There is nothing like a crisis to aid in sorting out who one's true friends genuinely are. I canvassed all known US and Canadian Christian newspapers and media outlets since December 2005 as candidates for receiving press releases from pro-Israel Jewish writers. It has been a harrowing and grim experience. Never mind the imbecilic strategies some churches proposed to divest their bulging stock portfolios of firms doing business with Israel: the true effect of divestiture has been to drive those stock values up. The Lord works in mysterious ways, even on the New York Stock Exchange, evidently. Most churches do not now even wish to talk or interact.
All that was required was to accept another voice in the ongoing dialogue on the fate of Israel amongst their parishioners through accepting press releases and op-ed pieces from time to time for publication in their church newspapers or on their church websites.
The standard response was: "What you provide has nothing to do with Christianity or Christians."
Really. Jesus was born in Keokuk, Iowa, maybe? The Church of the Nativity is in Duluth? Nazareth is in Alberta? The saviour of the Christians was a blue-eyed, blond Lutheran from Norway?
While being a dispossessed self-styled "Wingate" Anglican (let me not bore you with the schism in my denomination), I can well understand why such voices in the wilderness as Shifra Hoffman and many other Jews proclaim that the only place for Jews to be safe is in Israel. Despite the loud blather concerning the primacy of celebrating multiculturalism, in Western civilization it is not only Blacks and Hispanics losing ground and public esteem: the Jews are likewise being pushed back into the ghettos. The doctrine of multiculturalism, originally intended to create a level playing field of social amity, has instead morphed into a Balkanized battlefield of opposing ethnic and religious identity groups carving out their positions of supremacy, if they can.
But what of the pro-Israel factions who loudly proclaim their love of Israel and their support of the autonomy of the Jewish state? They do not wish to hear from Jews in Israel, either. Their periodical editors prefer to pull their news down from the wire services. By that editorial strategy, no one in political power in the USA or Canada is offended by their Christian news media's content. One wonders if there would have been a Christianity at all were the Christian saviour to have taken that self-censoring tactic to heart in his work 2,000 years ago.
On the positive side, many editors asked me some very pointed questions, one of which is, "What can we as Christians do for Israel? Our congregations are eager to help, but do not know how to respond to Jewish demands for action." My response was to suggest donating to Jewish charities in support of the displaced and homeless residents of the settlements, coming to Israel and joining in the demonstrations against the deportations of Judea and Samaria residents, running op-eds and press releases by pro-Israel Jews, accepting pro-Israel Jewish digital audio/video newsfeeds for broadcast, and allowing pro-Israel Jewish speakers to address Christian congregations to make the case for a Jewish Israel.
Where are you? The enemy is at the gates. Your forebears fought bravely to liberate the camps from the Nazis in the 1940s. You opened your hearts during the 1950s to Jewish employment and Jewish access to education on a non-quota basis (though Jews are docked 10% on their SAT and ACT scores for college entrance exams in California, to this day). In the 1960s, Jews could even join American country clubs (though Charlotte, North Carolina's city-owned golf club did not admit Jews until 1985; repeat, 1985). In the 1970s, America helped Israel through opening its military supply chain during the Yom Kippur War, while providing volunteer "off-duty" US Marine Corps Phantom II F4D pilots eager to do aerial combat against "unofficially provided" Communist Russian pilots on the Arab side. In the 1980s and 1990s, you aided in building Israel's economy into the fastest-growing one in the world.
Israel needs you now. If nothing else, please write editorials again for Arutz Sheva. Where are you, defenders of Zion? Stop showing Israel your backs now that the going is tough. Come out and fight for Israel.
Copyright 2006 Walter James O'Brien
All that was required was to accept another voice in the ongoing dialogue on the fate of Israel amongst their parishioners through accepting press releases and op-ed pieces from time to time for publication in their church newspapers or on their church websites.
The standard response was: "What you provide has nothing to do with Christianity or Christians."
Really. Jesus was born in Keokuk, Iowa, maybe? The Church of the Nativity is in Duluth? Nazareth is in Alberta? The saviour of the Christians was a blue-eyed, blond Lutheran from Norway?
While being a dispossessed self-styled "Wingate" Anglican (let me not bore you with the schism in my denomination), I can well understand why such voices in the wilderness as Shifra Hoffman and many other Jews proclaim that the only place for Jews to be safe is in Israel. Despite the loud blather concerning the primacy of celebrating multiculturalism, in Western civilization it is not only Blacks and Hispanics losing ground and public esteem: the Jews are likewise being pushed back into the ghettos. The doctrine of multiculturalism, originally intended to create a level playing field of social amity, has instead morphed into a Balkanized battlefield of opposing ethnic and religious identity groups carving out their positions of supremacy, if they can.
But what of the pro-Israel factions who loudly proclaim their love of Israel and their support of the autonomy of the Jewish state? They do not wish to hear from Jews in Israel, either. Their periodical editors prefer to pull their news down from the wire services. By that editorial strategy, no one in political power in the USA or Canada is offended by their Christian news media's content. One wonders if there would have been a Christianity at all were the Christian saviour to have taken that self-censoring tactic to heart in his work 2,000 years ago.
On the positive side, many editors asked me some very pointed questions, one of which is, "What can we as Christians do for Israel? Our congregations are eager to help, but do not know how to respond to Jewish demands for action." My response was to suggest donating to Jewish charities in support of the displaced and homeless residents of the settlements, coming to Israel and joining in the demonstrations against the deportations of Judea and Samaria residents, running op-eds and press releases by pro-Israel Jews, accepting pro-Israel Jewish digital audio/video newsfeeds for broadcast, and allowing pro-Israel Jewish speakers to address Christian congregations to make the case for a Jewish Israel.
Where are you? The enemy is at the gates. Your forebears fought bravely to liberate the camps from the Nazis in the 1940s. You opened your hearts during the 1950s to Jewish employment and Jewish access to education on a non-quota basis (though Jews are docked 10% on their SAT and ACT scores for college entrance exams in California, to this day). In the 1960s, Jews could even join American country clubs (though Charlotte, North Carolina's city-owned golf club did not admit Jews until 1985; repeat, 1985). In the 1970s, America helped Israel through opening its military supply chain during the Yom Kippur War, while providing volunteer "off-duty" US Marine Corps Phantom II F4D pilots eager to do aerial combat against "unofficially provided" Communist Russian pilots on the Arab side. In the 1980s and 1990s, you aided in building Israel's economy into the fastest-growing one in the world.
Israel needs you now. If nothing else, please write editorials again for Arutz Sheva. Where are you, defenders of Zion? Stop showing Israel your backs now that the going is tough. Come out and fight for Israel.
Copyright 2006 Walter James O'Brien