eChurch Blog

It’s really weird you know, we seem to invade a country and they become intensely anti-Christian, hmm, there must be a connection somewhere….

Christian Today:

An Afghan parliamentary secretary has called for the public execution of Christian converts from the parliament floor, according to International Christian Concern.

On Tuesday, the Associated Free Press reported that Abdul Sattar Khawasi, deputy secretary of the Afghan lower house in parliament, called for the execution of Christian converts from Islam.

Speaking in regards to a video broadcast by the Afghan television network Noorin TV showing footage of Christian men being baptized and praying in Farsi, Khawasi said, “Those Afghans that appeared in this video film should be executed in public. The house should order the attorney general and the NDS (intelligence agency) to arrest these Afghans and execute them.”

An ICC spokesperson told ASSIST News Service that the broadcast triggered a protest by hundreds of Kabul University students on Monday, who shouted death threats and demanded the expulsion of Christian foreigners accused of proselytising.

As a result, the operations of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) and US-based Church World Service (CWS) have been suspended over allegations of proselytising.

The ICC spokesperson said the Afghan government was currently undertaking an intensive investigation into the matter.

“According to Afghan law, proselytising is illegal and conversion from Islam is punishable by death,” the spokesperson said.

ICC sources within Afghanistan have reported that many national Christians are in hiding, fearful of execution. Under government pressure during investigations, some Afghans have reportedly revealed names and locations of Christian converts.

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Further current links:

Guardian – 2 Christian aid groups suspended in Afghanistan

Christian Today – Afghanistan suspended two church-based aid groups on Monday over allegations that the organizations are proselytising in the Islamic country.

Euthanasia is something I intuitively, morally, spiritually and ethically abhor, even given the seemingly persuasive arguments in its favour.

If you want to know why, then the below would certainly form part of the reason:

MailOnline:

Swiss suicide clinic Dignitas is under investigation over claims that it ignored a patient’s distressed mental condition to give him drugs to end his own life.

Strict assisted suicide laws in Switzerland state that each patient must be of sound mind and able to understand the consequences of their actions.

But now details have emerged of a patient who was allegedly given a DIY suicide kit prescribed by a Zurich gynaeologist despite suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

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TimesOnline:

The founder of the Swiss assisted suicide clinic Dignitas was criticised yesterday after revealing plans to help a healthy woman to die alongside her terminally ill husband.

Ludwig Minelli described suicide as a “marvellous opportunity” that should not be restricted to the terminally ill or people with severe disabilities. Critics said that the plans highlighted the risks of proposals to legalise assisted suicides in Britain for people in the final stages of a terminal illness.

The Dignitas clinic in Zurich claims to have assisted in the deaths of more than 100 Britons. The Zurich University Clinic found that more than a fifth of people who had died at Dignitas did not have a terminal condition.

Mr Minelli said that anyone who has “mental capacity” should be allowed to have an assisted suicide, claiming that it would save money for the NHS.

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TimesOnline

THE remains of up to 50 Britons who ended their lives at a controversial Swiss suicide clinic have been dumped in a lake, according to a nurse who worked at the organisation.

Several patients had made it clear to Dignitas that they wanted their ashes to be buried alongside relatives in Britain, but instead they were allegedly dropped into Lake Zurich in order to cut costs.

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Nice. I really don’t want to see this in the UK.

Anyway, in view of the way I feel and the ongoing debate surrounding euthanasia, I will draw your attention to a website called:

TheResistanceCampaign

The Charter

‘RESISTANCE’ CHARTER 2010: Protecting the lives of disabled & terminally ill people

Disabled and terminally ill people fear that calls to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia are likely to intensify. Our concerns are heightened by the current economic climate and calls from politicians from all parties for cuts in public services.

We, and our families, rely upon such services to live with dignity. Quality services make the difference between a fruitful life, led independently, and mere survival. We face a bleak situation as calls for assisted suicide to be lawful are renewed, whilst vital services are being withdrawn or denied.

Against this background, Not Dead Yet UK is asking all MPs to reassure disabled and terminally ill people by signing up to our Charter.

‘RESISTANCE’ CHARTER 2010

1. Disabled and terminally ill people deserve and are entitled to the same protection in law as everyone else.

2. I value the lives of all disabled and terminally ill people and the contributions they make to society.

3. I will seek opportunities to ensure disabled and terminally ill people in my constituency have access to the health, social care and other services they need to live with dignity.

4. I believe that disabled and terminally ill people seeking assistance to end their lives should receive the same support provided to any other person with suicidal thoughts and be encouraged to live.

5. I will support palliative care and independent living services in my constituency and work with those seeking to ensure they are available to all who would benefit from them.

6. I am willing to meet with disabled and terminally ill people in my constituency who are fearful of any change in the law on assisted suicide and to take account of their views.

7. I will seek to maintain the legal protection offered by the current law, which is that assisted suicide is illegal.

Continue reading and download the charter

Hat-Tip Christian @ HomeBrewedTheology

Woah, this one jumped out at me from the BBC website, pray right now they catch or kill this lunatic pronto.

BBC

A number of people have been killed and others injured after a gunman opened fire in several areas of west Cumbria.

Police are searching for the suspect, named as Derrick Bird, after shots were fired in Whitehaven, Seascale and Egremont.

Detectives said he drove into the central Lakes in a Citroen Picasso before abandoning it in the Boot area.

People who live nearby are being urged to stay indoors for their own protection.

A force spokesman said officers are working to establish the identities of those killed and wounded.

Police were initially called after shots were fired in Duke Street, Whitehaven, at 1035 BST.

A force spokesman said: “We can confirm that a number of people have been injured after shots were fired in the Whitehaven, Seascale and Egremont areas this morning.

“There are a number of fatalities and police are working to identify the individuals and inform relatives. Ambulance crews are in attendance across the area.”

Anyone who sees 52-year-old Mr Bird, from Rowrah near Frizington, should contact Cumbria Police.

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UPDATE: Looks like he may have killed himself….just a shame he didn’t do this first:

BBC – Police hunting Derrick Bird, who they suspect went on a shooting rampage which left several people dead, said they believed they had found his body in a wood near Boot, Cumbria.

I’ve three articles today sitting in my “starred” folder, which denotes that I found them interesting, but don’t really know what to do with them.

So I’ve decided to simply give you a snippet and link to them, and then you are free to read them….or not.

You can comment here, or on their blog, as the mood strikes you.

First off from Michael of the thoroughly excellent Parchment and Pen blog:

“Christianity is Dependant on Your Character Witness” . . . And Other Stupid Statements

I was discussing religion with a gentleman not long ago. It was a very interesting conversation in which he recounted to me how he used to be a Christian in a Baptist church. But he left Christianity for Buddhism not too long ago. He explained that the reason why he left Christianity was because of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. In short, he felt that Christians were on the wrong side of this issue.

This is representative of so many in our cultural Christianity. This gentleman’s argument was simple:

Christianity is determined as valid or invalid upon the character of its adherents.

In other words, if Christians do not act a “good” way, then Christianity itself is discredited. In this man’s mind, Christians were on the wrong side of the conflict, therefore he left Christianity for something more suitable in keeping with the character that he supposed should accompany those who follow the true God.

I am going to make a statement here that I suppose is going to make many of my readers upset. Here it goes:

Christianity is not validated upon the character of its adherents.

Did you get that? Let me repeat.

Christianity is not validated upon the character of its adherents.

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Secondly from Jack Wellman of EveryDayChristian:

C. S. Lewis and the Moral Argument for the Existence of God

C.S. Lewis, a former atheist, plainly says, ‘If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of Man was an accident too. If so, then all our present thoughts are mere accidents—the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else’s. But if their thoughts—i.e. of materialism and astronomy—are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all the other accidents. It’s like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milk jug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset.’

The “Moral Argument”

1) If God does not exist, objective moral values & duties do not exist.
2) Objective moral values & duties do exist.
3) Therefore, God exists.

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And thirdly from Marc Cortez of scientia et sapientia:

Free will and character are not incompatible

A common critique that I often hear against libertarian views of free will is that they are incompatible with the idea that our decisions can be decisively shaped by our character. I ran across a good example of this critique in a recent blog post. The author is critiquing a definition of free will offered by C. Stephen Evans, in which Evans says, “The possession of free will does not entail an ability not to sin, since human freedom is shaped and limited by human character. Thus a human person may be free to choose among possibilities in some situations but still be unable to avoid all sin.” The author concludes:

This statement is contradictory. If the will must sin of necessity then it is in bondage to corruption, and that which is in bondage is not free. So we must ask, freedom from what? Freedom from coercion, yes, but not freedom from necessity (the necessity to sin in this case). So even the author of the definition himself rejects free will perhaps without even knowing it.

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Enjoy….

I suppose we’ve all come across Christians who opt not to attend a church for one reason or another, and those who proudly proclaim that they are spiritual whilst lambasting the religious.

As I’ve encountered many such folk, and have adhered to this thinking personally in the past, I found these two articles in he Telegraph rather pertinent.

The first article comes from the pen of Martin Beckford:

Telegraph

[.....]

In the current Chapter Letter to the congregation at Lincoln Cathedral, Dr Hocknull wrote: “Any member of a church community will have heard it hundreds of times: ‘I’m spiritual but not religious,” or ‘You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian’.

“A Google search yields 1,360,000 results for that sentence. The statement is revealing, not just for its implied disdain for the life of religious communities, but also for its reduction of ‘spirituality’ to a personality trait.

“To say that ‘I’ am ‘spiritual’ here is on a par with saying that ‘I’ am patient or thoughtful or generous; it is a description that is all about ‘me’.”

He went on: “In the context of the biblical tradition, spirituality, instead, is a gift poured out by the Holy Spirit.”

Read all

The second article in response to the first comes from Rowan Pelling:

Telegraph

It is hard not to sympathise with the Chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral, Canon Mark Hocknull, who has expressed frustration at people who describe themselves “as spiritual, but not religious”.

You know what he’s getting at: the expression generally means someone who buys scented candles, does yoga, and weeps at nature documentaries. It’s as though you think having a soul transfigured by the imponderable mysteries of life, death, good and evil is roughly equivalent to being a bit thoughtful. Indeed, anyone who describes themselves as “spiritual” by definition excludes themselves from the accolade. Can you imagine the Dalai Lama, or even our dear old archbish, saying on Desert Island Discs, “The thing is, Kirsty, I’m a very spiritual kind of person.”

A far better description of most people’s relationship with the eternal (considering most UK residents describe themselves as belonging to a faith) is, “I am religious, but not spiritual.” Not that we lay people are any better. I don’t think I am that unusual in being regrettably selfish and worldly, while loosely aspiring to New Testament teachings. I mutter the Lord’s Prayer whenever I think disaster is imminent, get my children baptised, and go to church a couple of times of year. This puts me in the category identified by academics as “the fuzzy faithful”. We, too, are the targets of Canon Hocknull’s ire, the sort who say defensively: “You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.”

But we woolly thinkers who believe “there may well be something bigger than us out there, and I just hope it isn’t only the deficit” are the traditional backbone of the Church of England. Strip us away and there may be only five people and the crib in the congregation come Christmas. We admit our copious failings, but they are probably less alarming than a ferocious adherence to dogma.

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So my question is: Is it imperative that we as Christians regularly attend a place of worship and if so, why?

Also do you attend, and again, if so, why?

Yes I know this isn’t my first, nor my second post on the Israel / flotilla fiasco, but with the tsunami of global anti-Israeli negative press abounding online currently, this is important enough to warrant a third post:

Calvin L Smith (Principal of King’s Evangelical Divinity School)

Once again Israel has hit the news spectacularly, and yet again many Christians have simply aped the bitterly polarised and heated debate concerning the Jewish state which rages across the secular world. Thus, many on the religious left once again shout loud and indignantly, rather idealogically and unrealistically condemning an entire nation (pity we rarely hear the condemnation quite so vociferously when the other side fire rockets or blow themselves up in crowded streets), while some extreme Christian Zionists, as always, slavishly defend Israel no matter what she does, almost as if the secular Israeli government is somehow inerrant. The result of such hysteria is that the strategic ramifications of the wider issues and conflict are lost on those Christians who seem quite incapable of exploring events objectively and disappassionately. Yet it is worth for a moment taking stock of the bigger picture and how this might have a bearing on the region, and indeed upon the rest of us, regardless of our theological view of Israel.

It seems to me one of the gravest aspects of this issue for the region is the breakdown of the once-famous Israeli-Turkish alliance. But make no mistake, this has been coming for some time. Turkey previously guarded its secular constitution jealously, perhaps aware that even the slightest weakening towards religion would eventually let the Islamist genie well and truly out of the bottle. But things began to change with the election of the conservative AKP, a political party consisting of several blocs, including mildly Islamist factions. The AKP came to power in 2002 and was reelected in 2007, and for a while the Turkish military was uneasy with this new religious focus,  ready to intervene militarily if necessary. The country’s increasing division along secular-religious lines is typified by the government’s attempt to lift the headscarf ban for women and gthe reversal of other strict secularist laws, together with strong opposition to such efforts.

What is clear is that Turkish relations with Israel have cooled considerably throughout the noughties, culminating in yesterday’s events and most undiplomatic language emanating from the highest political echelons (including referring to the flotilla raid as an “act of piracy” and “state terrorism”).  Politicians and diplomats rarely use such language unless they have no intention whatsoever of rebuilding relations any time soon with the other country. Famously, too, the Turkish PM Erdogan stormed out of a meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Davos in January 2009 after a very public argument in front of the world’s media with Israeli president Shimon Peres over Gaza. He returned home to a heroes’ welcome, and arguably his actions were not entirely coincidental. Neither is Turkey’s undiplomatic language yesterday. Importantly, many of those involved in this week’s events were Turkish nationals, some of them well-known militants, yet it appears Turkey did very little to dissuade the flotilla from heading for Gaza. Indeed, I’ve heard it postulated that Turkish involvement in the flotilla by well known militants wielding iron bars is somehow a trick (a kind of Turkish maskirova, the Russian name for a military deception) to provoke Israel and distance itself further from the Jewish state. Whether or not this is the case, the erosion of Israeli-Turkish relations reached a critical stage yesterday, leading Turkey to cancel joint manouvers with the Israeli military. (Ironically, Turkey – at least for now – plans to go through with an arms deal with Israel, purchasing drones worth about $180m.) Thus, yesterday’s events represent the culmination of Turkey’s shift away from a military alliance with Israel over the best part of a decade. This has been accompanied over time - significantly - with Turkey’s gradual warming of relations with some of its Muslim neighbours and its efforts to ditch some of its secular constitution, which together arguably mark a perceptible strategic shift in the region which further isolates Israel. Given Turkey’s membership of NATO and its continued efforts to seek EU membership, here is a player which, albeit indirectly, may drag other parts of Europe and the West into a protracted diplomatic, economic and who knows, maybe a military conflict in the Middle East, not so much where Europe gets involved but has little choice but to lend some support to Turkey. We’ll see how the bigger strategic picture develops over the long term.

Having considered the Turkish aspect, what bearing do this week’s events have on Israel? My support for Israel is well-know, but neither is it slavish. Yes, Israel warned the convoy not to sail to Gaza, but it did so anyway. She also warned the convoy to divert away from Gaza, but of course it refused to do so. Israel then advised she would be boarding the ships and to stand by (five did, the sixth did not). And Israeli troops were met by militants (“peace” activists) with iron bars and other weapons so that soldiers were beaten (footage from both the Israeli military and taken from on board by others demonstrate clearly this is the case). I sincerely hope we won’t be hearing justification for such actions from those on the religious left who love to quote Jesus’ words “Blessed are the peacemakers”. Neither was Israel’s boarding of the ships illegal (not that international law is always right or moral). On BBC Radio 4′s The World Tonight last night the presenter interviewed Dr Douglas Gilfoyle, an expert on international law at University College London, who explained why boarding ships seeking to break a blockade is perfectly legal, even according to rules set down by the Red Cross (fast forward to about 18 minutes 45 seconds… the link will probably expire tonight). The presenter didn’t seem best pleased to hear this unequivocal opinion.

Yet all this said, the Israeli attack on the flotilla was a complete disaster. It was not only a PR disaster, as we have seen in the past 36 hours (and a PR coup for Hamas), but a military embarassment. Immediately before the interview with the international law academic on The World Tonight, the programme spoke with the former SAS veteran and author Andy McNabb, whose view was that Israel should have got far more troops on board quickly and armed them properly, pointing out how it seemed some of the Israeli soldiers were even armed with paintball guns! Today The Times also reports something similar, which all suggests Israel was more keen on seeking not to appear heavy-handed than acting in a coherent military manner. Consequently, ill-prepared and equipped troops were set upon by iron bars, apparently a gun was snatched by a militant and fired, and Israeli troops panicked and drew handguns, leading to the tragic situation of people dying. Christian Zionists can claim foul all they like, and I agree all is not as it seems. That five ships with protestors obeyed the authorities, while the sixth did not, demonstrates this to be the case. But after the 2006 Lebanon war, during which the IDF to all intents and purposes won, Israel’s military pride was nonetheless severely dented. Then we had the fiasco of the botched Mossad operation in the Gulf (not that they failed to get their target but rather they were all caught on film doing so). And now Israel sends crack troops armed with paintball guns into an operation which, although the facts are not yet all out, at this moment in time looks like something from the Keystone Kops. We’ll see what transpires, but so far it adds to a growing narrative in the Middle East of Israeli military incompetence, a narrative which is dangerous for the region, and indeed Israel’s existence. There’s a very real danger Iran, Hizbollah and others will begin to believe their own lie.

Defending Israel uncritically and slavishly does little good. It is quite one thing to believe passionately God has not finished with the Jewish people, quite another to suggest Israel is somehow inerrant and defend her on that basis. Yet neither do I have much time for some on the religious left who constantly denounce Israel no matter what she does. Clearly, such people will never be happy unless the Jewish state ceases to exist. I also get rather tired of the absence of indignation when it is Jewish lives and security at stake. After all, Israel’s heavy-handedness did not arise in a vacuum, but rather in the midst of a very real security threat that existed even before 1948. One thing is sure: Israel remains the centre of world attention millennia after the Bible was written. And it seems very little has changed even since then. When one hears the constant genocidal rhetoric of the likes of Iran’s President Ahmadinejad, Hizbollah or Hamas, one is reminded acutely of those words by the Psalmist penned some three thousand years ago:

O God, do not keep silence;

do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
For behold, your enemies make an uproar;
those who hate you have raised their heads.
They lay crafty plans against your people;
they consult together against your treasured ones.
They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation;
let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”

(Psalm 83:1-4 ESV)

A blogging colleague emailed me earlier and said:

Don’t know about you but I feel very depressed about the sheer ineptness Israel has shown in handing Hamas a propaganda coup that’s easily worth a boatload of weaponry.

Indeed….sadly….

Whilst the world and his dog appear to be in the mood of gleefully and blithely condemning and delegitimizing Israel over the Flotilla fiasco, (including Christians), I thought we might as well continue the theme and have a quick gander at Christian Aid and Israel…..again.

Cross-post by Cyrus of Christian Hate:

Christian Aid and Israel: Left foot forward: Christian Aid and its mistakes

Christian Aid and Israel. There’s been enough material for an entire conference just lately – and I reckon it’s about time somebody organized one.

What was Christian Aid doing the other day issuing a press release which alleged sexual abuse of Palestinian schoolgirls by Jewish settlers? Answer: it was a mistake. Very sorry.

We all make mistakes, don’t we? It’s just that sometimes our mistakes say a lot about us. This one speaks volumes about the culture that prevails inside Christian Aid. You don’t turn verbal abuse into sexual abuse unless you already have a strong disposition to think the worst of those accused. And this is not the first mistake of its kind.

In February Christian Aid’s youth website “Ctrl alt shift” carried – on International Holocaust Remembrance Day – an article by a young fanatic which accused Shimon Peres of being a war criminal and equated the dead of Gaza with those of the Holocaust. As Adam Levick wrote at Comment is Free, “Such ugly charges are typically levelled only in explicitly antisemitic and extremist publications”. Whilst there was no mistake on the writer’s part, Levick’s piece prompted what was apparently an official response from Christian Aid (though it has now strangely disappeared from the comments thread). Said marketing director Matthew Reed:-

‘The incident exposed shortcomings in the moderation procedures for the Ctrl Alt Shift website and an urgent review of these procedures is underway.’

Very sorry indeed.

Then, just a few days later, it was the turn of Christian Aid’s favourite politician to wipe some egg off her face. Baroness Tonge had, of course, suggested that the allegation that the Israeli Defence Force were in Haiti to harvest organs merited an investigation.

So, so, so sorry.

(at least, she was when called into the boss’s office)

Three mistakes, but not three accidents. Put them together and you get an entirely coherent picture of what Jews are like when they get their own state.

They go to one of the poorest countries on Earth in the wake of a disaster, posing as helpers but in fact on the lookout for body parts to steal.

They do things which are as bad as herding men, women and children into camps and murdering them with poison gas.

And, they sexually abuse Gentile children.

Each “mistake” ratchets up the hysteria one more notch, makes it a little easier to look at a Jew and see a monster.

How can anyone even moderately acquainted with the history of anti-Semitism – and specifically the history of Christian anti-Semitism – fail to hear alarm bells ringing?

Cross-post from our US based Lutheran CyberBrethren:

Today we remember and commemorate the faithful servant of God, Justin, a martyr for his faith, who is now known simply as Justin Martyr. He was a layman and one of the first Christian defenders of the faith, known as an “apologist” from the Greek word “apologia” which means, “defense” not, “Saying you are sorry.” If you have never read the writings of Justin Martyr, I think you will find them quite fascinating. In his writings, among many other interesting things, he records what is one of the most ancient descriptions of the Christian worship service. It is remarkably similar to the basics of what we are still doing to this day, with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper at the center of the Christian worship service.

Justin was born into a pagan family at Flavia Neopolis, or Nablus, in Palestine. At the age of thirty, he became a Christian and traveled to debate pagan philosophers, eventually going to Rome. There he was denounced and tried with Charita, Chariton, Euelpistus, Hierox, Liberianus, and Paeon. They were scourged and beheaded. Jus­tin, also called “the Philosopher,” was the first layman to serve as an apologist. His works include Apologies for the Christian Religion and Dialogue with the Jew Trypho. The records of Justin’s trial are extant. (Source) More information about Justin and his writings is available here. Here is how Justin described what Christians do on Sundays:

“On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succors [give assistance to] the orphans and widows, and those who, through sickness or any other cause are in want, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead.”

As you might have noticed, the Interweb is replete with opinion pieces and general condemnation of Israel’s assault on the flotilla, as a result, I’m going to feature in its entirety (with kind permission) the following piece from Gavin Drake, which takes a  more nuanced and realistic approach, and finish off with a few apposite Internet links:

Gavin Drake: Why Israel was correct in its action against the Freedom Flotilla

I’m no apologist for Israel.  It is not a perfect state and it does many things that are wrong.  But so does just about every other sovereign nation, state and territory.  I often think that Israel is blind to the repercussions of its actions in seeking to secure itself and its people against what it sees as Palestinian terrorists.

Those who support the Palestinian struggle for an independent statehood often refer to them as freedom fighters or romanticise them as Arab equivalent of the French Resistance.  I too took this approach for many years.

Once, at a lunch for a small number of Christian journalists hosted by the Anglo-Israeli Parliamentary Association, we were asked by our hosts why it was that Israel gets a bad press.  I challenged this assumption, insisting that Israel gets a fair press.  I said: “An Israeli with a gun is called a soldier; a Palestinian with a gun is called a terrorist.”  That was 12 years ago.  They’ve not invited me back for another lunch!

And that is a great pity; because I love Israel and I love its people – both Jew and Arab.

I love walking around the Jewish market in Jerusalem and sampling the vast variety of breads and exotic fruit and vegetables.

I love walking around the Old City and seeing the Arab store keepers selling all sorts of religious memorabilia – Muslim, Christian and Judaica products, all on sale in the same stores.

I love sitting atop Papa Andrea’s rooftop café (have I mentioned that before?) and watching the pilgrims below as they are  hurriedly taken to and from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

I love the peace and tranquillity that can be found along the shores of the Sea of Galilee and the panoramic view of the Galilee from the vantage points on the lower Golan.

I love the desert road into the Dead Sea region and the powerful sense of history and tragedy you get at Masada.

I love the inherent spirituality and peace in the Garden Tomb site (which I prefer to call the Garden of the Empty Tomb).

And I love the fact that in Jerusalem itself you have a wonderful combination of two ancient cultures living, working and resting side-by-side with visitors from around the world.

I’m no romanticist.  I can see that things aren’t perfect in Israel.  The Talmud states that of the 10 measures of beauty given to the earth, Jerusalem took nine of them.  The Christian singer and global justice campaigner Garth Hewitt sums the situation up brilliant in his song when he sings: “10 measures of beauty God gave to the world; nine to Jerusalem and one to the rest. 10 measure of sorrow God gave to the world; nine to Jerusalem and one to the rest.”

And that leads me to where we are today.  Israel is a sovereign nation.  It is also an occupying power of land and people without a state.  There is a peace process, of sorts, going on.  It isn’t moving fast enough for my liking; and it certainly isn’t moving fast enough for the liking of Jews and Palestinians in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.  But, after years of stagnation, it is moving.  Or, at least it was.

Proximity talks were taking place between Israel and Palestinian leaders to pave the way for direct negotiations.  These talks are now in doubt because of the actions of the Freedom Flotilla.

Israel was never going to allow these ships to dock in Gaza.  Anybody who thought otherwise does not understand the way Israel operates.  While it is concerned about international opinion; it will not allow international opinion to dictate or influence the way it secures its people.

Gaza is under blockade because the extremist Hamas group, buoyed by provincial electoral success,  staged a bloody and violent internal coup against officials from the corrupt Fatah group of the elected President Mahmoud Abbas, executing party members and Palestinian police officers in the streets of Gaza.  They lay siege to Gaza and use its territory to stage rocket attacks on Israel.

The Israeli blockade of Gaza isn’t total – aid and other supplies do get through in daily convoys through Gaza’s crossings with Israel.  The aid is limited and is thoroughly checked at the border to prevent weapons and other materials which could be used as weapons getting through.

The organisers of the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ knew that they would not be allowed to dock in Gaza.  In fact, it is highly unlikely that Gaza has a working port capable of unloading the ships.

The Israelis were not going to prevent the ships from delivering their aid; but were simply insisting the ships unloaded at the Israeli port of Ashdod so the cargo could be inspected before being taken to Gaza through the daily road convoys.

If the Freedom Flotilla wanted to deliver aid to Gaza it could have done so.  They chose not to.  They refused Israeli demands to divert to Ashdod and continued on its course.  If  the Freedom Flotilla wanted the aid to get through it could have unloaded at Ashdod where it would have been thoroughly inspected before being taken to Gaza.

I doubt that Gaza even has a working port from which the ships could have off-loaded their aid.

This flotilla wasn’t about delivering aid, it was about making a political point.  They succeeded.

If a flotilla of six ships headed for England and publicly announced they were intending to bypass Customs control and offload their cargo for onward distribution without any inspection; you can be sure the Royal Navy would declare an interest.  The ships would not be allowed into British territorial waters and it is likely, if the ships refused to divert, that the Navy would board the ships to ‘persuade’ the captains to alter course.  They would seek to do so peacefully but they would not hesitate to use force to defend themselves if the boarding party was attacked.

This is what Israel has done with the Freedom Flotilla.  Five ships didn’t attack the Israeli Defence Forces and nobody on those ships were harmed.  On one ship, the IDF members were violently attacked with metal bars and fire bombs.  They retaliated and people were killed.

What was Israel to do?  Let the ships dock in Gaza?  As I’ve said, that was never going to happen.

The people on board knew that wasn’t going to happen, which is why they had prepared themselves with arms to fight back against any boarding.

Aid workers do not arm themselves with fire bombs.

Aid workers do not carry offensive knives.

Aid workers do not hoard metal bars designed to be used as weapons.

Aid workers do not seek to avoid official scrutiny of their cargo.

I’m not comfortable with what has happened over the past 24 hours; but my anger is directed more at the outsiders whose interference has put in jeopardy the proximity talks which gave us – or rather the Israelis and the Palestinians – the biggest hope for peace in years.

Whether the Israelis misjudged their tactics or whether the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ activists were hell-bent on conflict is something that will only be determined after a full independent investigation.  What is plain is that at least 10 people are dead and many more injured – and that this was all needless.

The initial reaction of the Blogospere and Twitterverse is another onslaught of diatribe against Israel; with words such as piracy, slaughter, murder being banded about before the full facts are known.  It’s not easy – certainly not comfortable – to swim against the tide – but sometimes it is important to stand up and say calm down and look at the facts.

Often, you find many of those who attack Israel do so because it is Israel.  They can’t go beyond the “Pro-Palestinian” or “Pro-Israeli” label they attach to themselves.

Well, I’m “Pro-Palestinian” too.  And it’s because I’m “Pro-Palestinian” that I’m also “Pro-Israeli”.

This conflict won’t be solved by the Palestinians defeating the Israelis; or by the Israelis defeating the Palestinians.   It will only be solved when Israelis and Palestinians are living freely in security and peace.

Now, more than ever, it is necessary to ‘pray for the peace of Jerusalem’.

Only a political settlement will achieve peace in the land of the Holy One.  Gimmicks such as the Freedom Flotilla only serve to undermine genuine efforts to bring peace.

Further Links:

Calvin L Smith – Israel and the Flotilla: What About the Bigger Picture?

Israel National News – Israel’s Position Presented in Press Conference

Cranmer – Israel, the ‘peace activists’ and ‘world fury’

Prof Barry Rubin – Sympathy for the Devil and the Gaza Sea Confrontation: How Can Helping a Repressive Fascist, Genocide-Intending Hamas Regime be Noble?

Jubilee Centre – Israel’s raid of the Gaza flotilla

Edmund Standing – ISRAEL HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG: The truth about the Mavi Marmara and the IDF

BBC – Protesters demonstrating against the Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound aid ship have attempted to storm the BBC in Manchester.

CAMERA – UPDATED: In Aftermath of Gaza Flotilla Violence, Increase in Media Attention Yields Increase in Media Failures

American Thinker – The Unwarranted Castigation of Israel

Engage – Gaza flotilla – some alternative views

Harry’s Place – The commando raid: some next-day thoughts

Stand Firm – Evil Jews attack Peace-loving Pro-Palestinian “Activists”

Pajamas Media – Dead Muslims? Only Wake the EU and UN If Jews Did It.

Palestinian Media Watch – A day before the confrontation with Israel a university lecturer revealed on Hamas TV that the Gaza flotilla’s commander had announced that the participants were planning to use “resistance,” the Palestinian euphemism for violence, against “the Zionists.”

The Daily Mash – ISRAEL JUST MAKING IT EASIER FOR GUARDIAN READERS TO LOOK GOOD

OyVaGoy – Tomorrow evening (Wednesday 2nd June) the ZF will be holding a demonstration to show support for Israel. We will be meeting at the Israeli Embassy (2 Palace Green, London, W8 4QB) at 19.00 on Wednesday 2nd June. Please bring flags.

Biased BBC – JIHAD EXCUSING BBC..

CIFWatch – Testimony from a Soldier

CIFWatch – The Guardian has just published another Steve Bell classic that completely distorts the truth of what happened yesterday:

Cranmer – UN draft resolution condemning Israel

I’ll probably add to this list….