Delight in Zion
The Battle against Anti-Semitism & Anti-Zionism
When I was five years old, I attended a local state infants’ school in East London, as the local Jewish school was oversubscribed.
I remember well the day a little girl called Jennifer sat down next to me and asked me if I was Jewish. In my innocent mind, I thought everyone was the same, so I said ‘yes’ proudly. Jennifer’s response was to let out a shocked ‘ohhhhhhh!’ and walk away from me.
I remember asking my mother why this happened. It was no surprise when, some two years later, I happily transferred to the local Jewish primary school as a space had become available.
Later, in my Jewish secondary school years, I experienced violent attacks from pupils of neighbouring Church of England schools, and anti-Semitic abuse from London bus drivers and some members of the public.
As a young Jewish man living in England, I proudly declared my Jewish identity, and began what has become a life-long battle against anti-Semitism. When I came to a living faith in Yeshua / Jesus as my Messiah and Saviour, that battle actually increased as I found unexpected disdain for my people among some Gentile Christians. Sadly, that is still true today even though there is heart-warming support and love too.
Now as I live and serve in Israel, and travel to minister internationally, I can see a very clear relationship between anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiments, often labelled anti-Zionism.
Two men I deeply respect and have had the privilege to meet are Canon Andrew White (Church of England priest and former Bishop of Baghdad), and Dr Michael L. Brown (international Messianic Bible teacher).
On 24th January 2018, Dr Brown published an open letter to Dr Jack Sara
((Principal of Bethlehem Bible College) in response to his criticism of evangelicals for supporting Trump's decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem.
Here is one of the points from Dr Brown's letter:
'... God did promise the physical land of Israel to the Jewish people before the Law was given at Sinai, and as Paul
explained in Galatians 3, the Law, which was 430 years after the promise, cannot nullify the promise. As for the perpetuity of that promise, could God have made Himself any clearer? “He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance’” (Psalm 105:8-11).
You might say, “But that’s not fair.”
May I ask you, dear brother, why everyone else gets a homeland but the Jewish people don’t get one, even a tiny one in the Middle East? If my calculations are right, the physical land of Israel constitutes roughly 1/650th of the surrounding Arab and Muslim land. Is it so terrible that we Jews have a homeland?'
Dr Brown correctly references clear biblical texts that state God’s unchanging covenant with Israel, and promise to give the Jewish people a homeland.
However, the right of the Jewish people to a homeland is questioned again and again by people who say they are not anti-Semitic. These people often criticize Israel without knowing all the facts, without balance, ignoring the hate filled threats and actions from Israel’s immediate neighbours, and the Palestinian agenda of liberating the land 'from the river (Jordan) to the sea (Mediterranean).'
The Palestinian threat (both from Fatah, who are wrongly portrayed in the West as ‘moderates,’ and from Hamas in Gaza) is grave, and seeks the total destruction of Israel. This must be clearly understood as anti-Semitism.
On 4th January 2019, Canon Andrew White made the following declaration on social media:
‘Most of you know how I passionately love the Jewish community. This year we are faced with a huge challenge, there has been a radical increase in anti-Semitism. This year I am going to work flat out to overcome this evil.’
Firstly, I thank Canon Andrew for his bold statement, and I am certainly one of many who will continue to fight this battle against anti-Semitism.
Immediately on social media there were one or two responses claiming that ‘legitimate criticism of Israel’ is not anti-Semitic.
My response is that most criticisms of Israel are unbalanced and often inaccurate, and come from people who completely fail to acknowledge the threats and abuse coming against Israel from its neighbours and enemies.
They also ignore the slaughter of the dispersed Jewish people throughout history.
These imbalances, that include Israel being forced to be even smaller that it is today (the size of Wales, or the State of New Jersey in the US, or Kruger Park in South Africa), in order to have peace with the Palestinians and its neighbours, who don’t acknowledge Israel’s right to even exist, is nothing short of asking Israel to commit national and strategic suicide.
It is totally anti-Semitic.
Yes, of course Israel’s government can be rightly criticized and is, and as the only true democracy in the Middle East, subject to its own electorate.
But I remain convinced that many of those who wish to criticize Israel do so from a perspective that would deny Israel’s right to exist, ignoring reality on the ground, and are actually extremely anti-Semitic.
One only has to look at the behaviour and beliefs of much of the British Labour Party and its current leader, Jeremy Corbyn to see the truth of this statement.
I thank God for servants like Canon Andrew White and Dr Michael Brown who are strong voices for truth in these challenging times.
I know that, as a Messianic believer living in Israel, I have a dual responsibility to be a blessing to the nations I am privileged to speak in, and to stand against the virulent anti-Semitism that is assaulting both Israel and the Jewish people worldwide.
These are battles for truth and righteousness.
