Come For the Satanic Eclipse, Stay For the Commie Earthquake, Illegal Invaders and Bootlegged Baby Parts


A Swiss student in faux spacesuit flies a paper rocket during a Mission to Mars project
(Photo by STEFAN WERMUTH/AFP via Getty Images)

ABBY ZIMET
Apr 09, 2024
COMMON DREAMS

Lordy. Our apocalyptic circus of bigots, morons, loudmouths and clowns has stayed in town too long. To wit: a ceaseless GOP House "shit show," racists freaking out at too-tanned NCAA players "invading," pastors cancelling autism awareness as "demonic," Klan Mom decrying black market harvesting of baby organs - thanks Dr. Fauci! - and now, from God or the Gazpacho police, an earthquake and end-of-the-world eclipse telling us to "repent." First, maybe repent for an electoral college that gave us this lunacy.

The seedy grandstand for the mayhem is the (barely) GOP-controlled House, which for a while has been "imploding in plain sight." After skipping town for Easter, they left behind yet more flops earning yet more declarations of "Republicans in disarray." Amidst a "Great Resignation" that's seen the highest number of lawmakers quitting in 40 years, two more Reps - Gallagher and Buck - are bowing out, leaving the GOP a paltry one-seat majority. The showboats of what Raskin calls the "chaos-and- cannibalism caucus" still don't like their Speaker for (five months late) keeping the government open with a $1.2 trillion spending bill, Comer's Biden impeachment effort has crashed and burned like his other "investigations," the sole accomplishments of the shortest and least productive House session since the Great Depression are re-naming some Veterans Affairs clinics and authorizing a coin to mark the Marine Corps' 250th anniversary, and even George Santos says he's (inexplicably) running again as an Independent 'cause the GOP is too "embarrassing."

For once, he has a point. Self-righteous blowhards venting ignorance and hate, they seem to do nothing but voice imaginary grievances when grownups do things they don't like. When the effort to remove Fani Willis from Trump's election interference case failed, they shrieked, "It's all rigged!" and "There is no justice in America today." When Kamala Harris touted an effort to keep guns away from dangerous people, yahoos who send out Christmas cards of their kids cradling AR-15's bayed, "What the hell is this evil?" When a Transgender Day of Visibility coincidentally fell on Easter, they ranted it was part of a "years-long assault on the Christian faith" and the Catholic Biden - to Trump, one of "MANY PEOPLE THAT I COMPLETELY & TOTALLY DESPISE BECAUSE THEY WANT TO DESTROY AMERICA," would now "commandeer" Christmas with a Trans-Siberian Orchestra playing and say what? When a Florida school planned Autism Awareness Week, the pastor cancelled it as "demonic" (like "Santa Clause") because "anything that exalts itself above the name of Christ should be brought down."

And when racist moron and Michigan state rep Matt Maddock - who boasts he's America's "Most Conservative" pol, tried to imprison "war criminal" Gretchen Whitmer for requiring masks during COVID, got kicked out of the House GOP Caucus as too conspiracy-y even for them, posts things like "the left hates farmers," "government controls your air conditioning," "bail reform kills people," "communists are lonely, bitter, angry cowards with sad kids," and whose wife is under indictment as one of Michigan's fake electors - saw three buses at Detroit Airport and some scary dark guys alight, squawked they were "illegal invaders" and "everyone knows" Whitmer is "bussing in illegals and asking (us) to shack them up in their homes for $6,000 a year." Except they were the Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball team there to play in the NCAA Mens Sweet 16 March Madness against Purdue. Confronted with his "spectacular stupidity" and the facts, even by supporters, he snarled back - “Sure kommie. Good talking point" - and doubled down with replacement theory: "How long till the #HostileMedia calls the invaders homesteaders?" He seems nice.

The implausible queen of this GOP rabble is grandstanding, hate-mongering, self-promoting "purveyor of political pageantry" Marjorie Taylor Greene, a useless, performative troll most recently appointed to chair the "useless, performative impeachment" of Homeland Security's Alejandro Mayorkas by Mike Johnson in hopes of shutting her up as she tries to oust him for keeping the government running, or something. Among other memorable ventures since her Jewish Space Laser and school-shooting-survivor-harassing days: Inventing an Antifa plan for a "Trans Day of Vengeance," arguing 8-to-10-year-old Uvalde victims should've been armed with JR-15 rifles, spreading a replacement theory video about "the Democrat (sic) open border plan to entrench single party rule," and after Mexico's president proposed several U.S. actions to ease border crossings, refuting them with a "Declaration of War" against Mexican cartels for fentanyl trafficking, even though it's mostly produced in China and smuggled into this country not by migrants but U.S. citizens or other legal visitors.

Last month she also hosted, with live stream, a "Hearing Investigating the Black Market of Baby Organ Harvesting" to explore "the "aborrent (sic) truth of the industrial abortion complex (to) profit off the murder of unborn babies." She'd announced the event, based on repeatedly debunked conspiracy theories that Planned Parenthood sells fetal tissue for profit - including grafting "the scalps of unborn babies onto the backs of rodents in a study funded by Anthony Fauci under the NIH" - with a beaming photo of herself that, noted one observer, "looked oddly bubbly for a hearing on dead babies." Her two speakers were David Daleiden, who in 2015 released heavily edited videos of himself as a fake biomedical researcher trying to buy fetal tissue, after which Planned Parenthood successfully sued him for $2 million; and Terrisa Bukovinac, who in 2022 was convicted with another anti-abortion activist of blocking access to a health clinic, stealing 115 aborted fetuses from a medical waste truck, burying most of them, and keeping five they claimed without evidence were "born alive and then murdered."

Greene said she wanted the hearing, attended by five people though she invited every member of Congress, to be a graphic, gory, in-your-face rebuttal to genteel talk of "women's health care." And so it was, with her use of pointedly incendiary language and images: "abortionists," not doctors, "babies sucked out while still alive" by an instrument "more powerful than a household vacuum," "tiny brains and hearts," "over 63 million people murdered in the womb" - misinformation so prevalent House Dems created a website to refute it - and no mention of vital medical advances facilitated by fetal tissue research. Still, wise-acres weren't buying it: "Baby Organ Harvesting is my Norwegian Death Metal cover band," "Marge hungry," "Do you know how many fetus livers it would take to make a single kabob?", "Curious how she'll tie it into Hunter's dick pics," "She should do her genealogy - she would have led lots of witch trials if she was alive back then," and, "This is absolutely ridiculous. No one harvests baby organs. Infants are only run through hydraulic presses to make baby oil, and THAT'S IT!"

But not even abortion, or terrorists collapsing Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, or earthquakes in what Rudy Giuliani called "the communist states" of New York and New Jersey - with its epicenter at Trump's Bedminster golf course deemed "Ivana's revenge" -come close to the "Super Bowl for Conspiracists" that is an eclipse. Marge was on it: "God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent." So was her squinty-eyed, right-wing boyfriend Brian Glenn - Wonkette calls him "the dude she has been having what we assume is very sweaty, pale, Godly white-person sex with" - who very scientifically "explains astronomy" and eclipses with, “I think we're going to see where the largest kind of a spiritual awakening in this country that people are realizing how much evil has creeped (sic) into (our) lives." He also warned of its fallout, "combined with earthquakes, and this infestation of locusts that have been dormant for years that all of a sudden will attack mankind, and oh then throw in Joe Biden trying to get into a war with eye-ran." He seems nice too, also smart.

There are about three, mathematically predictable solar eclipses a year, and many unpredictable earthquakes caused by shifting tectonic plates, not God being mad about gay marriage; both have occurred since creation, and you can read about them here and here. Regardless, news of these events made the right wing lose whatever's left of their minds. Alex Jones - not much left there - called the eclipse "a dress rehearsal" for declaring martial law if Trump wins the election. He cited “Major Events" like "Masonic rituals (to) usher in a New World Order," noting the eclipse trajectory in the U.S. forms an “Aleph” and “Tav,” the first and last Hebrew letters, signaling end times. Another genius saw a "perfect cover story if our terrorist government wanted to take down the power grid and cause mass chaos while blocking citizen communications (to) unleash a dictatorship" before Trump can win. And to ensure "no Satanic forces come through" during the eclipse, Steve Bannon hosted a live Mass with newly fired, financially sketchy, MAGA Bishop Joseph Strickland "in prayer and penance for our country."

It didn't help that a nerdy NASA project in Virginia measuring changes in electric and magnetic fields - Project APEP, short for Atmospheric Perturbations Around the Eclipse Path, referencing the snake god of darkness - planned to shoot rockets at the moon during the eclipse. To one wise wingnut, that meant there would be "rituals performed by Masonic, Satanic, Esoteric, Gnostic, Brotherhood of the Snake and other occult-like groups." And because if it's Monday, it must be the frog-raining end of days, several red states, Oklahoma and Texas among them, issued various disaster warnings and executive orders because when in doubt or fear just go totalitarian. In Arkansas, "out of an abundance of caution," lying Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency over a possible "backlog of deliveries by commercial vehicles transporting essential items of commerce" during maybe four minutes of darkness. In truth, noted one of her constituents, "The real emergency is that "the governor of an entire state is a fucking moron."

In honor of the fraught occasion, Fox News took its usual, balanced, erudite approach and went with racist paranoia on the subject of the dangers of an eclipse at the border even though it was so cloudy it wouldn't have much effect. Host Dana Perino: "A rare celestial event collides with a policy failure on the ground." Host Bill Hemmer: Officials bracing for higher traffic under cover of darkness "means a real opportunity for smugglers and cartels and migrants to come right in..." Vile correspondent Bill Melugin: "While everybody is gonna be looking up, if you're looking down here at the border, here's some of what you're gonna see." He offers video of "a surge of illegal alien evaders" (two poor guys scrambling through brush) with, "You'll see illegal immigrants dressed in dark clothing, sometimes camouflage...And you'll see outnumbered border agents trying to respond as these guys flood in" (one sad guy gets caught) "as they're trying to sneak into the United States." Cruelty, as usual, is the point here, and the eclipse gives us one more ugly, feckless chance to flaunt it.

Four years ago, amidst a pandemic needlessly killing hundreds of thousands, the "leader" of all these loathsome, inept people was showing them how it's done, sputtering nobody's thanking him for the great job he's doing, yet more tests bring more cases: "So I said to my people, 'Slow the testing down, please.'" Somehow, now it's worse. For the eclipse, he released a deeply weird, insanely narcissistic ad declaring, to the soaring music of 2001, "The Most Important Moment In Human History." As awe-struck crowds watch, we see the sun slowly eclipsed by....his wattled, blubbery, grotesque silhouette. Comments: "The most accidentally honest ad Trump's team ever put out," "this fucking moron won't even let himself be upstaged by the solar system," "what a freak," "not a cult," "how can I make this about me?," "going all in with the anti-Christ thing," "Stephen Miller is no Leni Riefenstahl," "fat boy ate the sun," "total eclipse of the brain," "dark side of the buffoon," "totalitarian eclipse." For a laugh, someone added light passing ear to ear. Not a laugh: "So, Trump will bring darkness to us. Got it."


Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place.
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.


ABBY ZIMET has written CD's Further column since 2008. A longtime, award-winning journalist, she moved to the Maine woods in the early 70s, where she spent a dozen years building a house, hauling water and writing before moving to Portland. Having come of political age during the Vietnam War, she has long been involved in women's, labor, anti-war, social justice and refugee rights issues. Email: azimet18@gmail.com
Full Bio >

High school teacher and students sue over Arkansas' ban on critical race theory

ANDREW DeMILLO
Updated Mon, March 25, 2024 


 Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs an education overhaul bill into law, March 8, 2023, at the state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark. On Monday, March 25, 2024, a high school teacher and two students sued Arkansas over the state's ban on critical race theory and “indoctrination” in public schools, asking a federal judge to strike down the restrictions as unconstitutional. 

(AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo, File)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A high school teacher and two students sued Arkansas on Monday over the state's ban on critical race theory and “indoctrination” in public schools, asking a federal judge to strike down the restrictions as unconstitutional.

The lawsuit by the teacher and students from Little Rock Central High School, site of the historic 1957 racial desegregation crisis, stems from the state's decision last year that an Advanced Placement course on African American Studies would not count toward state credit.

The lawsuit argues the restrictions, which were among a number of education changes that Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law last year, violate free speech protections under the First Amendment and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

“It absolutely chills free speech” and “discriminates on the basis of race,” the lawsuit said.

“Indeed, defendants’ brazen attack on full classroom participation for all students in 2024 is reminiscent of the state’s brazen attack on full classroom participation for all students in 1957,” the lawsuit said.

Arkansas and other Republican-led states in recent years have placed restrictions on how race is taught in the classroom, including prohibitions on critical race theory, an academic framework dating to the 1970s that centers on the idea that racism is embedded in the nation’s institutions. The theory is not a fixture of K-12 education, and Arkansas' ban does not define what would be considered critical race theory. The lawsuit argues that the definition the law uses for prohibited indoctrination is overly broad and vague.

Tennessee educators filed a similar lawsuit last year challenging that state's sweeping bans on teaching certain concepts of race, gender and bias in classroom.

Arkansas' restrictions mirror an executive order Sanders signed on her first day in office last year. The Republican governor defended the law and criticized the lawsuit.

“In the state of Arkansas, we will not indoctrinate our kids and teach them to hate America or each other,” Sanders said in a statement. “It’s sad the radical left continues to lie and play political games with our kids’ futures.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blocked high schools in his state from teaching the AP African American Studies course. The College Board released the latest updated framework for the course in December, months after initial revisions prompted criticism the nonprofit was bowing to conservative backlash to the class.

Arkansas education officials last year said the AP African American studies class couldn’t be part of the state’s advanced placement course offerings because it’s still a pilot program and hasn’t been vetted by the state yet to determine whether it complied with the law.

Central High and the five other schools offering the class said they would continue doing so as a local elective. The class still counts toward a student's GPA.

The lawsuit is the second challenge against Sanders' LEARNS Act, which also created a new school voucher program. The Arkansas Supreme Court in October rejected a challenge to the law that questioned the Legislature's procedural vote that allowed it to take effect immediately.

"The LEARNS Act has brought much-needed reforms to Arkansas. I have successfully defended (the law) from challenges before, and I am prepared to vigorously defend it again,” Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin said.

African American Studies students sue over Arkansas LEARNS Act ‘indoctrination’ section

Neale Zeringue

KARK
Mon, March 25, 2024 

African American Studies students sue over Arkansas LEARNS Act ‘indoctrination’ section


LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas LEARNS Act is being challenged in federal court by students and a teacher in the Little Rock School District and the state officials are not backing down.

Across the street from the historic Central High School Monday, the plaintiffs called section 16 of the law prohibiting “indoctrination” in Arkansas Schools unconstitutional and asked the court to immediately stop the state from enforcing it.

Arkansas public school students no longer receiving AMI days; how this is impacted by LEARNS Act

The law caused uncertainty for students taking AP African American Studies days before the 2023-2024 school year started because it was pulled from the course code before the course framework was altered to exclude critical race theory and address concerns in themes like “intersections of identity” and “resistance and resilience”.

“This course is just a way for me to learn another perspective,” Sadie Belle Reynolds argued.

Reynolds, a plaintiff and Central High School freshman taking AP African American Studies, is one of five plaintiffs including her mother, a classmate and her mother and the teacher of AP African American Studies Ruthie Walls.

“If we don’t be very careful, we’ll end up in the same awkward position we were years ago, and we have people to stand up and say no,” Walls said.

She and other plaintiffs in a 56-page lawsuit claim the LEARNS Act section on “Indoctrination” which calls out “Critical Race Theory” violates the First Amendment protections of free speech and the Fourteenth Amendment protections of equal protection under the law.

In a statement Monday Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to the lawsuit.

“In the State of Arkansas, we will not indoctrinate our kids and teach them to hate America or each other,” she said. “It’s sad the radical left continues to lie and play political games with our kids’ futures.”

Arkansas Education Secretary sends letter to 5 school districts concerning AP African American Studies

Jennifer Reynolds, plaintiff, mother of a student taking African American Studies, said the class her daughter attends fosters understanding not division.

“I don’t really understand what is the boogeyman in all of this and what is the fear of the indoctrination,” Reynolds said.

Part of the lawsuit is for damages. Mike Laux, one of the attorneys representing the teacher, students, and parents said the state is not covering the almost $100 final exam fee that it does for other AP classes.

Arkansas Department of Education Secretary Jacob Oliva called some accusations of the lawsuit “a total lie.”

“The lawsuit falsely accuses ADE of not allowing students to participate in the AP African American Studies pilot program and stripped them from the benefits that the course provides – a total lie. The department advised schools they could offer local course credit to students who complete the pilot, and six schools participated. After discussions, College Board updated course framework and assured it does not violate Arkansas law. The department approved the course for the 24-25 school year and will continue to work with districts to ensure courses offered to students do not violate Arkansas state law.”

ADE Secretary Jacob Oliva

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin also chimed in through a statement.

“The LEARNS Act has brought much-needed reforms to Arkansas,” Griffin said. “I have successfully defended it from challenges before, and I am prepared to vigorously defend it again.”

Sadie Belle Reynolds attended school growing up in Africa and South America, where she was a minority white student. She said learning what people did in the past upholding slavery and preventing civil rights hasn’t shamed her or lessened her love of America. This law has struck a nerve though.

“It makes me like aggravated and confused on why someone would want to cover up someone’s perspective in a story and history, true history and it makes you think and not repeat the same problems in the future,” she said.

Confusion over AP African American Studies class in Arkansas on first day of school

The case will be heard in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas Central Division. No court dates have been set. A motion for preliminary injunction will be filed within the week to accelerate the process according to Laux.

READ THE FULL COMPLAINT

He claims some of the students’ speeches in class could broach the critical race theory topic so he is asking for a clear answer before then.

‘America Is Under Attack’: Inside the Anti-DEI Crusade

ESG, CRT, DEI WHY ARE THESE WORDS SO NASTY

(apologies to Hair)

Nicholas Confessore
Updated Sun, January 21, 2024 

The backlash against “wokeism” has led a growing number of states to ban D.E.I. programs at public universities. Thousands of emails and other documents reveal the playbook — and grievances — behind one strand of the anti-D.E.I. campaign.

 (The New York Times)

In late 2022, a group of conservative activists and academics set out to abolish the diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Texas’ public universities.

They linked up with a former aide to the state’s powerful lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, who made banning DEI initiatives one of his top priorities. Setting their sights on well-known schools like Texas A&M, they researched which offices and employees should be expunged. A well-connected alumnus conveyed their findings to the A&M chancellor; the former Patrick aide cited them before a state Senate committee.

The campaign quickly yielded results: In May, Texas approved legislation banishing all such programs from public institutions of higher learning.


Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times

Long before Claudine Gay resigned from Harvard University’s presidency this month under intense criticism of her academic record, her congressional testimony about campus antisemitism and her efforts to promote racial justice, conservative academics and politicians had begun making the case that the decadeslong drive to increase racial diversity in America’s universities had corrupted higher education.

Gathering strength from a backlash against Black Lives Matter and fueled by criticism that doctrines such as critical race theory had made colleges engines of progressive indoctrination, the eradication of DEI programs has become both a cause and a message suffusing the American right. In 2023, more than 20 states considered or approved new laws taking aim at DEI, even as polling has shown that diversity initiatives remain popular.

Thousands of documents obtained by The New York Times cast light on the playbook and the thinking underpinning one nexus of the anti-DEI movement: the activists and intellectuals who helped shape Texas’ new law, along with measures in at least three other states. The material, which includes casual correspondence with like-minded allies around the country, also reveals unvarnished views on race, sexuality and gender roles. And despite the movement’s marked success in some Republican-dominated states, the documents chart the activists’ struggle to gain traction with broader swaths of voters and officials.

Centered at the Claremont Institute, a California-based think tank with close ties to the Donald Trump movement and to Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, the group coalesced roughly three years ago around a sweeping ambition: to strike a killing blow against “the leftist social justice revolution” by eliminating “social justice education” from American schools.

The documents — grant proposals, budgets, draft reports and correspondence, obtained through public records requests — show how the activists formed a loose network of think tanks, political groups and Republican operatives in at least a dozen states.

They sought funding from a range of right-leaning philanthropies and family foundations and from one of the largest individual donors to Republican campaigns in the country. They exchanged model legislation, published a slew of public reports and coordinated with other conservative advocacy groups in states like Alabama, Maine, Tennessee and Texas.

In public, some individuals and groups involved in the effort joined calls to protect diversity of thought and intellectual freedom, embracing the argument that DEI efforts had made universities intolerant and narrow. They claimed to stand for meritocratic ideals and against ideologies that divided Americans. They argued that DEI programs made Black and Hispanic students feel less welcome instead of more.

Yet even as they or their allies publicly advocated more academic freedom, some of those involved privately expressed their hope of purging liberal ideas, professors and programming wherever they could. They debated how carefully or quickly to reveal some of their true views — the belief that “a healthy society requires patriarchy,” for example, and their broader opposition to anti-discrimination laws — in essays and articles written for public consumption.

In candid private conversations, some wrote favorably of laws criminalizing homosexuality, mocked the appearance of a female college student as overly masculine and criticized Peter Thiel, a prominent gay conservative donor, over his sex life. In email exchanges with the Claremont organizers, writer Heather Mac Donald derided working mothers who employed people from “the low IQ 3rd world” to care for their children and lamented that some Republicans still celebrated the idea of racially diverse political appointments.

Lagging achievement for African Americans and other racial minorities, some argued privately, should not be a matter of public concern. “My big worry in these things is that we do not make ‘the good of minorities’ the standard by which we judge public policy or the effects of public policy,” wrote Scott Yenor, a conservative Idaho professor who would come to lead the anti-DEI project for Claremont. “Whites will be overrepresented in some spheres. Blacks in others. Asians in others. We cannot see this as some moral failing on our part.”

In a statement for this article, Claremont said that it was “proud to be a leader in the fight against DEI, since the ideology from which it flows conflicts with America’s Founding principles, constitutional government and equality under the law. Those are the things we believe in. Without them there is no America. You cannot have those things with DEI.”

The institute added, “Repeatedly, and in public, we make these arguments to preserve justice, competence and the progress of science.”

Naming ‘the Enemy’

In recent decades, amid concerns about the underrepresentation of racial minorities on campus, American universities have presided over a vast expansion of diversity programs. These have come to play a powerful — and increasingly controversial — role in academic and student life. Critics have come to view them as tools for advancing left-wing ideas about gender and race, or for stifling the free discussion of ideas.

In response, officials in some states have banned DEI offices altogether. Others have limited classroom discussion of concepts like identity politics or systemic racism. A growing number of states and schools have also begun eliminating requirements that job applicants furnish “diversity statements” — written commitments to particular ideas about diversity and how to achieve it that, at some institutions, have functionally served as litmus tests in hiring.

But in early 2021, in the wake of the George Floyd protests and Trump’s reelection defeat, the Claremont organizers were on the defensive. The documents show them debating how to frame their attacks: They needed not only to persuade the political middle but to energize conservative politicians and thinkers, many of whom they regarded as too timid, or even complicit with a liberal regime infecting U.S. government and business.

Thomas Klingenstein, a New York investor who is both Claremont’s chair and a top Republican donor, offered a glum perspective in March that year.

“Rhetorically, our side is getting absolutely murdered,” Klingenstein wrote to Yenor and another Claremont official. “We have not even come up with an agreed-on name for the enemy.”

One problem, Yenor reported to his colleagues, was that many lawmakers were reluctant to take on anything called “diversity and inclusion.” Terms like “diversity,” he argued, needed to be saddled with more negative connotations.

“I obviously think social justice is what we should call it,” he wrote. “We should use the term that is most likely to stigmatize the movement that is accurate and arises from common life.” While nobody wanted to seem in favor of discrimination, he argued, “social justice” could be “stigmatized so that when people hear it they can act on their suspicions.”

At the time, a like-minded activist, Christopher Rufo of the Manhattan Institute, was popularizing an alternative catchall with his attacks on “critical race theory” — a once-obscure academic framework that examines how racism can be structurally embedded in seemingly neutral laws or institutions.

In short order, Republican officials and activists around the country set out to ban critical race theory — or anything that could be successfully labeled “CRT” — from schools. But Yenor believed such bans were not far-reaching enough.

“Bans on CRT and its associated ideologies are a lot of smoke or boob-bait for the bubbas,” he wrote to Klingenstein and others that August. To combat leftism in America, conservatives would need to wage a much broader war. The Claremont group kept tinkering.

By 2022, as Claremont and allies like the Maine Policy Institute and a Tennessee group called Velocity Convergence rolled out early research, the approach had changed. Their public reports began to borrow from Rufo’s rhetoric, attacking “critical social justice” or “critical social justice education.”

When Claremont and the Texas Public Policy Foundation turned to the state’s public universities in early 2023, they circled back to “diversity,” but with a twist.

“Academics and administrators are no longer merely pushing progressive politics but are transforming universities into institutions dedicated to political activism and indoctrinating students with a hateful ideology,” warned a report on Texas A&M. “That ideology is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).”

A Donation Opportunity

“Woke” politics was not just a threat to American life. It was also a fundraising opportunity. By spring 2021, as parents grew impatient with COVID school closures or skeptical of “anti-racist” curricula in the wake of the Floyd protests, Claremont officials had begun circulating urgent grant requests to right-leaning foundations.

“America is under attack by a leftist revolution disguised as a plea for justice” reminiscent of “Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution,” Claremont’s president, Ryan Williams, wrote in a draft proposal for the Jack Miller Family Foundation.

Liberals dominated the world of higher education, the Claremont proposals said. What was needed was a frontal attack on public university systems in states where conservatives dominated the legislatures.

Claremont officials would partner with state think tanks and with the hundreds of former fellows scattered through conservative institutions and on Capitol Hill. They would catalog the DEI programs and personnel honeycombed through public universities. Then they would lobby sympathetic public officials to gut them.

In the proposals, Claremont set a first round of targets, in states including Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.

“Our project will give legislators the knowledge and tools they need to stop funding the suicide of their own country and civilization,” Claremont pledged in an August 2021 draft proposal to the Taube Family Foundation.

The Wisconsin-based Searle Freedom Trust had separately agreed to fund a Claremont effort to inventory what it considered “CRT courses” that had “metastasized throughout Higher Ed,” according to the draft proposal. Another proposal, drafted for the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation in May 2022, aimed to dissect how red states could disentangle themselves from federal funding and mandates that, in Claremont’s view, advanced social justice ideology. Related proposals went to at least eight foundations in total. (Representatives of the Taube and Rupe foundations did not reply to emails and phone messages seeking comment.)

Ultimately, according to one document, the Claremont organizers hoped state lawmakers across the country would pass sweeping prohibitions on teaching “social justice programming.”

As the project progressed, Claremont made plans to prospect for donors at a Dallas country club and at the Palm Beach, Florida, home of Elizabeth Ailes, the widow of Fox News co-founder Roger Ailes. Growing anger among older conservatives helped open the spigot.

“The Searle kids don’t like wokery,” wrote Chris Ross, a Claremont fundraising official, in a December 2021 email, apparently referring to adult children of the trust’s late benefactor, Daniel Searle. (A representative of the Searle trust disputed whether Claremont officials had knowledge of the Searles’ political views.)

Among other efforts, the Searle trust agreed to back a project examining critical race theory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The school had been roiled that fall by the cancellation of a science lecture by Dorian Abbot, a geophysicist who, like a plurality of Americans, opposed aspects of affirmative action in higher education.

The following year, a Utah scientist and renewable-energy consultant, along with his wife, kicked in $25,000 for the project. It had “really caught their imagination,” Ross wrote, because of their “ongoing concerns about their grandchildren and wokeism.” Secrecy was essential. “This work will be done more easily if the wokesters at MIT don’t see it coming,” he wrote.

Under the Banner of Freedom

The Claremont effort seemed to diverge from others on the right who had long urged academic institutions to renew their commitment to ideological diversity. In one exchange, some of those involved discussed how to marshal political power to replace left-wing orthodoxies with more “patriotic,” traditionalist curricula.

“In support of ridding schools of CRT, the Right argues that we want nonpolitical education,” Klingenstein wrote in August 2021. “No we don’t. We want our politics. All education is political.”

Yenor appeared to agree, responding with some ideas for reshaping K-12 education. “An alternative vision of education must replace the current vision of education,” he wrote back, adding, “In the short-term, state legislatures could get out of the business of banning and get into the business of demanding — demanding the certain conclusions about American history be delivered.”

State legislatures, he proposed, could strip “educational professionals” of the power to decide what to teach and even shorten the school day so that young people would spend less time in class. They might pass laws letting private citizens sue school board members with financial ties to the “education industry.”

At the same time, individuals and groups involved in the effort seemed to grasp that academic freedom could be a politically useful frame for their attacks.

In a 2023 exchange, Yenor and two associates discussed how to defend Amy Wax, a conservative law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Wax had drawn the ire of administrators and students there for once opining, among other things, that the United States would be “better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration” and that Black people felt “resentment and shame and envy” over the “Western peoples’ outsized achievements and contributions.”

Filing a grievance claim against the university, Wax’s lawyer apparently asked David Azerrad, a professor at Hillsdale College, for a statement of support. Azerrad, in turn, sought his Claremont friends’ advice.

Yenor had experience with such situations. Two years earlier, he had faced Title IX complaints at Boise State University following a speech in which he argued that feminism had made women “more medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome than women need to be.” Amid the uproar, Boise State officials defended the right of faculty to “introduce uncomfortable and even offensive ideas.”

Now Yenor advised his friend Azerrad to aim his statement at a liberal audience — to defend Wax on the grounds that if she were fired, it would only embolden red-state lawmakers to fire controversial left-wing professors.

“But don’t we want this to happen?” Azerrad asked.

“Yes,” replied Yenor. “But your audience doesn’t want it to happen.”

In an email, Azerrad described the exchanges as “flippant banter” that “do not discuss substantive policy matters.” A spokesperson for Claremont said that both Yenor and Klingenstein believed that “intellectual diversity and free speech are not ends in themselves but means to other important ends, including a vision of education.”

‘More Wholesome Policies’

Even as they sought to stigmatize and defeat left-wing ideas, academics and activists in the Claremont orbit seemed cognizant that some of their own views were outside the mainstream.

In a 2021 exchange among academics at Claremont, Hillsdale and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Yenor discussed edits to an essay he was planning to publish in First Things, a conservative journal. His editor, he said, wanted Yenor to be less “prudent” in his writing about homosexuality, encouraging him to voice ideas like — as Yenor characterized it — “Our sexual culture will not heal until ‘faggot’ replaces ‘bigot’ as the slur of choice,” or, “Our sexual culture will not be healed until we once again agree that homosexuality belongs in the closet and that a healthy society requires patriarchy.” (“Since they are my views, I have tried to do that,” Yenor wrote. In the end, he settled for tamer language.)

In casual discussions with like-minded academics and activists, some of those involved in the anti-DEI effort mocked what they considered liberals’ obsession with hierarchies of oppression. Some evinced a frank dislike of gay people.

In an exchange last May, Yenor, two former Trump administration officials with Claremont ties, and Mac Donald discussed a court case in India about same-sex marriage. Mac Donald — a fellow at the Manhattan Institute who last spring published a book titled “When Race Trumps Merit: How the Pursuit of Equity Sacrifices Excellence, Destroys Beauty and Threatens Lives” — was not formally connected to Claremont’s anti-DEI efforts but corresponded frequently with those who were.

She speculated in the May exchange that it would be “fun to see” what liberals would say about Indians if the court conferred same-sex marriage rights but Indians refused to “go along.” “How will western elites explain the benightedness of yet another group of POCs?” In response, Yenor noted that “not tons of asian countries have SSM,” but rather, “more wholesome policies like prison” for gays.

Last spring, Mac Donald emailed some of the same people about news reports that a boyfriend of Thiel — nominally their ally in the rising “national conservatism” movement — had committed suicide after a confrontation with Thiel’s husband at a party. Calling the episode “a scandal,” she opined that gay men “are much more prone” to extramarital affairs “on the empirical basis of testosterone unchecked by female modesty.” She added mockingly that a friend had once tried to convince her “how wonderful Thiel’s ‘husband’ was.”

Neither Mac Donald nor a Manhattan Institute spokesperson replied to emails seeking comment.

Yenor and his allies bristled at the conventions of academic life as overly solicitous toward female and nonwhite students. He sometimes shared routine emails from administrators at his home institution, Boise State, deriding them as examples of being “ruled by women.” On one occasion, he forwarded a Boise State email featuring a photo of a female computer science student with close-cropped hair and a plaid shirt. “Gynocracy update!” Yenor wrote.

Riffing on the woman’s masculine appearance, his friend Azerrad chimed in with a correction: “Androgynococracy update.”

In another email to Yenor, Mac Donald reflected on a further “curse of feminism”: the proliferation of “nannies of color” in her Manhattan neighborhood and the “bizarreness” of women entrusting their children to caregivers from “the low IQ 3rd world” while devoting themselves to making partner at a law firm.

Mac Donald, some Claremont friends and a conservative Canadian professor also discussed a routine in which comedian Bill Burr took feminists to task for the low attendance at WNBA games. (“None of you showed up! Where are all the feminists?”)

When Mac Donald asked why the comedian hadn’t been “canceled,” Williams, Claremont’s president, pointed out that Burr was “married to a black woman, which helps.”

It was “the usual pet black phenomenon,” Mac Donald replied. “We are all just SO grateful if there is a black who does not overtly hate us.” She went on to rail against a libertarian podcast that praised former President George W. Bush for selecting Black people for his Cabinet, “as if there is any talent required to make quota appointments.”

The Movement Grows

Since 2021, the network’s anti-DEI campaign has spread to at least a dozen states, according to the documents.

In Tennessee, where Claremont partnered with Velocity Convergence, one of the anti-DEI reports they produced reportedly circulated among Republican state lawmakers as they worked to pass a bill limiting how universities could teach or train students about “divisive concepts.” A spokesperson for the University of Tennessee said in a statement that the report’s conclusions “seem to be based on subjective criteria, made-up definitions and the opinions of the authors” who obtained information from online searches and public records but “made no attempt to understand the information through questions or interviews.” Tennessee’s governor signed the new law in April 2022.

Susan Kaestner, Velocity’s founder and a veteran Republican operative in the state, said that “the obsessive focus on diversity, equity and inclusion is effectively reducing viewpoint diversity on Tennessee campuses.”

Last year, Claremont organizers forged connections with the Arkansas Senate’s Republican leader. In Alabama, they partnered with a group called Alabamians for Academic Excellence and Integrity. Jeff Sessions, a former U.S. attorney general and a supporter of the Alabama group, was among those who provided funds for a Claremont report, “Going Woke in Dixie?,” that focused on Auburn University and the University of Alabama.

After it was released last summer, according to another email, Samuel Ginn, a wealthy Auburn alumnus and donor to both the school and Claremont, confronted the university’s president, Christopher Roberts, and pressed him to address the report’s findings.

“The president then told him, ‘Things will change,’” a Claremont fundraiser wrote to Yenor and other officials there.

An Auburn spokesperson said in an email that Roberts “has no recollection of the comment that was attributed to him.” Efforts to contact Ginn were unsuccessful.

Before the 2022 midterm elections, the group also teamed with Republican political operatives and a think tank in Maine — where Klingenstein owns a vacation compound — to gather examples of “DEI in action” in the state’s public universities and K-12 schools. Klingenstein suggested highlighting examples of putatively odd-sounding college courses, as another conservative group had done in a report about left-wing influence at Bowdoin College in Maine. (Among them were “Queer Gardens” and “Sex in Colonial America.” Bowdoin responded by defending its coursework and calling the report distorted and “meanspirited.”)

After the group published a report on “critical social justice” in Maine’s K-12 classrooms, Klingenstein noted in one email that despite the need to reform public schools, the group faced difficulty figuring out what was “actually happening on the ground.” He praised the report but acknowledged it was “necessarily rather anecdotal.”

Even so, the work could be wielded as a bludgeon. By fall 2022, the effort had expanded to include an advertising campaign against the state’s Democratic governor, Janet Mills. The campaign, funded by Klingenstein, was spearheaded by a national advocacy group called the American Principles Project, which in turn operated through a front group called Maine Families First.

Citing the Maine K-12 report, among other sources, ads from the group misleadingly claimed that Mills was “distributing pornography to our children,” referring to “Gender Queer,” a graphic memoir for young adults that includes sexually explicit scenes. (In fact, according to a report by Maine Public Radio, the book had appeared on one American Library Association list of gay-themed literature, a link to which could be found on the website of the Maine Department of Education.) All told, the group would spend nearly $3 million on ads attacking Mills.

‘Just the Beginning’

Mills went on to win reelection. But the anti-DEI campaign has gained ground in more Republican-leaning states. Claremont has claimed credit for helping pass the most wide-ranging bans, in Florida as well as in Texas. Last January, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas issued an executive order banning “indoctrination and critical race theory in schools.” In North Carolina in June, Republican lawmakers passed a law banning public universities and other agencies from requiring employees to state their opinions on social issues, a move Democratic lawmakers said was aimed at DEI programs more broadly. Oklahoma’s Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, issued a similar executive order in December.

Last year, Claremont officials also courted DeSantis, then a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination and the governor most closely associated with anti-DEI policies. The institute dispatched Yenor to Florida to run a new office in Tallahassee, appointing him as its “senior director of state coalitions.” (On Sunday, DeSantis suspended his presidential bid.)

In early April, as DeSantis prepared to announce his presidential campaign, he visited Klingenstein. In an email, Klingenstein told Claremont officials that DeSantis had agreed to give Yenor access to his top political and government aides. Klingenstein also said he’d urged the governor to do a better job explaining to voters why “wokeism” was dangerous.

Appearing on the campaign trail in subsequent weeks, DeSantis began to offer a more expansive definition of the term — while mentioning “woke” so many times that some reporters began keeping count.

But as DeSantis’ presidential bid sputtered and conservative campaigns against left-wing education began to lose traction in some parts of the country, people involved in the anti-DEI effort began to retool once again. In June, the American Principles Project circulated a memo detailing the results of several focus groups held to test different culture war messages.

For all the conservative attacks on diversity programs, the group found, “the idea of woke or DEI received generally positive scores.” Most voters didn’t know the difference between equality and the more voguish term “equity,” oft-mocked on the right, which signifies policies intended to achieve equal outcomes for different people, not simply equal opportunities.

“DEI was thought to consist more of comfort with diverse workplaces than affirmative action or anti-white hiring practices. When we got into the details of specific DEI initiatives (race-based quotas, affirmative action, diversity for diversity’s sake), they were mostly opposed.”

The memo was sent by an associate to Klingenstein and Williams, along with an undated draft speech apparently written for Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., who founded the House Anti-Woke Caucus last January. (Banks’ spokesperson did not reply to an email seeking comment.)

For Banks and other Republicans, the controversies over antisemitism on campus this fall provided a fresh opportunity to make their case. With some student protesters defending or even valorizing the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel by Hamas, criticisms of campus DEI programs began to gain more of an audience among liberals. In December, when House Republicans summoned Gay to Capitol Hill, along with the presidents of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania, they argued that diversity programs were the root cause of antisemitic rhetoric on campus.

As the presidential election looms, Republicans are embarking on a renewed campaign against the higher education institutions they have long criticized, now under the banner of eradicating anti-Jewish hate. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce is investigating Harvard and other schools, and the scope of the inquiry is expected to expand.

“This is just the beginning,” pledged Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., whose questioning of Gay helped set in motion the Harvard president’s resignation. “Our robust congressional investigation will continue to move forward to expose the rot in our most ‘prestigious’ higher education institutions and deliver accountability to the American people.”

c.2024 The New York Times Company

Commentary: America seems intent on repeating its history of Black oppression with book bans

2024/01/10

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Governor of Arkansas, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on May 2, 2023.

 - Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

America has a race problem, and it has abandoned all pretensions to hide it. We need only to do an autopsy on 2023 to witness this toxic brew of racial animosity boil over, in full public view. The days of the so-called post-racial, colorblind America are long behind us, if they ever existed. White legislators in statehouses and boards across the U.S. seized power to institute openly anti-Black laws, resolutions and decrees.

Take, for example, the recent decision by an all-white Missouri school board to remove Black history classes and books from the district’s course offerings. This act of Black scholastic erasure comes in the aftermath of the Florida Board of Education’s approval of new protocols for the teaching of Black history. Those guidelines tout the benefits of Black chattel slavery, arguing enslaved people enjoyed advantages because of their conditions in bondage. As to be expected, such a mendaciously driven, and revisionism-riven, reading of American slavery history unleashed much public outcry from a chorus of Black civil rights organizations. So universal was the condemnation of the board’s ahistorical account that even some prominent Black conservatives criticized the reckless move.

Any cursory reading of Black history in this country, from slavery to Jim Crow, reveals a clear historical pattern: Keep Black people away from writing their own histories by outlawing Black literacy witnessed in slavery, or explicitly impoverishing Black literacy, as observed in Jim Crow laws of “separate but equal.”

Yet, America seems intent on repeating its noxious history of Black oppression. Arkansas, under Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ governorship, approved similar bans on Black literature and history. Sanders ceremoniously banned the teaching of critical race theory in public schools, arguing such classes amount to indoctrination.

Other states, from Texas to Oklahoma, also banned various forms of Black literature, curriculum, history and the teaching of critical race theory. In Oklahoma, McCurtain County commissioners were caught in a recording touting the lynching and whipping of Black people. The McCurtain County sheriff’s office issued a statement arguing such audio recordings are illegal and questioned the authenticity of the tapes.

Have we forgotten the lessons of Jim Crow and the tremendous damage heaped upon Black communities? History would remind us well if white officials did not outlaw it.

According to the American Library Association, Texas led the nation in book banning in 2022. The white hoods of a past era are now substituted for the corporate jacket, the judicial gavel and the legislative pen. There’s an oft-repeated adage that speaks of slavery being America’s original sin. But what of its contemporary sins? Has America repented of its lust for Black oppression? Put another way, when will America overcome its fondness for racial injustice?

Indeed, the times are changing. No longer is racial terror the sole work of people in white hoods but inked in this nation’s history through legislators. These evolving currents of America’s race problem must be voiced and documented for all to witness. Failure to name racism, in whatever form, necessarily gives full rein for its rise and continuity in American life.

Sober reflections on America’s racial injustices in 2023 also remind us of the expulsion of the two Black legislators in the Tennessee state legislature. Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were expelled because their advocacy for gun control on the floor of the chamber was deemed to be in breach of House decorum. In what can only be described as tragic comedy, one of the white representatives of the House who voted for the expulsions was accused of sexual harassment by a legislative intern. He was not expelled, even though a House ethics panel convicted him, quietly, of the misconduct. He resigned — after a news outlet confronted him. Historically, a common feature of anti-Black racism is the revelation of white hypocrisy that follows it.

All these examples of anti-Blackness in America are made possible only when white people use their legislative pens and gavels to reproduce racial oppression that they say they oppose.

The anatomy of America’s long-standing racism can be dissected this way: White people are the primary source of the nation’s anti-Black racism. This is an ugly truth. Yet, it must be told freely. Failure to grapple with contemporary wrongs will result in repeats of racial crises, of the sort witnessed after the 2020 police murder of George Floyd, the 2012 fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, the 1991 near-death beating of Rodney King and the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Banning Black literature is not an abstraction. Its costs are counted in Black graves.

____

Derefe Kimarley Chevannes, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Memphis, who teaches Black political theory and critical race theory.

___

© Chicago Tribune

 Opinion

Mike Pence writes messages on bombs meant for Lebanon. Would Jesus do that?

A debunked theology is providing cover for supremacists — both white Christian and Jewish — to pursue an illegal war.

Former Vice President Mike Pence appears to sign munitions during a recent visit to Israel’s Northern Command. (Photo via Twitter)

January 8, 2024

By 

Daoud Kuttab

(RNS) — Mike Pence, once the vice president of the United States, signed his name on Israeli artillery shells intended to be used in an attack on Lebanon in a war that has already killed thousands of Palestinian civilians. The act of giving public support to shelling innocent people goes contrary to international covenants and is possibly a violation of U.S. law.

Despite their official support for Israel, American politicians and those in other Western countries have often spoken their minds in support of Palestinian rights once they left elected office. In Pence’s case, the restraints of being vice president curbed the extremely pro-Israel positions he expressed as governor of Indiana and later as a U.S. presidential candidate. Now that he has left public office, he has rushed to legitimize the bombing of Lebanon and Gaza.

What is more disturbing about his presence in Israel, on the 90th day of an unbalanced war against Palestinians in Gaza, is that it is not a political visit at all but stems from Pence’s twisted religious ideology.

Pence, like other Christian Zionists, is a believer in a debunked Christian theology that is welcomed by right-wing Israelis who want to establish a biblical state, rather than the secular state early Zionists envisioned. Dispensationalism — the belief that Jesus’ Second Coming is dependent on certain historical conditions, including a Jewish state in Israel, has been rejected by Palestinian evangelical Christians, who not only inhabit the Holy Land but are among the current victims of Zionism. Even the Dallas Theological Seminary, the flagship school of dispensationalism, has retracted its theological support for the concept. Its own theologians are now arguing for a progressive dispensationalism.

---

RELATED: Don’t let the war tear apart the tapestry of faith that makes America strong

---

In the 1990s and early 2000s many young Christians wore a bracelet with the initials WWJD. The initials stood for “What Would Jesus Do?” and they were an attempt by believers to evaluate how the Lord would have reacted in the situations the faithful found themselves today. It’s almost certain Jesus would not endorse bombs aimed at killing neighbors, created in the image of God, as Pence did.

Over the Christmas season, Munther Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, imagined that Jesus, had he been born in 2023 instead of two millennia before, would have chosen the rubble of Gaza as his birthplace. The Christmas Church’s creche re-created just this scenario, placing its replica of the baby Jesus in rubble instead of a manger.

Former Vice President Mike Pence sits for an interview with The Associated Press, Nov. 16, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Pence’s pro-Israel sympathies — and that of others, such as U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley — mean that instead of seeing Christ in those suffering Israel’s aerial attacks (including Arab Christians), they cling to the violence as the fulfillment of biblical foretelling of the Rapture. They presumably sleep well at night believing that they are acting in accordance with God’s will, which apparently includes war crimes.

The Israelis themselves indulge in this same biblical justification. In the early days of the war on Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose power depends on extremist Jewish activists in his government, compared the Palestinians to the Amalekites, referring to God’s command, in the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Samuel, to attack a neighboring people “and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”

His defense minister spoke in dehumanizing terms, calling Palestinians animals and publicly cutting off water, food, medical supplies and fuel from 2.3 million Palestinians.

All this contrasts with the world today where human rights, the law of war and international humanitarian covenants forbid such cruelty. That’s the basis of a complaint by the South African government in the International Court of Justice. South Africa, with many countries now joining in, is accusing Israel of the intent to commit genocide.

---

RELATED: Western churches called for cease-fire. Palestinian Christians heard empty words.

---

By egging Israel on despite these claims, Pence and other Christian Zionists, as well as the Jewish supremacists and racists among Netanyahu’s ministers, are manifestations of the same movement that is pushing the world away from civilized democratic order, ideologically aligned with white supremacists in the U.S. who back former President Donald Trump.

Neither Netanyahu nor Trump, of course, is religious. Both men are acting out of self-interest rather than deeply held belief. The real problem with religious enablers like Pence is that they give such anti-democratic and genocidal leaders cover to spread their ugly racist program. Is that what Jesus would do?

(Daoud Kuttab, an award-winning Palestinian journalist, is publisher of a Christian website, milhilard.org. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

It will be a ‘very sad’ Christmas this year, says Palestinian priest

3% of the Christian community in besieged Palestinian enclave killed in 75 days, says Mitri Raheb

23.12.2023 - 

A view of the Christmas tree decoration being prepared from pieces of war debris at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, West Bank on December 04, 2023. 

( Hisham K. K. Abu Shaqra - Anadolu Agency )


ERBIL, Iraq

A Palestinian priest said that it will be a “very sad” Christmas this year, as 3% of the Christian community in the Gaza Strip has been killed in the ongoing Israeli attacks on the besieged Palestinian enclave since Oct. 7.

In an interview with the website Democracy Now, Mitri Raheb, the president of Dar al-Kalima University, said: “I don’t think in my entire life I experienced so much sadness, but also so much anger about what’s happening in Gaza.”

“I fear that this is the end of the Christian presence in Gaza. And, you know, the Christian presence in Gaza is a 2,000-years-old presence,” he added.

Raheb noted that Christmas festivities have been canceled in Bethlehem.

“You don't have Christmas lights. you don't have (a) Christmas tree in Bethlehem. There are no tourists coming because of the war,” he said.

“Here in the West Bank, we are experiencing apartheid colonization by Jewish settlers,” Raheb added.

“I find it really a shame that in this season, where every church hears these words, ‘peace on Earth,’ that the United States is vetoing even a cease-fire. It’s a shame,” he said.

He noted that more than 8,000 children have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, killing at least 20,057 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 53,320 others, according to health authorities in the besieged enclave.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins with half of the coastal territory's housing stock damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely-populated enclave amid shortages of food and clean water.

Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack, while more than 130 hostages remain in captivity.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara

Bethlehem cancels Christmas celebrations: Rev. Raheb draws his parallels to Gaza's plight

"The Christmas story actually is a Palestinian story par excellence, echoing the current plight of Palestinians in Gaza." Rev. Mitri Raheb, a prominent Palestinian theologian and pastor, explains why traditional Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem are cancelled this year. He draws poignant parallels between the biblical story of Christmas and the current situation in Gaza. Rev. Raheb emphasises the displacement of families, the plight of pregnant women, and the tragic loss of children, comparing these to the events surrounding the nativity story.

December 23, 2023

Congressional staff urged Israel against attacking Gaza churches: report

The New Arab Staff
23 December, 2023

US congressional staff attempted to alert Israel on two holy sites to avoid targeting them- and they were still attacked

Palestinian Christians attend Sunday Mass celebrated in Gaza City's Holy Family church prior to the conflict 

US Christian congressional staff members reportedly warned Israel against attacking religious sites in Gaza that were deemed safe zones for civilians, however the sites were eventually targeted by Israeli bombardment.

According to a series of emails obtained by US news site Politico, Gaza-based aid group Catholic Relief Services had repeatedly sent locations to Israel to instruct them to avoid attacking Christian facilities where Palestinian civilians sought refuge.

The emails, dated between October 14 to October 26, show Catholic Relief Services sending the coordinates of several buildings to staff members of the US Senate, who had forwarded them to Israeli forces.

Despite this, the Israelis said that they could not “guarantee” the safety of civilians who were staying inside, according to the report.

Israeli forces have yet to respond to Politico’s report.

Meanwhile, anonymous senate and congressional staff told the news outlet that they hope to continue attempts to protect Gaza’s civilians “without fear of retribution”.

A mother and daughter sheltering at the Holy Family Church were killed by Israeli sniper fire, and the Convent of the Missionaries of Charity was shelled by Israeli military tanks.

Outcry as UK school threatens children over Gaza solidarity

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem previously reported both incidents that were dated 16 December in an official statement.

The patriarchate said that the shootings at Holy Family Church, Gaza’s only Catholic church, led to the killings of Nahida Khalil Anton and daughter Samar while walking to the Sister’s Convent building in the complex.

The statement also said that seven were killed and injured while they attempted to protect others in the church.

“No warning was given, no notification was provided,” the patriarchate said. “They were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the parish, where there are no belligerents.”

According to the patriarchate, the Missionaries of Charity located in a section of the church’s compound and housing 54 individuals with disabilities was struck by fire from an Israeli tank.

This attack led to a fire that demolished the building’s generator, resulting in several residents being unable to use their respirators.

Pope Francis deplored the deaths, which he said happened in a church complex "where there are no terrorists but families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities".

Israeli forces said they had "no reports of a hit on the church", stressing the army "does not target civilians, no matter their religion". The Israeli army has destroyed several religious sites in Gaza, and in recent days has been accused of carrying out summary executions of civilians.

This year, church leaders in Jerusalem and the city council of Bethlehem – home to the Church of the Nativity where Christians believe Jesus was born – decided to tone down Christmas celebrations in solidarity with Gaza.

In a Christmas message, the patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem lamented that "hope seems distant and beyond" reach for Gazans caught up in 11 weeks of deadly violence.

No festive season in the West Bank
·19.12.2023
Christmas muted in 'grieving' Bethlehem

The grotto believed to be the spot where Jesus was born: as the war between Israel and Hamas rages around 100 km away in Gaza, Christmas will be a muted affair in the occupied West Bank (image: HAZEM BADER/AFP)

Outside Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity in the Palestinian West Bank, the throngs of tourists and pilgrims who normally rub shoulders with costumed Santas and marching bands are missing this year

There are no festive lights strung overhead and no sign of the huge tree normally erected to celebrate the event that Christians believe took place on this spot 2,000 years ago: the birth of Jesus Christ.

As the war between Israel and Hamas rages around 100 km away in Gaza – leaving thousands of Palestinians dead and nearly two million displaced and trapped in a humanitarian catastrophe – Christmas will be a muted affair in the occupied West Bank.

In a normal year, Bethlehem would be a "city full of people, full of tourists", said 30-year-old Abood Suboh, standing in his empty shop where he sells cashmere scarves and leather handbags.

"This war stopped everything."

'Tourists disappeared'

Church leaders in Jerusalem and the Bethlehem city council took the decision last month to forego "any unnecessarily festive" Christmas celebrations in solidarity with Gazans.

The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem will still come to deliver his traditional midnight mass on Christmas Eve, but with pilgrims staying away and access to the city restricted by Israeli authorities, turnout is likely to suffer.

The war could not have come at a worse time for locals who depend on the Christmas tourist trade.

Jack Giacaman, of the Christmas House souvenir shop, said 80 percent of their sales came at the end of the year.

"Suddenly, in October, tourists disappeared from the streets. And now Bethlehem is completely closed from all directions," he said, referring to the Israeli checkpoints that restrict movement into the walled-off West Bank.

Some pilgrims don't even realise Bethlehem is located in the West Bank, said Jack Giacaman from The Christmas House souvenir shop. "Sometimes they come in and say, 'I'm happy to be in Bethlehem, Israel'"

 (image: HAZEM BADER/AFP)

In the workshop behind Giacaman's store, half-finished shepherds and magi stood watch over deserted workstations.

He had already been forced to borrow money to tide over the business after the slump caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, but had a three-year plan to get back on track.

"Now we don't know how to cover this year," he said.

'Like living in a prison'

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, the West Bank has seen a surge in violence, with more than 290 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers, local health officials say.

Some pilgrims don't even realise Bethlehem is located in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War, Giacaman said.

"Sometimes they come into the shop and say, 'I'm happy to be in Bethlehem, Israel,'" he said.

The Church of the Nativity was empty during our visit, save for a handful of workmen and a small group of pilgrims.

Grieving the violence in Gaza: Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity was practically empty ahead of Christmas

 (image: HAZEM BADER/AFP)

Outside, Greek Orthodox priest Issa Thaljieh said Bethlehem was "grieving" the violence in Gaza.

And he regretted that pilgrims would not see the reality of life for Palestinians this year.

Visiting holy sites is important, he said, "but what's most important is to know how Palestinians are living, how they are passing through the difficult situation daily, with the walls around, like living in a prison."

An eye-catching tableau for resistance: graffiti art in Bethlehem

Yamen Elabed was the first Palestinian to come up with the idea of earning money from the graffiti on the barrier wall. Two years ago, he opened his "Banksy's Shop" in Bethlehem. The store features items such as postcards, bags, and T-shirts printed with the most famous motifs of the British artist (including those that no longer exist), as well as works of other artists. On request, tourists can even purchase cans of spray paint so that they too can immortalise themselves on the wall.

The wall at the Qalandiya Checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah serves as a canvas for professional artists as well as politically active Palestinians and those that sympathise with their cause. Here, the likenesses of two of the most important and charismatic Palestinian figures adorn the cement wall: left, the revered former President Yasser Arafat, right, the Fatah politician Marwan Barghouti, who was sentenced to five terms of life imprisonment and has been in prison since 2002.

The trailblazer: in 2005, the legendary British street artist Banksy visited the West Bank and left behind nine stencilled graffiti images on the wall and on private buildings in and around Bethlehem. His satirical and critical commentary on Israel's occupation policy marked the start of an onslaught of international and Palestinian graffiti artists – amateurs and professionals alike – who have adorned the wall with their political and personal messages.

Black humour: many of Banksy's early and later works still exist today, such as his famous "Flower Thrower" and the little girl frisking an Israeli soldier. Some images have been painted over by other artists or even removed out of protest, as a number of Palestinians don't like the British artist's signature black humour.

Escape by escalator: in 2007, Banksy started the "Santa's Ghetto" artist initiative and organised a gathering of internationally renowned "street artists" in Bethlehem (including Mark Jenkins, Sam3, Ron English, Eircailcane, Swoon, and Faile) in order to draw attention to the political situation in the occupied territories. The Italian graffiti artist Blu also contributed with a work on the Israeli barrier opposite the UN refugee camp Aida.

Of hijackers and Christmas trees: this section of the wall features a portrait of the PFLP plane hijacker Leila Khaled and, on the right, a walled-up Christmas tree by the graffiti artist Blu. Bethlehem is characteristically symbolised by Christmas motifs. It remains a matter of interpretation, however, what the artist intended to convey with the image of the dead tree stumps outside of the wall. The power of destruction? Avarice? Hypocrisy?

Pacifism Palestinian style: this work by an unknown Palestinian artist also embellishes the wall in Bethlehem. It makes a humorous reference to the slogan of the hippy and anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1960s: "Make love, not war."

Mourning "Handala": an unknown Palestinian artist created the image of a mourning Statue of Liberty cradling "Handala" in its arms. In 1969, the Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali created the autobiographical figure of the refugee boy "Handala," who always has his back turned to the observer and has his arms folded in a gesture of defiance. To this day, "Handala" serves as a symbol of Palestinian identity and resistance against the occupation.

Christmas tourism vs art tourism: despite the many security warnings, Bethlehem remains a magnet for tourists. Especially during the Christmas season, the small city is overwhelmed by a flood of tourists and pilgrims. As the presumed birthplace of Jesus Christ, Bethlehem draws people from all over the world. Many, however, overlook the stark political realities of life in the city, e.g. the Israeli separation wall.

The New Yorker twins How & Nosm are known in the international street art world for their complicated and abstract graffiti works in red, black, and white. While engaged in their artwork in the autumn of 2013, they were frequently confronted and threatened by Israeli soldiers. One of their works, a symbolic image of a key, was painted over with "Stars of David" and pro-Israeli slogans by soldiers on the very day it was completed.

A special obligation: "We believe that just coming here and tagging, doing pieces, would be inappropriate and selfish. We felt an obligation to bring more than just our names so we brought some messages. If you're an artist you should take that into consideration," says the artistic duo How & Nosm.

Berlin– Bethlehem: parallels are often drawn to another historically significant wall (and its fall). The citation "Ich bin ein Palästinenser" (I am a Palestinian) can be found on a number of places on the cement wall. Many sections of the Israeli separation barrier, as is the case here in Bethlehem, are quite similar in appearance to its former Berlin counterpart.

'All gone now'

Franco-Palestinian restaurateur and hotelier Fadi Kattan, however, was sceptical that pilgrims learn much about the Palestinian cause.

Israeli tour operators nurture a perception that "all Palestinians are dangerous", turning them off interactions with locals, said Kattan, sitting on the terrace of his Bethlehem home that has been in his family for generations.

"For the pilgrims, it's like there's an invisible line where they don't go any deeper into the old city," he added.

Kattan – who serves modern Palestinian cuisine at his restaurants Fawda in Bethlehem and Akub in London's Notting Hill – had hoped to reopen his local businesses for Christmas this year after closing them during the pandemic.

"But that's all gone now," he said.

He said frightening wartime rhetoric from Israeli leaders had worsened the problem.

"If I was an American pilgrim, I would wait a few months to see what happens. Which is terrible to say, because it's a disaster for Bethlehem."

 (AFP)

To Christian Zionists from Palestinian Christians: Enough complicity with Israel

Perspectives

Ryan Al-Natour
23 Dec, 2023

Opinion: On Christmas, a reminder that Christian Palestinians, like Palestinians of all faiths, are killed in Israel's war, a fact ignored by Christian Zionists

BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK - This year, instead of a Christmas tree, the church had a decoration made of rubble. It represented the destruction in Gaza.

In Bethlehem, Christian leaders in the town where Jesus was born made a heart-breaking announcement in mid-November 2023: Christmas would be cancelled this year in Palestine.

The decision came from senior church deacons and the Christian mayor of Bethlehem. In years past, Palestinian towns would be decorated with Christmas trees and joyful lights. Children would receive gifts and visits from Santa. But this year, the Bishops and Church Leaders in Jerusalem issued a 'call upon our parishes to let aside unnecessary celebrations this year'.

Father Yousef Matta, the Orthodox Bishop of Galilee based in Nazareth, echoed this position, declaring that parishes across occupied Palestine would cancel Christmas celebrations. In Ramallah, church services attended by children took turns praying for their brethren under fire in the Gaza Strip.

Christmas is, of course, not the holiest day in the Christian calendar – that would be Easter, the celebration of Christ's resurrection. However, Christmas is our most joyous holiday, during which Palestinian Christians show gratitude for the birth of the Prince of Peace.

And yet, for the past 75 years, Palestine, the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth, has been robbed of peace.

This year, there is a genocide in which the Palestinian death toll has already far exceeded that of the original Nakba.

Given the unwavering financial and military support extended to Israel's war machine by the United States, as well as its continual vetoing of ceasefire efforts in the UN, no end is likely in sight.

Instrumentalising our suffering

What an odd situation that we Palestinian Christians find ourselves in. We hear evangelical Christian ministers in the United States, like John Hagee, speak about war in ecstatic and thrilling terms.

"Christian Zionists maintain that the Book of Genesis says that God will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse it. They insist that if America, as a country, does not "bless" Israel (that is, offer its government its unconditional support), God will curse America," he proclaimed.

Such rhetoric by Christian Zionism imposes violence upon Christian Palestinians, which ignores several vital facts.

Christians in Palestine have existed continuously and have lived in harmony with Muslims for millennia. The Christian Zionist approach weaponizes Western racism, Orientalism and Islamophobia, which are the antithesis of peaceful co-existence. In fact, Christians of Palestine are being subjected to the same anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic racism as our Muslim compatriots.

Christians are dying in Gaza under Israel's indiscriminate bombing campaign. In the West Bank, Christians face assault on their persons, neighbourhoods, and churches from Israeli settlers.

Yet racist right-wing media claim Palestinian leaders cancelled Christmas 'in honour of Hamas martyrs' as Israel continues to battle terrorists in Gaza'. But the martyrs we're talking about are thousands of innocent Palestinian men, women and children who were murdered by Israel, many Christians.

On October 20th 2023, Israel bombed the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City, killing several Palestinians. It was Gaza's oldest church, and Palestinians held a massive joint funeral for those martyred.

As a Christian Palestinian in Gaza named Fadi told the international press, 'nobody is safe in Gaza, regardless of [their] religion'.

Palestinian families are rushing to baptize their youngest, anticipating their death could come at any moment.

Western Christians have had a unique, often contradictory fascination with Palestinian Christians. Some of them are surprised to find out that we exist; others claim the Israeli state is there to 'save' us. Then others have watched our genocide and supported the Zionist state in the hope of the Messiah's 'second coming'. It is perplexing to see how some Christian Zionists think that the return of a Palestinian Jew who founded Christianity would somehow be 'pleased' that they cheered the onslaught of 20 thousand Palestinians and counting.

Unrecognizable Christianity in the West

The West's 'white saviourism' offends and insults Christian Palestinians.

But we ask the West here: do not speak on our behalf. Please keep your white saviours to yourself and stay in your lane. Do not use us as discussion points that support our genocide or vilify our Muslim Brothers and Sisters.

The Christian Zionist approach to Christians in Palestine is in line with the West's 'divide and conquer' methods. In response, Palestinian Christians echo the words of a Palestinian Orthodox Church Monk, Father Antonius Hannania, who said that if the Zionists bombed every mosque in Gaza, he would conduct the Adhaan (call to prayer). Palestinian Christians stand with our Muslim Brothers and Sisters in Gaza, and we will not allow Zionists to divide us in our shared struggle against the Israeli settler colony's racism, apartheid and genocide of Palestinians.

From the Bishops and Church leaders across Occupied Palestine to the exiled diaspora, Christian Palestinians will join the call to cancel celebrations accordingly. Our ancestors protected the budding religion that Jesus of Nazareth gifted to us.

It was our ancestors who nurtured this new faith in the early centuries after his death and spread the Gospels. Christian Zionists today practise a version of this religion that is unrecognizable to us. It remains perhaps one of the greatest ironies that a religion founded by a Palestinian man is instrumentalized in the genocide of the Palestinians.

With the genocide occurring over the sacred holiday, we ask Christians of the world to abstain from celebrating this year, but we highly doubt that this will be considered by the likes of Christian Zionists.

Whilst we remain grief-stricken, in mourning and horrified, Palestinian Christians will take little comfort in watching Christian Zionists celebrate a holiday that we gifted the world whilst they drape their homes in red and green - colours that perhaps they should notice, match the flag of Palestine.

Dr Ryan Al-Natour is a diaspora Palestinian who works as a lecturer in the School of Education, Charles Sturt University. He has experience working in antiracist teaching and has worked in secondary, primary and early childhood teacher training.

Evangelicals Will Never Abandon Israel Even if World Does


By Joel C. Rosenberg | NEWSMAX Saturday, 23 December 2023 

With just days to go before Christmas, and Israel fighting for its existence against Iranian terror proxies on multiple fronts, former Gov. Mike Huckabee and I had the opportunity to spend some time on Thursday afternoon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu.

The meeting took place in the highly secure IDF headquarters known as “The Kirya” – Israel’s Pentagon – in the heart of Tel Aviv.

For the past three days, the governor and I have been co-leading a “Solidarity Mission” of influential Evangelical Christian leaders throughout the country.

We’ve visited Israeli hostage families, visited Israeli communities devastated by the Hamas invasion of Oct. 7th, visited with local Jewish and Christians leaders, compared notes on what we’ve been seeing and hearing, and spent time praying together.

For several hours, our entire group met with the Prime Minister’s senior communications, public diplomacy, and foreign policy advisors to discuss how Israel can more effectively combat the avalanche of lies crashing down on them in the midst of this raging and bitter war.

We also discussed how Israeli leaders can do more to “call up the reserves” of millions of Evangelical Christians to tell the truth about Israel and the Jewish people from pulpits, on podcasts, on social media, in print media, and on radio and TV programs in the United States and all over the world.

AN INVITATION TO MEET THE PRIME MINISTER

At one point, as those critical conversations continued with the rest of the delegation, Governor Huckabee and I were asked to step out of the National Public Diplomacy’s media “war room” and to cross the Kirya campus to the offices and wartime residence of the prime minister.

While we had, of course, been hoping for the opportunity to see him this week, we knew that with such an intense schedule – and constant emergencies interrupting even a normally hard day – it might not happen.

But consistent with his decades of building personal friendships with Evangelical Christian leaders, the prime minister somehow found a way to carve out time.

Netanyahu has long called the Christian community the “greatest friends the Jewish state has.”

As important as the global Jewish community is, it is still fairly small, with perhaps 15 to 17 million Jewish people worldwide.

Yet, there are some 60 million Evangelical Christians in the United States alone.

And some 600 million Evangelicals worldwide.

NETANYAHU UNDERSTANDS WHY EVANGELICALS LOVE ISRAEL SO MUCH

Most love the Bible and read it from Genesis to Revelation.

Thus, most understand the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

They understand the history of the 12 tribes of Israel.

So, they understand and embrace God’s unique love and plan for Israel and the Jewish people.

As the Lord once told the Israeli nation through Moses, “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them [your enemies], for the Lord your God is the One who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

As the Lord once told the Israeli people through the Hebrew Prophet Jeremiah: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have drawn you with lovingkindness” (Jeremiah 31:3).

And as David – Israel’s greatest king – once wrote to his people, encouraging them to embrace these very truths: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I shall walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for You are with me” (Psalm 23:1-4).

Evangelicals know God is not in the business of abandoning His chosen people.

So we shouldn’t abandon them either.

This isn’t at its core a political commitment to Israel.

It’s a theological commitment, and a deeply held one at that.

Few Israelis understand this better than Netanyahu.

DEEPENING A STRATEGIC ALLIANCE

That’s why, for the past three decades, he has consistently cultivated this strategic alliance. And yesterday, it turned out, was no different.

After clearing another round of security checks, the governor and I were taken up several flights of stairs and ushered into Netanyahu’s office.

We were accompanied by Ophir Falk, the prime minister's foreign policy advisor.

And Tal Heinrich, a spokeswoman who was hired by the prime minister on Oct. 7th after working for several years for me as a senior correspondent for ALL ISRAEL NEWS and senior producer for THE ROSENBERG REPORT on TBN.

To our surprise, Netanyahu wasn’t inviting us into a quick pop-in to say hi.

The meeting ended up lasting almost 45 minutes.

WHAT WE WANTED TO SAY TO THE PRIME MINISTER

Wearing a dark suit, Netanyahu wasn’t harried or stressed or rushed, even though yet another salvo of rockets had just been fired by Hamas at Tel Aviv not too much earlier (quickly intercepted by the ever-faithful Iron Dome).

To the contrary, the Prime Minister struck me as calm and laser-focused on winning this war once and for all.

He was particularly happy to see Huckabee, one of the most well-known and influential Evangelicals in the United States.

After all, the two have been good and faithful friends for decades.

From the outset of the meeting, we reaffirmed to the prime minister that the overwhelming majority of Evangelical Christians in the United States love and support the Jewish state and the Jewish people, despite such fierce and unrelenting attacks from so much of the rest of the world.

We also affirmed the fact that millions of Evangelicals are “praying without ceasing” for him, for all the people and leaders of Israel, and for a quick victory over the forces of radical Islamism who are seeking Israel’s total annihilation.

GOVERNOR HUCKABEE’S STATEMENT FOLLOWING THE MEETING

While we covered a range of issues related to the war, the road ahead, and ways to strengthen the Israeli-Evangelical alliance, I’m not at liberty to share specifics.

Rather, let me share our reactions coming out of the meeting.

Governor Huckabee, for example, wanted to issue the following statement.

I’ve known the Prime Minister for many years and always find him to be in command of whatever situation he faces.

I can’t imagine anyone being as rock solid to lead Israel during such an existential crisis.

We conveyed to him our support for Israel and the Jewish people and our confidence in his leadership.

The Prime Minister has shown a steely resolve to carry out the mission of eliminating the terrorist threat of Hamas.

He is a steady head and hand in an unsteady time.

Well put.

A FEW PERSONAL THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS

I must say, it was an honor to spend time with the prime minister.

While I first met him in the fall of 2000 – some 23 years ago – this was the first time I’d ever met with him in the middle of a war.

It was particularly interesting to hear his heart and his perspective on the immense challenges that Israelis are facing.

To ask him questions.

And to have the opportunity to share with him in person that we believe in the power of prayer.

That we and our colleagues really are praying for him personally, for his family, for his advisors, as well as for the nation, for victory, and for the immediate and safe release of all the remaining hostages.

This isn’t talk.

It’s not posturing.

It’s a deep commitment that we as Evangelicals have because we know we serve a prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God – a God who responds to the cries of His children, and loves to move mountains and work wonders.

With the United Nations increasingly united against Israel – and so many in the international media viciously attacking Israel – the governor and I organized this Evangelical delegation because we wanted to send a crystal clear message to the prime minister, the Israeli people and the Jewish people worldwide.

Evangelical Christians love Israel and the Jewish people with an unconditional and unwavering love because the God of the Bible loves Israel and the Jewish people with an unconditional and unwavering love.

We came to see him because that’s what friends do when times are hard.

We know Bibi has many critics.

But while right now he is a wartime leader, he’s also a husband and a father who is going through one of the most terrible crises in modern Israeli history.

He needs prayer.

He needs encouragement.

He is the one the Lord has chosen for such a time as this.

And we as Christians are commanded in the New Testament to pray for kings and governors and all those in authority.

Let’s be faithful to that charge.

A WINSTON CHURCHILL IN ISRAEL’S DARKEST HOUR

At one point, I told the prime minister that I honestly have no idea how he summons the physical and emotional energy to keep going without developing ulcers over so many years, so many attacks, and so much criticism.

He laughed and attributed it to “good genes.”

“I’m sure,” I said, but added, “I believe it’s also God’s grace, that the Lord is responding to the prayers of millions of Christians and thus giving you the capacity to keep going beyond what most normal people can handle.”

Regardless of your views of Netanyahu, there is no doubt that he is an historic figure. In many ways, he is Israel’s Winston Churchill who, while having his flaws, has been enormously consequential.

We need him to succeed.

And he can’t do it without the intercessory prayers of Christians all over the world.

One thing is certain.

No Israeli leader has ever done more to build both a friendship and a strategic alliance with the Christian community.

And his welcoming us so warmly yesterday was yet further proof of that deep bond of friendship.

That said, meeting senior political leaders was not our primary objective as a delegation.

Over the past three days, we have:

toured Kfar Aza, one of 22 Israeli communities along the Gaza border that were savaged during the Hamas invasion and slaughter of Oct. 7th

met with and was briefed by officials in Sderot, the largest Israeli city on the Gaza border and one of the communities invaded by Hamas on Oct. 7th

met with and heard the personal stories of three Israeli hostage families in Tel Aviv

met with and listened to a group of American lone soldiers in Jerusalem

met with and was briefed by Jewish and Christian NGO leaders providing humanitarian aid to Israelis and Palestinians, including those from The Joshua Fund, Samaritan’s Purse, and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews

been interviewed by Israeli and American reporters about what we have seen and heard during their time in the Land

met with, prayed with, and been briefed by local Evangelicals in the Land

prayed for the liberation of Gaza from Hamas and a decisive victory over Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iranian regime

prayed for the immediate release of all the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza

prayed for the protection of all Israeli soldiers

prayed for the protection of all Palestinian Christians in Gaza

prayed for physical, emotional, and spiritual healing for all Israelis and Palestinians traumatized by this war

prayed for the peace of Jerusalem, according to Psalm 122

My team and I will be sharing more insights from these meetings and visits in the days ahead.

But for now, I wanted to share with you some of what I saw when the Lord opened the door to meet a unique and compelling leader.

This story was reprinted by permission from AllIsraelNews.com.

Joel C. Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York Times best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and Evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons.

© 2023 NewsmaxWorld. All rights reserved.