Disappearance of Bishop Tutu

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Disappearance of Bishop Tutu
By Simon DengFriday November 16, 2007Jewish AdvocateLate last month, I went to hear Bishop Desmond Tutu speak at Bostons Old South Church at a conference on Israel Apartheid. Tutu is a well respected man of God. He brought reconciliation between blacks and whites in South Africa. That he would lead a conference that damns the Jewish state is very disturbing to me.The State of Israel is not an apartheid state. I know because I write this from Jerusalem where I have seen Arab mothers peacefully strolling with their families “even though I also drove on Israeli roads protected by walls and fences from Arab bullets and stones. I know Arabs go to Israeli schools, and get the best medical care in the world. I know they vote and have elected representatives to the Israeli Parliament. I see street signs in Arabic, an official language here." None of this was true for blacks under Apartheid in Tutus South Africa.I also know countries that do deserve the apartheid label: My country, Sudan, is on the top of the list, but so are Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. What has happened to my people in Sudan is a thousand times worse than Apartheid in South Africa. And no matter how the Palestinians suffer, they suffer nothing compared to my people. Nothing. And most of the suffering is the fault of their leaders. Bishop Tutu, I see black Jews walking down the street here in Jerusalem. Black like us, free and proud.Tutu said Israeli checkpoints are a nightmare. But checkpoints are there because Palestinians are sent into Israel to blow up and kill innocent women and children. Tutu wants checkpoints removed. Do you not have doors in your home, Bishop? Does that make your house an apartheid house? If someone, Heaven forbid, tried to enter with a bomb, we would want you to have security people humiliating your guests with searches, and we would not call you racist for doing so. We all go through checkpoints at every airport. Are the airlines being racist? No.Yes, the Palestinians are inconvenienced at checkpoints. But why, Bishop Tutu, do you care more about that inconvenience than about Jewish lives?Bishop, when you used to dance for Mandela's freedom, we Africans all over Africa joined in. "Our support was key in your freedom. But when children in Burundi and Kinshasa, all the way to Liberia and Sierra Leone, and in particular in Sudan, cried and called for rescue, you heard but chose to be silent."Today, black children are enslaved in Sudan, the last place in the continent of Africa where humans are owned by other humans. I was part of the movement to stop slavery in Mauritania, which just now abolished the practice. But you were not with us, Bishop Tutu.So where is Desmond Tutu when my people call out for freedom? Slaughter and genocide and slavery are lashing Africans right now. Where are you for Sudan, Bishop Tutu? You are busy attacking the Jewish state. Why?Simon Deng, a native of the Shiluk Kingdom in southern Sudan, is an escaped jihad slave and a leading human rights activist.

Background Information about Sabeel:

SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS

We are deeply concerned about the programs and message that the Palestinian Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center is bringing to America and to mainline Christian churches. They undermine hopes for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, for greater understanding about the conflict and for the spread of religious tolerance.
Sabeel promotes the extremist Palestinian narrative and excuses terrorism. Sabeel founder Naim Ateek has written that he does not believe Israel has a right to exist. He prefers a one state solution--that is, the dismantling of the Jewish state. He claims to condemn terrorism, but draws a parallel between suicide bombers and the self-sacrifice of Christ. Sabeel never calls for the dismantling of terrorist groups or for an end to terrorism.
Sabeel distorts facts in order to demonize Israel. Sabeel documents claim Israel started all the Arab-Israeli wars. Sabeel denounces Israel’s current counter terrorism measures as a “morbid fear of peace” without even acknowledging the terrorist war unleashed in 2000 that made them necessary. Sabeel claims Israel has never sought peace, ignoring Israel’s search for compromise since 1920 and its record of relinquishing land and even uprooting Jewish communities for peace. It did so in its 1979 peace treaty with Egypt. By 1996, it had carried out a withdrawal from the Territories, leaving 98% of Palestinians self-governing under the Palestinian Authority. In 2001, it offered Palestinians a state on 97% of the West Bank and 100% of Gaza, a capital in east Jerusalem and removal of Jewish communities. In 2005, it unilaterally withdrew from the rest of Gaza, and uprooted all Jewish communities there and four Jewish communities in the northern West Bank.
Sabeel promotes one-sided programs. The Israeli side is silenced. Those who wish to dispute Sabeel’s claims, including representatives of Israel, are not allowed to speak. Instead, Sabeel brings in Israelis or Jews who belong to the fringe group of anti-Zionist Jews in order to give the appearance of balance and fairness.
Sabeel promotes intolerance and extremist theology. It foments traditional prejudices against Jews which have no place in the modern world. Sabeel revives the “teachings of contempt” which are hostile to Jews and Judaism and which claim Jews killed Christ. Such views were denounced by the 2nd Vatican Council for contributing to the Holocaust. But Sabeel leaders use metaphors that describe Israel as a Christ-killing nation:
“The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily. Palestine has become the place of the skull.”
“It seems to many of us that Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around him.”
“The challenge to pastors and Bible teachers is to de-Zionize the Bible.”
“By espousing the nationalist tradition of Zionism, [Jews have] become oppressors and warmakers themselves. This has been a revolutionary change from the long-held belief that the Jews have a vocation for suffering.”
Sabeel promotes continued intolerance against Christians in the Palestinian Authority and the larger Middle East. Sabeel intentionally misrepresents the plight of Christians in the PA. It is silent about the increasing persecution of its fellow Christians who presented a dossier to Christian authorities in Jerusalem in September 2005 listing 93 incidents of Muslim or PA abuse against Christians, including rape, murder and confiscation of property. “Almost every day - I repeat, almost every day - our communities are harassed by the Islamic extremists in these regions. And if it's not the members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, there are clashes with the 'rubber wall' of the Palestinian Authority.” Custodian of the Holy Land, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa
Sabeel promotes the new anti-Semitism. It does not condemn the anti-Semitic, racist incitement that is rife in the PA and terrorist groups. Rather, it promotes the new anti-Semitism which includes the demonization and delegitimization of Israel and applying a double standard that requires Israel to live up higher standards than all other nations.
Sabeel promotes policies that will retard instead of advance the peace process. Sabeel calls for Christian churches to divest from Israel. This is counter-productive. It punishes Israel instead of praising it for its recent withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank. It makes no demands on the PA to stop terrorism and Israel’s need for counterterrorism measures. This is a time to invest in both Israel and the PA and to help the PA develop a viable state that is not crippled by lawlessness, terrorists and corruption.
For more information about Sabeel and the coalition visit www.c4rpme.org. --> -->
The world must hear the voices of both Christians and Jews to better understand the truth about Israel, a humane,
multi-cultural, peace-loving democracy.

Et tu, Tutu?

By Charles JacobsTuesday September 18 2007

Most of our parents voted for Stevenson, despised McCarthy and fought racism before the rest of America saw it was the right thing to do. We stood with Martin Luther King and were crushed when he – and John and Bobby Kennedy – were killed. We hated Nixon, boycotted grapes with Caesar Chavez, cheered for Bella and Gloria on women’s rights and defeated apartheid in South Africa.
Like most of America’s Jews, we’re LFBs – Liberals From Birth. Why? Because Jewish and American values are in almost perfect harmony.
On Israel, we were never uncritical, but loyal to the cause of a Jewish homeland and to the Jews who fought to keep it. Not only because we were Jews, but also because tiny beleaguered Israel is, or should be a, liberal cause.
But it’s not. Not now. Many of our friends disagree with us about Israel, and in increasingly disagreeable ways. They got the story wrong, from the media, from academics, and from clergy. Painfully, we see former allies, even heroes of past struggles, attacking the Jewish state – and its supporters: us.
So what will Boston’s Jews do when Desmond Tutu, the anti-apartheid hero who likens Israeli treatment of Arabs to apartheid, headlines an anti-Israel hate-fest at the Old South Church in October? The “Israel Apartheid” Conference is organized by Sabeel, whose leader says Israelis are “crucifying” Arabs like the Jews did Jesus.
The two-day rant against Israel features speakers who pose as human rights activists who care about injustice – yet their concerns are oh so selective. Israel is an “apartheid state,” they say, with an “apartheid wall.” It’s worse for Palestinians than South Africa was for blacks. It’s the world’s worst human rights situation. None of this is close to being true.
Israel’s Arab citizens vote, are elected to the Knesset, and enjoy better health care and education than most Arabs in the region. Yes, Arabs in the territories are treated differently, yet not because of their “race” – but because their leaders are at war with Israel. Israelis don’t act on the basis of race, like white South Africans did. Shame on Desmond Tutu for deliberately ignoring all this.
Calling Israel racist pleases the Sabeel-ites, but has nothing to do with a concern for justice. There is real apartheid in the Middle East – racist apartheid: blacks slaughtered and enslaved by Arabs in Sudan; gender apartheid: women in Saudi Arabia may not drive cars or walk unaccompanied; religious apartheid: churches cannot be built in Saudi Arabia and Jews can’t be citizens in Jordan. It’s not justice these folks are fixated upon, it’s the Jewish state.
Some Boston Jews and LFB’s may have turned away from this conflict. But now it’s time to choose: When Tutu comes, many of us will protest. If the anti-Israel demagogues are led by a black man who led his people to freedom – but who attacks and defames another free people – Israel’s and America’s Jews must decide: Which side will you be on?

Boston's Old South Church Welcomes Sabeel

October 10, 2007
by Dexter Van Zile

On Oct. 26-27, Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center will hold a conference at Old South Church, the flagship church of the United Church of Christ (UCC) in Boston. Old South’s decision to allow its worship space to be used by Sabeel is only the latest instance in which a prominent UCC institution has helped legitimize an anti-Zionist organization that traffics in anti-Judaic themes. Despite complaints from mainstream Jewish groups in the United States about Sabeel’s hostile rhetoric and agenda, the United Church of Christ continues to portray the organization as an ecumenical “partner” for peace in the Middle East .

(Click here for full article)

Hate at the altar

Sunday, October 28, 2007

By Dexter Van Zile

IF A church in Boston announced that it was renting space to a self-described peace group whose leader hung nooses from trees in former slave-holding states, the interfaith community would be outraged, the church would be condemned, and the wisdom of its pastor and governing council would be called into question, with good reason.
Any organization led by someone who would display an image with such a bloody and violent history would immediately be repudiated by people of good will. Virtually everyone knows that a noose hanging from a tree is a prelude to a lynching. Its display is a vile act intended to intimidate African-Americans and other minorities into submission. It is a vestige of the Old South that has been discarded by all but the irredeemably racist.
Sadly, Old South Church in downtown Boston is playing host to just such a group this weekend - with one slight difference. Instead of displaying a noose during a time of racial tension, the leader of the group in question - the Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, founder of Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center - invoked the anti-Semitic trope of Jews as Christ-killers during the second intifada, when Palestinian suicide bombers were murdering citizens of Israel.
The portrayal of Jews as Christ-killers has contributed to untold violence and hostility toward the Jewish people, but for some reason, Old South Church is allowing Sabeel and Ateek, an Anglican priest from Jerusalem, the use of its worship space.
For the past three decades, Sabeel has billed itself as the voice of the beleaguered community of Palestinian Christians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Israel. Over the years, Sabeel has been successful in convincing well-meaning, but largely ignorant Christians in the United States and Europe that the Palestinian people are innocent sufferers and the Israeli government their brutal oppressors.
The centerpiece of this effort can be seen in the hostile rhetoric of Ateek. For example, his 2000 Christmas message portrayed Israeli officials as Herod, who, according to the Christian gospel, murdered all the infants of Bethlehem in an attempt to kill the infant Jesus. In his 2001 Easter message, Ateek wrote, "The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily" and that "Palestine has become the place of the skull." And in February 2001, Ateek compared the Israeli occupation to the stone blocking Christ's tomb.
With these three images, Ateek has figuratively blamed Israel for the attempted murder of the infant Jesus, the crucifixion of Jesus the prophet, and for blocking the resurrection of Christ the Savior.
In the context of Christian-Jewish relations, language like this - which has preceded and justified the killing of Jews for nearly two millennia - is the equivalent of a noose hanging from a tree in the Old South. Its use during a time of violence can only serve to justify continued violence against Israeli civilians. Sadly, Ateek's defenders have said that he is merely using the "language of the cross" to describe Palestinian suffering, but in fact, he is describing Israeli behavior.
Taken to its logical end, language like this suggests that the only solution to Palestinian suffering is Israel's elimination, which Sabeel called for in a 2004 document that stated the organization's "vision for the future" is "one-state for two nations and three religions."
To make matters worse, Ateek has invoked the notion of the wandering, defenseless Jew as a good thing by writing that Jewish statehood contradicts the Jewish call to suffer. This type of language has been regarded as taboo by responsible Christians since the Holocaust, and its reemergence in Ateek's writing is as ominous as a noose hanging from a tree.
This is not peacemaking; it is demonization. Such language might have been tolerable in the Old South, but not today.Not in Boston's Old South.
Dexter Van Zile is the Christian media analyst at CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.