New Hope Community Church, sponsors of the third annual "A Night to Honor ISRAEL" fundraiser June 7, 2009, was attended by hundreds of the 250,000 member evangelical Christians United for Israel. Guest speaker, Frank Gaffney Jr., founder and president of Washington’s Center for Security Policy who works to aid the well funded special interest political lobbying group AIPAC, to influence U.S. Foreign Policy.

I and three fellow Christians attending the event were unpleasantly surprised by the disturbing experience which follows: At the entry we were all required to submit to a military style, 'checkpoint', an experience all too familiar over the past 60 years to millions of Palestinian's daily. Individually we were searched by one of three imposing figures who appeared to be Israeli Mossad wearing American flags on their uniform sleeves. After we finally gained entry there were a dozen tables promoting material and publications like, “War Footing”, pressing for war on Iran. There was a heavy presence of security guards who appeared to be CIA agents.  It became apparent with 'security' clad agents outnumbering ticket holders that maybe I should be concerned about what kind of personal risk might be involved in attending this event.

At a table titled 'OutPost', the man I spoke with seemed to be in agreement with most tables promoting their goods: Their collective viewpoint is that they are at war with Islam, as justified by the Jewish man who explained to me that the battle was not unlike a 'family feud', that he along with Christians who subscribe to strict adherence to Old Testament scriptures, would one day soon usher in "Armageddon".

Curiously, New Hope Christian Church agreed to support this extreme view at the exclusion of any counterpoint supporting justice for indigenous Palestinians, many of them Christians who had lived on this land for over 2000 years. Many await their Right to Return holding onto land deeds and rusty house keys to the doors of the homes they were forcibly expelled from. Those not killed are densely concentrated into Israeli guarded refugee camps nearby their legally deeded homes, farms and villages. They live in these camps to this day under military occupation. An exodus of millions of refugees have been sent on an Israeli made Palestinian Diaspora, (scattering around the world), that is more than 60 years old now, by no action of their own.

One of many groups who work to avoid violence is Friends of Sabeel-North America, "Voice of the Palestinian Christians"; an international peace movement initiated by Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land who seek a just peace based on two states - Palestine and Israel - as defined by international law and existing United Nations resolutions. www.fosna.org

For any group of people to forcibly take land and homes from others is against both God's law and man's law. Unfortunately such was the case in 1948 Palestine, and Israel has not been punished for this premeditated crime.  Americans, and especially American Christians, must stop our government from supporting the ongoing Israeli land confiscations. www.IfAmericansKnew.org

Frank Schaeffer’s, ‘Crazy for God”, is another Christian who worries that this type of aggressive hostility promoted at events like “Night to Honor Israel” has too great a potential for creating the by product of, "Domestic terrorists in the name of God". We must resist extreme ideologies that do not enable us to extend Christ’s teachings of love and reconciliation.

Please join with Christians & Jews who believe that only from justice comes true peace as we work together toward a long awaited justice for Palestinians around the world.

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