15 March 2024
Already within days of the most horrific pogrom of Jews since the Holocaust on 7th October 2023, hundreds of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators were marching in the streets of Western countries, shouting “death to the Jews”, and “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea”. Most had no idea which “river” or which “sea” they were chanting about.
Time and again throughout history, the killing of Jews has incited further calls for killing of Jews. Just think of the crusades of the Middle Ages, when the Christians rampaged through the towns of Europe, slaughtering Jews on the way, and gathering pilgrims to liberate Jerusalem, where many more Jews would be massacred.
Since 7th October 2023, the radical Muslim populations of many Western countries have been emboldened to spew their antisemitic hatred. Demanding freedom of speech, they are allied with the woke Marxist groups that now dominate the universities and other public institutions. Together, this alliance of the devil is tearing down every high place, every citadel of culture and every bastion of decency built on Judeo-Christian values.
A week ago, the Israeli President Isaac Herzog was invited to attend the opening a new Holocaust museum in Amsterdam. In the Netherlands in WWII, more Jews were killed in percentage terms than in any other European country. Despite its tolerance and liberal culture, Jews were less safe in The Netherlands than anywhere else. The Holocaust museum is part of a recent move to repair this deep stain on the nation. A few years ago, soon after a very moving meeting in the Ridderzaal, organized by Dutch Christians, in which public repentance took place, the Prime Minister formally acknowledged the Dutch government’s failure to look after the Dutch Jewish population during the Holocaust. Soon afterwards King Willem-Alexander acknowledged his family’s failures. And so, the new Holocaust museum was intended to create a permanent reminder of the dangers of antisemitism.
In the lead-up to the event, attempts were made to have Herzog arrested as a war criminal. The opening of the museum was met with massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations, in which the crowds aggressively poured out their vitriolic abuse on those attending the event – including holocaust survivors and their descendants. The Mayor of Amsterdam has been heavily criticized for allowing the demonstrations to take place.
This occurrence was deeply shameful. The Jewish population of the Netherlands feels abandoned and threatened, and there is a strong sense the government is not doing enough to protect them.
Quite simply, our leaders are afraid of speaking out to defend the Jewish people, fearing backlash from the ever-more-vocal-and-aggressive Islamic constituencies.
At the international level, we are also witnessing the same fear, leading to willingness to tolerate Islamic antisemitic extremism. Israel is trying to eliminate Hamas as a functioning organisation. At the same time, the US and many other states are now pressuring Israel to agree to the establishment of a Palestinian government that will include Hamas, that will lead to a Palestinian state. As Daniel Greenfield reports (see article below):
“The real details were being fleshed out in Moscow, where the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and other terrorist groups were meeting. The summit, convened at the Institute of Oriental Studies, once a vehicle for Soviet influence operations in the Third World, brought together Azzam al-Ahmada, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, and Mousa Abu Marzouk, a top Hamas leader, as well as a representative for Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, DFLP and other terror groups.
The goal of all these terrorists coming together was to create a "technocratic government". What is a "technocratic government"? It's a front for the terrorists and composed of nonprofit executives, academics, economists and others who have experience dealing with the international community and extracting foreign aid from them. Hamas will not officially be part of the puppet regime, but will control the puppets.”
Let us pray for our government and political leaders – may they have the courage to stand for truth. May they have the courage to defend the right of Israel to exist within secure borders, free of violence and terror. May they have the courage to prohibit all attempts in word or deed to vilify, destroy or hurt the Jewish people.
The Editorial Team - Israel & Christians Today
|
|
IDF inching closer to Rafah op
JNS: “Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, during a visit to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, seemed to indicate that the Israel Defense Forces operation against Hamas battalions in the southernmost city of Rafah will happen soon. 'Even those who think that we are delaying will soon see that we will reach everyone,' he told IDF troops serving in the western part of Gaza City, according to a readout provided by the Defense Ministry.”
|
|
Israel’s strategic game of survival
Caroline Glick at JNS: “Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer’s obscene call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ouster from power on the Senate floor on Thursday was the latest sign that Hamas’s strategy is working.”
|
|
Palestinian Authority forms united front with Hamas to fight Israel
Daniel Greenfield at Gatestone: “The Moscow summit revealed that a technocratic government will not end terrorism; it will disguise it, and it will not end the conflict, it will escalate it. A "Palestinian" state, the terrorist groups have already announced, will be a terror state.”
|
|
Biden should be threatening Qatar and the terrorists, not Israel
Bassam Tawil at Gatestone: “Biden's reported threat to halt or suspend US military supplies to Israel if the IDF enters Rafah is what encourages Hamas to continue fighting and reject every proposal to release the hostages.”
|
|
International Law or Antisemitism?
Bat Ye’or at Gatestone: “Over the last few decades, the EU's alliance with the Palestinian jihad — a war to Islamize the planet that is not exclusively anti-Jewish — has metastasized in Lebanon and into the very foundations of the West. In its relentless fight against Israel, Europe has sacrificed its own territory and people to Palestinianism.”
|
|
SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK:
Psalm 41: 7-13
All my enemies whisper together against me; they imagine the worst for me, saying,
8 “A vile disease has afflicted him; he will never get up from the place where he lies.”
9 Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.
10 But may you have mercy on me, Lord; raise me up, that I may repay them.
11 I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 Because of my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.
13 Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
|
|
|
Newspaper
Israel & Christians Today
The goal of Israel & Christians Today is to help Christians to take God’s Word seriously, and study current events in the world in the context of the Bible.
|
|
|
|
|
|