France and the Jewish people: A “love story” gone wrong?

Written by Guy Athia, Director of Chosen People Ministries in France

Since the revolution of 1789 and the emancipation of the Jews proclaimed by Napoleon a few years later, there were several attempts to return to the previous status for the Jews living in France. The most recent one was during World War II, with France’s Vichy government of collaboration with the Nazis.

Until the Six-Day War in 1967, France provided Israel with military supplies and had a vey close relationship with the state of Israel. However, the situation changed with the adoption of what is known today as the “Arabic politic” of France led by General De Gaulle. It’s interesting to see that in the same period of the 1960s the Jewish population of the country grew a lot with the Sephardic Jews who came from North Africa.

“Anti-Semitism is on the increase…and enlightened people are not immune to it.” These words, written in 1945 by the renowned British author George Orwell in an essay titled “Anti-Semitism in Britain,” might just as easily have been written in 2005.

Richard Jinman, reporting on February 11, 2005, in the English newspaper “The Guardian,” wrote:

The number of abusive or violent attacks on Jewish people in Britain reached record levels last year, according to figures released yesterday. A total of 532 “anti-Semitic incidents”-defined as malicious acts on Jewish people or property-were recorded in 2004…. The figure was a 42% increase on the 375 anti-Semitic incidents recorded in 2003 and considerably more than the previous record of 405 in 2000. Among the 532 incidents were 83 physical attacks (up 54% on the previous year), four of which were life-threatening.¹

325 – The Council of Nicea rejected the Jewish roots of Christian faith

It separated the celebration of Easter from the Jewish Passover, stating, “For it is unbecoming beyond measure that on this holiest of festivals we should follow the customs of the Jews. Henceforth let us have nothing in common with this odious people…”

415 – St. Augustine’s writings fostered anti-Semitism

St. Augustine wrote, “The true image of the Hebrew is Judas Iscariot, who sells the Lord for silver. The Jew can never understand the Scriptures and forever will bear the guilt for the death of Jesus.”

613 – Persecution in Spain

Jews were given the choice of leaving Spain or converting to Christianity. Jewish children over six years of age were taken from their parents and given a non-Jewish upbringing.

From 1968 until 1994, the Palestinians residing in the Land of Israel were largely governed by one man, Yasser Arafat. Arafat rose to power as the head of a political party, Fatah, which was founded on the premise that the Palestinians should engage in self-liberation, by force if necessary. During that time, Arafat and Fatah encouraged hundreds of terrorist attacks, many of them through affiliate groups that were officially separate from Fatah, though in name only.

After Arafat’s death in 2004, Fatah lost its revered leader and has struggled to recover. Last January, the world-including many Palestinians-was shocked when the opposing Hamas party won the majority of seats in the Palestinian elections. Political leaders and Israelis were unsettled by the victory of the more militant group, as it signifies a disturbing shift away from peace in the region. Though much remains to be seen about how Hamas will approach its new role, its historic opposition to negotiations and treaties makes it doubtful that this will be a time of renewed peace for Israel.

Those who are old enough to remember the Cold War may recall the civil defense sirens that used to go off at noon each day to test the alarm system. The good news was that it worked wonderfully. The bad news was that, after a while, no one paid the slightest attention to it.

This just goes to show that an alarm can only be as effective as the human response that accompanies it. Today, there is an alarm emanating from Iran that is threatening Israel and the world in a way that must not be underrated or wished away. What should be the response of God’s people to this ticking time bomb?

Written by Dr. Daniel Goldberg

LIE #1

Israel was created by European guilt over the Nazi Holocaust. Why should Palestinians pay the price?

Three thousand years before the Holocaust, before there was a Roman Empire, Israel’s kings and prophets walked the streets of Jerusalem. The whole world knows that Isaiah did not speak his prophesies from Portugal, nor Jeremiah his lamentations from France. Revered by its people, Jerusalem is mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures 600 times – but not once in the Koran. Throughout its 2,000-year exile there was continuous Jewish presence in the Holy Land, with the modern rebirth of Israel beginning in the 1800s. Reclamation of the largely vacant land by pioneering Zionists blossomed into a Jewish majority long before the onset of Nazism.