News Items of Interest

Finally, Almost a Member of the Red Cross – There is one more step to be completed.  Once again Israel receives “special treatment.”

There is the Red Cross and the Red Crescent.  Now there is a Magen David Adom, with one condition: the Star of David must appear inside a box, which Israel prefers to call a ­diamond.

The emblem may be used in Israel and in other nations that give their permission.  Israel rescue teams are often the first to arrive in a disaster area in countries that have no diplomatic relations such as during the recent Asian tsunami.

How Did They Do It? – That is the question that Palestinian farmers are asking after their first planting in the same hothouses where the Israeli farmers produced an abundance of bug-free lettuce and other vegetables for many years.  Now the Palestinian farmers report failure in keeping the bugs away.  The workers are complaining that they are now being paid a considerably lower wage than what they had received previously from the Israelis.

US Presbyterian Leaders Challenge Church’s Flawed Divestment Policy – Completing a 5 day fact finding mission throughout Israel, Gaza and the West Bank [Judea and Samaria] a group of eleven Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) leaders announced (May 29, 2006) that the Church’s current policy to divest their US $7 billion pension fund against the State of Israel is flawed.

They called on the PSUSA’s over 500 voting commissioners to rescind the policy at their General Assembly in June.

 Controversy erupted throughout the PCUSA following the 216th General Assembly in 2004, after pushing through a last minute resolution to initiate phased, selective divestment in corporations conducting business in Israel. The Church’s surprise action met with immediate and widespread disapproval from many of the Church’s members, elders, pastors and virtually every Presbyterian member of the United States Congress.

(Gov. Press Office, May 28, 2006)

695,000 tourists entered Israel in the period January-April 2006, a 30% rise over the same period last year. (Ministry of Tourism)

What About Hamas?

The name, which is an acronym in Arabic, is “terror” in the Hebrew Bible. Read Ezekiel 32:23-32 where the expression, ‘Cause terror in the land of the living’, occurs SIX times.

 At one time, Mariam Farahat was a mother of six.  With her encouragement, three of her sons blew themselves up on suicide missions to murder innocent Israeli citizens.  For her willingness to sacrifice her children in a spiraling culture of death, Farahat became famous as Um Nidal—“Mother of the Struggle”.  Along with several dozen other Hamas terrorists, Farahat was elected to the new Palestinian Legislative Council. 

Hamas has killed hundreds of Israelis and dozens of Americans since the 1980s, and entry into politics has not altered its terrorist character. The Hamas-led Palestinian government welcomes terrorism. Its charter commits it to the destruction of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian state in its place.

Koran Is Hamas’ Constitution – The new PA Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas presented the guidelines to the parliament, where it was approved by a 71-36 majority.  Hamas members number 74 in the 132-member body.  After the vote, one of the PA legislators—formerly wanted by Israel—waved a Koran and called out loud, “The Koran is our constitution, Mohammed is our prophet, jihad is our path and dying as martyrs for the sake of Allah is our biggest wish.”  His call was answered by a standing ovation and calls of “Allahu Akbar.” Recently Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh appointed Jamal Abu Sanhadana, a longtime terrorist leader and No.2 on Israel’s Most Wanted List, as the PA Interior Ministry’s Director General.

Hamas hates Christians as much as it does Jews.  Last year Hamas won the citywide election at Bethlehem and quickly advocated a special tax on non-Muslim residents, as ordained by the Koran for “second-class Jews and Christians”. Bethlehem is no longer a Christian city. Christians are being effectively forced out; the only Christians in Bethlehem will be holiday tourists.

 This covenant of death made by Israel’s enemies will culminate in self destruction. The message of the Bible is the culture of life versus the culture of death. “Choose whom you will serve” (Deut. 30:19 & Joshua 24:15).

UN Pros and Cons – usually equal zero – Most of the civilized world discounts the ranting of the President of Iran that publicly declared to the nations that Israel should be wiped from the map.  United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed his outrage at such statements and cancelled a planned trip to Iran.  The Iranian President followed his first outrage by declaring that all Jews in the Middle East should be moved to Europe.  Again Annan expressed his dismay.

The irony of Annan’s apparent rejection of the Iranian President’s horrific statements is that in this same time frame the United Nations was celebrating the progress of the Palestinian people in their quest for a homeland, something they have never had.  However, they used the occasion to honor the suicide bombers.  To add further insult to Israel, a map of the Middle East was on the platform for all to see that had no indication of an Israel.  Do you want to hear more?  In the previous week the UN passed six resolutions condemning Israel for its actions.

The Australian Ambassador, Andrew Southcott has been the most vocal opponent to these U.N. discrepancies which make the very name of the organization a joke that should be changed.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said his group forms a “united front” with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel’s annihilation.  Not satisfied with his infamous call to “wipe Israel off the map” and denial of the Holocaust, Ahmadinejad now urged “the downfall of Zionism” and said “Zionism is on its way to annihilation.” Holocaust denial, historical revisionism, and a maniacal desire to gain weapons of mass destructions to use against the Jewish State are rampant today throughout much of the Muslim and Arab worlds.  Despite their claims to the contrary, Iran is moving forward at break-neck speed with plans to develop a nuclear weapon.  Development sites have been built underground to prevent attacks on construction facilities.

However, there is strong indication that modern scientific developments may have out-stripped Iran’s antiquated nuclear techniques. Rendering them powerless? The Bible assures that when the enemy ­comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. (Isaiah 59:19)

The Quartet—the group composed of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia—has called on Hamas to formally recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.  But Hamas’ platform rules out any “compromise” on this issue. The denial of the Jewish state’s right to exist extends to the Palestinian school system.

Question: Is it said of any other nation in the world that they may not “have the right to exist”? Is Israel supposed to say, “Pardon me for living”?

Science and the Bible – Jesus taught mankind to study what happens in nature. “Look at the birds of the air,” and “Consider the lilies of the field” (Matthew 8:26-28). From the birds men learned aviation, and from the lilies they learned botany and agronomy.

Never regard science as a danger to religion [faith]. Einstein, a scientist whose name the whole world respects, has written, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” (Gates of Eden)

The original Hebrew Bible is intended for universal man as a magnificent consciousness-expanding handbook of rational philosophy, which from the first chapter of Genesis is meticulously structured and developed, like a classical symphony whose central theme is the God inspired sanctity of life. (Zev Kedem, Holocaust survivor)