ICEJ NEW ZEALAND
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I will beckon to the nations, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their hips. Isaiah 49:22 INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM January-February 2015 Tevet-Sh’vat-Adar 5775
PO Box 100474 Auckland 0745 Telephone: 09 837 5384 / Email: icejnz@ihug.co.nz Find us online: www.icej.org
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Derek McDowell Director ICEJ-NZ
Je suis Juif Derek McDowell Director ICEJ-NZ Je suis Juif. What does that mean? On 27 January the world commemorated the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the 10th anniversary of the UN established International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 January each year. In Auckland at the Auckland War Memorial Museum two events marked this anniversary three score and ten years since the liberation of a death camp where over one million Jews perished because they were Jews. We heard some harrowing and yet inspirational stories from a few survivors, only children back then. We remembered those who perished what they had gone through and we remembered the slogan which has echoed down through the decades since – “Never again”. But today as we enter 2015, we remembered against the backdrop of anti Semitism being recorded at alarming rates and at its highest levels since World War II. Europe’s new Jew hatred is manifesting the same as the old. To their credit, some leaders in Germany including Chancellor Angela Merkel , France and Italy have denounced “ugly anti-Semitic statements, demonstrations and attacks.” Former Chief Rabbi of the UK Jonathan Sacks recently stated “There is an anxiety now among British Jews, which is pretty much at a record high within my lifetime.” The recent Paris attacks have brought into sharp focus the reality which has been self evident for some time that the Jews of Europe are feeling less safe now than at any time since WWII. The 120-year-old Bergische Synagogue in the German town of Wuppertal rebuilt after WWII having been burnt down during Kristallnacht in 1938, was targeted again recently by arsonists who threw Molotov cocktails at the Synagogue, fortunately failing to set it aflame. In France, protesters quickly mutated their anti-Israel-in-Gaza sentiments by violently storming synagogues yelling “Hitler was right!” and “Death to the Jews!”- venting that Adolf Hitler didn’t finish the job. And we have just witnessed the Charlie Hebdo massacre of 2 INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM NZ BRANCH
Mourners grieve and a Jewish woman clings to a prayer book during the funeral in Jerusalem for the four French Jews killed in the Islamist attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris January 11. (CNN)
twelve journalists and the murder of four Jews in a kosher supermarket. The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said that the new anti-Semitism “hides itself behind a fake anti-Zionism.” In a recent National Assembly speech he implored, “How can we accept that in France... where Jews were martyred 70 years ago, that cries of ‘death to the Jews’ can be heard in the streets? ...How can we accept that French people can be murdered for being Jews? ...How can we accept that in certain schools and colleges the Holocaust cannot be taught? ...How can we accept that when a child is asked ‘who is your enemy?’ the response is ‘the Jew’?” He challenged - “if 100,000 Jews leave, France will no longer be France. The French Republic will be judged a failure.” His comments were however undermined by the French President Hollande who was at pains to dissociate the violence from Islam referring to “obscurantist forces”. Hollande’s discomfort with PM Netanyahu’s presence at the rallies with other world leaders to show solidarity with France facing the same enemy that Israel is in the front lines fighting against was more in keeping with the typical European mindset. And yet it was the political Islamist elitists present who truly undermined the integrity of the “Je suis Charlie” rallies. This mindset which also applies a double standard in how it regards Islamic terrorism directed against Europeans as opposed to being directed against Jews whether the Jews are in Europe or Israel only intensifies anti-Semitism. A senior official of Israel’s Prime Minister commented that “when murders are perpetrated by Islamist extremists against European journalists, there is “wall-towall horror” and no attempt is made to look for justification. But when Israelis
or Jews are attacked, too often a link is drawn between the Islamic violence and the “occupation.”” As if when Jews are killed somehow Jewish or Israeli actions precipitated it. The Jerusalem Post posited “cultural chauvinism” as a cause of indifference. “The relative indifference to the atrocities taking place in Nigeria, Mali, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and other developing nations might be the result of western media driven “cultural chauvinism”. It is as if people from the West – particularly those with a progressive point of view but not just – were saying that this sort of barbarism is part of the culture.” The same with Jews - Islamic terrorism and by extension anti-Semitism is part of the deal. Resurgent anti Semitism is rooted in historic European culture. Likewise Arab and Islamic Jew hatred is millennia old. With increased immigration of Arabs and Muslims to Europe these two value systems together have produced an even more toxic mix, not only for the Jews but for also for the West. You might say - it is not that bad yet terrorists do not constitute an existential threat. But to the Jewish people they do. When you put in place high level security measures and hide your identity, you know the tide is turning. What’s more increasing numbers of European Jews think about aliyah. And this time the Jews have a home to go to. It is expected that over 10,000 French Jews will make aliyah this year. The Jews of Ukraine are also caught in a spiraling conflict between Ukrainian nationalists and Russian supported separatists. Historic anti-Semitic attitudes on both sides have hardened making life unpleasant and unsafe for Jews there. They too are looking to leave. This is why the Jewish homeland state continued on insert page one, column one
Supporting Israel Derek McDowell community level including a return to routine. The therapeutic team of the Resilience Center includes clinical psychologists, social workers and art therapists qualified and experienced in trauma and post trauma therapy. See info@itc-office.org.il www. israeltraumacoalition.org The ambassador in Tauranga and Ukrainian aliyah Children in therapy in Israel
During November ICEJ co-hosted two special events. In Auckland we co-hosted with the Jewish Federation of New Zealand a musical evening to raise funds for two projects in the south of Israel for children traumatised by the rocket fire from Gaza not only during the Gaza war midyear last year but over many years. We enjoyed an evening with several musicians including Murray van Hoorn, Avril Greybe, the Wendy Morris Band and our feature band the Jews Brothers to raise funds for the children of the south of Israel traumatized by the rockets fired from Gaza. We supported Keren Or and the Israel Trauma Coalition Resilience Centers in Sderot and the Gaza regions. Keren Or Center for Youth at Risk For the past decade, residents of the southern border town of Sderot have endured ongoing attacks by Hamas terrorists. When the siren sounds, you have 15 seconds to find shelter before the rocket hits causing destruction and sending lethal shrapnel up to 300 feet away. The psychological effect has been catastrophic with many suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. In the midst of these challenges, Keren Or Youth Center reaches out to youth at risk. Keren Or, meaning Ray of Light, is providing alternative education and activities for youth who have dropped out of school or who are in danger of doing so. Often, these young people end up on the streets in criminal or anti-social behavior and drug abuse. Many young people find love, support, and self esteem in the clubrooms and study programs of Keren Or. In the face of tension from the threat of
rocket attacks, Keren Or provides an alternative to the streets and helps youth to reach their full potential. In addition, counsellors provide good role models and help the young people deal with the many emotional and physical challenges they are facing. ITC Resilience Centers – Sderot and the Gaza Region Communities The security situation in the Gaza region is defined as a “constant state of alert”. Each rocket or mortar that is fired is accompanied by the sounding of the “code red” alert system, which in and of itself can trigger anxiety reactions. The precariousness of the security situation over the past 13 years has made the population vulnerable in every aspect of their lives, at the level of mental strength and resilience, their feelings of personal safety and security, their employment status, the relationships between couples and between parents and their children, the level of focus and concentration of children in school, and more. The Resilience Center serves as an organizational-professional tool which enables the authorities to prepare to provide for the community in times of emergency while also strengthening its resilience during times of peace. The communal Resilience Center deals with the social, financial and security issues of the population. Its activities are based on the initiation and development of services for the individual (emotional therapy), family and community with a comprehensive systemic long-term view. The communal Resilience Center provides various services in response to three major situations: routine, preparation for emergency situations, and rehabilitation following an emergency situation on an individual, family and
In Tauranga ICEJ co-hosted together with Ebenezer Emergency Fund NZ an evening welcoming the Israeli ambassador to Tauranga. We were privileged to host a range of Bay of Plenty speakers including Ray Coster, Past-Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa NZ and Pastor of St. Andrews Church at Mount Maunganui, the Honorable Simon Bridges MP for Tauranga and Cabinet Minister, and Graham Preston founding principal of Bethlehem College where we hosted the evening. Following a warm karenga welcome by a Maori group led by Pastor Heni Rameka and Pastor Tatou Rameka and the blowing of the shofar by Shimshon Chaddock, we were treated throughout the evening with superb musical and dance contributions from Anna Hawkins, John Darke, Anna Lee with mother Maria and Gaynor and her dance team. Nigel Woodley Chairman of EEF NZ and Derek McDowell ICEJ NZ Director shone the spotlight on the Ukrainian aliyah. Both organisations are very involved in helping the Ukrainian Jews make aliyah to Israel in the midst of war in Ukraine. Right now, things are hotting up in Ukraine with Russian pressure in Mariupol and the Crimea. Aliyah from Ukraine is likely to escalate n 2015. Our ongoing support is appreciated. The ambassador embraced the gathering and in his engaging personable style provided insight into Israel’s challenges both during and after the recent Gaza conflict. Keren Or and ITC reports abridged from iformation provided from Israel
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The war against the Jews Malcolm Hedding “The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream- stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in the twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?” ~ Mark Twain The war against the Jews has been waged from the dawn of history and is relentless until this very day. It is a saga of great proportions and significance though many fail to see it or appreciate it. It has one goal in mind and that is the liquidation of the Jewish people and the Jewish state. The world wants a new world order that is “Juden rein” (free of Jews). The attempt to murder the Jews has taken many forms including open hostility and wickedness as we witnessed in the Second World War; although, unable to achieve this end by conventional war, in recent years this attack against the Jews has been political and very often couched in the language of peace and political intrigue. It is waged according to a narrative that is inaccurate and pure myth but one that is accepted in most circles as truth. Just the idea, for instance, of Israeli occupation of Arab lands is totally untrue but accepted everywhere. The Palestinians never ever had a state in history and the ground they claim for a state was in fact occupied for centuries by the Ottoman Turkish Empire and then illegally by the Jordanians from 1948 to 1967. Before that from 1917 onwards it was mandated to the British Empire as a consequence of the First World War. Indeed the restoration of the Jewish state in 1948 came into existence by the will of the international community expressed through the United Nations but 4 INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM NZ BRANCH
A 2014 survey from the European Jewish Congress and Tel Aviv University found that France had more violent anti-Semitic incidents in 2013 than any other country in the world. Photo / Getty Images
previously ratified by the San Remo Agreement of 1922. Of course these facts mean nothing to those who seek only the destruction of the Jews and Israel. Collaborating with evil Today Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah and all their fellow travelers are fully committed to the liquidation of Israel. This fact is not hearsay or rumor, no it is enshrined in their charters and confirmed by their statements; made frequently in the Arabic speaking press. The school books and TV programs for children in the Palestinian Authority and in Gaza, and indeed all over the Arab world, constantly demonize the Jewish people and Israel and thereby incite their impressionable minds to hatred. In addition, all over the Muslim world the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” are routinely printed and distributed and regarded as fact even though this work has been discredited as a forgery and sadly the most read book on contemporary political history is Hitler’s, “ Mein Kamph.”This too is on public record and all of this can be verified by a visit to the website of Palestinian Media Watch, MEMRI and Amazon books. It’s all out in the open for all to see. The Jews are likened to pigs and apes and suicide attacks against them are glorified as the ultimate goal in life! Those who carry out this goal are honored by having streets and squares named after them in Palestinian towns and cities and it is believed that they have instant access to paradise accompanied by erotic pleasures. This same radical Islamic menace collaborated with Hitler in the hope that
his triumph would also bring about the complete annihilation of all Jews. He came close but thank God was defeated and yet today the world community expects Israel to sit down and make peace with “Hitler!” That is, with people who fully embrace his vision and seek to complete it. Hamas and Fatah now have a unity agreement that, according to the Hamas leadership must go further by pursuing the total destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews everywhere. All of this is the backdrop to the awful events unfolding in Europe today and as we have now witnessed especially in France in terms of the Charlie Hebdo massacre and the hostage taking and slaughter of Jews at the Hyper Cacher super-market. Intimidated by their large Muslim communities the Europeans have tolerated attacks against Jews for years but because liberal politicians deny the sinister goals of the Islamists they have largely turned a blind eye until now. The events in France have now awakened the appeasing Europeans to the fact that they too are the target of Jihad and in the end, like the Jews, are just infidels that have to be subdued or killed! The warning signs were always there and yet these were ignored because they came for the Jews first and no one really cared but now they are coming for everyone and I fear that it could be too late for Europe. The Jews, however, have a homeland to go to that is thriving and secure; in spite of the rough neighborhood in which it is situated. The State of Israel is their refuge and now the 11th Aliyah is about to take place. Hundreds of thousands of Jews will leave Europe and even England and continued on page 5, column 1
The war against Jews... (continued from page 4) go home to their ancestral dwelling place; the hills plains and valleys of Zion. Just seventy odd years after the Holocaust the Europeans have again betrayed the Jews. This is sobering indeed and the events now unfolding in the Ukraine are just as troubling. Jews are being targeted for the misfortunes of the Ukrainians as that country is progressively being invaded and conquered by Russia. Will the West stand up and stop this aggression? The answer is no. So, the Jews will leave and go home. Thank God! Sadly, a world without a moral compass and unable to identify evil is therefore pressurizing Israel to make what would be a suicide pact with a new version of Nazism! Many of the nations pushing for this would not do it themselves but somehow it is good enough for the Jews! One has to wonder why all this is happening? Are these people stupid, just ignorant or is there another agenda being followed? Or, maybe still there is a spiritual reality behind the War against the Jews! The God of Israel Given that the very essence of sin is rebellion against God, not only in terms of where He is and what He is but also who He is, it is therefore not surprising that anything that reminds a rebellious world of God will also be attacked. This is the nature of sin that lurks in the heart of every human being. If then this God calls into existence a people to reflect His character and take His name one can expect this people to be the target of rebellion or evil. From the very day of Israel’s calling and close association with the only true God this war began and it has never stopped. It separates and divides the world and as long as the Jew exists it will rage. It is a desperate war and, if it were not for the faithfulness of God, the Jews would have vanished a long time ago. This is the answer to Mark Twain’s question in the quote above. The war against the Jews is in fact a war against God Himself! Note the first four verses of Psalm 83: “Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold your peace, and do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel
against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from Being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” It is to be noted that the enemies of God strike out against Him by making War against the Jews! This war will then not stop until the evil in the human heart has been overcome by redeeming love or destroyed by judgment! Needless to say, the honour and existence of the only true God is at stake in this war and thus Israel will never be destroyed because God Himself, the God of the Bible, has vouched safe her existence! This is the promise of His Word. We however are invited to “show our colors” by standing with and praying for Israel. In this we don’t work for God but with Him against those who, from generation to generation, pursue the “War against the Jews”. Like Corrie Ten Boom, Raoul Wallenberg, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and many others of the Second World War era, we will help the Jews go home by supporting the “Great Return” or Aliyah of the Jews to Israel. We may be few in number as they were but we are on the right side of history as they also turned out to be. The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is well placed to meet this challenge as it has through the decades. Its very dynamic Aliyah Director, Howard Flower, is in the forefront of this great endeavor and he needs all the financial help that he can get to help the Jews of France and Europe go home to Israel. He is certainly the ICEJ’s spearhead in the war against anti-Semitism and you can join him.
Malcolm Hedding is an ordained AOG minister and church planter starting many churches throughout South Africa from 1975 to 2000. He was formerly global executive director of ICEJ from 2001 to 2011. He is international spokesperson for ICEJ, an acclaimed international speaker and writer on Israel and the Church. He is also an associate pastor of World Outreach Church in Murfressboro Tenessee.
Aliyah in 2014 Review by Jewish Agency During 2014, via the Jewish Agency only, 26,427 people made Aliyah, 39% more than during 2013. Not including Ethiopian immigrants, 26,217 Olim arrived, as compared to 17,668 in 2013, an increase of 48%. FSU and Germany During 2014, 11,826 Olim arrived from the FSU, 45% of the total number of Olim and 55% more than 2013. 4,996 Olim arrived from Russia, Belarus and the Baltic, 8% more than 2013. 6,143 Olim arrived from Ukraine and Moldavia, up 180%. This increase is due to the increase from Ukraine from where 5,917 arrived in 2014, 196% more than in 2013. 103 Olim arrived from Germany, as opposed to 105 last year. Western Europe 8,816 Olim arrived from Western Europe, 91% more than last year. This is largely due to the increase of Olim from France – 7,231 in 2014, as opposed to 3,295 in 2013, an increase of 119%. From Great Britain 627 Olim arrived, an increase of 20% as compared to last year. Small numbers arrived from Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, Portugal and Spain. Eastern Europe 232 Olim arrived from Eastern Europe, 14% less than last year. The majority of these Olim are from Hungary. Nth America, Oceania, Sth Africa During 2014, 3,538 Olim came from North America, 11% more than in this period last year, mostly from USA. 188 Olim arrived from South Africa, and 197 Olim arrived from Oceania. Latin America 1,072 Olim arrived from Latin America approximately the same number as last year with around 300 each from Argentina and Brazil. Turkey and the Middle East 164 Olim arrived from this area during 2014, 35% less than 2013. Ethiopia - 210 Olim arrived from Ethiopia during 2014 compared with 1,356 in 2013. In 2015 given the increased tensions, aliyah from France, Ukraine and other countries is expected to grow even more.
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Anti-Semitic Europe challenges Christians Lynley Smith
Shoes on the Danube Bank Shoes on the Danube Bank is a memorial in Budapest, Hungary on the west bank of the Danube River to honor the Jews who were killed by fascist Arrow Cross militiamen in Budapest during World War II. They were ordered to take off their shoes, and were shot at the edge of the water so that their bodies fell into the river and were carried away. It represents their shoes left behind on the bank. The sculptor created sixty pairs of period-appropriate shoes out of iron. The shoes are attached to the stone embankment, and behind them lies a 40 meter long, 70 cm high stone bench. The memorial reads: “To the memory of the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944–45. Erected 16 April 2005.”
Statistics from recent surveys paint a grim picture of the rise of anti-Semitism throughout the world. This may not surprise most readers, but the rapidity of its rise, the involvement of some church leaders and the global nature of this phenomenon certainly will. A survey put out in October last year by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, clearly showed a feeling of angst among European Jews. Of the 5,100 Jews surveyed from nine European countries, 22% said they avoided visiting places or wearing symbols that would identify them as Jews. A full 91% of the 500 Hungarian Jews interviewed said anti-Semitism has been rising in Hungary in the past five years, with 30% saying they had been victims, personally, of anti-Semitic behaviour. France followed closely behind with 88%, then Belgium (87%) and Sweden (86%). In this survey 75% of Jews said they would not report anti-Semitic acts as it was pointless. Laws about racial/ religious persecution and ‘hate speech’ were not robust enough in many countries to deal with the low level offences. Another survey, this time of the general population, carried out by 6 INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM NZ BRANCH
the Anti -Defamation League in 102 countries (53,000 people) showed even more worrying statistics. It found 26% of those surveyed harboured deeply anti-Semitic feelings and 70% of this group had never even met a Jew. A full 35% said they had never heard of the Holocaust. Of professing Christians, 24% were found to be anti-Semitic. A statement by the ADL spokesman summed the results up nicely. He said: “For the first time we have a real sense of how pervasive and persistent antiSemitism is around the world.” The third survey conducted in November, 2013, by researcher Andras Kovacs of the Budapest Central European University, showed that one third of the 1,200 Hungarians polled harboured anti-Semitic prejudices and 15 – 20% of these were classified as extreme. He noted Holocaust denial had increased by 6 – 8% since 2006, and 19% of Hungarians ‘relativized’ the Holocaust (minimised Hungary’s part in it.) Concomitant with this rise in antiSemitism is of course the rise in right wing nationalist parties across Europe and beyond. In Hungary the Jobbik party, described by the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as the most powerful (and electorally successful) extreme right wing party in Europe, gained 20.4% of the vote in the April
2014 general election. Its popularity is increasing, drawing support from youth in high schools and universities, intellectuals with “strange philosophies” and low income workers, according to Hungarian Andrea Simonyi, who works for reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles in Hungary. Anti-Semitism researcher Robert Wistrich (Hebrew University) comments that the Hungarian government has engaged in historical revisionism; that the Jews have an assimilationist attitude which is not discouraged, even by the most devastating tragedies; and concludes: “When a political party crosses the 20% threshold (Jobbik) they are a serious political force. The Jews of Europe do not have a future… I think their future is bleak.” (Jerusalem Post, July 7, 2014.) Many in Europe and especially Jews have a strong feeling of déjà vu. Things are looking very like the pre-World War 2 years. However, this time round we have a distinct advantage in that we now know just how far extreme political positions coupled with anti-Semitism may take us – to the attempted mass genocide of God’s chosen people. What should the response of the Church be to this phenomenon? Clearly we do not want to repeat the lukewarm response of the WW2 years, where many church leaders were collaborators with the Nazis and others simply failed to act until it was too late. Matthew 25: 40 says: “The King will say to them, ‘Yes! I tell you that whenever you did these things for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did them for me!’” Jesus is here addressing the ‘nations’ - the gentiles. He is talking to both the nations and individual people (“He will separate people, one from another” – verse 32) in the sheep and goat judgement. He is saying that we all will be judged on the way we treat ‘his brothers’, the Jews. In other words, how we treat the Jews is how we are treating the Jewish Messiah, Jesus himself. Understanding this passage in the Bible is vital for the Church to understand its role in the current situation. In Hungary the challenge is enormous. The Church and state are politically closely linked. There are some church leaders who are supporting a move to continued on page 7, column 1
Anti-Semitic Europe... (continued from page 6) re-instate Admiral Miklos Horthy, the Hungarian leader who brought Hungary into the war on the side of Hitler, as one of the greatest leaders Hungary has ever known. Horthy, according to records recently obtained by the New York Holocaust Museum, sent Hungarian troops to the then Yugoslavia to wipe out Jews and local opposition. A bronze bust was erected late last year in the foyer of a large central Budapest church commemorating this man. A group named Fountains of Hope, led by Andrea Simonyi, is trying to stem the rise of anti-Semitism in Hungary. The group had funding for about three years (now terminated) from the European Union for the talks they were giving in schools and community groups to educate the new generation about the true history of the Hungarian war years. Many young Hungarians don’t know the Holocaust also took place in Hungary. Her approach is significant. It is not simply dependent on education about the past – and for good reason. There are many groups, especially Jewish groups, trying to educate people about the atrocities of the Holocaust and that is a good first step. The problem is that education is simply not enough to effect change. Anti-Semitism is a thing of the heart, not the head – it is a prejudice, not a policy. It is the hearts of people, the heart of the nation that must change. While challenging Hungarians to look at the truth about their war years history she is also challenging the representatives of the perpetrators and collaborators to take responsibility for what was done and repent of it. Much prayer and fasting is required for such a task. Andrea’s work is closely tied to that of Jobst Bittner (author of “Breaking the Veil of Silence”). He postulates that blood spilt on the ground (especially Jewish blood) results in a curse on the nation and individuals involved. As we know from scripture, curses are visited on the next and further generations to the third or fourth generation. We are now, 70 years since the horrific transportations and murders in Hungary, at that time when the curse may be lifted and the new generation is free to investigate the past without damaging family relationships – the perpetrators are now mostly dead. So we have a new season where breakthrough can occur.
My personal experience in Hungary and across Europe is that the hearts of Jewish people and many others are softening to God and His purposes with Israel. I believe we have come to a special time when it is vital for Christians to act, if we want to avert a repeat of history in Europe. My role in all of this has been quite special. In 2009, by God’s leading, I wrote a book, From Matron to Martyr, about a distant relative of mine, Scottish missionary Jane Haining, who died in Auschwitz, a martyr for the Jewish children she had cared for in Budapest. This story came to Andrea’s attention and she immediately saw the redemptive quality of it. She said: “Jane’s life is the ultimate example of what we, with all our efforts, are trying to show – what Jesus meant by love.” She is using the story in her work to demonstrate how things should have been. The story is effectively a parable of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for His chosen ones and for all who will believe, and as such, it touches the heart in a powerful way. For my part, I have been travelling across Europe telling this story and warning any who have ears to hear, of the dangers of the rising tide of anti-Semitism and of ignoring this new season in God’s plan, where He is calling His chosen people back to Him with a great and never ending love. We must surely join our Lord in this mighty plan.
Lynley Smith is a New Zealand journalist and passionate supporter of God’s chosen people. Her book from Matron to Martyr was published in USA in 2012 and she has since taken its powerful message of God’s love for the Jews and the Church’s responsibility in this to Jewish, secular and Christian audiences in New Zealand, USA and across Europe. Lynley is available to speak to your group. Contact her at lynleygerontius@gmail.com
Lynley Smith with her book “From Matron to Martyr”. See review next column. Her book can be purchased through ICEJ.
From Matron to Martyr Review excerpts by Charles Gardner From Matron to Martyr – one woman’s ultimate sacrifice for the Jews, is authored by New Zealander Lynley Smith, a distant relative who travelled the world to research details for her magnificent portrayal of this brave woman – the only Scot to be honoured with a ‘Righteous among the Nations’ award by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. Jane Haining from Dunscore Scotland had been working as the matron of a girls’ home in Budapest, Hungary, for the previous dozen years before 1944. It was a boarding establishment of a school run by the Scottish Mission to Jews. So dedicated was she to what she believed was her life’s calling that she refused to leave her post when given several opportunities to escape. More important to her was the safety of the Jewish girls under her care, already suffering under relentless discrimination and persecution even before the Nazis marched into their country. Often parentless due to their parents being sent ostensibly to work camps, leaving families destitute and distressed, the children often took refuge in the arms of Jane. Jane was eventually arrested by the Gestapo on a series of charges which basically amounted to the fact that she showed too much concern for the Jews. She was corralled into a cattle truck and sent to Auschwitz where she died on 17 July 1944. Intriguingly, in a chapter titled A View from the Summit early on in the book, the author imagines the scene of Jane’s arrival in paradise, which serves the useful purpose of taking the sting out of the horrors that ensue in the narrative. Indeed the Bible speaks of how the promise of resurrection removes the sting of death! The book has been translated into Hungarian, and the government there has also honoured Jane for her sacrifice. Yet she had sought no honour in this world except to do the will of God and love his Chosen People. Review featured in blirt-magazine.com
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A ‘very good question’ Jeff Robbins At a panel on the Mideast conflict two years ago, then-Representative Barney Frank asked the late Leonard Fein, a left-leaning critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, why it was that if the Palestinians truly desired a two-state solution, they had continued to reject Israeli offers of a Palestinian state in return for peace. “That,” replied Fein, “is a very good question.” With the Palestinians’ decision to enlist the United Nations to impose terms on the Israelis despite objections by the United States, the question remains not only a very good one, but the proverbial elephant in the room. Why, indeed, is it that the Palestinians rejected Israel’s offer for an independent Palestinian state comprised of virtually all of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and a capital in East Jerusalem in 2000, in 2001, and then again in 2008? After all, acceptance of any of those peace deals would have resulted not just in an end to the settlement construction that the Palestinians assert is the obstacle to peace, but the evacuation of tens of thousands of Israelis from the West Bank. What inference is a reasonable person to draw from that rejection? In his memoir, former President Bill Clinton described Yasser Arafat’s rejection of the Palestinian state offered by the Israelis at the end of his second term as tragic. In her memoir, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice describes the even more favorable offer made by Israel in 2008, and the high hopes that the United States had that, at long last, the Palestinians would accept the state that had been offered them in return for peace. “In the end,” Rice writes, “the Palestinians walked away from the negotiations. . . . Had [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas] expressed a willingness to accept the extraordinary terms he’d been offered, it might have been a turning point in the history of the intractable conflict.” The answer to the “very good question” posed by Frank, and the reasonable inference to be drawn from the history of Palestinian rejectionism, is not a particularly happy one. It is that Israel’s proposals for an independent Palestinian state have come with a condition that the Palestinian leadership has regarded 8 INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM NZ BRANCH
Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, right, votes NO during a meeting of the UN Security Council Tuesday, December 30, 2014 (Photo credit: Frank Franklin II/AP)
as a deal-breaker: a permanent end of the conflict, and a commitment to accept Israel’s existence. By contrast, the Security Council end-game sought by the Palestinians is an end-run around any such condition; it would impose on the Palestinians no obligation to end the dispute. This is not by chance. As Abbas knows, the Palestinian street opposes any end of conflict with Israel that fails to bring about its disappearance. Even before the summer’s war between Israel and Hamas, a public opinion poll showed that fewer than 30 percent of Palestinians supported a two-state solution — a West Bank/ Gaza state living in lasting peace with Israel. Almost two-thirds told pollsters that “resistance should continue until all of historic Palestine is liberated.” And this past September, 80 percent of Palestinians polled said that Hamas should continue to fire rockets at Israel, with Hamas, recognized by the United States as a terrorist enterprise, receiving an 88 percent approval rating, compared with only 36 percent approving the considerably more moderate Palestinian Authority government led by Abbas. None of this is new, and none of it comes as a surprise. In May 2009, not long after spurning the “extraordinary terms” described by Rice, Abbas told the Washington Post that he was in no hurry to make peace with the Israelis, and that he refused even to negotiate with them. Rather, Abbas preferred to wait, hoping that international pressure on Israel would force it to capitulate without any corresponding obligation on
the Palestinians’ part to agree to live in peace. “Until then,” Abbas told the Post, “in the West Bank we have a good reality . . . the people are living a normal life.” The Palestinians’ argument that UN intervention is necessary because they cannot otherwise obtain a state represents a dearly-held narrative that has been adopted wholesale in certain quarters. Sadly, however, it is a narrative that is tough to square with what has actually occurred.
Jeff Robbins, a former US delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council, is an attorney in Boston. This article appeared in the Boston Globe on 22 December 2014
The Jordan sponsored UNSC resolution aiming to set a deadline for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state voted on by the UNSC members on 30 December attracted eight votes, with two countries – the U.S. and Australia – voting no, and five abstentions. A resolution requires at least nine votes to pass, as well as no veto from one of the five permanent members. Failure to reach the nine vote threshold rendered a U.S. veto unnecessary. The votes in favor of the resolution came from France, China and Russia – all permanent members – along with Jordan, Argentina, Chad, Luxembourg and Chile.
ANZAC links with Zionists
A letter to the Editor
Ambassador Yosef Livne
Derek McDowell
2015 is not just another New Year. In different parts of the Globe, the coming year will also usher in the memories of highly significant events in the history of many nations and peoples. One such event is the centennial commemoration of the battle in Gallipoli. That battle was certainly a life changing chapter in the lives of Australians and New Zealanders, as well as others. Besides this event 2015 will also see the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the victory over Nazi Germany in World War 2.
CONCERNING your article, Claims Aussie Diggers fought for Zionism ‘insult to dead’ (Sunshine Coast Daily QLD, December 2).
For us Israelis, these events cannot go unnoticed. Any which way we may look at them, both World Wars are intertwined with the story of our rebirth as a sovereign state. Whereas the memory of the Holocaust is well known, relatively little is known of the Zionist involvement in the different facets of W.W. 1. As we approach the New Year, I thought it appropriate to shed some light on the role played by our founding fathers back in the time of the Great War as well as some of the encounters between our two peoples in WW2. The Zion Mule Corps was established in Alexandria, Egypt in April 1915. Its founders were two young Zionist activists, Zeev Jabotinsky who always dreamt of forming a Jewish unit that would join the allies and would advance the cause of Jewish statehood, and Joseph Trumpeldor, a heroic figure in the Russian Army. Even though the idea of forming a fighting unit did not prosper, a transport regiment, based on mules, was formed and was sworn on 1 April as the Zion Mule Corps. Lt. Colonel John H. Patterson, a pro- Zionist officer was appointed as its commanding officer and Trumpeldor was appointed as adjutant with the rank of captain. The regiment was shipped to Gallipoli on 16 April. Half landed in the southern part of the peninsula and the other half was attached to the ANZAC troops on the Western side. That must have been the first time New Zealanders and Hebrew men in uniform came into contact. Two years later, the Hebrew population of the Holy Land came to know the Kiwis as they fought to defeat the Ottoman army. Two decades later the world was engulfed in a new global conflict.
Zion Mule Corps painting
Once again our men in uniform found themselves together in different circumstances- from the sands of North Africa to the battle over Greece. Soldiers of the Auxiliary Pioneers stood together with New Zealanders, building fortifications in the Western Desert as well as in Greece. Both Palestinian Jewish and Kiwi soldiers were taken prisoners and spent captivity in the same camp. Those who died in captivity found eternal rest side by side in the same cemetery. Kiwi Rail workers participated in laying down railroads in British Mandated Palestine and got a firsthand look at the early Kibbutzim. It is known that troops from New Zealand visited Tel Aviv and Kfar Vitkin, a village some 30 km to the north which became a convalescent center for New Zealand troops. When the orders came to move the 2nd Division back into Egypt, a Hebrew transport unit was among those which participated in the operation. As the war progressed, troops from New Zealand and the Jewish Fighting Brigade were shipped together from Egypt to Italy on the same ship. These are but a sample and yet the conclusion is one. Though geographically distant from each other, our paths crossed in times of challenge and established the first rings in the chain across the oceans and time.
H.E. Mr Yosef Livne is ambassador of Israel to New Zealand
I understand the argument that ANZAC soldiers were not fighting for the Jews or the Zionist cause per se but rather as part of a British battle to oust the Turkish Ottomans as part of the broader conflict that was WW1. However it was a geopolitical imperative that the British did want to establish a sphere of influence in the region to offset the French influence in the Levant. Hence the British conquest and occupation of Ottoman ruled “Palestine” dovetailed with the British initiatives that were well in preparation to issue the Balfour Declaration on 2 November 1917 only two days after the Battle for Beersheva on 31 October 1917. The Balfour Declaration did not come out of nowhere. In the decades preceding the Balfour Declaration, discussion on the restoration of the Jews to the land had been waged on several fronts in England. The Balfour Declaration was a landmark culmination of these historical influences leading to the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. Whilst the average ANZAC digger may not have realized all these issues were in play, there is no doubt that British plans were afoot to support the establishment of a Jewish state in what was then known as Palestine as evidenced by this Balfour Declaration and actions which followed during the British Mandate period. The Jewish homeland originally envisaged by the 1920 San Remo Declaration to include Trans Jordan (present day Jordan) was, in the two years following that declaration, cut back by Britain and the League of Nations in 1922 to 22% of its original area, comprising only that area west of the Jordan river.
NZ Mounted Rifles in Egypt during WWI continued on insert page one column two
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ICEJ supporting French aliyah David Parsons and Howard Flower The dramatic events in Paris recently have served as a sobering wake-up call to the world about the dangerous resurgence of antiSemitism in Europe. But for Jews in France and all across the continent, it was more a crushing reminder of the harsh reality they have known about already for years now. Long before the terror assault on the Charlie Hebdo magazine offices and the deadly hostage stand-off at the kosher supermarket in Paris last weekend, one could visit Jewish communities anywhere in Europe and find a people under siege. Jewish synagogues, museums and community centers all have metal detectors and armed guards posted outside. Jewish schools and seminaries have become like fortresses. If anything, the terror attacks in Paris have shattered any remaining sense of security for much of European Jewry. The hope that their governments could somehow protect them is vanishing. But protect them from what? Even with the public outrage over the Paris attacks and the mass ‘unity’ rallies in the streets of France, most world leaders are still unwilling to identify the real menace now stalking the Jews of Europe – the scourge of Islamic jihadism. The rallies spoke out against both antiSemitism and Islamophobia – as if they were equally claiming scores of innocent lives at present. The rising threat now facing European Jewry is an extremely toxic mix. First, there is still much classical anti-Semitism among native Europeans which induces them to vilify Israel as a main cause of Muslim extremism. Add to that the youth violence among the growing Muslim immigrant communities from North Africa and the Middle East. And now home-grown jihadists are returning from battle in places like Yemen, Iraq and Syria as trained militiamen seeking to hunt down easy Jewish prey. No wonder then that Jews are starting to leave France in record numbers. French aliyah reached an all-time level in 2014 with nearly 7,000 Jewish people moving to Israel. It marked the first time in Israel’s modern history that the highest number of Jewish immigrants came from a Western country. 10 INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM NZ BRANCH
Children arrive at a heavily guarded Jewish school in a Paris suburb. (AP)
Jewish Agency authorities were already anticipating that number to double in 2015 to around 15,000. And that was before the Paris terror attacks, which are now expected to accelerate French Jewish aliyah even more. Last year, some 50,000 French Jews approached the Jewish Agency for information about moving to Israel. This week alone, another 2,000 signed up to begin the aliyah process. The general perception is that most French Jews can afford the move to Israel. But the reality is that nearly half of the 550,000 Jews in France escaped to there from North Africa several generations ago and many still live in poorer neighbourhoods alongside Muslim immigrants that came from the same countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. So they are the most vulnerable Jews at present, and the least able to afford the
expenses of moving to another country. And according to the Jewish Agency, it is Sephardic Jews in France which feel the least secure and are showing the most interest in aliyah right now. Thus the Jewish Agency has asked the Christian Embassy to assist with funding for the huge influx of French Jews expected to come home to Israel in 2015. The ICEJ will be funding aliyah seminars, ground transport, flight tickets, absorption costs and other expenses involved in the immigration process. The Jewish Agency has estimated that the average cost for those who need assistance is $1,100 per person. So please give today to this urgent need. Help us bring home more French Jews, before it is too late! ICEJ thanks you for your support.
Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky visits with French Jews attending a recent aliyah fair in Paris. (JAFI)