NewsletterContinued

Last week, Charles Jacobs wrote a timely article, titled "Time for a Jewish Tea Party?" (The Jewish Advocate, 2/25/10). Jacobs lamented: "Since 2004, the problem for Jews on campus has only worsened. The alliance between the [pro-Palestinian] left and the Muslim students has gelled, while the Jews are divided and with weak leadership... [And] as mosques, funded by Saudi Arabia, and controlled by radical Muslim organizations, expand across America - unopposed - Jewish leaders fail to respond." He suggested it is time for the concerned Jews in America to start a Tea Party movement to awaken the Jewish community at large to the rising threat of radical Islam.

May I ask: Is it time for a Christian "Tea Party", as well? Has the Christian community been awakened? Have our Christian leaders in America adequately informed their congregants about the subversive radical Islamic movements taking root inside America, where they aim to tear down our Judeo-Christian way of life?

(If you are not yet convinced of the rising threats of radical Islamic groups to our faith and freedom inside America, viewing the following video and the transcript of Sean Hannity's Fox News interview should help you see that it is real.)

Church pastors are rightfully focused on the eternal destinies of our souls, for one day our physical bodies must all be laid to rest - from dust we came, and to dust we shall return [Genesis 3:19]. Also, our pastors are certainly busy guiding the congregants to overcome their personal challenges, such as broken relationships, financial problems, and the enslavement and consequences of their sinful acts.

But, in focusing so much on addressing everyone's personal life challenges, many pastors in America have failed to lead their flock to see this bigger picture outside the four walls of their church communities, and to stand up to protect our faith and freedom in America.

In light of the radical Islamic movements in and outside of America (where they have declared war against our Judeo-Christian way of life), it would be well to remember the words of Pastor Martin Niemöller who spoke these words in Nazi Germany:

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Where are today's Isaiah, Jeremiah, and John the Baptist, who were not afraid to speak out for their faith in the God of Israel?

This week, Israeli Apartheid Week started on campuses around the world. This follows the disruption of a speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at the University of California-Irvine on February 8th. (See a video: Uncivilized Tactics at UC Irvine ).

These disruptive acts to silence our voices are becoming increasingly loud and forceful. Should the church remain silent?

America still enjoys the greatest freedom of faith and liberty among all the nations of the world. Yet, our faith is undoubtedly under attack. We must not remain silent, for "faith without works is dead."

Rev. Fumio Taku
President
Christians and Jews United for Israel

On Feb. 8, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) disrupted a speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at the University of California-Irvine. It was done cleverly. A Muslim student from the audience stood up and began shouting during Oren's talk. After he was removed from the hall and the talk resumed, another Muslim student stood up and began to shout. This happened about a dozen times. Oren courageously and with eloquence finished his talk.

Though the Irvine disruption was not nearly as impressive as the 2002 Muslim victory in Montreal when students violently prevented Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from speaking at Concordia University, the California incident demonstrates the growing strength of the MSA; it also is a marker of Jewish political decline on American campuses.

For years, the Irvine campus has witnessed publicly funded anti-Israel and anti-Semitic speakers and programs; and, for years, the established Jewish community has failed to respond effectively. At Irvine, where Jews are sometimes frightened to openly identify themselves, only the stalwart Zionist Organization of America and the valiant grass-roots group Stand With Us have consistently challenged the university to fulfill its responsibility and protect the students and free speech. Hillel, the national Jewish campus organization, created in times of peace to ensure that Jewish boys meet Jewish girls, staffed with warm-fuzzy Kumbaya-niks, remains in denial - or worse.

Across the country, university administrations are notoriously weak actors. While the left and Muslim groups - supported by radical faculty - push hard, the Jewish establishment tries to sweet-talk, and the Jews lose. In 2004, when the David Project produced a film documenting the intimidation and harassment of pro-Israel students by Arab professors at Columbia University ("Columbia Unbecoming"), many Jews on Columbia's faculty were upset - not at the egregious actions of Muslim or Arab professors, but at the David Project for raising the issue. The New York Jewish establishment tried to minimize the conflict and marginalize the problem. They "made nice" with the administration behind closed doors, showing themselves to be the good, reasonable Jews. (We nicknamed the film, "The Marranos of Morningside Heights.")

Since 2004, the problem for Jews on campus has only worsened. The alliance between the left and the Muslim students has gelled, while the Jews are divided and with weak leadership. And increasingly, especially in California, it is the radical Muslim students who are vigorously taking the lead against Israel and Jews.

This campus phenomenon - the growth of the Muslim factor, the Jewissh establishment's reluctance to respond forcefully to threats and the failure of public officials to protect Jews against Muslim threats - now mirrors the situation developing for Jews off campus: As mosques, funded by Saudi Arabia, and controlled by radical Muslim organizations, expand across America - unopposed - Jewish leaders fail to respond. Here too, "making nice" - through "dialogues" and outreach programs such as "twinning" synagogues and Islamic centers - is the Jewish establishment's primary response. And even when, as in Boston and Buffalo, such naïveté backfires, and Jews find instead of sincere and peaceful partners to shake hands with that they have been hoodwinked by Islamist anti-Semites, Jewish leaders remain silent.

Meanwhile, in contrast to the Jewish community, a significant portion of America is in rebellion against - and is in the process of challenging - its political establishment. Grass-roots frustration expressed first in raucous "town hall" meetings and now in the Tea Party movement defeated incumbent Democrats and influenced elected officials not to run for re-election. Americans are angry with both parties. Why? Former CIA official Herbert Meyer notes that Americans were shocked by "two catastrophes we hadn't imagined our political establishment would allow to happen." First there was 9-11, "when we discovered that for years, Al Qaeda and its allies had been waging holy war against us," and our leaders - who knew - did not tell us. The second was "the 2008 financial crash, which revealed that our economy is a house of cards built on a pile of debt so high we cannot possibly repay it."

Changing America's Jewish leadership is more difficult: Jewish political leaders are not democratically elected - or replaced. As with royalty, we may get lucky from time to time with an outstanding leader. But our "leaders" are mostly selected and controlled by well-intentioned philanthropists. Many of these donors are politically liberal, and even those who are not are inherently conflict-averse and comfortable with the status quo.

Meanwhile, as we wait and pray for more effective leadership, we need to introduce the concept of "accountability" for our sclerotic Jewish leaders - perhaps by lighting grass-roots fires under them. What about a town hall meeting?

Anti-Semitism on College Campuses

Dear Friend of CJUI,
The battle over the minds and hearts of American youth is intensifying.

Every movement - whether good or evil - sees children as the most important source of its future vitality and growth. Hitler organized a massive Hitler Youth movement, and Lenin, Trotsky and Mao had their own Communist youth armies. The radical Islamists are no different, training Palestinian children (pratically from birth) to hate Jews, and glorifying becoming a shahid (martyr) for Allah. (Even King Nebuchadnezzar tried to mold the mind of young Daniel and his Jewish friends by subjecting them to "re-education," but Daniel remained steadfast in his faith!)

From the 1st to the 14th of March of 2010, pro-Palestinian groups are launching their 6th annual Israel Apartheid Week on college campuses. Last year events were held in 41 cities around the world, including Boston, New York, Chicago, LA, Atlanta, Toronto, and Montreal. (Anti-Israel events at Boston University are scheduled on March 1 -2).

The Israel Apartheid Week is increasingly creating an insidious environment where some Jewish students are physically and verbally attacked on campuses. What may have once been considered anti-Zionist rhetoric seems to be crossing the line into pure anti-Semitism.

To raise awareness about this dangerous anti-Semitic movement, Imagination Productions is launching a film, featuring Charles Jacobs among others.

Watch the trailer of the film, Crossing the Line: The Intifada Comes to Campus.

Youth are idealistic, passionate for change, and full of explosive energy! Radical Islamists are targeting our college campuses as a means to transform the future of America.

January 6, 2010

Dear Friend of CJUI,
A post-American world may soon be a reality -- by her own choice. Its impact on Israel would be unimaginably frightening, endangering Israel's survival as a nation. Rather than to consolidate her position as an exceptional superpower, able to defend herself and Israel from their common enemies, America is dangerously dissipating her economic and military prowess. Unless the majority of Americans (including the liberal Jewish voters and the "silent majority" Christians of all races and backgrounds) reverse this trend by casting a strong vote of disapproval in the fall elections, the world will look much differently in ten years from today.

Since the birth of the nation of Israel in 1948, America has been her strongest financial and military supporter. Where Israel lacked, the U.S. was able to provide, through billions of dollars in foreign aid and partnership in development of superior military technologies. But, with America's global leadership and goodwill to Israel in decline, our country is falling into the following serious security gaps of her own:

•    A limited sum of funds available for maintaining strong military defense and security measures: The weak economy and U.S. dollars, exacerbated by increasing debts, bigger government bureaucracies, higher taxes, investment in costly welfare programs, redistribution of wealth, all point to a greater loss of America's economic freedom and vitality. When America is bankrupt and indebted to China or some other oil-producing nations, she would no longer be able to defend herself or Israel against foreign powers.

•    A lack of focused efforts to win the War on Terror against both domestic and foreign Islamic terror groups: In 2009, we saw a significant rise in terror activities against Americans. Since the 9-11 attack in 2001, the U.S. has uncovered nearly 30 homegrown terror plots, 10 of which were in 2009 alone. This included the 13 soldiers killed in Ft. Hood and 1 killed at a military recruiting center in Little Rock AR. This upward trend would be likely to continue. But, the current US Administration insists on treating these incidents as sporadic "criminal" cases rather than investigating each case as part of an ongoing act of war against America so as to uncover more information and deter further terrorist plots. While Al-Qaeda's attempted Christmas Day attack was fortunately foiled, America is now in a real danger of allowing more 9-11 type attacks, or even something far worse.

•    Failure to aggressively counter the radical Islamists' well-planned penetration inside the U.S. prison system, radicalization of American Muslim communities, and penetration into the inner-city minority communities: In 2009, we saw uncovering of an increasing number of domestic terror cells consisting of Americans of Islamic descent as well as African Americans who were newly converted to radical Islam. This trend is substantiated by the fact that eighty percent of religious conversions that take place inside the prison walls in America are to radical Islam, and nearly all conversions to Islam in America are among African Americans.

•    Lack of secure borders via land, air, or sea: There are no focused programs to secure our borders. Our borders with Mexico still lack fully secure walls and fences. Securing our borders in every form needs to be of our first national priority, instead of billions of dollars allocated from the "stimulus" funds for such frivolous projects as building a community tennis court and many other non-security-related programs.

•    The emergence of an evil alliance between Iran and Venezuela's Chavez, similar to how Iran is using Hamas and Hezbollah to threaten Israel: One of the Iranian ventures inside Venezuela is a large uranium mine needed to produce nuclear weapons. Would you consider it possible that the madman Chavez may one day decide to transport Iran-made radioactive dirty bombs across the Mexican borders to the hands of some radical Islamic terrorists inside America?

•    The United States Leadership seen as weak: In response to Obama's appeasement stance towards Iran, Cuba, and N. Korea, the world leaders are not failing to interpret it as a sign of American weakness to be exploited. Russia's Putin is expanding his nation's offensive missile capabilities. Iran's Ahmadinejad continues to defy the U.S. and develop nuclear weapons and missiles. N. Korea conducted more nuclear tests and shot more missiles. China has refused to follow the U.S. request to reign in N. Korea or to support more strict sanctions against Iran.
The global supremacy and exceptionalism of America is being pulled down. Our economy is headed to national bankruptcy, as the Obama Administration continues to pile on more debts and more government spending, while some national defense and national security programs are being trimmed.

At the same time, the Obama Administration has also demanded that Israel (1) freeze the expansion of all Jewish settlements in all "occupied" territories and (2) agree to pursue the goal of accepting a divided Jerusalem. These are the most anti-Israel demands ever made by any U.S. Administration to Israel.

This is the time that our support for Israel and for a united Jerusalem must be heard. With this fall's mid-term elections coming, the year 2010 will be a pivotal year that could reverse the downward course of our nation. America must remain strong economically and militarily both for the sake of our future generations and for securing the survival of Israel as a nation.