The Haters of Israel and Jews Come Out of the Woodwork

After the Death of Yassin

The man pictured at the left is Canon Naim Ateek. He has used the death of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin as a means to eclipse even the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, Riah Abu El-Assal as the prominent critic of Israel and the Jews. He bemoaned, for publication of course, “is no one able to stop Israel?” [1] The Canon of St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem uses events like this to promote his philosophy of Liberation Theology to people who do not know what he really is, as well as to keep his name before his followers. It is too bad people are so frequently influenced by apostates that use their positions as a means to harm Christianity and to attack the Jewish people.

            Ateek wages a war of words against the Jewish people as he promotes his agenda. He says things like “Palestinians feel so helpless.” Perhaps some readers who have felt a measure of vulnerability since the day of infamy known as 911 might be able to visualize a bit of how Jews in such a small State as Israel might feel. They live in a nation where terrorism is a daily part of their lives. Imagine what it is like to know you are risking your life every time you take a public bus, or sit with friends at a sidewalk café. But Ateek’s spin says “The Israelis assassinate people without taking them to court or proving that they are terrorists. They get away with it because they keep waving the red flag of terrorism.” The philosophy of Ateek would condemn our targeting of Yamamoto, who masterminded the Pearl Harbor attack in World War II. After all, he had not been tried in order to prove that he was the mastermind of that attack.

            Canon Naim Ateek is the founder and head of the Sabeel Ecumenical Theology Centre in Jerusalem. The purpose of this center is the promotion of a Liberation Theology movement among Palestinians. He told a St. Paul University audience that a shared land could lead to an ecumenical state embracing two nations – Palestine and Israel – and three religions – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.[2] At that meeting he is reported to have said “The only peace that can endure is that based on U.N. resolutions, inter-national law, and an inclusive theology of the land.” If you read this statement carefully, you have to recognize that at the very least he does not believe that the Israelis have the right to sovereignty over their own land.

            People who oppose the assassination of terrorist leaders have really enjoyed the assassination of Yassin because they can point to him and say America should punish Israel because it used an American made aircraft against a man who was completely paralyzed. This statement reflects a line not only taken by the semi-official Egyptian daily Al Ahram, but one parroted by the haters of Israel all about the world. The fallacy of this argument is that Israel as a sovereign power needs to get the permission of any other country, including the United States, before it acts to protect its own interests. Besides that, the advanced weapons system used to attack Yassin is reportedly an Israeli invention. The United States ought to be looking to buy this weapons system, It could be used to make effective contact with some terrorists with which it has unfinished business.

            The argument made for sympathy is that Yassin was just a poor defenseless religious leader, who was not only unable to take care of himself, but was also unable to pose a danger to Israel as a terrorist. To believe people like Ateek and his ilk, one must be either ignorant of the facts concerning Yassin, or so consumed with hatred of Israel and dedicated to their own agenda that they willfully ignore the truth. The following shortlist of Yassin’s ‘accomplishments’ and realistic conclusions are given to demonstrate the facts of what I am saying:[3]

1- Yassin was the leader and "approval authority" of many, many homicide bombings in Israel.

2- He was a terrorist, harborer of terrorists and terrorist paymaster.

3- While in his wheelchair, he had his own brother put into a pit and murdered for suspicion of dealing with Israelis.

4- According to analysis, Palestinian moderates were (and still are) fearful of dealing with the Israelis outside of Arafat/Hamas/Jihad control for fear of being murdered.

5- Does the world not remember Chamberlain and his boast of "peace in our time" after "negotiating" with another terrorist?

6- Muslim extremists have made public vows to eliminate Israel, all Jews and now all Americans.

7- The "moderate" CAIR group in Washington has publicly proclaimed that it doesn't want religious equality; rather it wants religious and sharia law domination of the US.

8- Appeasement has encouraged murder, murder and more murder.

9- Israel MUST defend itself and take action against the terrorists or it will be destroyed again.

            We need to know more about people like Canon Ateek, Bishop El-Assal, and others. Then we can understand what axes they are grinding when they speak and expose them for the people that they are. For instance in one article about Canon Ateek, in the course of his travels, he made accusations that Christians and Zionists abuse the Bible because “they believe every thing happening in Palestine fulfills a biblical prophesy.” As both a Christian and a Zionist, I know that such declarations are patent nonsense. Most people who are faithful, Bible believing, Christians will recognize the absurdity of such a statement as well. But watch out, Ateek, with his Liberation Theology believes that “the Bible is at the heart of the problem.” Those who read this paper and are familiar with that form of theology knows that he is being faithful to his philosophy, which is antagonistic to a literal understanding of Scripture.

            Canon White, called an Anglican conciliator, and Canon of Coventry Cathedral, said serious damage had been done to the peace process by the assassination of the paraplegic founder of Hamas.[4] His concerns are misplaced because his ideas ignore the depravity of the Islamic religion and the fact that God is intervening in the affairs of men. He is bringing the bringing on the day where He will fulfill those things promised in the Bible. White has involved himself for some time in trying to promote dialogue and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Canon White does recognize a problem and says of attitudes: “These go beyond legitimate criticism of Israel into hatred of Jews.”[5]

            Andrew White points to replacement theology: “This doctrine was key in fanning the flames of the Holocaust, which could not have happened without two thousand years of anti-Jewish polemic. After the Holocaust the Vatican officially buried the doctrine, the current Pope affirming the integrity of the Jewish people and recognizing the State of Israel.” But as I have been pointing out since the beginning of this paper, we need to recognize that people are acting with agendas, and replacement theology is present in Catholic and Anglican circles as well as in some other denominations.

            The Pope joined in with the international condemnation of Israel after the assassination of Yassin. If you do not believe he has an axe he is grinding, then you are greatly fooled. The Catholic Church has long wanted Jerusalem as its own, even from the times of the crusades. And there has been some speculation that a Pope might settle for the ancient city of Babylon in the mean time. (But that is the subject for another article on another day.) It is import-ant for the reader to understand that the motives that impel the critics are based on a spirit antagonistic to both the Scripture and the Jewish people.