Charles E. Carlson

The evidence is in: Israel and the US are together guilty of war crimes by any reasonable measure. The USA financed the 23-day Christmas season Gaza extermination. Extermination is the act of killing with the intention of eradicating demographics within a population.

'Christian’ churches are high on the list of accomplices, with the blood of 1435 mostly innocent souls on their hands. Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics claims it entertained some 1.3 million tourists last year. Tourism is the third largest source of net income to Israel, ahead of farming and diamond processing, and is exceeded only by manufacturing and chemical production. It contributes more than the $2.7 billion annual US government military aid to Israel. This makes tourism a major financer of Israel’s war budget. According to Israel’s figures, 66% of visitors list themselves Christian, and Americans are the largest incoming group. YNet Travel says 2008 was a record year when incoming tourism generated $3.8 billion for the Israeli economy.

On December 27, 2008, Israel attacked Gaza from the air. The starvation blockade was already 18 months old. Few in the civilized world, including this author, could imagine how people and animals survived the lock down. We were to learn later that a life-sustaining flow of food, fuel, and life essentials were being smuggled into the Gaza Strip through an unknown number of underground tunnels into Egypt. It was the use of these tunnels that triggered Israel’s bombing phase for the stated purpose of destroying Hamas, which Israel credited with operating the tunnel system.

The terrible December 27 attack was filmed and posted for all to see. (Note 1)

Israel told the world that Hamas homemade rocket fire was the cause of the attack. For political reasons, bombing was suspended for the two days before President Obama was inaugurated. On March 5th the killing from the air resumed. Christian tourists are still there.

Junkets also make money for church sponsors. Evangelical Zionist Church leaders have often told us proudly that they have made multiple trips to Israel; one told me he’d gone 21 times. Another junket of middle class “Christians,” most from Scottsdale, AZ, will fly to Israel on March 11, 2009, spending about $3,000 each. If their tour were to include Gaza, which it does not, they might still smell the odor of decomposing flesh from body parts buried in the rubble of thousands of demolished homes.

Needless to say, the Israeli government does not allow tourists into areas where they will see the effects of its Gaza extermination. Thousands of Christians dined with the Israelis in their posh Jerusalem hotels, absorbing its propaganda, at the very hour that Gaza was being bombed and burned to rubble.

We beg our many friends who call themselves Christian, PLEASE DO NOT GO. Please do not finance the ongoing war crimes against the people of Gaza and the West Bank.

These junkets are not sightseeing tours. For American church members, they are religious homage to the state of Israel. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, about 1,123,000 tourists visited Bethlehem and Jericho during the first nine months of 2008. This represents a 96.5% increase in the number of tourists visiting Bethlehem and a 42.3% increase in the number visiting Jericho compared to the same period in 2007. In its last report, the Israeli tourism ministry said it was prepared for the arrival of more than 60,000 Christian tourists during the 2008 Christmas season. For the Israeli government, they are opportunities to train propaganda on captive audiences who will take it home when they leave.

One of the visitors last year was a friend named Char, who told me of her experiences on a tour sponsored by the Church of Christ. Char enjoyed the tour because of her commitment to learn about Jesus’ life, and she has recommends it to others. She liked the five-star Israeli hotels they stayed in, and though she observed that the tour was highly controlled, though she wasn’t aware of being manipulated at the time. Her group took all meals together, and she had little chance or time to speak to anyone outside the group and its company-hired guides. With the exception of one Arab Christian guide, all those who ran the tour were Israelis, presumably Jewish. Char commented on the lack of English language Israeli newspapers in her hotels, and was unaware they are published in English. She neither saw nor heard any mention of any violence or blockage in Gaza or the West Bank. No news of the starvation taking place in the Gaza gulag reached Char until she was home.

During the days Char was touring but 60 miles from Gaza, huge international news was being made there. We Hold These Truths posted on our website no less than 13 stories from the Israeli press, most from Haaretz, about the blockade and attack on Gaza, all published in English. On January 20th the Gazans, led by Hamas, broke the year-old blockade for one week by blowing down the fence into Egypt and peacefully crossing the border to buy food and necessities in neighboring Egyptian towns. The wall was still down when Char arrived in Jerusalem.

Our own story went out on January 28, summarizing the events of this memorable month, “Prison Break from Gaza, a Glimpse of a People Scheduled for Starvation.” On February 5th Haaretz carried a story about Israel taking reprisals, killing Gaza police for the break out into Egypt. No wonder Israel sheltered Char and other tourists from the news! (Note 2, Prison Break)

Char’s tour included several Israeli “historical” propaganda events that had nothing to do with Christianity and were not optional, including Israel’s Holocaust Museum, Israel’s parliament (Knesset), and a field trip to the legendary Jewish fortress at Masada. The Holocaust Museum induces feelings of false guilt and the sense that they owe it to Israel to believe its Gaza version, even if it is not believable. Meanwhile, Israel was deliberately starving the people of Gaza by closing all its border crossings to incoming traffic; this included a blockade on land, air transport, and sea transport.

During the Gaza extermination in December and January 2009, enterprising Israelis set up observation posts on a bluff overlooking Gaza for those who wanted to watch; they even provided coffee for the observers. American tourists were not shown this sight, nor are they told Christians are among those trying to survive in the Gaza gulag. The Israeli woman in this film says she wants extermination. Israelis are mostly militant, and many consider Arabs to be animals, but they do not tell this to the church tourists. (Note 3) Israelis watch Gaza Extermination

There is no way that a reasonable person can believe Israel is a victim, and not the perpetrator of a planned extermination of the Palestinians in Gaza. The world now sees Israel for what it is: a nuclear-powered bully, whining that he was slapped first by the kid he has crushed under his boot.

But evangelical Zionists do not rely on reason. Theirs is an emotional attachment to Israel that allows them to believe anything Israel and their own church leaders tell them about the “chosen people” and the “holy land.” To evangelicals Israel is more than a state--it is a God, incapable of wrongdoing…above criminality, no matter what evidence, proof, or witness testimony is presented them. In their minds, the Philistines do not belong where they are, so Israel is not wrong for murdering and starving them. If evangelical Zionists are forced to recognize that Israel has done evil acts, like killing families or destroying homes, the excuse goes like this:

….or words to this effect. The problem with this statement is that it is not Christian, having no support at all in the New Testament. It is Zionism in disguise, the subject of WHTT movie, The Roots of Christian Zionism. (Note 4)

This author thinks tourism from civilized countries will come to a screeching halt in the wake of the Gaza extermination…with the exception of evangelical Christians from the US. Let us explore the reason for the endless stream of buses transferring money from evangelical Zionist Christians to Israel’s organizations, businesses and government —money that might otherwise have been saved or spent in the USA.

Israel issues official reports for American consumption that are so unbelievable that Israelis themselves do not believe them. That is why the truth can be found between the lines of Haaretz and other English language Israeli newspapers; Israel must tell the truth about Israeli politicians and military or it will lose credibility. Israelis are biased, but they know what’s going on in Gaza.

Hampshire College students also know. They claim to be the first to force their college to disinvest in American companies that profit from Israel's occupation of the lands of Palestinian Arabs. Its student body presented the college’s president, Ralph Hexter, and trustees with simple logic with which they agreed: the school should not have money invested in companies that benefit directly from the killing of human beings and destruction of homes and property. One such company, Caterpillar, makes and sells to Israel special armor plated bulldozers that have destroyed four thousand houses in Gaza. Hampshire students wanted out of this stock. (Note 5)

The National Council of Churches also knows what is going on in Gaza. It published a paper in January entitled “Why We Should Be Concerned About Christian Zionism.” It became the first large church organization to warn: “It fosters fear and hatred of Muslims and non-Western Christians.” (note 6)

The primary Enablers of Israel’s acts are the church leaders and members who have stood silent, pretending not to know about the war crimes being committed by Israel or justifying Israel’s acts by twisting Christian scripture.

The question demanded by humankind, is, how can those who profess to be followers of the Prince of Peace sit down over breakfast in an Israeli propaganda-disseminating five-star hotel when sixty miles away, Israelis are systematically starving children and burning and burying their live bodies and those of their families under the rubble of their bombed and bulldozed houses? What Jesus Christ-based justification can there be for Christ followers to do this? There is none.

Neither benign ignorance nor willful denial can excuse the callousness of evangelical Zionists to Palestinian suffering. The apostle Paul spoke of some who called themselves “Christians” when he wrote:

If Paul were to address the Christian tourists on junket buses today, that verse might sound different. Paul might challenge Christians misled by atheist Israelis who pretend to care about our symbols and sacred places but are only fishing for our money. Paul might well say:
Don't walk like the hypocrite Israelis who murder children and make widows of mothers in Gaza, while they entertain you in their villas. You have allowed them to bring darkness into your minds, and it will alienate you from the love of God, who you claim to follow but do not…

American Christians and their churches should cancel all Junkets until all attacks on Gaza end. Every Christian who goes to Israel is an accomplice to murder through his purse. The Israeli plan to exterminate the entire Philistine population by starvation is as large as Hitler’s or Stalin’s wildest dream.

There is no shortage of witnesses to the Israeli intent. Bob Simon, host of 60 Minutes, called Gaza "the world's largest prison” and said on the Charlie Rose Show that Israel has gone too far in the war process to go back to a “two-state solution.” Asked what was left, he said, “Apartheid.” Simon did not use the word "extermination," but the film he made all but tells us that apartheid Israeli-style means the continued internment and systematic imprisonment and execution of Palestinians. (Note 7)

Norman Finkelstein, noted educator and author of “The Holocaust Industry” states: Let them all (Israel) burn in hell for what they did to the people of Gaza. (Note 8)

We plead: Say No to the Gaza extermination by not giving one more cent of your money to Israel until Christian and Muslim Arabs are granted equal rights with Israelis.

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(Note 1) Dec 27 Attack on the Gaza ghetto, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnB38MR5vdk&NR=1

(Note 2) Gaza war tourism - Karen Levy: I'm a little bit fascist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjw8U0AcH4Q&NR=1

(Note 3) Prison Break from Gaza, a Glimpse of a People Scheduled for Starvation
http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=2076

(Note 4) Carlson, Roots of Christian Zionism slide show,
http://www.whtt.org/show

(Note 5) Hampshire College first in US to divest from Israel
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10304.shtml

(Note 6) Dangers of 'Christian Zionism are cited in new NCC brochure
http://www.ncccusa.org/news/081202christianzionismbrochure.html

(Note 7) Rose Interviews Bob Simon: http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/9900

(Note 8) Norman Finkelstein, The bloody Israeli sojourn in Gaza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIr4lEIqTkM

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Source: http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=2916

Further reading (about Christian Zionism):

The Roots of Christian Zionism, Part I, The Cause of the Conflict
The Judeo-Christian Conflict: Zionism vs. Jesus
Scofield: Soft Leather Outside, Corrupt Inside
The Unacceptable Cost of Christian-Zionism
It May Be Time To Leave Your Church
The Crucifixion of Jesus' Words