Open letter to the Presbyterian Church USA from an Iraqi Jew Read more: Open letter to the Presbyterian Church USA from an Iraqi Jew | Joe Samuels |

MARCH 12, 2014, 9:01 PM by Joe SAMUELS TIMES OF ISRAEL 


note: oF THE 850,000 jews LIVING IN arab LANDS BEFORE 1948 NOT ONE IS LIVING IN A REFUGE CAMP TODAY. rEAD ON: 

Some of your members, under the banner of human rights, have demonized one country. According to them, the one country that destabilizes the Middle East and creates much pain and suffering to the Arab world, is not Iran, Syria, or Lebanon. It is Israel

They believe the root of the problem is Zionism and the return of the Jews to Israel.

Your group has just published a booklet entitled “Zionism Unsettled”. The booklet claims that if it weren’t for the Zionist movement that established Israel, the Jews from Arab lands would still be living in peace and harmony among the Arab nations.

I quote from your from Page 48 of “Zionism Unsettled”:

Middle eastern Jews, also called Mizrahi Jews, share a history of largely harmonious integration and acculturation in their host countries. Sadly, this model of coexistence was destabilized by the regional penetration of Zionism beginning in the late 19th century.

My Arabic name is Yusuf. I was born in the Jewish quarter of the old city of Baghdad known as “Taht El Takia” in December of 1930. I am now 83 years old. My mother tongue is Arabic and I am one those Jews who was integrated in the Arabic Islamic culture of Iraq.

Here are some examples of how us Arab Jews lived in harmony with our hosts: I survived the Farhud of 1941 — a violent “pogrom” when Iraqi Muslims, incited by Nazi Germany, took to the streets, destroyed the Jewish quarter and killed 180 Jewish men, women and children.  I was 11 years old. Google Farhud or read Edwin Black’s book “The Farhud”. The cause of the Farhud, wasn’t  Zionism. The Farhud was purely an anti-Jewish act. At 14, I was chased by two Muslim youths with a knife for stopping them from molesting my neighbor’s teenage daughter in broad daylight. At 18, after graduation from Al A’Adadiah High School, I was refused an exit visa to leave Iraq to study in America because I was Jewish. My story is not unique. I am one of 150,000 Iraqi Jews who was discriminated against, oppressed, and forced to escape religious persecution because of my faith. CLICK THIS TO KEEP READING

Read more: Open letter to the Presbyterian Church USA from an Iraqi Jew | Joe Samuels | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/open-letter-to-the-presbyterian-church-from-an-iraqi-jew/#ixzz2xOX7j1Ys
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An Unsettling Presbyterian Study Guide

Los Angeles Jewish Journal Mark Diamond and George Douglas March 19, 2014 

(from AJC Global Jewish Advocacy)

NOTE: EXTREMELY disturbing what the Presbyterian Church is doing. With friends like David Duke endorsing their work, need we say more? That said, they are no small institution and we have to keep an eye on them. 

The recent release of “Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study Guide” by the Israel-Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) of the Presbyterian Church [PC(USA)] threatens irreparable damage to Jewish-Presbyterian relations. The document takes aim at the ideological, moral and historical foundations of Israel, falsely labeling Zionism “Jewish supremacism” and denying Israel’s very right to exist as a modern nation state.

The document — riddled with errors and half-truths — is a full-blown attack on the very concept of Zionism and a Jewish homeland. In branding Israel an illegitimate entity, it declares war on both Israel and American Jewry. “Zionism Unsettled” calls Zionism a “false theology.” The materials repeatedly describe Jewish immigrants to Israel as “colonists” who took “Palestinian land” from the Palestinian people. The study guide’s project coordinator describes Zionism as an oppressive ideology comparable to Jim Crow segregation in the American South and apartheid in South Africa. The document quotes a Palestinian writer as saying, “Zionism was (and remains) not just about the colonization of Palestinian land, but also about colonizing minds — Jewish, Arab, European, American.”

“Zionism Unsettled” should not be seen in isolation. It is just the latest hateful tract emanating from the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, represented within the PC(USA) by the IPMN. The sum of its message is that Jews have no right to the land, only Palestinian Arabs do. Alarmingly, but not surprisingly, the document has been praised by Iranian government media, and got a ringing endorsement from David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Keep Reading Here:

- See more at: http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=7oJILSPwFfJSG&b=8478237&ct=13769421&notoc=1&utm_content=bufferde9c4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#sthash.8CqtBqjh.dpuf

open-letter-to-the-presbyterian-church-from-an-iraqi-jew/

from the Times of Israel 3/12/2014

NOTE: This says it all. Beautiful piece.

Some of your members, under the banner of human rights, have demonized one country. According to them, the one country that destabilizes the Middle East and creates much pain and suffering to the Arab world, is not Iran, Syria, or Lebanon. It is Israel.

There are 22 Arab countries. There is place for a 23rd. Yet there is no place for a Jewish state the size of New Jersey? Shame on you. Read it Here