The Israel Lobby Enters State Government

that one of VCHR’s core values is that Israel/Palestine issues are an ongoing human rights concern. That demands an informed debate. In order to even have that debate, factual, unbiased knowledge about what’s actually happened since 1948 is critical. But Israel affinity organizations don’t want that debate.

In a series of slides, Trabulsi recounted how in 2018 VCHR became aware of the actions by the innocuously named Institute for Curriculum Services. ICS’s efforts were promoted heavily by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), an umbrella group for the hundred or so Jewish Community Relations Councils (JCRCs). The director of the California-based ICS, Aliza Craimer Elias, explained how the ICS had quietly taken “considerable efforts” to change textbooks in public school systems across the U.S. She further claimed that ICS had proposed 11,000 edits to textbooks with an 80 percent acceptance rate by publishers. ICS itself is housed within the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco. It is therefore impossible to know much about its finances, staffing or budget.

That JCPA and JCRCs advocate for Israel is not in doubt. The JCPA’s second mission statement goal is “to dedicate ourselves to the safety and security of the state of Israel.” Individual JCRC mission statements echo their mission “to maintain strong support for Israel and its right to exist in peace and security.” Many JCRC websites state openly and unabashedly, “we advocate for Israel.” Virginia’s are no different.

Trabulsi provided digital images of letters revealing how in 2018 a group of powerful JCRCs and federations in Virginia secret - ly lobbied the common - wealth’s De partment of Education to accept ICS changes and forward a list of ICS changes to major textbook publishers during a 2018 textbook re view process. Their filing occurred right before the public review period ended.

An examination of ICS edits led to VCHR quickly determining that ICS was an Israel partisan public affairs operation, as opposed to merely an outside party somehow interested in improving education in Virginia. ICS’s list of edits—obtained from the Virginia Department of Education via the state sunshine law— proposed sanitizing Israel’s history of pre-and post-1948 ethnic cleansing and military occupations, while laying blame on Arabs for all conflict initiation in the region. According to ICS, all textbooks must refer to “settlements” as “neighborhoods” and never use the word “Palestine.”

VCHR carefully documented, summarized and categorized the many inaccuracies and false claims appearing in ICS edits and filed its own demand that the Department of Education and publishers not allow false ICS information into textbooks. In addition, VCHR demanded that the Department of Education begin involving bona fide Middle East scholars in its highly flawed textbook review process in order to prevent such misinformation from entering textbooks. VCHR even signed on a number of high profile state educators to publicly support its call for textbook (Advertisement)

reviews that would result in accurate educational materials.

The outcome of VCHR’s multi-pronged effort was successful, according to Trabulsi. Nevertheless, the well-funded ICS—boosted by its network of backers—continues to host deceptive workshops at major U.S. social studies conferences. ICS is even allowed to offer continuing education credits to attract unsuspecting educators to its “training sessions.” ICS continues to work with Israel affinity pressure groups nationwide to channel its demands for highly suspect changes in states whenever textbooks come up for review.

Trabulsi’s presentation was a stunning example of how dedicated, but mostly under-resourced, efforts can temporarily staunch the flow of disinformation entering textbooks at the state level. The overarching question is how long it will last in Virginia and whether other states can act to “stop the spread” of Israel lobby disinformation in their own education systems.

For more information about the VCHR textbook program, see <https://vchr.org/vatextbooks.html>. To view Kathy Drinkard’s VCHR’s presentation “Preventing Israel Affinity Organizations from Politicizing K-12 Textbooks” at the 2019 Israel Lobby and American Policy conference see <https:// youtube.com/watch?v=ZqAJBzkzh0>. ■

Christianity and the Middle East

Should Evangelicals Terminate Their Affair With the State of Israel? By Rev. Alex Awad

FOR YEARS, I, a Palestinian and evangelical, have watched with pain the unholy alliance of evangelicals and the State of Israel. Evangelical infatuation with Israel began before there was a Jewish state in the Holy Land. British evangelicals, some of whom were Christian Zionists, helped bring the Jewish state into existence. This fixation kept deepening in the last seven decades. We used the Bible, our pulpits, publications, politics, finances, and our radio and TV stations to expand the territory and power of a Zionist state in Palestine. The average evangelical in the U.S. does not realize the volume of hurt and harm that the political might of evangelical leaders has wrought on the people of the Middle East and especially on Palestinians.

Students of church history are aware that Christians made appalling mistakes in the last two millennia. Now, we reflect back on the crusades, the pogroms, the inquisition, colonialism, slavery and apartheid in South Africa and we ask ourselves, “How could Christians have supported such inhumane and bloody injustices in the name of Christ?” Yet, evangelical collaboration in

the establishment of

MICHAEL REYNOLDS-POOL/GETTY IMAGES Prime Minister of Israel Binyamin Netanyahu (center, back) holds up the pen used by U.S. President Donald J. Trump (front, left) to sign an order recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, March 25, 2019 in the White House.

Israel and our continued uncritical support of Israel will be added to the list of bloody injustices. Future students of church history will be asking the question, “How could evangelicals who never stop preaching

sermons on God’s

Rev. Dr. Alex Awad is a retired United Methodist Missionary. He and his wife, Brenda, served in Jerusalem and in Bethlehem for more than 25 years. Rev. Awad served as pastor of East Jerusalem Baptist Church, dean of students at Bethlehem Bible College, and director of the Shepherd Society. Awad has written two books, Through the Eyes of the Victims and Palestinian Memories. Rev. Awad is a member of the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace (PCAP).

love for all people, have been so callous toward the dispossession, death and suffering of millions of Palestinians and Arabs throughout the Middle East?”

During the last 75 years, evangelical leaders have actively supported every Israeli and American war against Palestinians and Arabs. Furthermore, our leaders considered any peace settlement between Israelis and Palestinians that resulted in Israel giving territory to Palestinians as out of sync with the will of God. Hal Lindsey, Pat Robertson, John Hagee, James Dobson and others were openly critical of U.S. presidents who urged Israel to make territorial compromises to end the conflict. Some went as far as linking natural disasters taking place in the U.S. as God’s punishment caused by presidents pressuring Israel to make territorial compromises. In 2016, Christian broadcaster Robertson claimed that former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was stricken by God and ended up in a coma due to his withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. Later he apologized for making the statement.

Not all evangelicals are as extreme as their leaders; however most white U.S. evangelicals are either complacent or extremely silent on issues of justice. At any time in the future, if Israel decides to wage a war on an Arab or a Muslim country, evangelicals, as usual, will demand full U.S. military, financial, and political support