Memo to Christian Aid

After Thursday's meeting with Christian Aid in Jerusalem, here's some ideas for them to ponder:

http://christianaidwatch.blogspot.com/2005/05/two-children-of-bethlehem.html

1)  They conceded to me that they now back a 'two-State' solution. This is my response. Their stated aim is the alleviation of poverty, so is it really their business to be meddling in Middle Eastern politics, when it's patently obvious that they haven't a clue as to the history of the area or the context of present-day realities? Despite this, when they met with me they reiterated their right to be critical of Israel's government, but not of the PA rulership in either the West Bank or Gaza. These glaring lacunae need some adequate response. But more to the point, what sort of two-State solution do they actually back, as pointed out here: http://www.forward.com/articles/12008/ 

2) If they are not anti-semitic, why do they concentrate most of their energies on Israel and Palestine? A trusted source which has spoken to them informs me that CA have conceded that they concentrate on Israel because they can do so without fear of the consequences. On the other hand, if they criticised the Burmese regime, for example, this would 'hamper our work'.

So let's get this straight, if you want Christian Aid to help you, all you need to do is make sure to vote for a fascist Islamic terror organisation, such as Hamas, which like Hitler before it, promises you all sorts of delectable delights, such as a Judenrein area and good housing, then moan and groan enough and CA will come along and be your messenger-boy in English all over the world.

For instance, in order to alleviate your poverty, they will devise games of snakes and ladders (copying the original Nazi model), in which the Jews (sorry, Israelis) are depicted as Nazis and the Palestinians as the new Jews.

On the other hand, in order to become the victim of Christian Aid's highly critical PR campaign, you need to be the only democratic country in the area. Not only that, you need to be a Jewish country, which many might feel that the Christian world should be doing their best to support, given their own history, and given the incredible freedoms offered to Christians and every other religion who are increasingly choosing to live here, unlike in the PA areas, of course.

3) They insist that they are not antisemitic, and wheeled out their Jewish big guns in reponse to my recent letter to the Church of England Newspaper. In that letter, I stated that the Christian Aid 2003 Manchester University Roadshow was by far the most antisemitic experience I or my colleague - formerly President of the Manchester Jewish Representative Council (who went through World War II) had ever encountered. I further stated that, as a result of their behaviour towards us that night, the Chair for that evening told me he would never be involved with Christian Aid again. They don't seem to realise that I'm an expert on antisemitism, having worked on the subject with Yad Vashem and also taught about the subject in depth at one of Britain's foremost universities. But this doesn't count for much with them, so if they would rather, here is the European Union definition of antisemitism:

http://philosemitism.blogspot.com/2007/11/european-union-definition-of-anti_8836.html

If you access the above, you will see that CA's constant criticism of and concentration on Israel falls within the EU definition of antisemitism. If that's not good enough for them, maybe not being 'English' enough, here is the UK Parliament's more recent definition, written a couple of weeks after I'd emigrated to Israel:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5319716.stm

And please note that the BBC had to apologize for wrongly imputing to Denis McShane MP the view that Israel and the USA are to blame for the increase in UK antisemitism. Now why should the BBC think that Israel and the USA are to blame for the increase in UK antisemitism, I wonder?  Could antisemitism possibly be the fault of .... surely not?

The idea being put about that somehow Jews are to blame for their own suffering is brought up in yesterday's Jewish Chronicle article by the Chief Rabbi of the UK, Sir Jonathan Sacks:

http://www.thejc.com/Home.aspx?ParentId=0&SecId=12

which owes a great deal to this earlier article by Melanie Phillips:

http://www.melaniephillips.com/articles-new/?p=548

Both describe antisemitism as a virus which mutates. That's the way Hitler referred to the Jews in Mein Kampf and what Christian Aid's partner, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, (also represented at Thursday's meeting in Jerusalem) called Israel in one of their newsletters a couple of years ago.

So we're back to square one: if you repeat Hitler's terms to describe the one country which houses half the world's Jewish population, what exactly does that make you, I wonder?

This is how the mutation of the virus of antisemitism actually works. The first two antisemitisms are religious in nature; the third is scientific (for instance, Richard Dawkins is coming perilously near to joining the club of William Marr et al) and the fourth is what we see, predominantly, but not exclusively, now - national antisemitism.

For let's also make no mistake: the Jews have always been a people with a national home, with their own characteristics, languages and dress. They have every right to be different and live in their own home, with their own traditions, just like the Tibetans, the Burmese and the many other groups who for some reason or other Christian Aid just don't appear to be that bothered about.

Christian Aid should read this as well, especially the last bit:

http://www.icjs-online.org/index.php?article=1389

I have offered to educate Christian Aid and their partners either here in Israel or in the UK. I'll keep you posted as to whether they take up my offer, or even bother to get in touch again.

So many have said that meeting me was just a PR exercise. It's up to them to prove those people wrong.

Comments

[Huldah]

Excellent post, Irene, and well done for obtaining this meeting in the first place. It can't have been easy.

The sheer cowardice of Christian Aid's (and other organisations') position on the Middle East is breathtaking. Of course, we all know that their workers won't be targeted by Israel or by Jews worldwide, whereas if they criticise other regimes, everyone would have to watch out - but Christian Aid simply won't admit it.

I had a lively correspondence with another Christian organisation, one which works with persecuted Christians worldwide, taking them to task for similar dishonesty - in a feature on the Holy Land, they had attributed all the woes of Palestinian Christians to the nasty Israelis. In their unexpectedly frank reply, the charity admitted that they were perfectly well aware of persecution of Palestinian Christians by the PA and islamist gangs, but that the pastors on the ground had begged them not to publicize it for fear of reprisals.

A fat lot of good such duplicity did!

For me, the litmus test of whether an organisation is practising institutional anti-semitism is this: do you accept that Jews have as much right to national self-determination as any other race? Do you accept that, as an indigenous people whose continuous history in the Holy land goes back for at least 3000 years, Jews have a right to their nation state in the Levant alongside other indigenous peoples? If the answer to either question is "no" or an equivocal "Yes", then their attitude is intrinsically racist and should be vigorously challenged.

It is time that people, particularly the Israeli government, made their positions on these points clear. The Jewish desire for self-determination is intrinsically legitimate. The right of Jews to have a nation state on land in which they are indigenous is intrinsically legitimate.

To claim otherwise is anti-semitism.

[Cyrus]

This might look suspiciously like a mutual admiration society as I'm the author of the post you linked to at the top, but never mind, this is a magnificent post. I hope you get something more than the usual bland slogans out of CA (miracles do happen!).

What it boils down to is that the one sure-fire way for the Israelis to get CA off their backs would be to start responding to each new piece of Israel-bashing propaganda by shooting an aid worker or two. Then, methinks, Israel would very rapidly join Sudan, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Hamas etc on CA's 'too risky to play politics with' list and they would have to find a new whipping boy. But of course it won't happen, so the show will go on, and Israel will go on paying the price for being a democracy.

Cynical? Yes - on CA's part.

[Elizabeth]

Well said, Irene! Here is the blog equivalent of a round of applause and a cry of "Hear hear!"
http://www.zionismontheweb.org/blogs/index.php/christians/2007/11/17/memo_to_christian_aid

[aggiegabe]

A very interesting post and one I whole heartedly agree with. What I'd like to know is your opinion on violence against christians by orthodox jews in Isreal.

''Christians in Jerusalem want Jews to stop spitting on them''
There are an increased number at certain times of year, such as during the Purim holiday."I know Christians who lock themselves indoors during the entire Purim holiday," he says.

Former adviser to the mayor on Christian affairs, Shmuel Evyatar, describes the situation as "a huge disgrace." He says most of the instigators are yeshiva students studying in the Old City who view the Christian religion with disdain.

"I'm sure the phenomenon would end as soon as rabbis and well-known educators denounce it. In practice, rabbis of yeshivas ignore or even encourage it," he says.

Evyatar says he himself was spat at while walking with a Serbian bishop in the Jewish quarter, near his home. "A group of yeshiva students spat at us and their teacher just stood by and watched."