CAFI Newsletter #87
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Fri, 7 Jun 2002 18:46:00 -0400
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* CHRISTIAN ACTION FOR ISRAEL NEWSLETTER #87 *
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"ON YOUR WALLS, O JERUSALEM, I HAVE APPOINTED WATCHMEN"
Isaiah 62:6
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A PALESTINIAN STATE ?
Is It Inevitable? - Or Is It A Disastrous Idea?
http://christianactionforisrael.org/palstate.html
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Friday, June 7, 2002
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. ISRAEL’S FORGOTTEN ENEMY
2. SIX DAYS OF WAR, 35 YEARS OF QUESTIONS
3. DOES ANYONE OUT THERE CARE?
4. SYRIA'S REIGN OF TERROR
5. PITY THE POOR PALESTINIANS
6. QUOTES TO NOTE
7. HIGHLIGHT ARTICLES
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1. ISRAEL’S FORGOTTEN ENEMY
It’s Fidel Castro.
By Myles Kantor National Review June 6, 2002
Attacks of Palestinian resistance activists in
Israeli territory" is how a state-controlled
newspaper recently euphemized suicide massacres.
Its headlines on Israel in 2002 have included:
"Israeli soldiers sack, torture and execute police
and civilians in West Bank" (April 8)
"Sharon announces continuation of Palestinian holocaust"
(April 9)
"Israeli repression continues" (April 20)
"Israeli troops invade Hebron and kill 8 Palestinians"
(April 30)
This reeks of Saudi Arabia's Ar-Riyadh or Egypt's
Al-Ahram, but the source is much closer to America:
Cuba's Granma International.
In April, Granma also referred to "the genocidal
actions of the Israeli army" and included a
photograph of an anti-Israel rally with the poster,
"SHARON=HITLER." Granma's caption below the
photograph read, "The poster says it all. It is
a certainty that crosses the world."
Fidel Castro's totalitarian regime has Nazified
Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War; Cuba's
ambassador to the United Nations described Israel's
preemptive strike against imminent Arab belligerence
as a "surprise attack in the Nazi manner." In 1988,
Cuba published The Other Face: The Truth about the
Secret Relationships between Nazism and Zionism by
Mahmud Abbas (a.k.a., Abu Mazzen, secretary general
of the PLO's executive committee). Abbas disputes
the number of Jews murdered by the Nazis and claims
that Zionists murdered more than the Nazis. The
cover of The Other Face connects a swastika with
the Star of David.
When he's not accusing Israel of Nazism, Castro has
been a reliable ally of anti-Zionist violence and
propaganda. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Castro
deployed thousands of troops including tank
commanders and pilots to aid Syrian aggression
against Israel. Yasser Arafat visited Cuba in 1974
and received its highest honor, the National Order
of the Bay of Pigs.
In 1975, the United Nations passed an infamous
resolution that "Zionism is a form of racism and
racial discrimination." Cuba was on the side of
the anti-Zionists, and Granma praised the resolution
for demonstrating "the identical imperialist origins
and racist structure of the Israeli Zionist regime
that is occupying Palestine and the one that is
exploiting the black masses in South Africa."
The U.N. repealed the resolution in 1991,
which Cuba opposed.
The Cuban embassy in Beirut was Arafat's headquarters
during Israel's campaign to rout the brutal PLO
mini-state in southern Lebanon. Neil C. Livingstone
and David Halevy write in Inside the PLO, "Many of
the PLO fighters captured by the Israelis during
the 1982 invasion of Lebanon had been provided
with advanced training in Cuba, including various
special operations and demolitions courses."
Castro's aid to Israel's enemies continues to this
day. Irving Louis Horowitz notes in the spring
issue of The National Interest that "Training and
arming Palestinians from the PLO forces [by Cuba]
is ongoing." Granma admitted as much on March 30:
"Cuba reiterates its full support for the heroic
struggle of the Arab peoples, in particular that
of the Palestinians, against Israeli occupation
and aggression, and declares its solidarity with
their resistance and defiance [emphasis added]."
And have Jewish organizations denounced Castro's
demonization of the Jewish homeland and
sponsorship of its enemies?
A visit to the Anti-Defamation League's website
finds reports and press releases on anti-Zionism
in Arab media but nothing on Cuban anti-Zionism.
Cuban Jews' silence is understandable; to criticize
Granma or Castro risks being charged with "crimes"
like "enemy propaganda" and "disrespect."
In addition to being the most anti-Zionist regime
in the Western hemisphere, Cuba is one of only
seven regimes classified by the State Department
as a state sponsor of terrorism. While chronically
histrionic, Fidel Castro is no mere buffoon. This
autocrat perpetrates savagery internally and
promotes it abroad. Friends of America and Israel
should be mindful of this menace.
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2. SIX DAYS OF WAR, 35 YEARS OF QUESTIONS
Daniel Pipes - National Post - June 7,2002
The most overwhelming victory in the annals of
warfare took place in June, 35 years ago, when
Israeli forces defeated the Egyptian, Jordanian and
Syrian armies in a mere six days.
And this June is marked by the publication of
Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the
Modern Middle East (Oxford University Press) by
Michael Oren, the finest book ever on this topic.
Oren, an Israeli scholar of American origins, tells
his story in a spare, direct and gripping way,
replete with punchy quotations. Six Days of War
benefits from sources in six languages and is the
first account to rely on recently opened state
archives, which provide his account with the
previously unknown inside story, including a
number of scoops (such as the Arab plans for
conquering Israel; or how Defence Minister Moshe
Dayan's orders to seize the Golan Heights violated
his terms of office). No wonder it is a U.S.
bestseller even before its formal release.
Several questions endure about the 1967 war, and
Oren provides helpful information for answering
them. Here are three key ones.
- Why did the war take place?
The question arises because, like the First World
War, no one planned for or wanted this war.
Oren's research offers insights into its
thoroughly accidental quality. In November, 1966,
for example, after the killing of three Israeli
policemen at the hands of Jordan-based terrorists,
the usually efficient U.S. ambassador to Israel
waited a few days to transmit a message of
condolence from Jordan's King Hussein to the
Israeli prime minister. His delay prompted the
Israelis to retaliate, and that retaliation in
turn became a major episode in the escalation to war.
The role of accidents needs to be kept in mind
these days, as the winds of war again blow in the
Middle East; even the slightest misstep could
cause a blow-up.
- How did the Israel Defence Forces win
so overwhelmingly?
By meticulous practice and absolute realism, in
contrast to the Arab militaries, which lived in a
fantasy world. If the Israelis were all nerves on
approaching war -- chief of staff Yitzhak Rabin
suffered a breakdown -- the Arab leaders were
supremely overconfident. A Syrian general predicted
a victory over Israel in four days "at most."
Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser showed no
signs of concern, insisting that Israelis were
incapable of mounting precisely the surprise air
attack that they in fact pulled off. More broadly,
one high Egyptian official said about his side's
leadership that it believed "the destruction of
Israel was a child's game that only required the
hooking up of a few telephone lines at the
commander's house and the writing of victory slogans."
(Washington, ironically, was more confident than
Tel Aviv of an Israeli victory; two weeks before
war broke out, Oren shows, the U.S. secretary of
defence predicted that if Israel pre-empted, it
would defeat its three enemies within the week
-- precisely what happened.)
- How did the war affect Arab-Israeli diplomacy?
It fundamentally changed the terms.
Already in mid-May, weeks before hostilities
started, the Middle East hand at the White House,
Harold Saunders, suggested Israel should be allowed
the time to trounce its enemies, seeing in this a
way "of settling borders and, maybe even refugees."
By the second day of warfare, President Lyndon B.
Johnson had formulated the outline of the
land-for-peace policy that 35 years later still
drives U.S. diplomacy toward the Arab-Israeli
conflict: Israel should return the land it conquered
in 1967 in exchange for its recognition by the Arabs.
Americans expected the scale of Israel's military
triumph to show the Arabs the futility of their
hopes to destroy the Jewish state, an analysis
that found immediate agreement among some
Israelis (including Yitzhak Rabin, later the
prime minister who initiated the Oslo negotiations,
which was premised on precisely this assumption).
But, as recent events have so vividly proved, the
land-for-peace premise was false. With just a few
exceptions (such as Egypt's President Anwar as-Sadat),
Israel's willingness to make this exchange
precipitated violence against it, not acceptance,
by the Arabs.
Oren shows how land-for-peace was based on
American hopes, not Middle Eastern realities;
his research points to this failed policy needing
finally to be replaced by a more realistic approach.
As Oren's subtitle suggests, those six days of
war had truly profound consequences.
Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum.
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3. DOES ANYONE OUT THERE CARE?
B. F. Spears, Jr. Arutz Sheva June 7, 2002
I´ve seen articles and letters and heard reports of
a growing disillusionment in Israel. The bombers just
keep coming. Who would have imagined it even two years
ago? An entire people has bought into the idea that
if they turn their children into human hand grenades,
they´ll get what they want.
Instead of hearing that reported accurately, you look
at CNN and the BBC and you hear about the "cycle of
violence." Blow-dried commentators look at people
whose greatest goal in life is to blow themselves up
to murder Jews and then look at a military force
protecting their homeland and see a moral equivalence.
"If only Israel would stop the violence," everything
would be fine. Who wouldn´t be discouraged
listening to that?
You may have come to the conclusion that the rest
of the world doesn´t understand and the rest of the
world doesn´t care. But you´re wrong.
I went to my first Israel Bonds rally last night. It
may be old hat to you, but as a Christian pastor in
Fort Worth, Texas, it was new to me.
It was held in the home of a Jewish community leader,
and we had 190 in attendance. Fully a third of them
were Christians. And both Jews and Christians were
buying bonds. Why not? You´re a good investment.
>From our point of view, no matter what´s going on
now, Israel is always a good investment. I´ve seen
Christian books written 150 years ago that describe
the Jews one day returning to the land and restoring
the nation of Israel. We knew you were coming back.
The Bible says so. Our New Testament teaches that
Israel will still be around in the end times. The
United States is not given the same assurances.
Part of the attraction was the bestowal of the
Israel Freedom Award on one of Fort Worth´s own,
Monica (Posy) McMillan. Posy is an evangelical
Christian with a Jewish heart. She´s just over
five feet and every inch loves the Jews. Her
grandfather was a Christian Zionist in 1948, and
the bloodline ran true. Posy studied at Yad VaShem.
She teaches extensive courses in local churches on
"Judaism 101" and "Anti-Semitism and the Church."
You´ve known about that for years. Unfortunately,
it was news to us. Posy and Etta Korenman head up
the local "Yad b´Yad" chapter. It´s an organization
for understanding between our Jewish and Christian
communities, and appropriately, it´s led by an
orthodox Jew and an evangelical Christian.
They´re the best of friends.
In January a group of Jews and Christians went to
Israel with Posy and Etta, many for the first time.
We were the only tourists in the country and we
were treated like royalty. We didn´t have to stand
in line for anything. I look forward to coming
back again soon, and I hope for long lines
everywhere we go.
Posy´s pride and joy is her "e-mail army." She has
a list of 60 Christians and Jews in the Fort Worth
area who watch every newspaper article and every
news report on Israel. Any anti-Israel article is
answered immediately. If it´s really nasty, we
drown them in "letters to the editor." In the
first 14 months of the current Intifada, 116 of
our articles were published. We educate, we refute
the garbage, and we do what we can to stand up for
Israel and urge others to do the same. The members
of Posy´s army write their congressmen, the
president and anyone else we think might help.
It may not sound like much, but this is largely
a war of ideas, and we do what we can. The
front-page headline in our local paper this
morning was "Israel retaliates after bomb attack."
Six months ago, that title would more likely have
read, "Israeli forces invade Ramallah." They´ve
heard so much from us that they´re now more
sensitive to a pro-Israel point of view. That
paper serves a community of 700,000. It matters.
You may have seen the news about a "Stand for Israel"
campaign being put together by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein,
president of the International Fellowship of
Christians and Jews, and Ralph Reed, former
director of the Christian Coalition and an advisor
to President George W. Bush. They´re planning a
day of solidarity and prayer for Israel in
churches throughout America in September. They
can expect a million people involved at the
grassroots level if they do it right. A recent
survey described 68% of American evangelical
Christians who support Israel and only 8% in
favor of the Palestinians.
Christians and Jews have had their differences
through the years. There have been instances of
serious anti-Semitism in the Christian church in
the past, something that we deeply regret. There
are remnants of that today in some corners. But
it´s impossible to objectively read the Bible and
not come away with the idea that G-d will always
love Israel and that those who love G-d should love
Israel, as well. Add that to the fact that you´re
another western democracy under attack by terrorists,
and that explains the vibrant - and growing -
affinity for Israel in American evangelical
circles. Millions of Americans who would not
identify themselves as Christians side
vigorously with Israel, as well.
Does anyone out there care about you and what
you´re going through? Know that there are groups
of Christians and Jews - in Fort Worth and
throughout America - who pray for you daily and
speak up for you as and when they can. Some of
our Jewish friends are still planning aliyah,
and some are already paying on mortgages in
Israel. Many of us have come to visit and
we´ll come back.
As the L-rd said to Joshua, "Be strong and
courageous, for you shall give this people
possession of the land which I swore to their
fathers to give them" (Joshua 1:6). No other
people in history has survived as a separate,
identifiable culture for 19 centuries without a
homeland. But the Jews did. And now you´re back.
Is a scruffy, corrupt group of political hacks
who use their own people as cannon fodder going
to change that? I don´t think so.
C. S. Lewis, an Oxford don and Christian thinker,
reminded his readers that G-d gives grace 24
hours at a time. He gives strength for today.
If you think about the terror going on and on
and assume that it will never stop, you´ll give
up, but G-d will give strength to make it through
today. And He´ll give more tomorrow. This will
not last forever. Israel will endure.
B.F. Spears, Jr. is a pastor in Forth Worth, Texas.
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4. SYRIA'S REIGN OF TERROR
By Arnold Beichman Jerusalem Post June 6, 2002
Nine days after September 11, President George W.
Bush said: "Every nation in every region now has a
decision to make. Either you are with us or you are
with the terrorists."
He also said America "will make no distinction
between the terrorists who committed these acts
and those who harbored them."
The State Department's report, "Patterns of Global
Terrorism 2001," states: "The Government of Syria
has not been implicated directly in an act of
terrorism since 1986, but it continued in 2001 to
provide safe haven and logistics support to
a number of terrorist groups."
The key word in the latter is "directly." But what
about Syria being implicated indirectly? The
State Department report, which says that
"Damascus is the primary transit point for the
transfer of Iranian-supplied weapons to Hizbullah,"
gives an answer. Syria supports: Ahmed Jibril's
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
General Command; Palestine Islamic Jihad; George
Habash's Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine; Hamas, which maintains offices in
Damascus; and Hizbullah and other terrorist
organizations, which are provided refuge and basing
privileges in Lebanon's Beka'a Valley, under
Syrian control.
THE REPORT nevertheless exonerates Syria from direct
terrorism because its leadership condemned the
September 11 attacks, cooperated in investigating
al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, and "continued
to adhere to its longstanding policy of preventing
any attacks against Israel or Western targets from
Syrian territory or attacks against Western
interests in Syria."
Now, by the luck of the draw and the letter
sequence of the English alphabet, Syria has just
assumed the presidency of the 15-member United
Nations Security Council.
The what?
You heard right: The United Nations has as
president of the Security Council (c'mon, it's only
for a month) - Syria. So, while President Bush says
you're with us or against us, and "no distinction
will be made between the terrorists who committed
these acts and those who harbored them," a state
sponsor of terrorism sits at the head of the UN
Security Council. A mere three miles away from
what used to be the World Trade Center.
Perhaps this wouldn't be quite so morally degrading
if all UN members had a chance at the Council
presidency. But, of 189 UN member nations, only
188 qualify. And the only one barred "legally"
from ever even achieving nomination and election
to the rotating Security Council memberships
reserved for non-permanent members is Israel.
Each of five regional blocs decides on which country
of a given region will be nominated to serve on the
Security Council and other UN commissions. In other
words, if the Asia regional bloc were to nominate
Iraq as its Security Council representative, Saddam
Hussein - master criminal and genocidist - would
sit in judgment on himself. Such legalism does not
apply to Israel, however - even though its geographic
home is Asia - as the Arab countries have blocked
its membership in the Asian bloc.
It is thus that Syria, a state sponsor of terrorism,
can enjoy the privileges of Security Council
leadership, while Israel, a state victim of
terrorism, cannot.
The Jewish state is forever barred from membership
on the UN Commission on Human Rights, as well, where
sit such human rights violators as China, Cuba,
Sudan and Zimbabwe.
Though Israel has been allowed a temporary haven
in a regional bloc, "Western European and Others,"
that makeshift arrangement isn't going to get it
treatment equal to that of other UN members.
So for the next 30 days we're going to have a
state sponsor of terrorism as the president of
the UN Security Council.
Enjoy.
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5. PITY THE POOR PALESTINIANS
Pity the poor Palestinians who kill 86 Israelis and
seriously injure 430 during March and April alone,
yet call the death of 52 terrorists in Jenin a massacre.
Pity the poor Palestinians who call for an end to
the occupation, but really mean an end to Israel.
Pity the poor Palestinians who are raised on terror,
breed terror, support terror, and complain when
we respond to their acts of terror by pleading
surprise and innocence.
Pity the poor Palestinians who praise their
murderous sons (and daughters) as martyrs and
receive rich rewards from Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Pity the poor Palestinians who rejoice at the
success of their killers, but complain bitterly to
the world when they are held up at our security
check points.
Pity the poor Palestinians who spend the European's
money on munitions factories explosives, and rockets,
then complain to the EU when we destroy their
infrastructure.
Pity the poor Palestinians who want to kill us,
and still want to benefit from our advanced
medical facilities and service.
Pity the poor Palestinians who hate us, yet
still expect us to give them jobs.
Enough of the poor Palestinians !
What about the poor Israelis ?
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6. QUOTES TO NOTE
“I am a religious Muslim and I realized that
what I was about to do was to murder innocent
women and children, like those in my own family.
This murder is strictly forbidden by the Koran—
I now see that. I urge the Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades and all the young girls not to follow
in my path, no matter what happens. They didn’t
look on me as a young woman with a future ahead
of me, as someone who could get married and have
children. They only saw me as a tool to carry
out their mission.”
—Torayah Hamour, 25, in jail in northern Israel, after
having aborted her plans to carry out a suicide mission
in Jerusalem last week (Gazette, May 31)
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"because of the hasty strategy of the Oslo
accord, we brought Arafat and his whole army
into the Land of Israel and thus began a new
round of the 1948 War of Independence."
Ze'ev Schiff - Ha'aretz 7 June 2002
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7. HIGHLIGHT ARTICLES
AN UNHOLY RESURRECTION
I am not being chased down alleyways and called a
Christ killer, I do not feel that prejudicial hiring
practices will keep me out of a job and I am not
afraid that the police will come and take away my
family. I am, in fact, more grateful than ever that
my father found refuge in this country. But in
recent weeks I have been reminded, in ways too
plentiful to ignore, about the role Jews play
in the fantasy life of the world.
http://christianactionforisrael.org/antiholo/unholy.html
THE PEACE THAT LOSES WARS
The peace process is indeed a powerful potion.
So powerful that it has become the principal weapon
of the enemies of the US and Israel in preventing
the two democracies from taking the military
measures necessary to enable true peace to be achieved.
http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/june02/loses.html
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For more great reading, visit our new EDITORIAL ARCHIVE
http://christianactionforisrael.org/previous.html
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great things our Lord is doing for Israel and what great
things He will continue to do for her, His firstborn.
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