Christians ‘Stand with Israel’

By Amy R. Kaufman

article created on:

The flag of Israel flies alongside the American flag at the entrance to New Beginnings Christian Center, where Christians United for Israel held an event called “Standing with Israel” on March 18.

Portland author Victor Sharpe; Robert Horenstein, community relations director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland; and Randy Neal, western division coordinator of CUFI, spoke on the escalating missile bombardment of southern Israel by Hamas in Gaza.

All three speakers said the dismantling of Israeli villages in Gaza under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s 2005 “Disengagement Plan” has only resulted in intensified attacks.

Sharpe, an international commentator and author of “Politicide: The Attempted Murder of the Jewish State,” detailed the continuous Jewish presence in Gaza since the Exodus from Egypt around 1200 BCE.

Stating that “Israel is not simply a western interloper in the Middle East,” Sharpe identified seven expulsions of the Jews of Gaza since the First Revolt of 61 CE. He recounted that thousands of Jews were sold into slavery in Gaza during the Second Revolt of 135 CE; the Crusaders massacred the Jews of Gaza around 1170; Napoleon “altruistically” removed the Jews from Gaza to save them from the plague; and British Mandatory authorities deported the Jews of Gaza in 1929.

He also cited Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s 2005 evacuation of the Jews from their villages in Gaza.

Pointedly, he said, “I like to use the word villages because that’s what they are. The word settlements implies that they’re only there as aliens and have no roots in the land.”

Sharpe said the situation in Gaza mirrors the tragic result of Israel’s earlier withdrawal from Lebanon, which enabled Hezbollah to smuggle weapons to terrorists who launched thousands of Iranian rockets into Israel.

Horenstein thanked CUFI for its support of Israel.

He said Israel’s recent exchanges of “land for peace” have not worked because “the root cause of the conflict is the Arabs’ rejection of Israel’s right to exist.”

As a case in point, he discussed Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

“Israel had carved out an area nine miles wide to protect its towns from Hezbollah’s terrorist mini-state,” he said. “Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon in 2000. Since then, violence has escalated. Hezbollah always claimed they only were resisting the occupation of southern Lebanon, but when 1,500 Israeli troops withdrew, why did Hezbollah arm itself with tens of thousands of rockets?”

Horenstein, who recently visited Israel, said “an average of 11 rockets a day” are launched from Gaza into Sderot, an impoverished community that is virtually unprotected from missiles and mortar fire. He said the 17,000 who steadfastly remain in the area are “courageous, patriotic people.”

He said families sleep with the windows open so they can hear alerts that provide only 15-second warnings, and the entire population suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome. Children have been maimed and killed in the attacks and are afraid to go to school, he said.

“The Palestinians held free elections but put their government in the hands of Hamas, which even the Europeans agree is a terrorist organization,” Horenstein said. “Now Gaza is a terrorist fortress.”

Horenstein said the Israelis “have shown amazing restraint” toward the terrorists in Gaza, “who are using their civilian population as human shields.”

He characterized the UN Human Rights Council, which “has passed dozens of resolutions against Israel and recently condemned Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip,” as a “rogue’s gallery.”

Neal pointed out there have been “over 100 resolutions in favor of the Palestinian people, condemning acts of Israel,” and none in support of Israel.

However, he asked the audience to thank their Congressmen for supporting House Resolution 951, passed March 5, which “denounces Hamas’ rocket fire into Israel” and states that the attackers “routinely utilize the Palestinian civilian population as human shields.”

Neal said CUFI, which has about 80,000 members, raised $118,000 to aid Sderot at its March 13 “Night to Honor Israel” in Sacramento. He encouraged the audience to attend the May 19 “Night to Honor Israel” at New Hope Community Church in Portland and to attend CUFI’s annual summit in Washington, D.C.

According to Phyllis Lohse, city director of CUFI for the Portland-Vancouver area, 4,500 lobbied for Israel at CUFI’s 2007 summit.

Neal said the paradigm for Christian pro-Israel activism has changed dramatically over the past two decades. He said CUFI is “non-conversionary by design.”

He also said CUFI supports Israel “without strings.”

“We don’t think Israel should give up an inch of land,” he said, “but we don’t vote there, those aren’t our kids fighting and dying there and we respect their sovereignty.”

Neal said the Christian world is awakening to “the atrocities that have happened under our own banner,” including “our deafening silence” during the Holocaust.

“We stand at a fork in the road where we have to decide whether we’re going to turn a blind eye or we’re going to . . . let our elected officials exhaust every diplomatic avenue [to help Israel],” he said.

Neal said CUFI members, of various denominations, set aside their differences to focus on Israel.

“We agree on the security, sovereignty and safety of Israel,” he said. “Not on our watch, never again will the Jewish people be alone. Those aren’t hollow claims; we will demonstrate it by our actions.”