The Killing of Three Israeli Teenagers

The Killing of Three Israeli Teenagers

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The brutal murder of the three Israeli teenagers, Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach, kidnapped nearly three weeks ago is a crime that is unimaginable and can only be committed by people who have lost any understanding of what it is to be human. The killers when caught, and they will be, should be given a fair trial and then, when found guilty, be subjected to the death penalty. This is nothing short of the genocide of three whole worlds and it must be treated as such. It is with disgust that we also witness the celebrations in Gaza of these heinous crimes. To be sure this demonstrates to the world the true nature of the beast that Israel is grappling with. President Abbas is directly accountable for this outrage as he is the head of state of the Palestinian Authority Unity Government. He cannot escape this responsibility and the international community should hold his feet to the fire on this matter. This crime is the true face of his movement and has been for decades. It has thus once and for all unmasked them for what they are.

We rightly mourn with Israel today and thus share her pain and grief but we should all be assured of this; that this cowardly and dastardly act will not weaken Israel’s resolve or intimidate her. No, she will stand strong, uphold civilized values and norms and in the end win this battle against raw evil. We in particular share the grief that must now overwhelm three precious Israeli families and we know that God’s great love will comfort and care for them.

Malcolm Hedding

Special Statement on UN Resolution

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On November 29th the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state of the United Nations. This decision gave increased credibility and leverage to the Palestinians in their future negotiations to make this a reality and so the consequences of this decision will be far reaching. It will not escape the astute observer of these things that this decision by the world community to disinvest Israel of her land and Capital took place on the 29th November; for it was on this date 65 years ago that this same body recognized the existence of Israel as a nation state. Now this world forum is seeking to give added strength to a people who through their leaders have waged a relentless war of terror against the Jewish people. This war is not for a state of their own but for the removal of the Jewish State in its entirety. This is not a radical right wing position but rather one that is based on the track record, charter, declarations and deeds of the Palestinian Authority.

Their unaltered charter, in violation of the Oslo Accords, continues to call for Israel’s destruction; their school text books do the same and incite hatred of the Jews, their public statements in Arabic over the years, as monitored by Palestinians Media Watch and MEMRI, have called for Israel’s destruction and removal and in April 1994 in Johannesburg after Nelson Mandela’s inauguration, Yasser Arafat assured a Muslim audience that the PLO had not moved away from the 1964 Phased Plan for the destruction of Israel. Faced with an unprecedented offer of peace from the Israeli government a few years later, that included most of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, he rejected it and provoked a second Intifada. This Intifada deliberately targeted and killed hundreds of Israeli citizens including school children of all ages. Sadly, much of the Western media excused these atrocities and thereby found a way to always blame Israel for them! At no time has Israel ever gone after civilians in an attempt to protect herself from this unrelenting and sustained conflict. Yasser Arafat was not a freedom fighter but a terrorist and indeed the father of modern day terrorism and now his Holocaust denying successor Mahmoud Abbas has been rewarded with statehood by the international community. This is a disgrace and more of a commentary on the evil that lurks in the corridors of the United Nations than anything else. Thankfully Canada and the United States of America called it for what it was and rejected the motion.

The recent war with Hamas in Gaza is part of the same conflict. Having pulled out of Gaza in 2005 with good intentions Israel was rewarded with over 12000 missiles that have rained down on her southern towns and villages. No nation would accept this without a permanent holt to this aggression but once again, by the pressure of the international community, Israel has been bullied into pulling back from a total defeat of these terrorists and this by an Islamist in Egypt who certainly fully supports Hamas and seeks only by this move to consolidate his power base before moving on to deal with Israel in the future! It is a sad day when international politicians of all stripes can no longer discern between good and evil and thus, in the near future, there will be a campaign to rehabilitate Hamas and give it legitimacy!! These calls are already being heard.

We are therefore witnessing the rise of global anti-Semitism and with it a sustained attack against Israel. This attack has been pursued through two strategies: First, that of conflict and terrorism and second, by litigation, the smear of Apartheid leveled against Israel and campaigns to disinvest boycott and sanction Israel. Sadly, many main line churches have given their support to this attack. We are looking at warfare and “lawfare” against Israel and now this will escalate! The goal is to discredit Israel, delegitimize Israel and finally dismantle Israel. The Israelis are putting a brave face on the UN decision but nevertheless it is a serious development and the future will demonstrate how this will be played out. The UN decision of the 29th November has put “the wind at the back” of Israel’s enemies and they will now take full advantage of this. For the present we thank God for the USA and Canada that have stood firm in their support of Israel but we must know that the enemies of Israel will do all that they can to corrupt and break the unshakable relationship that exists between the USA, Canada and Israel.

Seventy years ago thirteen million Jews were threatened in Europe and six million were exterminated while much of the world watched silently. This must not happen again. Now is the time for Christians everywhere to stand up and be counted. We must do all that we can to befriend the Jewish people and Israel. We all have a sphere of influence that we can tap into.

The following words are by Canada’s Foreign Minister, John Baird, please note them carefully:

“In choosing not to stand idly by as the age-old hatred of the Jewish
people has been transferred to the “collective Jew”, I have been speaking
up against the new anti-Semitism that is so pervasive today in the world.
It targets the Jewish people by targeting the Jewish homeland, as the source
of injustice and conflict in the world. It is perversely couched in the language
of human rights. Just as conventional ant-Semitism denied Jews the right to
live as equal members of humanity, the new anti-Semitism denies the State
of Israel the right to live as an equal member of the international community.
Worse still, when this new anti-Semitism expresses itself in the call for the
destruction of Israel and the Jewish people, it is no longer hate speech,
it is incitement to genocide. And we have to name it for what it is.”

The dangers are clear and we must rise to meet them, just as John Baird does, knowing all the time that in the end the battle is the Lord’s and He will not fail His people.

Thus prayer and intercession must be the power behind all that we do.

Malcolm Hedding.

The Politics of Betrayal

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It is nothing short of astonishing to note the “agenda driven” politics of today. It gives lip service to grand ideals, “papers over” the truth in order to distort the reality, and in the end amounts to betrayal. This is the picture that is unfolding before our eyes concerning Israel and her battle for survival. Even her modern day historical narrative is being denied in order to achieve certain global goals. Caught in this “web of intrigue”, the tiny nation of Israel “twists and turns” in order to somehow appease its allies who have now decided that a “two state solution” is the only way forward for her. This in spite of the following:

1. The Road to Oblivion
Israel is now expected to make peace with a Palestinian entity that is presently at war with itself and that does not accept Israel’s right to exist! This is not just true of Hamas but also of Mahmoud Abbas’s West Bank enclave. A Jerusalem Post report dated Monday 1st June noted that in a separate interview with local journalists Abbas reaffirmed his denial of Israel’s existence; his hardline approach on refugees and Jerusalem; and of course his demands that Israel, at least, withdraw to pre-1967 borders.

In Gaza we have much of the same situation only it is less sophisticated and openly struts its stuff! Hamas not only butchered Abbas’s people but effectively turned Gaza into a militant Islamic camp that repeatedly calls for Israel’s destruction. Moreover, like its northern cousin Hezbollah, it is funded and armed by Iran. In reality Israel has fought two proxy wars with Iran in the last two years. Now of course she is expected to open negotiations with these groups in the expectation of ultimately handing over Jerusalem to them! What right thinking western nation would do this and where in history is there a precedent for this nonsense? The allies did this for a brief moment in 1939 when Hitler took over the Rhineland, Austria and the Sudetenland. They realized in the end that their policy of appeasement had encouraged destruction and war when it became Poland’s turn. Five years later with millions of lives lost, they counted the cost of “toying with evil” and turning a blind eye.

It is unthinkable that the west and friends of Israel would now insist on pushing her into the arms of terrorists who desire nothing less than her total removal from the region. This is the road to oblivion.

2. The Road to Democracy
Where in the Middle East region, apart from Israel and the Lebanon, is there an example of democracy? Israel is the stronger of these two and indeed is a shining light of freedom, tolerance, advancement and opportunity for all regardless of race, colour, gender or creed. As a consequence, her contribution to the wider world, in all fields of endeavour, is great and disproportionate to her size. By contrast the Arab/Muslim nations of the region are totalitarian; tolerant of Islam only; suppressing when it comes to women’s rights; and illiterate by world standards!

The same privilege their people enjoy in western nations concerning freedom of religion, they deny to others in their countries. Christians cannot practice their faith openly, build churches and propagate their message! Bibles are in many cases banned but the “Protocols of Zion” are sold openly on the streets from Damascus to Tehran. From their religious and political podiums one only hears calls for Israel’s destruction and incitement to hatred. Their school text books pursue the same message. In short there is no road to democracy as it all but ends at the borders of Israel. The question is, should the west impose democracy on the region? The answer is no! However, it should strongly stand behind Israel and adopt such policies when engaging the non-democratic Muslim/Arab world that do not reward their dictatorships.

3. The Road to Agreement
Where Israel has been able to find a genuine peace partner, agreement has been reached and peace has resulted. Both Egypt and Jordan are examples of this. These agreements were reached because all the parties were exhausted from, and tired of, war. They genuinely wanted peace.

This cannot be said of the Palestinians. Driven by irresponsible leadership they have embarked on one adventure of destruction after another. Even their so-called peace initiatives were pursued with deceit and dishonesty. Palestinian Media Watch and MEMRI have more than proved this by demonstrating time and time again that what was said to western politicians, was denied and reversed when speaking to Arabic-speaking journalists. Even Yasser Arafat, speaking in Johannesburg in 1994, stated that his real intention through the so-called peace agreements under Oslo, etc. was the destruction of Israel. Faced with this fact, western politicians turned a “blind eye” and said it was only rhetoric!

And what of Gaza? Israel pulled out with good intentions and was rewarded with hostility. We all saw it coming except the enlightened politicians of the world, and sadly of Israel, who knew better. It begs the question, why is the obvious not seen by the so-called knowledgeable elite? More important still, why is Israel being pushed into the arms of Hamas? What other nation would do so in similar circumstances?

The road to agreement must begin with the cessation of violence, the recognition of Israel’s right to exist and the genuine desire for peace. Anything short of this is madness but the madness continues!

4. The Road to Peace
Israel has fully demonstrated her desire for peace and willingness to make peace where all parties share the same desire. It is almost unbelievable that after 61 years of statehood Israel is yet to be recognized as an existing state by the Palestinian leadership. Both charters, that is of Hamas and the PLO (the backbone of the PA), continue to call for her destruction.

Moreover, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are engaged in a violent power struggle and they have demonstrated this. When Israel makes concessions she is rewarded with violence. This happened in September of 2000 and after the Gaza pullout of 2005. In addition, behind the conflict is a radical Islamic theology that denies that Israel can exist on what was once the Dar Al Salem (House of Islamic Peace).

Until these realities are firmly dealt with by the international community, there cannot be and should not be a road to peace. A two state solution is unthinkable as it will result in more of the same. That is, more violence and renewed assaults against the Jewish state. Houses with weak foundations always collapse. The same is true of the House of Peace. If the foundations are not right the house will fall with unnecessary loss of life. Gaza proved this as did the negotiations under Oslo 1, 2 and 3. They failed because the foundations that should lead to true peace were not firmly put in place. In fact they were knowingly ignored. When this happens once it can be excused but when it happens repeatedly, it amounts to stupidity! Or, is there another agenda behind the stupidity?

All this is not to say that there should be no road to peace. There should but it must be properly built. Israel has time and again stated that she has no desire to rule over the Palestinians. Her actions have, I believe, proved this. However, if your perceived peace partner continuously denies your existence and calls for your destruction, then the equation changes. To move forward in these circumstances is the road to national suicide – something that Ahmadinejad continuously calls for!

Finally, it must be noted that Israel’s existence today is not because of the Holocaust. The Holocaust only proved what Herzl believed and that is that the Jews would not be safe unless they had a state of their own. His initiative to found a Jewish State called Israel began in the late 19th century (1897), some forty-five years before the Holocaust. The early 20th century saw the resettlement of what was then Palestine by Jews. At that time even Jews were called Palestinians!

The Jewish people have an unbroken 3,000 year history with the region and with Jerusalem. In fact, their first father, Abraham, crossed into the region 4,000 years ago. Their existence is remarkable, their achievements amazing and their book, the Bible, is enlightening. This book warns the nations against dividing the land (Joel 3:1-3), probably because underlying such endeavours was hostility with destruction in mind, and not sincerity.

Has anything changed?