Delegitimizing Israel

By Rev. Malcolm Hedding

The awful horrors of the Holocaust had hardly become fully known when Israel emerged as a nation on the world stage amidst the shambles of the Second World War. As time passed the depth of wickedness and evil perpetrated against the Jewish people by the Nazis became more and more evident. As a consequence one would have thought that a “new day” would emerge in terms of the world’s relationship with the Jewish people. Sadly this is not to be.

Not only did the international community, and Britain, renege on their undertakings to the early Zionists leaders of the Jewish people, but they turned their backs on the clear undertakings approved by the entire League of Nations on the 24th of July, 1922. Clearly within this framework the perceived Jewish State was everything on the West Bank of the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. Eli Hertz, writing in “Mandate for Palestine” states, “The mandate for Palestine, an historical League of Nations document, laid down the Jewish Legal rights to settle anywhere in Western Palestine, a 10,000 square mile area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.”

Within hours of the declaration of statehood in May 1948, Israel was faced with immediate war. Five Arab armies attacked the “new born” state in contradiction of the will of the world community expressed through the United Nations. Behind this attack was not political disapproval, but a radical Islamic agenda that cannot abide a foreign entity on what it perceived to be “Islamic soil until doomsday”. This, and only this, is at the root of the conflict that still rages in the region. Even when the Arabs had everything they say they want now from 1948 to 1967 they were not content. In fact, they formed the PLO in 1964 with the single and urgent aim of dismantling the entire Jewish State. This “aim” is reflected in the many “destruction clauses” enshrined in the PLO charter up until today.

Four Pillars of Conflict

The inability to dislodge Israel by conventional war, as proved by the Yom Kippur war of 1973, led to a more sinister form of conflict that has involved four pillars.

1) Terrorism

2) Civilians

3) Peace initiatives …and …

4) The Media

In terms of terrorism Israel has withstood wave upon wave of violent assaults against its citizen population. Strangely, these are almost always given scant reviews in the media…but, if a Palestinian is injured or dies in the conflict, there is international uproar. The ten thousand Hamas fired rockets raining down on the south of the country are proof of this. There were no rallies in the streets of Europe protesting such outrageous behaviour and the world community, in all its forums, gave very little importance to it.

Israel’s attempts to defend itself were made extremely difficult because the perpetrators of these acts of terror took refuge amongst the civilian population. This was the case in Jenin, Ramallah and Gaza. All the while the political wing of the PLO agreed to various peace initiatives while at the same time, in Arabic, assuring its constituency that they have not moved away from the 1964 approved plan for the phased destruction of Israel. Groups like Palestinian Media Watch and MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute) have clearly demonstrated this beyond all doubt.

The Smear of Israeli Apartheid

This “battle” took a turn after the collapses of the various Oslo initiatives in the late nineties in that the media, generally driven by the left, began to renew their assault against Israel by equalling it with the fallen Apartheid Regime of South Africa. Strategically, this was brilliant as the icons of the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa, like Desmond Tutu, were “on board”. So, Durban 1 and 2, though purporting to deal with racism and discrimination on a world-wide scale, were actually attempts to discredit Israel. It can be said that Durban 1 launched the Apartheid smear against Israel in earnest.

The idea of the campaign was simple; discredit Israel, delegitimize Israel and (hopefully) dismantle Israel. Sadly, this misguided campaign has taken root everywhere in the Western world and particularly on educational campuses. Prominent Israeli’s can hardly address students at these anymore as their right of free speech will be removed by heckling and even violent actions. The Palestinian machinery has “milked” this Apartheid smear against Israel to the fullest extent. To be honest, the label is sticking and the campaign is reaching into the halls of western governments. It’s popular today to be anti-Israel, as Stephen Harper, the courageous Prime Minister of Canada, recently pointed out. So, taking positions against Israel in the United Nations will get you “kudos” and introductions to the right people!

Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions

On the heels of the Apartheid smear campaign against Israel has arrived the so called “BDS Campaign”. BDS meaning; Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. Once again the strategy is clear; if Israel can be discredited as an Apartheid state and thus delegitimized then, as was the case with Apartheid South Africa, she should be subjected to boycotts, disinvestment and broad based sanctions until she is successfully dismantled. We must not minimize the impact of these two campaigns. They are gathering momentum at an alarming rate and as a result Israel is facing increased isolation and rejection across the world.

To ensure, the lucrative oil markets of the Arab world coupled with growing commercial demands and markets for Western products is playing a roll in all of this. Blackmail is still a political game!

Jerusalem, Incitment & the Right of Return

Many of Israel’s so called friends want her to commit national suicide by giving in to unreasonable demands such as the surrender of East Jerusalem and the return of millions of second and third generation Palestinians to Israel proper. All the while, in the Palestinian media and in Palestinian school books, the destruction of Israel is called for and jihadist terrorists are celebrated at youth camps as role models and heroes. These things have been brought to the attention of the European Union, the United Nations and the U.S. government, but nothing happens or changes. They are ignored. Israel, without a true peace partner (The Mandela factor) is demonized, vilified and isolated, and yet she is the only Democracy in the Middle East and has demonstrated a unique ability to forge a lasting peace where genuine peace partners can be and are found. The history of this is well known.

Islam & the Hatred of the ‘Collective Jew’

Sadly, lurking behind all of the above is a hatred of the Jew and now the “collective Jew” (Israel). The assault against Israel from 1948 onwards has been unrelenting. It is driven by a radical Islamic agenda of conquest at all costs. The nature of this conflict has not changed though the Arab/Palestinian interlockers have changed colours to suit the moment like chameleons. An unlikely alliance between the political left and the radical Islamic constituency of Europe has emerged, fuelling anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere. Once again in Europe Jews are in danger and Iran has surrounded Israel to the north, south, east and west. That is, with Hezbollah and Hamas to the North and South respectively and with a new alliance with Turkey to the North West.

Driven by visions and visitations of a mysterious 12th Iman Admadinijad of Iran is preparing for war with Israel. If not stopped by the international community, this war could involve a nuclear attack against the Jewish State. The situation is urgent and dangerous but the international community continues to entertain Admadinijad at the UN, in violation of its own ­­­­charter. In this case, incitement to Genocide against a member state.

The Right of Self-Defense

While Israel has made mistakes she is not the transgressor that much of this world makes her out to be. The hatred of Israel has become so intense that she is no longer allowed to defend herself against the enemy that is determined to destroy her. The Second Lebanon War followed by the war with Gaza in early 2009 demonstrated this. In a so called enlightened world it is hard to believe that what happened to the Jews in Germany could happen again. But it is! Now the target is the “collective Jew” (Israel). Once again the Jews are being blamed for every ill being suffered by the world. Even the attack on the World Trade Centre buildings on 9/11 in New York by radical Islamic jihadists was attributed to Jews on much of the Arab main street! And, with austerity programs being adopted by the western democracies, in order to stave off economic meltdown, the Jews are being, and will be, blamed for much of this. Rioting on the streets of London and Europe are now common place and Israel and the Jews will be in the firing line.

The march to delegitimize Israel continues and even though Israel has legal, historical, international and biblical legitimacy this will all be pushed aside on the assertion that “this may be so but the facts on the ground have changed.” It is thus now expedient to make Israel comply with the will of the international community. This “will” will in the future become more rigid and threatening especially as western democracies face economic austerity programs that make turning to “green energy”, which is very expensive, more unlikely. Oil will remain the “life blood” of the world and this reality will contribute to the pressure on Israel to comply.

Our Response as Christians

These are very dangerous days and, whether we like it or not, the biblical scenario of all nations coming against Israel is becoming a likely one. Israel is moving into a period of isolation not seen since her founding. Her friends will be few but the Lord God of Heaven has prepared a body of people all over the world who will now stand up and be counted. These are the Evangelical Christians. We cannot be silent again as Jesus’ brethren are threatened with destruction.

Israel’s restoration is not a political accident but a direct fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham 4,000 years ago. Her role in history has not been one of racial superiority but of serventhood. She gave us the Bible and our wonderful Messiah Jesus and now we are indebted to her. Our faith is rooted in Israel’s long journey and we must stand up to support her and defend her.

This means that:

(1) You must seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

(2) You must live a holy life by which Christ is glorified.

(3) You must live out your biblical responsibilities and obligations to the local church.

(4) You must pray for Israel and seek to bless her.

(5) You must get active and involve your elected representatives in your community.

(6) You must keep yourself fully informed of current events in Israel and the wider region. Jesus said, “watch and pray”.

(7) You must avail yourself of our specialist seminars and speaking events that can better equip your circle of friends, prayer group and church …and …,

(8) You must involve yourself in the wider activities of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.

If not now, when?

This is a transcript of a speech by Susan Michael, US President, to the 9th Annual Solidarity Event at the Embassy of Israel, Washington DC, May 7th, 2010.

A worldwide campaign to delegitimize the Jewish State is sounding in the halls of governments, global institutions, universities and in streets around the world. This mounting campaign against Israel is unprecedented and it is undermining her ability to deal with the other serious threats she faces. The goal of this campaign is not only to tie Israel’s hands, but actually to bring about the end of the Jewish state.

A Campaign of Delegitimization

We just endured the Sixth Annual Israeli Apartheid Week that took place on college campuses in over 40 cities around the world. They are calling Israel an ‘apartheid state’: a country in which the Arab minority is allowed to vote, attend universities next to Jewish students, serve in the IDF, serve as ambassadors, as Supreme Court judges and even represent the nation as Miss Israel. Former US President, Jimmy Carter even turned this accusation into a bestselling book. To us this is ludicrous. But do not be fooled. This is a very dangerous global campaign because it implies that if Israel is a nation like apartheid South Africa then she can be sanctioned and dismantled in the same way as the apartheid regime of South Africa.

Hitler understood the role propaganda played in preparing the way for the extermination of the Jewish people. The steps were first discrimination, second delegitimization and lastly, extermination. We need to understand the role of the global disinformation and propaganda campaign taking place against Israel today and take it seriously.

This current campaign of delegitimization focuses on Israel as though she is the source of all evil in the world. She is not only the obstacle to Palestinian statehood but to world peace. But I want to know this: while orchestrated demonstrations were held around the world against Israel when she moved into Gaza to end the rocket attacks, and while global institutions such as the UN are accusing her of war crimes, and while our academics and mainline churches are calling for divestment – where are the demonstrations against the Iranian government for the incitement to genocide, or for threatening another member-state in the United Nations, or for beating and imprisoning innocent citizens for protesting against a rigged election?

Where are the demonstrations against Hamas who fired 8,000 rockets at innocent Israeli civilians, or for persecuting and murdering Christians in Gaza, or for kidnapping and holding Gilad Shalit for four years! Where are the demonstrations against the Palestinian Authority for glorifying suicide bombers and brainwashing little children to want to become one?

The list goes on and on and if I get started on Sudan, and Egypt and Saudi Arabia we will be here past dinner.

It is really maddening. And to think that while an almost-nuclear Iran is threatening to wipe Israel off the map, the world asks Israel to commit to a nuclear free Middle East! Or get this one: Iran was just elected to a four-year seat on the UN Women’s Rights Commission. Iran does not recognize the basic human rights of women! These are the same institutions condemning Israel for a war of self defense. Israel suffered over 8,000 rocket attacks from a group that ignores the laws of war and not only targets Israeli civilians but uses their own civilians for cover, and then Israel is the one accused of war crimes!

I am telling you that the global campaign against Israel is unprecedented. Its influence is being felt everywhere. While we have been immune to a lot of this in the US I can detect its growing influence here not only in our government, but even in Christian universities, and in the wider Evangelical world.

A Battle over Values

So what is behind all of this? First, the enemies of Israel have found a politically correct manner in which to defeat Israel and see the state dismantled. Parts of this campaign are absolutely planned and deliberate with this goal in mind.

Secondly, they have found lots of bedfellows because it is nothing but a new form of antisemitism. While classic antisemitism blames the Jews for the world’s ills, the new antisemitism, anti-Zionism, blames the Jewish nation for the worlds ills. Antisemites have simply found a politically correct way to be antisemitic.

Thirdly, it goes beyond that because Israel is in direct confrontation with the value systems of the world today. We are living in a world that now believes in moral relativism – the belief that there is no right or wrong, good or evil, truth or falsehood – it is all a question of competing narratives. The Jewish nation, which gave the world the Ten Commandments, flies in the face of moral relativism. Israel is also a Jewish state in an age when both religion and nationalism are under assault, therefore her ‘Jewishness’ is being called racism. The world is also becoming increasingly pacifist. Israel, a nation that relies on military force for her very survival, flies in the face of pacifism, hence they call her “Nazi.”

I can’t help but think of two scriptures at this point. Isaiah 5:20 says “woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” And II Thess. 2:11 “Therefore God will send them a great delusion because they did not love the truth.” This is why I am very concerned for our world and the direction in which it is heading.

A Challenge to Speak the Truth

So what can we do in the face of such gigantic challenges. There is a saying that comes to my mind that sums it up well: pray as though it is all up to God, and work as though it is all up to you.

Isaiah 62:6-7 says this:
I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
They shall never hold their peace day or night.
You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent,
And give Him no rest till He establishes
And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

Jerusalem will no longer be ridiculed, instead she will be praised by all the earth, and it is “He” who will do this. We know that the battle is the Lord’s. And we will pray as though it is all up to Him.

But we also need to roll up our sleeves, see this for the battle that it is and go on the “information offensive.” How do we fight disinformation, but with information. You and I need to tell Israel’s story, over and over, and louder and louder.

We need to tell the world how they are indebted to the Jewish people. The Jewish contribution to religion, science, literature, music, medicine, finance, philosophy, technology etc., is staggering. They are making our world a better place.

We need to tell the Christian world how indebted we are to the Jewish people for everything we hold dear as Christians comes from the Jewish people.

We need to tell our country how indebted we are to Israel. Her intelligence and military technology are helping us and are saving lives of our servicemen and women. Her high tech industry and innovation is fueling Silicon Valley and our economy. She is the only democratic ally we have in the volatile Middle East. A strong US-Israel relationship is not only good for Israel, it is good for America!

The Bible is clear that those who curse Israel and seek to destroy her will suffer the consequences of the very hatred and destruction they foment. As Yehuda Avner, an Israeli author, said just last week in The Jerusalem Post, “our history is that our enemies try to destroy us in every generation, and every time it is they who are destroyed.”

We need to tell Israel’s story not just because it will help Israel, but because it will help our own nation and everyone in the world who will side with truth.

Just when the annual “Israel Apartheid Week” campaign will be hitting college campuses across North America this week, Palestinian Christians will be hosting a five-day conference in Bethlehem which is expected to convey many of the same messages and aims of seeking to delegitimize Israel. What makes this “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference unusual is that it is largely an initiative of Christians from the Evangelical movement, whose ranks traditionally have held favorable views on Israel.

This briefing paper provides background information for the media on the “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference [March 5-9, 2012], its objectives, sponsors, and the speakers involved.

Download this article in pdf format »

The annual “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference was first launched in 2010 at the initiative of the Bethlehem Bible College, an Evangelical institution established by local Palestinian Christian clerics and educators. Many of the core sponsors and speakers at that initial “Checkpoint” gathering were previously involved in events held under the auspices of the Sabeel Center, directed by local Anglican canon, Rev. Naim Ateek. Yet it appears that these Evangelicals have made a conscious effort in recent years to distance themselves from their past associations with Sabeel and to offer a forum more appealing to a wider Evangelical audience. Indeed, Dr. Ateek was a speaker at the inaugural 2010 Checkpoint gathering but has not been invited back since.

Critics of Sabeel say it has espoused a radical brand of Palestinian Liberation Theology that would seek to justify violence by the “oppressed” Palestinians against the “oppressor” Israel on biblical grounds. In one sample of his radical rhetoric, Ateek once told followers in an Easter message: “In this season of Lent, it seems to many of us that Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around him. It only takes people of insight to see the hundreds of thousands of crosses throughout the land, Palestinian men, women, and children being crucified. Palestine has become one huge golgotha. The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily. Palestine has become the place of the skull.” (1)

Over the years, a number of Sabeel speakers have also denied the reliability and authority of Scripture or offered radical interpretations of biblical passages related to Israel. For instance, the late Prof. Michael Prior denounced the Bible as “a dangerous book” which legitimizes and mandates genocide. Prior also described the authors of the biblical narratives as “very narrow minded, xenophobic, perhaps militaristic… pin-headed bigots,” and ridiculed Joshua as the “patron saint of ethnic cleansers.” (2)

These are all positions that would make most Evangelicals quite uncomfortable and even the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rev. Rowan Williams, turned down an invitation to speak at a Sabeel conference in Jerusalem in 2004 because he did not want to be identified with “the wrong voices” – as his spokesman put it at the time. (3)

Thus the annual “Christ at the Checkpoint” conferences should be seen as a bid by local Palestinian clerics and their allies abroad to move away from Sabeel and offer a message more appealing to Evangelicals. This has included an effort to invite new voices into the conference more supportive of Israel. This year’s roster of speakers, for example, includes Rev. Wayne Hilsden of the King of Kings Community fellowship in Jerusalem and two local Messianic Jewish leaders.

Still, these voices will likely be drowned out by the overwhelming chorus of Israel critics at the conference, and the thrust of Christ at the Checkpoint 2012 will remain largely a one-sided message based on a deeply flawed historical narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and highly suspect theology.

Nonetheless, the conference has begun to achieve its aim of drawing more speakers and attendees from the Evangelical movement, though from its more liberal wing, such as Tony Campolo and Lynne Hybels. These Evangelical newcomers have begun expressing sympathies for Palestinian suffering as part of their wider advocacy for the cause of “social justice.” But they are largely novices regarding the history and complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and thus their views are often misinformed and easily misguided by anti-Israel propaganda.

A number of these new Checkpoint participants from the “Religious Left” signed the letter to US President George W. Bush in July 2007 seeking to distance themselves from the Evangelical mainstream’s more skeptical view of Palestinian intentions in the Middle East peace process. (4)

Meanwhile, the more veteran Evangelical critics of Israel involved in the Checkpoint conference consist mainly of native Palestinian Christian clergy with nationalistic motivations, along with a small group of Christian scholars from the West who have made a career out of maligning Israel and its Christian Zionist admirers.

Most of the local Palestinian Christian participants can claim genuine Evangelical credentials and some have personal family stories of loss and dispossession which they have utilized to elicit sympathy from Evangelicals abroad. The “Local Committee” for the Checkpoint conference is listed as Munther Isaac, Bishara Awad, Salim Munayer, Hanna Katanacho, Jack Sarah, Sami Awad and Alex Awad.

The veteran Evangelical scholars from abroad will include Stephen Sizer and Colin Chapman from the UK, and Gary Burge from Wheaton College, near Chicago. They were also previously involved with Sabeel events in years past and were among its most strident critics of Israel and of Christian Zionism. Sizer, for instance, has defended the provocative Gaza flotilla in May 2010, welcomed the caustic comments against Jews by veteran AP White House correspondent Helen Thomas which led to her dismissal, and has even been willing to appear at conferences alongside radical Islamist elements from Iran and Hizbullah who called for Israel’s elimination and denied the Holocaust. (5)

Based on past Checkpoint conferences, the listed speakers, and the topics to be addressed, the gathering can be expected to promote a series of disturbing positions, including:

Cloaked versions of Replacement theology: For many Evangelicals, the main concern with the Checkpoint conference lays in the theology espoused by various invited speakers which serves to undergird their one-sided and critical approach to Israel. Not wanting to be identified with Replacement theology and its abysmal fruits down through Church history, many now expound Fulfillment theology or other beliefs which deny Israel its rightful place in the land today. They maintain that with the death and resurrection of Christ, all the Old Testament promises to Israel were fulfilled. Yet this teaching winds up in the same place as Replacement theology by insisting that Israel has already served its purpose and the Church has now superseded the Jewish people as God’s redemptive agent in the world. This teaching does not give room for a unique and enduring national calling upon the Jewish people and rejects any notion that the modern-day restoration of Israel is the consequence of God keeping His eternal covenant with them. Rather they denounce Zionism as “man-made.” In doing so, they also abrasively assail Christian Zionist supporters of Israel without just cause. (6)

The Israel=Apartheid analogy: Many Checkpoint speakers have wrongly smeared Israel with the apartheid label and called for dismantling the Jewish state. For instance, conference speaker Ben White has authored a book entitled, “Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide”. The fact that the conference is timed to coincide with Israel Apartheid Week only serves to reinforce this distorted message. The conference has also set aside special sessions to reflect on the Kairos Palestine document, co-written by conference organizer Yohanna Katanacho, which peddles the apartheid analogy as well as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions strategy. (7) It is worth noting that some leading proponents of this BDS movement are now admitting its real aim is the elimination of Israel, not peace with the Palestinians.

The ‘Palestinian Jesus’: Many Palestinian political and religious leaders, including the late Yasser Arafat, have falsely portrayed Jesus as a Palestinian revolutionary fighting Roman oppression, and described Palestinians today as the Body of Christ suffering under Israeli oppression. Even the very name of the conference, “Christ at the Checkpoint,” plays into this distorted narrative of a Palestinian Jesus. A number of conference speakers have endorsed this twisting of the true Jewish identity of the historic figure of Jesus. For instance, co-sponsor Sami Awad once wrote that an Israeli incursion into Bethlehem during the second intifada was akin to the Roman massacre of infants in the same city as described in the Christmas story. He wrote of “passing by big Israeli army tanks and army personnel carriers each pointing their guns at us. Israeli army troops were being brought from all corners into Bethlehem like Herod’s soldiers… We pray that the reign of Herod will come to an end and that the message of the Prince of Peace will again be a light from Bethlehem to all corners of the world.” (8)

One-sided Palestinian narrative: Conference speakers have repeatedly denounced Israeli “injustices” against the Palestinians while ignoring or falsifying the true course of events which led to Palestinian loss and displacement. That is, there is little or no acknowledgement that the Jewish people came to resettle their ancient homeland in peace and it was Arab leaders who ignited a war against the fledgling state of Israel in 1948. Further, there is no acknowledgement that Palestinian leaders have repeatedly rejected peace offers made by Israel and escalated the conflict instead, leading to more losses for their people. Conference speakers have consistently downplayed Palestinian terrorism and other security threats to Israel, while also ignoring radical Islam as a primary source of Palestinian Christian grievances. The conference’s use of the Israeli security “Wall” and IDF checkpoints as symbols of their suffering is indicative of this dishonest historical narrative. No calls for reconciliation and ‘social justice’ – as demanded by numerous Checkpoint speakers – can be built upon such untruths.

Beyond Anti-Israelism: Finally, certain speakers invited to the Checkpoint conference have taken stands that go beyond mere criticism of Israel and into outright anti-Semitism. Scholars have characterized the “new anti-Semitism” as obsessive efforts to highlight and condemn alleged injustices committed by the Jewish state while ignoring gross atrocities being committed elsewhere. In this regard, it should be noted that the Christ at the Checkpoint conference is being convened to focus on perceived Israeli injustices at a time when Arab regimes in the region have been openly slaughtering their own people.

In anticipation of the Checkpoint conference, Dr. Jürgen Bühler, Executive Director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, noted on Sunday: “While we do recognize and respect the organizers of the conference as our brothers in Christ, we do have strong disagreements concerning their theological approach, as it can easily lend itself to anti-Semitism and anti-Israel propaganda, as some of the Checkpoint speakers have proven in the past. Yet at the same time, we have to confess that too many Christian friends of Israel have neglected our Arab brothers in the Holy Land and beyond. We surely need to increase our efforts to prove that being pro-Israel does not mean being anti-Arab. Jesus loves both people groups and we do well to do the same.”

Footnotes:
1. An Easter Message from Sabel (Sabeel Article Archive)
2. Paul Wilkinson, “Report of The 5th International Sabeel Conference, April 14-18, 2004
3. http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/ENS/ENSpress_release.pl?pr_number=042804-3
4. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/us/evangelical_letter.html
5. See: http://seismicshock.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/antisemitism-and-christ-at-the-checkpoint-2012.pdf
6. See: http://us.icej.org/news/commentary/israel-and-fulfillment-theology
7. http://www.kairospalestine.ps/; See also http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Article.aspx?id=164070
8. http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=9598

A Noble Lineage

As a young ordained minister with the Assemblies of God, South African native Malcolm Hedding confronted the apartheid system from the pulpit and was forced to flee his homeland. Today, he is a prominent Christian Zionist leader based in Jerusalem who is challenging the incessant branding of Israel with the “apartheid” label.

Hedding was born in 1952 into a family of British descent that had settled in the Eastern Cape region. His father, Guy Usher Hedding, managed a gold mine and learned to speak the “click” language of the local Xhosa peoples, eventually mastering many other African dialects.

“My father was greatly loved by all the black African mine workers under his supervision, because he always treated them with respect,” says Hedding. “They even twice crowned him as an African king.”

“In the 1960s, there was a major land dispute between the government and the African people in one of the provinces,” he recalls. “The government wanted to take away some land with huge platinum deposits, and the Africans asked my father to come represent their cause. Thousands of Africans had come to protest, and I will never forget when we arrived there was a shout of joy that ‘the king’ had come. He confronted the government and was very successful.

“My father instilled within us values that let us know we should not just accept the system; that we should never rob the black people of their dignity or dehumanize them.”

The system was apartheid, which had taken root when the Nationalist Party swept into power in 1948 and consolidated its political grip on the country.

A False Foundation

According to Hedding, in many respects apartheid was a theological system. The architect of its Calvinist form was a Dutch Reformed minister, Daniel Detoitas, while the first apartheid prime minister was also a Dutch Reformed minister, Daniel Francois Malan.

“The Dutch Calvinists’ platform was a false notion, another deviant form of replacement theology based on the biblical injunction that believers ought to keep themselves ‘separate’ from the heathens. You can see who the heathens were – they were the blacks. And of course the righteous people of God were the whites. So they built this system, vindicating it on false theological grounds,” explains Hedding.

At one time, he notes, the prime minister of the country was Balthazar Johannes Vorster and the moderator of the Dutch Reformed Church was his brother, Koot Vorster. So the Vorster brothers tied up the country politically and ideologically.

“In a sense, it was a limited democracy for the whites only. An estimated 170,000 Afrikaners effectively held power over 40 million blacks because of the undemocratic nature of the system,” he says.

Preaching Equality

Hedding entered the ministry in the early 1970s as a member of the Assemblies of God of Southern Africa. This was primarily a black movement founded in part by a black preacher, Nicholas Bhengu. For this reason, the racial tensions within the Assemblies of God were never the same as in the rest of the country.

“As the years passed, my emotional and cultural resistance to the apartheid system was fortified by my theological education,” Hedding notes. “I didn’t need to be convinced because of my father’s example. But the word of God brought further understanding – passages like Ephesians, which speaks of ‘one new man’ in Christ who is neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female. This means that in the Christian life, there are to be no prejudices or hatred, nor any sense of discrimination between people groups or gender groups. We are all equal in the sight of God.”

Once he had his own pulpit, Hedding began to attack apartheid in public. “I always tried to show my congregation why it was wrong and unacceptable, and that if they couldn’t change the political system, they should at least treat people of color with absolute dignity and respect and love and courtesy.”

Hedding was also interested in Israel and his understanding of the dangers of theologies that “replace” Israel was accentuated by apartheid. “I came to realize just how deviant the various replacement theologies can be, and the evil they birth. I was living in an environment that said: ‘We are the people of God, the new Israel. We, the Christians, are living among pagans, these dirty people, and we have to keep ourselves separate.’ Many scriptures were taken out of context and applied in this way.”

The ‘Plant’ Uprooted

Pastoring churches in the Transvaal, where he had grown up, and later in Durban, Hedding continued preaching against apartheid and by the early 1980s had developed a nationwide ministry, traveling widely in response to frequent speaking invitations. He insists he never politicized his message, but attacked the issue from a biblical perspective.

“If my message contradicted some political party’s platform, then so be it,” he says. “I was living out my conscience. And more and more, for various reasons, I was invited to preach all over the country.”

Before long he was holding seminars on this issue, even for business groups. Strangely enough, even some Dutch Reformed churches invited him to preach on the subject. “That’s when things got hot,” Hedding notes with a smile.

Over time his activities caught the attention of the Bureau of State Security, which began following and harassing him. In 1986, the BSS even planted a top security agent in his congregation to monitor his sermons and compile a dossier against him.

“Trevor” infiltrated the church posing as a longhaired hippie, wearing sandals, dirty jeans and T-shirts. One sympathetic church leader even opened his home to this apparently poor man. “Then one night Trevor got wonderfully saved,” recalls Hedding. “He got converted under my preaching and came forward calling on God for forgiveness. Afterwards, he said he wanted to come and see me.”

Hedding thought Trevor wanted to talk about his new lease on life, but instead he walked in later that week with a thick file, laid it on the desk and confessed to spying. He warned Hedding that he would likely be detained without trial and urged him to take his family and flee the country.

Coincidentally, around this same time he had been contacted by Jim Cantelon, a pastor who was starting a church in Jerusalem and suggested that Hedding join the ministry team at what is today King of Kings Community, the largest evangelical fellowship in the city. With the agreement of his church elders, he left South Africa for Israel. While living in Israel, Hedding also was invited to serve as chaplain for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, a global Christian Zionist ministry that he now heads.

Unique Credentials

By 1989, apartheid was slowly crumbling and the Hedding family determined it was safe to return to South Africa. They arrived home in Durban the very week hard-liner president P. W. Botha was ousted by F.W. de Klerk, a reformist who released Nelson Mandela from prison shortly thereafter.

The security apparatus let Hedding know he was now “on the good side,” and over the next 10 years he founded churches in South Africa and traveled for the ICEJ, preaching in support of Zionism. Then in 2000, he was invited back to Jerusalem by the Christian Embassy’s board of trustees to take over leadership of the ministry.

His struggle against apartheid in South Africa and his close involvement with Israel have given Hedding unique credentials to address today’s Israel-apartheid analogies. In fact, the UN Conference on Racism in 2001 that spawned the current campaign to brand Israel an apartheid state was held just two blocks away from Hedding’s home church in Durban.

“Calling Israel an ‘apartheid state’ is absolute nonsense,” he insists. “You might have structures that look like apartheid, but they’re not. The barrier fence has nothing to do with apartheid and everything to do with Israel’s self-defense. There was no such barrier until the second intifada, when people were being murdered on the highways. And the country does not dehumanize its minority in the sense of apartheid. The issues are totally different.”

Hedding believes Israel has more than proven its desire to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians, while granting political rights to its own Arab citizens within a liberal democratic system. Nevertheless, the Palestinians remain committed to Israel’s destruction.

By contrast, he says, it was a tiny minority in South Africa that held power and once democracy came, the Nationalist Party that had dominated the masses disappeared.

“Israel is not trying to dominate the Arab minority or dehumanize it; she’s trying to facilitate sovereignty in one way or another while protecting her own citizens from a program of destruction. In no way is it an apartheid system.”

He believes the security barrier gave fuel to that idea because it separates people, but it is incorrect fuel. Still, he says people like Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu seize upon it as a physical symbol to further their misguided political agenda.

“When I hear ‘apartheid’ used in regards to Israel, I think it trivializes the word. In fact, the harsh reality was that 40 million black people were dehumanized, robbed of their dignity and treated like absolute dirt. To trivialize apartheid in that way is an insult to the black peoples of South Africa.

“Of course, it’s a very convenient and very emotive word. You have to give them credit – it is a brilliant PR stroke, but it’s disingenuous. When people like Desmond Tutu continue to feed this, it is an insult to the very people they tried to liberate.”

Attacking the Root

Hedding has concluded that if there is any analogy between the two situations, it is the link between Christian replacement theology that undergirded apartheid and an Islamic version of replacement theology that stands at the heart of the Middle East conflict today.

“Radical Islamic theology and its desire to return the region to Dar al-Islam [House of Islam] is the one core issue that very few people acknowledge. Even though you have groups like Hamas riding on very clear Islamic theological principles, the world makes the constant error of avoiding the theological nature of this conflict. Instead, they are trying to deal with it in a secular, humanistic, political context. They can never solve it because they won’t own up to the truth that we are dealing with a conflict with Islam.

“If you don’t start from the theological foundation, like we did in South Africa, then you can never address this thing honestly. You can’t do it by pointing to symbols like the wall and equating them with apartheid. That is a very false and superficial analysis. The source of the conflict is a radical Islamic need to verify their revelation by the dismantling of the Jewish state.”

If he could talk to Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu, he would tell them they are being fundamentally dishonest.

“I admire Desmond Tutu in many ways. I heard him preach in South Africa during the apartheid years, and I’ll never forget how wonderfully he preached one night in a conference I attended. He preached on the lordship of Jesus and blessed my heart with his message. Today I would say to him: ‘Desmond, of all people, you who unearthed the very foundations of the apartheid system, why are you ignoring totally the radical Islamic desire to dismantle the Jewish state? Why do you not have the honesty to get up and say it?'”

By Lela Gilbert

Jerusalem Post Christian Edition

Lela Gilbert is an award-winning author and journalist. Among her 60 published books is Their Blood Cries Out, co-authored with Paul Marshall. This article was first published in The Jerusalem Post Christian Edition, January 2007.

Response to Protestant Leaders’ Letter to Congress

Mainline church leaders who systematically demonize the Israeli security forces while whitewashing the record of those committed to her destruction do little to promote true peace in the Middle East says the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) – the world’s leading Jerusalem-based evangelical ministry.

The comments by the ICEJ’s USA President, Susan Michael, were made in response to a letter written to the US Congress by fifteen mainline church leaders alleging human rights violations by Israeli troops and calling for an investigation of American military aid to the country.

“They would do us all a service if they would begin to address the real issues of the day like the endemic persecution of Christians in the Muslim world, the atrocities of the Syrian government against their own citizens and the threat to global peace and stability posed by a nuclear-armed Iran,” countered Michael in response to the October 5th letter by leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA), United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the National Council of Churches.

The letter which was issued late in the day on the eve of the Sabbath in the midst of the Jewish holiday season of Sukkot, prompted angry and articulate responses from Jewish leaders, including the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), the American Jewish Committee (AJC), and the Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Rabbis (RA). It also led to the cancellation of an annual Christian-Jewish leaders’ summit which was to have been held October 22-23 in New York. The so-called Jewish-Christian Roundtable was launched in 2004 in the wake of liberal Protestant movements to divest from companies doing business with Israel.

“The timing couldn’t have been worse,” says Michael who has been actively involved in promoting greater dialogue between the Jewish and Christian communities in the US for over thirty years. “The whole point of the New York meeting was to ease the tension with these denominations. But what this letter revealed was that many of their leaders never had any intention of abandoning their one-side Israel-bashing agenda, no matter how factually inaccurate and counterproductive it has proven to be.”

“Millions of Christians in these mainline churches do not support this type of ongoing demonization of the Jewish state, especially by church leaders who refuse to acknowledge the ongoing rocket-fire and terrorist attacks being carried out against ordinary Israelis on a daily basis,” Michael continued. “It is time that those who claim to represent the cause of Christ take stances that may actually help peace rather than simply condemning Israel for her efforts to defend her civilians.”

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is headquartered in the Israeli capital, with branch offices and representatives in some 70 nations, and a reach into more than 125 nations around the world. Its primary mandate is to serve as a “ministry of comfort” to Israel and the Jewish People worldwide, as a means for Christians to finally redress the lingering grievances which the Jewish people have against us due to the tragic history of Christian anti-Semitism.