Why American Jewish attitudes need to change.

The results are in – and everyone is talking about how the mid-term elections have affected the balance of power in Washington.

Amongst Jewish communities in the US and abroad, understandably, questions are being asked about how the results affect Jewish interests: for instance, five Jewish Democrats were elected to senior House of Representatives positions, and the House’s leadership looks likely to remain staunchly pro-Israel, despite the election of some pro-BDS candidates.¹ And so on, and so on.

This is all interesting in its own right, but for those of us who take an avid interest in Israel and the Jewish people, there is a broader dimension that matters more than who is heading up the House Committee on Appropriations: the state of American Jewish political culture in general, and how this intersects with God’s purposes for the Jews, Israel and the whole world.

American Jewish Politics

Despite the obvious commitment of the Trump administration to Israel, American Jews notoriously lean left, with upwards of 70% identifying with the Democratic Party. This outstrips the general US public and starkly contrasts Israeli Jews, historically socialist, but who now lean to the centre and right.

American Jewish liberalism is strongly secular and includes a stereotypical left-wing rejection of Trump. Indeed, a poll caught my eye this week: 72% of American Jewry reportedly blame Trump for October’s awful synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, believed to be the deadliest anti-Semitic atrocity in US history.²

Their logic is much the same as that of Corbyn and much of the left-wing in Britain (see Charles Gardner’s article this week): anti-Semitism is seen as a purely far-right phenomenon; right-wing populism is seen as fanning the flames of the far-right; therefore, right-ring populists like Trump are solely and directly to blame if anti-Semitism is on the increase.

American Jewish liberalism is strongly secular and includes a stereotypical left-wing rejection of Trump.

But, there is an important difference emerging between the situations in Britain and the USA. In Britain, the penny is dropping amongst Jews that the left-wing is not immune to anti-Semitism either. The all-too-plentiful, high-profile scandals within the Labour Party have exposed this, and British Jews are getting the message: 90% now associate Labour with anti-Semitism and 40% are considering leaving the country, fearing for their own safety.³ The Campaign Against Antisemitism poll showed that British Jews now fear the far-left more than the far-right, with its chairman Gideon Falter remarking: “Many British Jews are mentally, if not physically, packing their bags.”⁴

In the US, however, no such comparable scandal has yet erupted on the left, and despite left-wing support for BDS and problems of anti-Semitism at left-wing rallies and on university campuses, American Jewry remains fixed upon the threat posed by the neo-Nazi far-right, though a comparatively tiny number of people. This is not to belittle the far-right’s capacity to wreak terror – as the Pittsburgh massacre shows – but it is to say, along with other commentators recently,⁵ that American Jews need to wake up to the fact that anti-Semitism can be found on both sides of the political spectrum, and that the left-wing isn’t necessarily their natural home.

Indeed, that American Jews embrace liberalism so unconditionally is cause for real concern. They end up blinding themselves to left-wing anti-Israel/anti-Semitic animosity and boosting a Party that has “embraced the identity politics, grievance culture and enraged narcissism that threaten to destroy American society”⁶ – and we might add, has brought the world the Iran Deal and repeated attempts to carve up Israel in the name of a ‘two-state solution’.

In the name of ‘authentic’ Jewish values they are actually embracing “the very antithesis of Judaism”, putting themselves “on course to destroy themselves as a community while aiding the left in the undermining of America”.⁷

This is the domestic picture. But there is another dimension to which all this matters even more: the global.

In Britain, the penny is dropping amongst Jews that the left-wing is not immune to anti-Semitism.

God’s Redemptive Purposes

We live in an extraordinary, unique period of human history: we are the generation chosen by God to witness the miraculous and final restoration of Israel to her historic homeland. In the last 150 years, we have seen wave upon wave of Jewish immigration back to the Land, legally signed over to them in 1948. As we write frequently in Prophecy Today UK, Israel’s journey since has been one of truly divine restoration, protection and blessing, despite enemies all around.

We also make frequent mention in Prophecy Today of how this fits with God’s covenant purposes for the Jewish people and his redemptive purposes for all Creation. While we will not discuss these in depth here, suffice to say that we believe it to be God’s purpose that the majority of the world’s Jews now return to their homeland, and that he is at work in the political and social affairs of the nations to this end.

Last year, we reached the tipping point: now, the majority of the world’s Jews do reside in Eretz Israel, in fulfilment of biblical prophecy.

Meanwhile, the largest group of diaspora Jews remains in the USA, and their political attitudes and voting habits bely a group that is highly secular, ultra-liberal and astonishingly out of touch with both domestic and global realities. Populous and prosperous, it is unsurprising that rates of American Jewish aliyah to Israel remain relatively slow. For this reason, I believe that God’s focus will be particularly on American Jews in the next few years.

Aliyah Rates Too Slow

At the current (relatively stable) rate of some 3,500 American Jews making aliyah per year, it will take well over 1,500 years for most of America’s 5.7 million Jews to transfer to Israel. If they are to be persuaded to uproot from a country that has been so welcoming and supportive for so long, the Lord might need to jolt them out of complacency.

Historically, he has done this in other countries by permitting anti-Semitism to proliferate until the Jewish people start to get the message – as we see at present in Britain. Far from anti-Semitism being a good thing, of course, it is woeful and a deep curse for those countries who fan its flames. However, that doesn’t mean that it does not have a stimulating side-effect on Jews that is ultimately positive, encouraging emigration back to the Land. There is a Christian parallel here: times of persecution are terrible, but they also classically unite, strengthen and grow the Church, furthering God’s purposes.

If our reading is correct, we may see many more events like Pittsburgh over the next years, as well as worsening anti-Semitism on campus, in the media and in US corridors of power.

Cultural Sea-Change Needed

Putting all these jigsaw puzzle pieces together, the emerging picture is very sobering: if our reading of the situation is right, then we are likely to see many more events like Pittsburgh over the next years, as well as worsening anti-Semitism on campus, in the media and in US corridors of power.

We cannot possibly rejoice in this. But we can at least pray that it would stimulate a cultural sea-change amongst American Jewry and a resurgence of conservative, biblical values, which (the statistics bear out) predispose greater support for Israel. This would lay the groundwork for the Lord to work his purposes out amongst this last great Jewish diaspora group, and one day lead them safely home.

References

1 Post-midterms: With Democrats retaking the House, Jewish leaders still see strong Israel support. JNS, 7 November 2018.

2 J Street poll: 72% of US Jews find Trump partly to blame for Pittsburgh shooting. Times of Israel, 7 November 2018.

3 Poll: 40% of British Jews Consider Emigration, 90% Cite Anti-Semitism. Breaking Israel News, 25 September 2018.

4 Ibid.

5 E.g. Jonathan S Tobin at JNS, Abraham H Miller for JNS, and Melanie Phillips.

6 Phillips, M. Jews and Conservatism: an idea whose time has come. 1 November 2018.

7 Ibid.

But there is hope as a million Christians gather to pray in South Africa

As a world in turmoil slips ever closer to the precipice of complete chaos and anarchy, it is comforting to hear of around a million people gathering for prayer in South Africa.

And it is also comforting to hear the meeting’s leader, farmer/evangelist Angus Buchan, specifically praying for Israel, which took a further battering last weekend as southern towns endured a nightmare - running for cover from a volley of rockets fired from Gaza (see separate article).

Pittsburgh USA

Tragically, Jews in Pittsburgh, USA, suffered even worse as a gunman burst into the Tree of Life synagogue and shot eleven of their people dead, leaving six more wounded, some critical.

A congregation of some 80 people were attending a ‘baby-naming’/circumcision ceremony at the premises bearing a name that represents an appalling irony in view of the carnage witnessed there last Saturday.

It is said to be the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history and is part of an exponential rise in such incidents worldwide, although predictable calls for a tightening of gun laws are expected to cloud the issue. I believe it is significant, too, that the massacre took place at what for Jews is a hugely important ceremony reflecting their special covenant relationship with God established some 4,000 years ago.

The deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history

In this respect, it was as much an attack on Israel, God’s chosen people – just as was the Holocaust, which was featured in a moving Channel 5 TV documentary on Sunday night presented by Chris Tarrant, who focused on how Hitler used the railways to take unsuspecting Jews to their grisly deaths in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and other horror camps.

It Could Happen Again

It’s time we woke up to the fact that it could all happen again if we continue to do virtually nothing about the rising clamour of lies and propaganda maligning the Jews in our midst.

Perversely, British peer Baroness Jenny Tonge has suggested that Israel bears some responsibility for the Pittsburgh attack, citing its “actions against Palestinians” on Facebook. The post has since been removed and she has apologised¹. And it turns out that a Jewish doctor heads the hospital that treated the perpetrator!²

But at the South African prayer meeting, held on an airfield near the country’s capital, Pretoria, Angus Buchan defied political correctness by leading a prayer for Israel – praying for Jews, Arabs and Gentiles there; and also praying that South Africa would remain friends with the Jewish state in the face of calls for downgrading diplomatic relations in view of alleged apartheid policies against the Palestinians.

More Prayer Meetings

Following similar meetings in Bloemfontein and Cape Town, the ‘It’s Time’ event saw Christians travel from every corner of this big country to pray against corruption, violence, poverty and injustice.

Buchan has emerged as an extraordinary leader of men because he is a man of extraordinary courage and faith. This was powerfully demonstrated on Saturday when he directly addressed the country’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa³ (who had been expected to attend, but in the end did not show up), respectfully taking off his hat and addressing him (via cameras) as ‘Your Excellency’ before challenging him to make a choice between “all those voices out there” and listening to the Word of God. “You cannot serve two masters,” he said, quoting Jesus’ words: “Whoever is not for me is against me…” (Matthew 12.30).⁴

For more details, see the article here.

There is certainly some excellent communication taking place among Christians in South Africa for such a large amount of people to respond to a call for prayer without much help, I’ve no doubt, from the mainstream media.

UK Christians’ Silence

By shocking contrast, Christians in the UK seem to know nothing about it. Not only do we fail to communicate with one another, to the extent that a national call to prayer here would be unlikely to enlist more than a few hundred warriors, but encouraging news like this appears to be way off our media’s radar even though easily accessible on the internet.

We have allowed Satan to silence us.

Part of the problem is that no spiritual ‘General’ has emerged capable of calling Christians to arms in the first place. It seems that we have allowed Satan to silence us. We have let our thinking be informed by the BBC and other purveyors of secular-humanism, and we don’t bother to find out what the body of Christ is doing elsewhere for our mutual encouragement and inspiration.

The gospel is the greatest news ever told, and yet we Christians in the UK can’t even communicate with one another. How then are we going to have the boldness, co-ordination and co-operation to enable us to share this good news with a world that is rapidly tottering towards the brink of collapse?

We must surely pray, but also “encourage one another and build each other up”. (1 Thess 5.11)

Time is short. Jesus is coming!

References

1. United with Israel, 28th October 2018
2. World Israel News, 29th October 2018
3. He was a Christian leader as a student
4. I am much indebted to Andre Viljoen, editor of Gateway News, South Africa, as well as to Fanie and Suzette van Rooyen for their regular updates from my native land