3.3/1,000 3,789% greater 217
    Food per person 186 1800+ 1,000% + greater
    Killed by enemy violence 300,000 (75% of total) 6,500 (0.4% of total 18,750% greater



    “Ninety-eight per cent of Warsaw's Jews perished. More broadly, about 63 per cent of Europe's pre-war Jewish population were killed during the Holocaust.
    The roughly 6,500 Gazans killed by Israel since it unilaterally withdrew its soldiers and settlers in 2005 equals 0.4 per cent of the population of the Strip.
    In comparison, upwards of 75 per cent of Rwanda's Tutsi population, about 800,000 people, were murdered during the 100 days of genocide in 1994. Over 200,000 Bosnian Muslims (10 per cent of the pre-war Muslim population) were killed by Serbs between 1993 and 1995.

    “The Gazan death toll would have to be more than 20 times greater to approach Bosnia, 175 times more to approach Rwanda.” Mike Levine

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many thanks, Colin. Much appreciated.

      Delete
    2. Thanks, the comparisons bit didn't come out right, here it is again
      Comparisons;
      Warsaw to Gaza, Population density, 1,250% more, there are 5 nations with greater population densities than Gaza.
      Death rate, 3,800% greater, there are 217 nations with higher death rates than Gaza.
      Food per person, 1,000% greater.
      Killed by enemy violence, 6,500% greater.

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. No, Dexter, thank you! I have great admiration for your work.

      Delete

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