MCC urges governments to end Gaza blockade

MCC urges governments to end Gaza blockade
Gladys Terichow
June 4, 2010

WINNIPEG, Man. – Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is urging the governments of the U.S. and Canada to work constructively within the international community to restore the normal flow of goods and people through Gaza-Israel border crossings.

In letters to the U.S. president and Canada’s foreign affairs minister, MCC urges them to support an impartial and independent investigation into Israel’s deadly response to the Free Gaza flotilla on May 31.

The convoy, carrying 10,000 tonnes of much-needed aid, was attempting to enter the Gaza Strip by sea and break the Israeli blockade that has a devastating effect on the livelihoods and lives of Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians. The convoy was intercepted by the Israeli military before reaching Gaza and clashes led to the deaths of nine people.

Daryl Byler, MCC’s representative in the region, said hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza live in dire conditions without employment and basic supplies because of the Israeli blockade.

Read more of this biased, anti-semitic, and misguided report here:

http://mcc.org/stories/news/mcc-urges-governments-end-gaza-blockade

So You Want to Boycott Israel?

This is a brilliant pro-Israel satire:

So You Want to Boycott Israel?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbIQto3KPUM

The ones who need to watch the above video are the ones least likely to.

For example:

“The Episcopal Church of U.S.A., the United Church of Christ, two regions of the United Methodist Church, as well as international groups like the World Council of Churches and the Anglican Consultative Council have all urged similar economic boycotts of Israel.”
-US Presbyterian Church Warns Companies to Boycott Israel or Face Divestment
August 9, 2005
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/us.presbyterian.church.warns.companies.to.boycott.israel.or.face.divestment/3647.htm

“The MCC, through Sabeel and other allies, is also involved in promoting the extremist political campaign designed to isolate Israel through calls for boycott and divestment.”
-“Mennonite Central Committee – Promoting Conflict via Divestment (Update)”
http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article.php?id=839

Related:

Key Mennonite Institutions against Israel
Dexter Van Zile
2 August 2009
http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=3&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=624&PID=0&IID=3023&TTL=Mennonites_against_Israel

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:3

Key Mennonite Institutions against Israel

The following is a very important article:

Key Mennonite Institutions against Israel
By Dexter Van Zile
Published July 2009
www.jcpa.org

* Mennonite-supported peacemaking institutions have been at the forefront of the effort to discredit Israel to audiences in North America. These institutions portray Jewish sovereignty as the cause of conflict and suffering in the Middle East and downplay Muslim and Arab hostility toward Jews and Israel.

* The prescription for peace offered by these activists-especially those affiliated with the Mennonite Central Committee and Christian Peacemaker Teams-is for Israeli Jews to abandon their insistence on maintaining Israel as a sovereign Jewish state and acquiesce to a one-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. This prescription fails to take into account overwhelming evidence that a Jewish minority would not be safe in a Muslim- and Arab-majority country in the Middle East.

* Mennonite expressions of hostility toward Jewish sovereignty and indifference to the plight of Jews in Arab- and Muslim-majority states are ironic and hypocritical. Mennonites enjoy safety and wellbeing by virtue of other people’s willingness to engage in acts of violence. Israeli Jews enjoy no such privilege.

* Mennonite anti-Zionism is emblematic of an inability to deal with the reality of evil and the power needed to confront it….

To read the rest of this excellent article, click here:

http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=3&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=624&PID=0&IID=3023&TTL=

Modern Day Mennonites and Antisemitism

This is sad to see:

Mennonites Deny Israel’s Right to Exist
(rollovermenno.wordpress.com)

MCC is anti-Israel
(rollovermenno.wordpress.com)

Mennonites and Antisemitism

Here are some revealing articles on the sad subject of Mennonites and their past involvement in antisemitism:

The first is an article written by John Kampen:

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Mennonites, Judaism and Israel-Palestine
(www.themennonite.org)

The second is a response to the above article:

A window into Antisemitism and Nazism among Mennonite in North America, Part 1
(www.themennonite.org)

In Defense of their Dinner Date

The following is the Mennonite Central Committee’s defense of their shocking dinner date…

MCC dialogue toward peace with Iran

Arli Klassen and Daryl Byler
September 30, 2008

Strong opinions have been expressed over Mennonite Central Committee’s participation in the September 25 dinner and dialogue that included Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Some news media spread incorrect information about the event’s purpose. Our goal was respectful, peace-building dialogue, not to honor the president or any other individual. In sharing a meal with such a controversial figure, we were drawing on both the deep spiritual roots that sustained our persecuted ancestors and on Jesus’ example.

Last week in New York City, a simple oil lamp glowed on the podium before the gathering of people of diverse faiths. MCC gave such a lamp to President Ahmadinejad last year. Similar lamps yield gentle yet insistent light in many Mennonite and Brethren in Christ worship services. In every situation, we look to the light of Christ to lead us.

(…)

Read the rest of this article here:

http://mcc.org/news/news/article.html?id=396

Shocking Dinner Date

Once again, the Mennonite Central Committee dines with the devil.

Mennonite Central Committee Defends Dinner With Ahmadinejad
October 1, 2008

The Mennonite Central Committee, one of the co-sponsors of an interfaith dinner with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that took place in New York City on Sept. 25, 2008, has issued a deceptive and naive statement in defense of its dealings with the Iranian President.

The statement, written by Arli Klassen, the MCC’s executive director, and Daryl Byler, the organization’s representative for Jordan, Iran, Iraq and Palestine, exaggerates the impact of MCC-organized events on Ahmadinejad’s public speech about Israel. The statement also ignores Ahmadinejad’s hostility toward Jews and portrays the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state in the Middle East as a legitimate component of peacemaking efforts in the region.

(…)

Read the rest of this article here:

http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=118&x_article=1545

Related reading:

Mennonites and the NCC Calling Evil Good
(rollovermenno.wordpress.com)