The Canadian Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center reported today about a one-sided, anti-Israel presentation by representatives of the Presbyterian Church of Canada that occurred at St. Andrews Church in Toronto on Thursday December 15, 2011. It was the account of a few Presbyterian representatives who responded to the anti-Semitic KAIROS Palestine document that dismisses violence against Israel and includes terminology such as “The West sought to make amends for what Jews had endured in the countries of Europe, but it made amends on our account and in our land. They tried to correct an injustice and the result was a new injustice.”
The KAIROS Palestine document seeks to delegitimize any biblical attachment between Jews and the land of Israel and explicitly calls for “resistance” against Israel while ignoring the causes of the middle east conflict, Israel’s need for security due to the many and ongoing acts of terror by Palestinians and Arabs against Israelis.
The document is a disgrace, which wrong-headedly attempts to lend the ideology of Christianity to support Palestinian renunciation of the peace process.
Rick Horst, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, reported on his impressions of the Israel Palestine conflict after a trip there and seems to have taken the idiot's guided tour, which features complaints about Israeli "injustice" but neglects to mention the suicide bombings, the Palestinian state TV shows that call for the murder of Jews, and the Palestinians' government-sponsored incitement to violence in their schools and mosques .
Horst, who is also Minster of the Barrie, Ontario`s St. Andrews`s Church, decided to utilize a common anti-Semitic canard in his report and said (see from 8:16 in linked video), "Palestinians are daily harassed and abused and treated with indignities that are simply not allowable under international law, yet it continues to persist because of frankly the power of the Jewish and Zionist lobbies both in America and frankly all around the world including Canada`.
You get that? According to the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, the plight of the Palestinians isn't due to their ongoing attempts at terror, or their failure to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. The fact that Palestinians impose the death penalty on anyone who sells land to a Jew doesn't make them an Apartheid state. It's because of an evil Jewish plot. And our politicians' support for Israel, like that of the Prime Minister of Canada, or federal Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney, or Liberal Party leader Bob Rae isn't because they have sided with a free, liberal democracy that provides equal voting rights to all its citizens over an undemocratic entity devoted to terrorism. Horst's implication is that it's because Canada's political leaders are under the influence of the Jews and Zionists.
What Horst is reporting is not a very accurate reflection of the situation in Israel and Palestine. But it is a sad reflection of the deplorable infusion of classic anti-Semitism at the highest reaches of Canada's Presbyterian Church.
UPDATE: Some interesting background on Rev. Horst. It seems the fellow ran for a federal Liberal nomination a few years back while still a member of the NDP. After that was exposed, he was defeated for the nomination in a special re-vote.
UPDATE 2: Here is the document produced by the "Bethlehem Call" to which Rev. Horst responded so enthusiastically.
It produced idiotic, morally reprehensible statements such as:
"Today, the illegal regime and illegal forms of the Israeli occupation of Palestine assumes
dimensions of systemic injustice whereby the unthinkable and unimaginable becomes globally accepted, supported and normalized. This is an example of Empire (global domination) at work."
"The brutality in the “violence of silence” internationally provides an almost impenetrable shield for the Israeli government to implement its evil designs in blatant disregard for human rights and international law. Silence is an opinion. Inaction is an action. We witness decidedly spineless cowardice in failure to resist the Israeli government by the majority of governments, political parties, media outlets, businesses, most of organized religion including Christianity and the silence of prophets worldwide."
"The deligitimization and criminalization of the Israeli government and its local and international support base is gaining unstoppable momentum."
There's plenty more, all equally stupid.
Minister Horst brings new definition to being fucking stuck on fucking stupid.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope he burns in his hell for spreading such lies and calumnies.
Amen.
AMEN AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
ReplyDeleteI understand the sentiment, but The LANGUAGE, people!!
ReplyDeleteGood heavens, people, get a grip. You are taking this completely out of context and exaggerating the point.
ReplyDeleteThere is no Anti-Semitism here; there is a recognition of the fact that Israel is indeed responsible for violence against Palestinians. To say that the Palestinians are simply violent terrorists is absolute nonsense. That is not to say their actions are in anyway justified, but they must be understood in the context of one people displaced violently by another.
We Presbyterians have a deep and abiding respect for Israel and the Jewish people. However, we also love and respect all human beings and have a particular heart for the abused, neglected and disenfranchised. The Palestinians are just such a nation. There is no right or wrong here. There is no Anti-Semitism, unless you are willing to recognize your own comments point to a blind and inappropriate hatred of Palestinians as well.
The Presbyterian Church in Canada has an incredibly rich history and heritage of helping those who are in the greatest need and standing with the oppressed and abused of the world. Do not confuse your prejudice against Palestine with our desire to see that any abused person or nation, whether Jew or Gentile, has a chance to be treated fairly and with justice.
Speaking of absence of context PJ, you've chosen to completely ignore what Horst said. He attributes Palestinian suffering to the Jewish lobby. No mention of terror and he actually appears to mock Israel's security concerns despite the innumerable instances of Palestinian terrorism and the ongoing efforts by Hamas, which has recently reunited with the PLO, aided by Iran and its proxy Hezbollah, to destroy the Jewish state.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any idea of WHY the Palestinians are being subject to harsh security measures? Do you have any idea of the calls to violence in the Palestinian state press or the glorification of suicide bombers by both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas?
Horst seems to think "security" needs for Isreal are unimportant. If it was he who had to live under constant threat of missile attacks and terrorism, instead of his being an honored guest of the Palestinians, he might take it just a bit more seriously.
The Palestinains have faced injustices and Israel has done some unfair things, as any country isn't perfect, but Horst, as Presbyterian Moderator, shames his Church by drawing a moral equivalency..no, let me correct that, attributes a moral superiority to the side that is undemocratic and supports the intentional murder of inncoent civillians.
And he is providing a rather disgusting example of bigotry by attributing Canadian political leaders' support for Israel, not to their chosing between the moral values of the two sides, but because of some supposedly nefarious Jew and Zionist influence. If the man had any brains or decency, he'd be ashamed of himself and apologize.
Rick Horst, besides being an antisemite, is a liar. However, he is just part of the presbyterian church's antisemitic protocols. To the leaders of the presbyterian church, killing a 3 month old jewish baby is an act of heroism by a brave Palestinian. To the presbyterians, 6000,000 dead during the nazi Holocaust is not enough. They want a new Holocaust against the Jewish people by destroying Israel. Rick Horst is a typical leftist who sees success and hardwork as oppressive while terrorism, sloth, and bigotry are noble.
ReplyDeleteI understand your anger, anon at 2:36, but it's not all Presbyterians, just some of their not-too-bright leaders. And I don't think they are so much hateful as they are incredibly stupid. They're moral relativists leading an organization that is supposed to stand for morality. They want an "underdog" to cheer so they can pretend to be social justice warriors. If the "underdog" happens to be a group of hate-filled bigots who intentionally murder children and want to murder a race of people, well, our friends at the top of the Presbyterian church appear prepared to overlook that, don't they?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/12/26/3090898/canada-presbyterian-church-head-blames-zionist-lobby
ReplyDeleteAs a new member of the Canadian Presbyterian Church, I STAND UP TO DECLARE that I find the attitudes and actions of this Moderator to be both morally reprehensible AND Scripturally- and factually IGNORANT when it comes to this issue. It makes me ASHAMED to be in his presbytery. I hope to be able to tell him so to his face soon.
ReplyDeletePJ's pink-shaded World Council of Churches-inspired historical retrospective concerning The Presbyterian Church In Canada's universal goodwill falls drastically short of the actual, factual, historical record when it comes to Jewry:
ReplyDeletefrom their official institutional silence before and during the Holocaust; to their PCC Prime Minister's "one too many" Wartime anti-Semitic immigration poicy.
In later years? The filing, by one Presbytery's 'Justice' Committee, of the Soviet Jewry cause "in the waste-paper basket";to the corporate (as in corporation) sacking of a dedicated and respected Minister for his conscientious exposing and opposing his notorious anti-semitic Elder by the name of Malcolm Ross;and for
the past decade plus - this sustained perennial attack by the PCC's International Affairs Committee:tilting only at the "Occupied" sovereign State of Israel, and now seeking added justification under specious aegis of the doctors of 'Church Doctrine'. Physicians, heal thyselves!
Do you have any info on the new moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Rev. John Vissers?
ReplyDelete