The Boycott Israel Movement - Todd Strandberg - http://www.raptureready.com/rap16.html
Last week, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) generated headlines when it became the largest religious group in the United States to endorse a divestment boycott against Israel. The vote called for the church's investment fund to sell stock in three companies that do business with the Jewish state.
The United Methodist Church, the largest mainline Protestant group in the U.S., has also recently voted to sell the stock of a firm that provides security equipment to Israel's prison system. The Methodists did reject a call for a church-wide divestment.
The most active boycotts against Israel have been in Europe. The largest supermarket chains in the Netherlands decided last year to de-stock a select number of goods "Made in Israel." The Dutch pension fund PGGM has dumped its holdings in five Israeli banks, and retailers in the UK and Scandinavia have shunned some Israeli products.
The reason for the boycotts is to protest against Israeli policies toward Palestinians. Various liberal organizations have somehow gotten the idea that Palestinians are being mistreated, and they want to apply "economic leverage" to force Israel to do something crazy-like tear down its West Bank security barrier. (Yes, the wall that has been protecting Israeli citizens from suicide bombings.)
Another reason for the boycott is to avoid buying products produced in so-called "illegal settlements." Since the West Bank is a hodgepodge of zones controlled by Palestinians and Jews, there is no way for a supermarket to know for sure what jurisdiction a crate of apples came from.
The idea of boycotting Israel is not a new concept. An official embargo of all Zionist institutions and Jewish businesses was adopted by the Arab League immediately after the formation of the state of Israel in 1948.
The organizers of these boycotts need to realize that it's not just the Arabs that they are copying. When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany he ordered a boycott of Jewish shops, banks, offices and department stores. Nazi storm troopers held signs on street corners that read: "Germans, defend yourselves against the Jewish atrocity propaganda, buy only at German shops!" And "Germans, defend yourselves, buy only at German shops!"
What has been largely lost to history is that Hitler's boycott was a complete failure. It was so widely ignored by German shoppers, Hitler called it off after just three days. What followed the unsuccessful boycott was a series of laws which robbed the Jews of their rights and property.
The boycott against Israel has no chance of working. The dollar amount of the Methodist Church's holdings was only $100,000. Israel has a total GDP of $300 billion. I'm sure someone who takes cancer drugs made by Teva pharmaceuticals is not going to stop using them because they are made in Israel.
It is actually illegal for U.S. companies and individuals to support the boycott of Israel. Any firm found supporting an Israeli embargo faces of up to $50,000 or five times the value of the exports involved, whichever is greater, and imprisonment of up to five years. The courts have already ruled that a boycott of Israeli products constitutes unfair discrimination based on nationality.
The boycott Israel movement is really just anti-Semitism by another name. The enemies of Israel keep presenting a series of falsehoods, hoping that the public will accept them as fact. Here is a popular lie:
"Israel occupies land three times its original size as a result of past wars, and it is stubbornly unwilling to trade land for peace."
The truth is that Israel gave 90 percent of the land captured in 1967 back to the Arabs, and it reached peace deals with Jordan and Egypt that included transfers of conquered territory.
The BBC is a master at the game of spreading lies about Israel. Its own policing board -- Editorial Standards Committee -- has ruled several times that reports produced by its own news division were full of false information about Israel. Amazingly, the rulings are just ignored or suppressed, and the falsehoods keep coming.
The people who are trying to boycott Israel are playing with fire. God has promised to judge anyone who would unjustly curse His chosen people. The world's strange fixation with micromanaging the internal affairs of Israel tells me that the devil's hand is involved in this scheme.
History shows that there is nothing that Israel can do to resolve the conflict. The more land they gave up, the more emboldened the Arabs became-asking for even more land. Once the debate moves to Jerusalem, I think we'll have reached the struggle that will lead to the Tribulation hour. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:2-3).
"And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it" (Zechariah 12:3).
Last week, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) generated headlines when it became the largest religious group in the United States to endorse a divestment boycott against Israel. The vote called for the church's investment fund to sell stock in three companies that do business with the Jewish state.
The United Methodist Church, the largest mainline Protestant group in the U.S., has also recently voted to sell the stock of a firm that provides security equipment to Israel's prison system. The Methodists did reject a call for a church-wide divestment.
The most active boycotts against Israel have been in Europe. The largest supermarket chains in the Netherlands decided last year to de-stock a select number of goods "Made in Israel." The Dutch pension fund PGGM has dumped its holdings in five Israeli banks, and retailers in the UK and Scandinavia have shunned some Israeli products.
The reason for the boycotts is to protest against Israeli policies toward Palestinians. Various liberal organizations have somehow gotten the idea that Palestinians are being mistreated, and they want to apply "economic leverage" to force Israel to do something crazy-like tear down its West Bank security barrier. (Yes, the wall that has been protecting Israeli citizens from suicide bombings.)
Another reason for the boycott is to avoid buying products produced in so-called "illegal settlements." Since the West Bank is a hodgepodge of zones controlled by Palestinians and Jews, there is no way for a supermarket to know for sure what jurisdiction a crate of apples came from.
The idea of boycotting Israel is not a new concept. An official embargo of all Zionist institutions and Jewish businesses was adopted by the Arab League immediately after the formation of the state of Israel in 1948.
The organizers of these boycotts need to realize that it's not just the Arabs that they are copying. When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany he ordered a boycott of Jewish shops, banks, offices and department stores. Nazi storm troopers held signs on street corners that read: "Germans, defend yourselves against the Jewish atrocity propaganda, buy only at German shops!" And "Germans, defend yourselves, buy only at German shops!"
What has been largely lost to history is that Hitler's boycott was a complete failure. It was so widely ignored by German shoppers, Hitler called it off after just three days. What followed the unsuccessful boycott was a series of laws which robbed the Jews of their rights and property.
The boycott against Israel has no chance of working. The dollar amount of the Methodist Church's holdings was only $100,000. Israel has a total GDP of $300 billion. I'm sure someone who takes cancer drugs made by Teva pharmaceuticals is not going to stop using them because they are made in Israel.
It is actually illegal for U.S. companies and individuals to support the boycott of Israel. Any firm found supporting an Israeli embargo faces of up to $50,000 or five times the value of the exports involved, whichever is greater, and imprisonment of up to five years. The courts have already ruled that a boycott of Israeli products constitutes unfair discrimination based on nationality.
The boycott Israel movement is really just anti-Semitism by another name. The enemies of Israel keep presenting a series of falsehoods, hoping that the public will accept them as fact. Here is a popular lie:
"Israel occupies land three times its original size as a result of past wars, and it is stubbornly unwilling to trade land for peace."
The truth is that Israel gave 90 percent of the land captured in 1967 back to the Arabs, and it reached peace deals with Jordan and Egypt that included transfers of conquered territory.
The BBC is a master at the game of spreading lies about Israel. Its own policing board -- Editorial Standards Committee -- has ruled several times that reports produced by its own news division were full of false information about Israel. Amazingly, the rulings are just ignored or suppressed, and the falsehoods keep coming.
The people who are trying to boycott Israel are playing with fire. God has promised to judge anyone who would unjustly curse His chosen people. The world's strange fixation with micromanaging the internal affairs of Israel tells me that the devil's hand is involved in this scheme.
History shows that there is nothing that Israel can do to resolve the conflict. The more land they gave up, the more emboldened the Arabs became-asking for even more land. Once the debate moves to Jerusalem, I think we'll have reached the struggle that will lead to the Tribulation hour. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:2-3).
"And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it" (Zechariah 12:3).
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