Category Archives: Politics

Gramsci lives and moves among us!

Christian Churches, Politics

We might think that the Church would concern itself primarily with the Gospel of Christ, but it seems to be the words of the late Italian communist Antonio Gramsci that moves delegates at the World Council of Churches’ Ninth Assembly in Brazil:

PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL – Delegates to the Ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) here were invited February 16 to “take a firm faith stance against hegemonic powers” and “make ourselves accountable to the victims of the project of economic globalization.” These phrases were read liturgically in a plenary session of the WCC Assembly, as part of a document entitled “Alternative Globalization Addressing People and Earth (AGAPE): A Call to Love and Action.” The delegates were not given an opportunity to approve or disapprove the document, which had been adopted for their use by the WCC’s Executive Committee.

Some of the details of the debate seem puerile, and the trick of presenting dubious political arguments in the form of a litany is laughable, but these people have influence and power and – following Gramsci’s lead – they seek to subvert institutions such as the Church and the education system in order to promote radical Marxist doctrines. Hence the mainline churches find themselves wrapped up in numerous political campaigns, including (of course) extreme anti-Israel rhetoric and actions.

The divestment campaign is quite simply part of a political agenda that has little to do with faith and much to do with a Gramscian political strategy. Well meaning Christians who sympathize with the plight of Palestinians are being manipulated by doctrinaire activists who have an entirely different agenda. If you want to see what motivates the guardians of your faith, read the proceedings of this session and others at the Institute on Religion and Democracy website.

Knesset Christian Allies Caucus Celebrates Second Anniversary

Christian Churches, Israeli Society, Politics

Need for Joint Front Against Hamas Recognized by Several Christian Leaders at Meeting

The Knesset Christian Allies Caucus (KCAC) met on Monday, January 30, 2006, at 12:00 in the Knesset Lecture Hall to celebrate its achievements in 2005 and its two-year anniversary. During the meeting, the KCAC reviewed its past and future initiatives and discussed the need for a joint Judeo-Christian front against Hamas. Rabbi David Brodman of Savion opened the meeting by noting that after 2,000 years, Jews and Christians have found a common bond, “a blessing of our times.”
Continue reading Knesset Christian Allies Caucus Celebrates Second Anniversary →

Open Letter to the Palestinian Electoral Commission

Politics

With the Palestinian elections now taking place, we note the following open letter to the Palestinian Electoral Commission from a number of Members of the European Parliament, including AFI’s European Parliamentary Advisor and Liaison Officer, Dr Charles Tannock MEP:

Dear Mr. President,
Dear Members of the Palestinian Electoral Commission,

We, Members of the European Parliament signatories of the present letter, particularly concerned about the smooth running of the next Palestinian parliamentary elections and for the consequences that a victory of Hamas may have on the Peace Process and on the future of the relations between the European Union and the Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, wish to draw your attention to the following:
Continue reading Open Letter to the Palestinian Electoral Commission →

Not Green Enough?

Anti-Israeli Action, Politics

by Roz Rothstein, National Director, StandWithUs

Israel is widely seen as a world leader in innovative pro-environment policies and in sharing its expertise with developing nations.

But Israel isn’t green enough for the Green Party of the US.

On Nov 21, the group betrayed its own mission to support environment-friendly nations and joined the anti-Israel campaign. It passed a resolution calling for divestment and boycotts of Israel “until such time as the full individual and collective rights of the Palestinian people are realized.”

Like other divestment tracts, the Green Party position is rife with factual and historical distortions. Israel offered the Palestinians “full individual and collective rights” over a decade ago.

It is not surprising that the Greens are misinformed. Like other divestment resolutions, the Green Party vote was railroaded through by a small, but vocal and radical faction of the party’s leadership, led by Palestinian-American activist Mohammed Abed from the party’s Wisconsin chapter. Abed is a tireless activist and propagandist who is at the forefront of the vehemently anti-Israel Al-Awda Palestinian Right to Return Coalition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and of the university’s student-run Divest From Israel Campaign.

For the past few years, pro-Palestinian factions have used this strategy to try to get divestment resolutions accepted in other American organizations and institutions. Their efforts on prestigious US campuses failed when anti-divestment petitions received over ten times as many signatures as divestment petitions. When a small coterie of activists in Britain’s Association of University Teachers (AUT) engineered passage of a divestment resolution in April 2005, it provoked an international storm of protest. Within a month, AUT revoked it as much because of the coterie’s surreptitious tactics as because of the resolution’s prejudice and distortions. A Palestinian Christian group, the Jerusalem-based Sabeel Center, and a small group of activists persuaded the Presbyterian Church USA to call for divestment in the summer of 2004. It, too, caused an uproar and divided the church both because of the tactics used and because of anti-Semitic and pro-terrorism bias in the resolution. As a result, the Presbyterians are likely to overturn the resolution at their next General Assembly meeting in June 2006.

Now the Green Party has also been yanked aboard the divestment train and the same results are likely. Veterans in the Green Party are already condemning the decision because they are keenly aware of its bias and its implicit endorsement of both Palestinian and Islamist terrorism. Veteran Green Party member Laurna Salzman said the organization’s new anti-Israel stance, “provides cover not only for anti-Semites but for radical Islamists and Palestine apologists and makes a mockery of the (Green Party’s) own professed nonviolence position.” In Salzman’s view, the Greens should not be exploiting their activist network for a specific, narrow and partisan political agenda.

Some groups have already mobilized, urging the Greens to rescind their misguided resolution. The international group that I work for, StandWithUs, has an online petition (http://standwithus.com/sign/) that already has thousands of signatures from people around the world.

The moral and factual distortions of the divestment resolution are not the only reason it is a damning position for the Greens. Hopefully, they will take heed, come to their senses and revoke this resolution which makes a mockery of every value they claim to represent. It is also paradoxical because Israel is a model of the kind of environmental and humanitarian issues the Greens support.

Consider just one representative example: Israeli agriculture professor Dov Pasternak, a desert agriculture specialist at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev who has been dedicated to solving environmental problems beyond his country’s borders;

In June 2000, Pasternak began a two-year assignment in West Africa’s desert-dominated Niger to help small farmers in Africa’s desert regions grow better crops of dates and figs. The Vatican embraced Pasternak’s “African Market Garden” program and spread word of it to West African leaders. Before reaching out to Africa, Pasternak had spent 15 years on Israeli-Egyptian agricultural cooperation.

Pasternak is not an isolated example From its earliest days, when it was still a young nation struggling to develop, Israel set up programs to bring its innovations and expertise to developing countries. Its Center for International Cooperation, MASHAV, conducts nearly 300 courses annually to offer emerging nations its knowledge and development experience. Israel has trained almost 200,000 participants – in over 130 countries from Albania to Zimbabwe – in desert agriculture, water management, desertification prevention, early childhood education, community development, emergency and disaster medicine and refugee absorption.
These efforts are emblematic of Israel’s desire to reach out to the world in friendship and to achieve a lasting, responsible peace with the Palestinians. The Green Party should be praising and encouraging Israel for its remarkable humanitarian and environmental efforts. Instead, the Greens allowed themselves to be hijacked by propagandists. It is a pity for those who support peace and progressive ideals.

Chavez basks in anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism, Politics

The Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, not satisfied with denouncing President George Bush and threatening to use his country’s oil wealth to fund Islamic terrorism (some reports suggest that he already has), has now turned his attention to Jews.

From Guysen Israel News:

”More than ever we need Christ… There is enough to satisfy all, but some minorities, the descendants of those who crucified Christ… A minority has taken hold of the world’s riches” said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on December 24 in the los Sueños Manantial Centre… [A minority took hold of] gold, silver, minerals, water, good lands, oil, riches, and riches went to a few hands : Less than 10% of the world population has more than half of the world’s riches. We are determined to change [the course of] history and each day, state leaders and other leaders are joining us.” He praised “Christ – the rebel Christ, the revolutionary Christ, the socialist Christ.”

It is strange how so-called “socialist” causes have become intertwined with Islamism and anti-Semitism. Those on the left who still maintain some sense of what it means to be progressive in today’s world are increasingly harangued by their supposed comrades (see Nick Cohen’s excellent article on the subject). By seeming to speak in the name of Christianity and socialism, Chavez discredits both.