28-2-2005

Ezra Ben-Shalom
jewish@jewishstate.com
Editor, jewishstate.com

Dear Clifton Kirkpatrick,
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly,
Presbyterian Church (PC-USA),

I write to you with the truth about the Jewish State, also known as the State of Israel, the eternal homeland of the Jews.

But first, I should note that research and analysis by social scientists clearly show that anti-Semitism is unrelated to the actual behaviour of Jews.

Unfortunately, you show every symptom of the mental disease called anti-Semitism. That is to say the obsessive hatred of Jews, which is not a static, unchanging phenomenon, but an illness that adapts itself to the particular culture of a given time and place.

Indeed, the Spanish king sought glory as a servant of the Catholic Church; the Jews became heretics. The German leader made himself the master of a pliable pack of "supermen"; the Jews became saboteurs and sub-humans. Arab dictators need to distract their populations from their own corruption and tyranny; the Jews become the merchants of dangerous concepts like liberty and the rule of law, and, for good measure, remain sub-humans.

You, sir, possess a distinctly American form of the disease.

Why are we Americans so fascinated by the idea of race? That race has no scientific or genetic foundation certainly does not discourage us. Whenever we submit a job application, complete a form for the national census, or apply to a university, we must affirm that we belong to one imaginary racial group or another. Many of us are desperately trying to repress our own racist instincts, which creates a psychological context where the most serious crime is racism, and the greatest insult is "racist".

So you pretend that Jews have become racists. You are a true pioneer of American anti-Semitism.

As you know, the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, held in Richmond, Virginia during July 2004, voted 431 to 62 to sell its shares in corporations operating in Israel.

At this General Assembly and in your press releases at the time (still available on your Web site), you and your colleagues made many inflammatory remarks about how American churches had used divestment against South Africa. Although you admitted that Israel is not the same as apartheid South Africa, your real message was loud and crystal clear: the Jew is racist. You are a real American trail-blazer.

You also convey your anti-Semitic message through your essentially jihadist interpretation of the struggle waged by some Arabs to destroy the Jews and the Jewish State.

Indeed, your understanding of the history of the Jewish State seems to have been gleened from the Web site of the Hamas terrorist group. In fact, this was probably the case. Elizabeth and Marthame Sanders, the "missionaries-in-residence" who apparently have the Israel portfolio in your church government, have a Web site with links to several other sites published by groups that advocate jihadist terrorism. This month, the Sanders brought full-time, paid anti-Israel propagandists to your headquarters to tell church leaders about those nasty denizens of the Jewish State.

Larry Rued, an elder at First Presbyterian Church of Bradenton, Florida, attended the three-day meeting at your HQ. What he saw should disturb everyone who loves peace and justice:

The panel featured four Palestinian Christians. None spoke of the actions of the Palestinian Authority, which, in areas under its control, has confiscated Christian property, failed to prosecute the murderers of Palestinian Muslims who convert to Christianity, and witnessed the rise of radical Islamism that has encouraged violent attacks on Palestinian Christians, including full-scale riots that have caused a rapid increase in emigration. According to the four Palestinians who spoke this weekend in Louisville, the villain in the Middle East is Israel.

("Presbyterians host 'anti-Israel' meeting." WorldNetDaily.com. 15-2-2005. Strom, Ron.)

In truth, you only like one kind of speaker at your events: anti-Semites. Of course, you try to strengthen your position by including a "Jewish voice" (your words), that is, a token Jew who basically denies his own identity and history and wants to dismantle the Jewish State. By the same logic, a British subject who wants to take the crosses off of the flag of the United Kingdom must speak for Christians. An Indian who denies India's right to a Hindu identity must speak for Hindus. Your anti-Semitic propaganda events have not gone unnoticed among true intellectuals and lovers of liberty.

So what exactly is the jihadist revisionism that you have sunk your greedy teeth into? Well, as you write yourself on your Web site, "In previous [General] assemblies [of the PC-USA], the church has called for an end to the occupation, as the principal cause of the conflict."

What, exactly, do you mean by "occupation"? (I noticed that the word sometimes begins with a capital "O" on your Web site, as if it has a divine significance: He has given us a mission to clean Jerusalem of its Jews.)

Well, you indirectly explain your meaning when you declare, "The wall has been a huge source of further conflict because portions of it cut across the pre-1967 border."

In fact, "the pre-1967 border" was not a border at all, but the temporary cease-fire line drawn in 1949, after five Arab armies launched a genocidal campaign against the Jewish State. That the Jews successfully defended themselves, losing one percent of their population in the process, does not diminish the genocide that many Arabs sought to commit.

Furthermore, if Arab extremists only want a return to the temporary cease-fire line of 1949, why is it that on 25 October, 1956, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan announced the establishment of a unified military command for a "war of destruction against Israel", forcing the Jewish State to defend itself? After all, at this time, Israel did not possess one square meter of territory beyond the temporary 1949 cease-fire line.

In 1967, the armies of six Arab states again united to try to annihilate the Jewish State, despite Israel's return of all the territory taken in the previous war in exchange for nothing. Have you ever heard of these wars of attempted genocide? Somehow you fail to mention them when you speak of Arab victimhood.

An article on your Web site declares:

In America, 'you can drive forever,' said Nuha Khoury, deputy director of Dar al-Kalima Academy, an institution of higher learning in Palestine. 'Nobody stops you.' But in Israel, 'I cannot get out of Bethlehem,' where she lives, she said. And though she holds an American passport, it has a stamp on it by the Israeli police that indicates she is a resident of the West Bank. Instead of having the ability to move about freely, a basic right in the United States, Khoury and the other panelists detailed a series of checkpoints manned by Israeli police that all Palestinians must pass through in order to move around outside of restricted areas.

Is it your G-d-given duty to spread anti-Semitic misinformation around the world? In the United States, there is no "basic right to be able to move about freely" where security issues are at stake. You should tell that to the police officer at the next random roadblock you drive into. Can you imagine that security issues might be different in Israel than they are in your little home town? If you could judge the men and women in the Israeli Defense Force according to reality, and not your preconceptions, you would see that they have the toughest job in the world, but that they make extreme sacrifices, and frequently put themselves in great danger, to avoid civilian injuries. In those rare cases where a soldier does not do his duty to protect civilians, he is tried and punished. In most Arab states, by contrast, impunity reigns.

Furthermore, can you imagine that not everyone would be happier living your life? Instead of arrogantly preaching to the Jewish State, which probably loves justice more than it cares about defending itself, maybe you should occasionally shut your mouth and open your eyes and ears.

Your Web site's article about Nuha Khoury, your anti-Zionist colleague, continues, "Tanks that bulldoze Palestinian homes, children who are not getting enough nutrients, and fear are all realities." You carefully avoid any mention of the arms-smuggling tunnels that many of those ill-fated houses were concealing at the time of their destruction. Also, you probably do not care that the Jewish State recently stopped demolishing the homes of suicide bombers, despite the effective deterrent influence of this practice, simply because it hates to cause suffering.

And why are Arab children not getting enough nutrients? The Arab Nation has 16 states, including more than 99% of the territory in the Middle East, and most of the world's energy resources to draw on. It is shameful that some Arab dictators, such as Yassar Arafat, have allowed their people to languish in poverty, and must distract them by stirring up anti-Semitism. Of course, for you, the Jewish Devil is at fault, not any Arab strongman.

Israeli Arabs, on the other hand, enjoy more rights in the Jewish State than they could in any Arab country. You might be surprised to hear that some Muslim Druze army units from Syria even changed sides in Israel's 1948 War of Independence. They refused to execute their genocidal orders and fought for Israel instead. Now one of these soldiers, Member of Knesset Majali Wahabi, continues his struggle on behalf of the Jewish State as a diplomat and as a key leader in the Israeli government.

Is the PC-USA concerned about the Arab states' denial of Jewish rights? How many Jewish leaders are in the Syrian government, or the Saudi Arabian government? What actions have you taken against these states?

Your call for an "end to attacks on innocent people by both sides" is monstrous. Only a jihadist could equate a terrorist with an Israeli soldier who does everything possible to prevent civilian casualities.

Have you ever considered that sometimes one uses the indirect approach in conflict? Instead of lunging at one's enemy, one pulls back, moves around his flank, and cuts off his supply lines. Or one pulls back and waits for him at a strategic pass. This is precisely what Arab extremists have done. That is, not the "Palestinians" as a whole, as you would have it, but only their corrupt government and the Arab exremists, two overlapping groups. Palestinian Authority (PA) state media encite women and children to attack Jewish soldiers and civilians, not because of any specific grievance, but because it is supposedly some kind of religious duty to concentrate on killing Jews (and forget about the corruption of their government). The PA knows that these women and children will get hurt, and thereby win the sympathy of anti-Semitic or extremely naïve people in the international community. (The Web site of the Foreign Ministry of the Jewish State provides plenty of information and evidence on this matter, or you can just turn on PA radio or television.) Thus the appearance of victimhood becomes a tool of the aggressor. Many people will never employ or understand the indirect method, but I believe you know exactly what strategy you are pursuing in regard to the Jews.

Your statement, "Christian Zionism is not consistent with the basic values of Reformed theology," is unashamedly anti-Semitic. People of all religions should support the right of the Jews to a small piece of land on this Earth. The Jewish State is not up for debate; it is a fact. If you open your Bible, you will see that the Jews have always lived on this land and that no other state has as much reason for existing as Israel.

As a final proof of your anti-Semitism, you have singled out the Jewish State for punishment. No mention of the real crimes of Burma, China, North Korea, Cuba, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, or any other country. So let us all unite under the banner of anti-Semitism! Maybe, if we beat the Jews down far enough, we will feel like we have gained control over pain and uncertainty in our own lives.

As if Europe needed an excuse to express its ancient problem with anti-Semitism, you have reminded the Old World of its vocation. Following your example, the Geneva-based World Council of Churches has recently called on its members to divest from the Jewish State. Truly, you deserve a seat of honor at the council of anti-Semitic crusaders and jihadists.

Sincerely,

Ezra