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Local christians honor israel Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Local Christians to honor the state of Israel
By Ann Stifter
astifter@savannahnow.com
912-652-0332
Christian ministers have a heart for Israel.
So much so they've set up a night to honor the Mideast state.
"Our roots are there," said the Rev. Steve Evans, assistant rector of Christ Church, an Episcopal church in the Historic District.
"The Jewish people are the first people for whom the revelation of God came to us.
"And Jesus was a Jew."
On Thursday, Evans will help sponsor a talk by Canon Andrew White, rector of Coventry Cathedral and special envoy for the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Middle East.
White, a chief negotiator during the spring 2002 siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, is traveling to the United States to speak to Congress.
Evans said the free talk, scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Savannah Riverfront Marriott, is not about evangelizing to the Jewish community, but is a stand on Israel's right to exist as a nation. It's a message of Christian backing.
"We don't want to be part of Christians who, in silence, would allow the Jews to be driven to death again," the priest said.
"But this is not saying we agree with everything they do. We know they're not perfect."
Evans also knows some people may label his group anti-Palestine.
"As Christians, we're not anti-anybody," he answered. "We have a desire to support Israel because, in a way, it's standing alone right now.
"It's been the object of terrorism and massive hatred."
Jewish/Arab thought
American Jewry as a whole supports a state of Israel, but some disagree with the policies of achieving it, said Martin Perlmutter, director of Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program at the College of Charleston.
"Some would be more inclined to be aggressive with the Palestinian population, and some more accommodating," Perlmutter said.
"Some would think the settlements a good idea, some a bad idea."
The settlements involve relatively small, fortified communities of Jews in parts of Israel populated mostly by Palestinians.
Not all American Jews support the current policies of the Israeli government. Some prefer a more liberal policy toward the Palestinians, a disagreement that is the same in Israel, he said.
Whether local Arab-Americans will attend or protest the talk is uncertain.
Several Savannah residents with Palestinian ties did not know about the event as of Thursday and declined to comment on the record.
One man said he wondered whether now, with America at war with Iraq, was the time to add further tension and said it is not acceptable in America to express anti-Israeli sentiments.
Recent history
The night of honor comes a week after the Anti-Defamation League reported that anger over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict caused more anti-Semitic incidents last year in the United States, particularly on college campuses.
The report found 106 acts of anti-Semitism on campuses in 2002, a 24 percent increase from the 85 a year before. The total number of anti-Jewish incidents increased by 8 percent, from 1,432 in 2001 to 1,559 last year.
The campus acts included name-calling and damage to buildings housing Jewish fraternal organizations, the Associated Press reported.
However, some Palestinian spokesmen say they don't hate Jews but merely oppose a Jewish-dominated state in what they regard as their homeland.
The talk also comes two months after the Savannah Council on World Affairs asked Michael Tarazi, a representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to speak in Savannah.
The invitation irritated many in the local Jewish community who felt the council also should have brought in someone to present the Israeli view.
Tarazi, a Palestinian-American lawyer and a legal adviser to the Negotiations Affairs Department of the PLO, explained the history of the Middle East conflict and described what he believes is the Israeli paradigm: take as much land as possible with as few Palestinians as possible.
Council members call their group an educational organization, not an advocacy agency. They have since invited a spokesperson from the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., to speak on April 30.
Tarazi's talk generated shouts from the audience of nearly 400 people, who represented both sides of the issue. It also prompted the need for more security.
There will be increased security at the Marriott on Thursday, Evans said.
Faith views
Religious leaders taking sides in the Israeli-Palestinian strife is common.
In November, a United Methodist pastor from Washington state was one of the protesters detained after demonstrating against Israel constructing a security fence near the West Bank town of Tullkarem.
The Rev. Gordon Hutchins said he was released after four days in custody and rejoined the Lutheran group he had been traveling with, according to the Associated Press.
"The people of Palestine are being systematically destroyed," he reportedly told United Methodist News Service. "The objective of Israel is ultimately to be the only people in this country.
"I love Israel and the people of Israel, but something's gone terribly, terribly awry."
In June, Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said supporting Israel is about being obedient to God.
Land's briefing was sponsored by Stand for Israel, a campaign to have 100,000 churches and 1 million American Christians back Israel, according to the Baptist Press.
Land pointed to God's covenant with Abraham in Genesis that included a promise to make of him a great nation through Isaac and to bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him.
God also promised to bless and multiply Ishmael and his descendants, the Arabs, Land said.
"God has blessed them, and he will bless them, everywhere but Palestine," he said, "because God gave Palestine to the descendants of Isaac forever."
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