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Middle East Evangelical Concern

Criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic’. This line of attack lacks logic. Israel, the modern nation State is not synonymous with Jewry and/or Judaism - more than 2/3 of Jews live  outside Israel, and show little inclination to live there. It is also  patent nonsense, as anyone who has read the Hebrew prophets will  realize. Even today there are plenty of Jewish critics both in and  outside Israel who take a different view.

Criticism of Israel is no more anti-Semitic than criticism of the British  government is anti-British; no country is exempt from criticism, that  way lies idolatry, think of the first three commandments (Exodus 20).  The cry, ‘anti-Semitism’, is either lazy thinking, or the defensive  reaction of those whose arguments fail to convince.

The true anti-Semitism is to suggest that Israel’s actions towards the Palestinians has anything to  do with Judaism. That must be repugnant to all those who are of the  faith of Abraham, whether Christian or Jew. It verges on blasphemy to  suggest that the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes is God’s will. What would the prophets have said?  What, in fact, did they say?

If Jesus is truly the radical change-maker that we Christians say he is why have we reverted to such worldly judgements.