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The Hidden Agenda of Christ at the Checkpoint

Tourists in Bethlehem, March 5, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Mussa Qawasma.

Once again, Bethlehem Bible College will host its bi-annual conference, Christ at the Checkpoint (CATC), on May 21-26, 2024, in Bethlehem. CATC is an evangelical organization established in 2010 that is known for its anti-Israel views and advocacy. NGO Monitor exposed the anti-Zionist activities of the organization when it reported that:

CATC seeks to advance the Palestinian nationalist agenda within Evangelical Christian churches while simultaneously reviving theological antisemitic themes such as replacement theology.

… Other anti-Jewish themes promoted at CATC conferences include the de-Judaizing of Jesus and the promotion of a racial theory of Jewish origins.

The language in the online promotional ad for this year’s conference seems balanced, almost benign. It includes words and phrases like “Evangelical spirit, peace, justice, and reconciliation.” But something is troubling, and it begins with the name Christ at the Checkpoint, which creates the absurd optic of Jesus as a Palestinian attempting to enter Israel through an Israeli border checkpoint. This evokes the image of Jesus as a non-Jewish Christian Palestinian blocked from entering his homeland because of the evil Jewish occupation.

The obvious problem with this narrative is that Palestine did not exist in Jesus’ day. In 135 CE, the Romans — in attempting to erase any Jewish existence in, or connection to, the land of their ancestors, spitefully renamed Judea as “Syria Palestina” or “Philistia” in honor of Israel’s ancient extinct enemy, the Philistines (think David vs. Goliath).

By naming their organization Christ at the Checkpoint, the leaders seek to portray Jesus as culturally connected to modern Palestinians — and, in so doing, distort and erase the longstanding Jewish connection to the land of Israel.

Anglican priest Naim Ateek was one of the speakers at the first CATC conference in 2010. Ateek is the founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. In his April 10, 2001, Easter message to his followers, “An Easter Message from Sabeel,” Ateek wrote:
Jesus is the powerless Palestinian humiliated at a checkpoint. …  It seems to many of us that Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around him. … Palestinian men, women, and children being crucified.

Another speaker at the upcoming CATC conference is Rev. Munther Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, dean of Bethlehem Bible College, and director of CATC. In 2023, his church featured a nativity scene made not with a wooden manger, but with bricks and rubble that encased a baby Jesus doll dressed in a Palestinian keffiyeh. During his Christmas message , he proclaimed: “If Jesus were born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza.” Rev. Isaac creates the perfect non-Jewish Palestinian Jesus, while ignoring the Hamas murder of 1,200 people that led to the Gaza war.

Christ at the Checkpoint is clearly trying to erase and undermine the Jewish connection to the land of Israel. The Romans attempted something similar and failed, and their contempt for Jews consigned them to the dustbin of history.

Aaron David Fruh is a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy at the Woolf Institute at Cambridge University, in the UK, and President of Israel Team Advocates, an Evangelical nonprofit organization dedicated to combating the growing Antisemitism on Evangelical college campuses.

The post The Hidden Agenda of Christ at the Checkpoint first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Renowned Figurative Painter Frank Auerbach, Jewish Refugee Who Fled Nazi Germany, Dies at Age 93

A painting by Frank Auerbach, J.Y.M. Seated II, 1992, estimate £600,000 – 800,000 during a photocall at Christie’s auction house showcasing the highlights of 20th/21st Century Evening Sale in London, United Kingdom on October 06, 2023. Photo: WIktor Szymanowicz via Reuters Connect

German-born British artist Frank Auerbach, who was sent to England as a child fleeing Nazi-occupied Germany and became a leading figurative painter, died on Monday at the age of 93.

The gallery Frankie Rossi Art Projects, which focuses on post-war artists like Auerbach, said the Jewish painter “died peacefully” early Monday at his home in London. “We have lost a dear friend and remarkable artist but take comfort knowing his voice will resonate for generations to come,” said Geoffrey Parton, the gallery’s director.

Auerbach was born in Berlin in April 1931 and came to England in 1939. He was an only child and arrived in London as a refugee from Nazi Germany as one of six children sponsored by the writer Iris Origo. Auerbach’s father, a patent lawyer, and mother, an artist, were both killed in a Nazi concentration camp in 1942.

“[I was] at no point shocked or overwhelmed [when] it was gradually leaked to me [that] they’d been killed, taken to a camp and killed,” Auerbach said years later about the murder of his parents, according to The Art Newspaper. “I don’t know which one, Auschwitz probably.”

Auerbach attended Bunce Court in Kent, a boarding school for Jewish refugee children, and then studied at London’s St Martin’s School of Art and the Royal College of Art from 1948-1955. He lived and worked in the same studio in North London from 1954 until his death. His career spanned seven decades, his work has been shown around the world, and he was awarded the prestigous Golden Lion prize at the 1986 Venice Biennale.

Auerbach’s signature style was having an excessive amount of paint on his works, which was created by him repeatedly scraping off paint from previous versions he was unhappy with, and then starting again until the finished work was loaded with layers of paint. He was known for his portraits and city scenes in North London. He once told The Guardian that he estimated that 95 percent of his paint ended up in the garbage. “I’m trying to find a new way to express something… So I rehearse all the other ways until I surprise myself with something I haven’t previously considered,” he explained.

Auerbach is survived by his son, filmmaker Jacob Auerbach.

The post Renowned Figurative Painter Frank Auerbach, Jewish Refugee Who Fled Nazi Germany, Dies at Age 93 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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J Street Calls for Partial US Arms Embargo Against Israel

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a media conference after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at the Czernin Palace, in Prague, Czech Republic, May 31, 2024. Photo: Peter David Josek/Pool via REUTERS

J Street, a self-described pro-Israel, pro-peace organization, is urging the Biden administration to withhold offensive weapons from the Jewish state, arguing that the United States needs to hold Israel accountable for alleged human rights “violations” before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.

On Monday, J Street posted a thread on X/Twitter arguing that the Biden administration has a legal obligation to “pause” arms transfers to Israel until the Jewish state abides by international “human rights standards.” The progressive organization suggested that, with “Trump’s presidency looming,” the White House should review Israel’s conduct over the course of its military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza and “make immediate, clear, fair determinations on violations of US and international law.”

“This is the same standard for all recipients of US aid. Nothing more, nothing less. No new laws or new conditions specific to Israel are required, and this would not affect the Iron Dome or other defensive systems. We urge the admin. to swiftly comply with current domestic law,” J-Street wrote.

The organization recommended the Biden administration pressure Israel into resuming hostage and ceasefire negotiations by making clear “certain offensive weapons will be withheld” if the Jewish state does not make “good-faith” efforts to end the ongoing war in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

J Street’s comments came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that Hamas, which launched the war with its invasion of and massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, rejected a proposal for a short-term ceasefire in exchange for the release of some Israeli hostages.

Israel has repeatedly underscored its efforts to accelerate humanitarian aid into Gaza, where Hamas has employed a military strategy of putting its command centers and weapons stockpiles in or underneath civilian sites such as schools, hospitals, and apartment buildings. According to experts and the Israeli military, the purpose of Hamas’s placement is to use civilians as human shields, forcing Israel to kill them in order to fight the terrorist group.

Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. However, Hamas has in many cases prevented people from leaving, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Last month, Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent a letter to then-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, urging them to implement several humanitarian policy changes in Gaza within 30 days or risk “implications” for US policy, including an arms embargo.

Following the message, Israel has boosted the amount of humanitarian aid trucks entering Gaza. This week, the Israeli government approved a series of measures that will vastly expand the entry of aid into the war-torn enclave, including by reopening another border crossing.

“This week is the deadline set by Secretaries Austin and Blinken in their October letter raising serious concerns about the Netanyahu gov’t blocking humanitarian aid and violating human rights. We urge the admin. to take fair, consequential action, as foreshadowed in the letter,” J Street posted on X/Twitter.

Experts have chided the Biden administration for providing “no evidence” that Israel is deliberately denying humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. Nonetheless, the US is set to judge Israel’s progress on Gaza aid by the end of this week. 

J-Street has attempted to balance maintaining a Zionist identity while calling for harsher treatment of the Jewish state. The group’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, issued a statement arguing that although the US should continue to support Israel, it should not give the Jewish state a “blank check.” The group has called for a “clear” and “consistent” approach to US military aid to Israel.

Many pro-Israel advocates have criticized J Street for being, in their view, insufficiently supportive of the Jewish state, noting the organization has previously defended Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), one of the most outspoken anti-Israel lawmakers in the US Congress, and often castigated the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the US.

The post J Street Calls for Partial US Arms Embargo Against Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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How Gaza Casualty Figures Are Being Wildly Distorted

Palestinians gather to receive aid, including food supplies provided by World Food Program (WFP), outside a United Nations distribution center, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, Aug. 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Nearly 70% of those killed are women and children” screams the headline of a Nov. 8th article in the Guardian by Sarah Johnson. [emphasis added]

The dramatic claim is then walked back in the opening sentence, which notes that the 70% figure relates narrowly to “verified deaths.”

Nearly 70% of the people killed in the war in Gaza are women and children, according to a UN analysis of verified deaths that highlights the heavy civilian toll of the conflict. [emphasis added]

By the second and third paragraphs, we see more evidence that the shocking 70% figure in the headline is not accurate, as it turns out that only 8,119 deaths (out of what Hamas claims is 43,000) have been verified.

In a new report, the most detailed analysis of its kind yet, the UN human rights office said it had verified 8,119 of those killed during the first six months of the war in Gaza. Of the fatalities, 3,588 were children and 2,036 were women.

The number marks deaths verified so far and is therefore lower than the figure of 43,000 deaths provided by Palestinian health authorities for the 13-month conflict, but backs the assertion that women and children represent a large proportion of those killed. [emphasis added]

So, the UN report is narrowly alleging that 18% of the total number of those killed in Gaza in the war following Hamas’s Oct. 7th massacre have been verified — with 69 percent of those reportedly being women and children.

Further, not even the UN report claims that all those considered “children” are non-combatants, which the international body defines as those 18 and under.

Since 16, 17, and 18 year olds are used by Hamas and other Gaza terror groups as fighters, the percentage of the 3,588 (which the UN lists as children) who are truly non-combatants is unknown.

This is an important distinction, as the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry doesn’t distinguish between fighters and civilians when they release their periodically updated death counts. Therefore, the number of women and children killed is often used (incorrectly) by the media as a stand-in for “civilians.”

Finally, as an Associated Press study demonstrated, the death rate for women and children in Gaza declined dramatically beginning in April — that is, at the end point of the UN’s six month report on verified casualties. So, it’s extremely likely that a study of war deaths in the territory in the seven months after April would produce a vastly lower ratio of fatalities for women and children.

We’ve complained to the Guardian asking that the headline be amended to more accurately reflect the actual data from the UN report.

Adam Levick serves as co-editor of CAMERA UK – an affiliate of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), where a version of this article first appeared.

The post How Gaza Casualty Figures Are Being Wildly Distorted first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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