NO, the Holocaust is Not Just One of Many Tragic Events of Human History

No, the Holocaust is not just one of many tragic events which have taken place in human history, nor does remembering the Holocaust take away from the memory of other tragedies, some of which were also unspeakably evil. Instead, it is essential that we keep the memory of the Holocaust alive because the unique hatred that inspired it is alive and well and thriving today.

NO, the Holocaust is Not Just One of Many Tragic Events of Human History | Articles | AskDrBrown

According to a tone-deaf editorial published on Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Kentucky Courier Journal, “Jews do not have a monopoly on persecution and atrocities” and “Hitler was just one of many dictators.” 

“International Holocaust Day is not just a mantra about one Jewish holocaust, but about every genocide, every mass tyranny that is carried out upon any group based on skin color, religion, gender identity and ethnic background. We must not forget, nor suppress, the truths of all those crimes that happened and are still happening.”

No wonder that Noam Blum commented on Twitter, “Brain addled progressives cannot ever condemn antisemitism without burying it in a mountain of general identity grievance.”

On a practical level, this would be like saying after the murder of George Floyd, “This is not the time to focus on the issue of police brutality, since brutality occurs in all kinds of settings around the world every day.”

Or, when teaching children about the harsh realities of the American slave trade, we say, “African Americans do not have a monopoly on being enslaved. Many people from many other backgrounds have been enslaved as well.”

It is right and fitting to commemorate the singular sufferings of particular people or nations, just as it is right and fitting to commemorate the singular accomplishments of particular people or nations.

This is beyond obvious – unless, rather than celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., we simply remember all those who stood up for justice. Or, rather than celebrate the American Revolution on July 4th, we celebrate all freedom movements in history. Or, rather than remember the Armenian Genocide, we simply remember lots of people who faced ethnic cleansing through history.

But when it comes to the Jews and the Holocaust, how dare we draw specific attention to this horrific event. After all, other innocent people died in World War II, let alone in other wars. And other people have been hated and despised as ethnic and religious minorities. As for Hitler, he’s just another run of the mill, dime a dozen bad guy. Nothing special there. Why all the fuss?

“For one group, for one person, to claim that the hate and violence towards them is more important than another’s, only encourages more acts of violence against others, including Black people, Asians, Hispanics, Muslims, LGBTQ+, trans-gender and Native Americans. This list is not all-inclusive.”

Seriously? If we emphasize the horrors of Jewish suffering under the Holocaust without mentioning all these other groups, this will encourage more violence against them? This is beyond nonsensical. 

The reality is that there are three crucial reasons that the Holocaust must be remembered.

First, it is a unique evil among historic world evils, and Hitler was a uniquely evil leader.

How many other historic events involved the intentional mass execution of 6 million people in cold blood, representing two-thirds of Europe’s 9 million Jews? And how many other historic events involved the murderous, meticulous, and systematic collaboration of several nations?

How many people groups saw the extermination of 90 percent of their population, as happened in Poland, where Jews had lived for more than 1,000 years and where 3 million out of Poland’s 3.3 million Jews were slaughtered? And shall I mention that among the 6 million were 1.5 million children and babies?

Second, as monstrous as the Holocaust was, there have been systematic attempts to deny (or, at the least, minimize) its existence, right until this very moment. In certain countries (in particular Islamic or Communist), generations of children have grown up without any real knowledge of the Holocaust, other than it is a Zionist myth or the like.

As for other countries, Holocaust ignorance abounds. A 2019 survey in the UK found that, “Five per cent of UK adults do not believe the Holocaust took place and one in 12 believes its scale has been exaggerated, a survey has found.”

A 2020 article from the Pew Research Center stated that, 

“Most U.S. adults know what the Holocaust was and approximately when it happened, but fewer than half can correctly answer multiple-choice questions about the number of Jews who were murdered or the way Adolf Hitler came to power, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.”

Even back in 2014, an article in The Atlantic reported that, “A new survey suggests that many Asians, Africans, Middle Easterners, young people, Muslims, and Hindus believe that facts about the genocide have been distorted.”

And this ignorance exists despite the mountains of photographs, videos, artifacts, and eyewitness accounts, even from eyewitnesses still alive today.

If we do not actively keep the memory of the Holocaust alive, with each passing year, its unspeakable atrocities will be sanitized or erased.

Third, antisemitism is on the rise today, including acts of both verbal and physical violence. 

As noted on Yahoo News October 28, 2022, 

“an audit by the Anti-Defamation League published this past April found that incidences of antisemitism ‘reached an all-time high in the United States in 2021, with a total of 2,717 incidents of assault, harassment, and vandalism reported.’ According to the ADL, this was the highest number of incidents reported in over 40 years, averaging out to nearly seven per day. It also marked a 34 percent increase from 2020.”

In countries like France, it was noted already in 2016 that, “Jews are leaving France in record numbers amid rising anti-Semitism and fears of more Isis-inspired terror attacks.”

And in the ultimate rebuke to the Courier Journal editorial, a Muslim terrorist killed 7 Jews in Jerusalem as they left their synagogue on the very evening of Holocaust Remembrance Day. And, according to the Jerusalem Post, “the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups praised Friday’s attack.”

No, the Holocaust is not just one of many tragic events which have taken place in human history, nor does remembering the Holocaust take away from the memory of other tragedies, some of which were also unspeakably evil.

Instead, it is essential that we keep the memory of the Holocaust alive because the unique hatred that inspired it is alive and well and thriving today.

Kanye (“Ye”), Kyrie, and the Black Hebrew Israelite Elephant in the Room

If you live in a major city of America, then you have probably been well aware of the Black Hebrew Israelites for a few decades. But for many other Americans, their numbers, their influence, and their beliefs are coming as quite a revelation – and a shocking one at that.

In the early 1990s, while walking the streets of Manhattan before an outreach service one Saturday afternoon, I heard a loud voice booming through a PA system.

When I got closer to the sound, I was surprised to see a small crowd of listeners, all of them Black, listening carefully to the speaker who was standing on a platform, with bodyguards standing on the street in front of him.

Their outfits were striking – I remember thinking they looked like a cross between Star Wars and some type of angelic garb – but their words were even more striking. They were quoting the Bible and some other books, even using occasional Hebrew words. At once I realized who they were.

They taught that they were the original (and true) Israelites and that white Jews (like me) were not real Jews. Rather, we were the manifestation of Satan.

I politely challenged the speaker, asking him why Hitler wanted to kill us if we weren’t real Jews, to which he gave a very weak reply, instead trying to provoke the crowd against me.

I then shouted to everyone, “These men are preaching a religion of hate! Jesus preached a religion of love! One day, we will both be at the bottom of the barrel and we will need each other.”

The response from the crowd was quick: “Death to the White man! Death to America!” (For my more recent encounter with these men, this time in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I called out their racism and bigotry and told them they needed Jesus, see here.)

Over the years, however, these Black Hebrew Israelites (who have many different groups and divisions among them), have continued to grow and expand their influence, to the point that they appear to have well over one million adherents nationwide. More tellingly, millions more Black Americans are sympathetic to their viewpoints.

As noted in a November 25, 2022 article published by the JTA, “The 2020 U.S. Census put the Black population at 41.1 million, so extrapolating from the Lifeway [polling] data, there are approximately 1.6 million Hebrew Israelites in the U.S. — not counting the small numbers of Latinos and Native Americans who also belong to Israelite groups — and 7.8 million people who may not identify as Israelites but who agree with the spiritual movement’s main teachings.”

Now, with Kanye (“Ye”) West and Kyrie Irving disseminating their teaching, and with videos of hundreds of their adherents marching through Brooklyn chanting that, “We are the real Jews” and it’s “time to wake up,” this sect can no longer be ignored. (They were marching to the Barclay Center in Brooklyn in support of Kyrie Irving, where his Brooklyn Nets basketball team plays.)

Christian apologists have become more aware of this cult in recent years, addressing the very real need to refute their biblical, theological, and historical errors. And a select few have been focused on reaching out to and countering the BHI movement for some time now.

But to the general American public, including the Jewish American public, much of this has taken place unawares.

To be clear, there are Black Jews, some of whom trace their ancestry to African slaves who were brought to our country, passing on their traditions over the centuries. And DNA testing has validated the claims of groups like the Lemba tribe in Zimbabwe, some of whom trace their ancestry back to the priestly line of Aaron in the Bible, going all the way back to the days of Moses.

But the claims of the BHI’s are different. They believe that all Blacks (and, in some cases, Hispanics) can trace their lineage back to the original twelve tribes of Israel. They also believe that most Jews worldwide, including Israeli Jews, are not really Jews at all. Instead, in a misuse of the words of Jesus in Revelation 2:9 and 3:9, these Jews are frauds, literally the synagogue of Satan. (I addressed all this briefly in the 1992 edition of my book Our Hands Are Stained with Blood: The Tragic Story of the ‘Church’ and the Jewish People, pp. 66-68; in the 2019 edition, I expanded the material to pp. 104-111. More broadly, see my 2021 book Christian Antisemitism.)

As noted by history professor Tudor Parfitt, writing in February 2021, “This issue came to wider public attention in part as a result of the chance intersection in January 2019 of one very particular subgroup of Black Jews—the Black Hebrew Israelites; some participants in the Indigenous People’s March; and a group of pro-life Catholic high school boys from Kentucky, in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Black Hebrew Israelites merrily saluted the Native Americans as descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, cursed the schoolboys as white ‘Edomites,’ and found themselves on the TV sets of anyone in the United States who happened to tune in to the day’s news.”

Today, it is Ye saying he can’t be antisemitic because he himself is a Jew, while Kyrie (who has since apologized) recommended a movie espousing these very ideologies.

And when Ye went after Ben Shapiro (another evil Jew!) and Daily Wire on Twitter, drawing a sharp response from Ben in return, there were tens of thousands who agreed with Ye before he removed the tweet. (As of this writing, Ben’s tweet had 22.3 thousand likes; Ye’s had over 50 thousand, if I’m correct, before he deleted it.)

In light of this ideological volcano that is about to erupt in our nation, now would be a perfect time to find out more about these BHI’s, praying for their conversion as well.

For a very helpful introduction to the Black Hebrew Israelites, including their history and beliefs, check out my interview with Vocab Malone. 

Has the Church not learned by now that antisemitism does not mix well with the teachings of Jesus? And that anti-Zionism often masks an underlying antisemitism?

Once Again, Christian Antisemitism | Article | AskDrBrown

Last month, Rev. Jerry Pillay, former general secretary of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa was elected to lead the World Council of Churches. This is a prestigious and influential position. Yet Rev. Pillay has compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to “apartheid,” even speaking of the “exclusionary and violent character of the Israeli Zionist project” back in 2016. This should raise concerns for Christians from all backgrounds.

This is all the more true with Rev. Pillay, the dean of the University of Pretoria, who should really know better. After all, as a black South African he understands the real nature of apartheid and how evil it is. Blacks under South African apartheid had no equal rights at all.

Such is not remotely the case among Israeli Arabs. They represent 20 percent of the population and have full legal rights. They are elected and selected as leaders throughout Israeli society at the highest levels, including members of the government.

There are two Arab parties in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, while Arab judges serve throughout the Israeli court system, from the Supreme Court all the way down to local labor courts.

Arab Israelis are present in all sectors of media and are active in the healthcare system as well as almost every business sector. They even serve in Israel’s army and security services.

Sadly, by elevating Rev. Pillay to this senior leadership role in the World Council of Churches, the WCC has also elevated his anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

Rev. Pillay could reply that he was speaking only of the treatment of the Palestinians living in Gaza Strip and Judea-Samaria (commonly called the West Bank). But there, too, the charges are false, since the Israeli government has sought to find fair and equitable solutions for the people living there, but the Palestinian leadership has consistently let their own people down. And even still, charges of “apartheid” do not apply.

Ironically, but not surprisingly, within days of the announcement that Rev. Pillay would lead the WCC, “The US Presbyterian Church voted to declare Israel an apartheid state and establish a Nakba Remembrance Day, as well as passing two other resolutions highly critical of Israel on Tuesday at the American religious body's 225th General Assembly.”

They declared that “Israel’s laws, policies and practices regarding the Palestinian people fulfill the international legal definition of apartheid,” alleging that Palestinian Arabs are systematically oppressed with the goal of racial domination.

The PCUSA claims that Arabs living in Israel and Biblical Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) have “an inferior status” and Palestinian Arabs are unable to participate in the “political, social, economic and cultural life of their country.”

Disregarding the fact that Israeli law applies to all Israeli citizens – Arabs and Jews – and that Palestinian Arabs are governed by laws within the Palestinian Authority, the PCUSA claims that two sets of laws exist for Israelis and Palestinian Arabs, asserting that they oppress and discriminate against the latter.

It also alleges that Palestinian Arab land and water were stolen by “Jewish-only settlements” and that Palestinians were denied freedom of residence and movement, living in “separate reserves and ghettos.” These allegations are as inaccurate and exaggerated as they are ugly, with the vast majority of Palestinian Arabs living in and under the autonomous Palestinian Authority.

Yet not only that there is no basis for comparison to the allegations of apartheid, but Rev. Pillay and the PCUSA seem to disregard Palestinian Arab delegitimization of Israel’s very right to exist. And what of the steady stream of attacks against Israeli Jews, often spurred on by the rhetoric of the Palestinian leaders. Is there no other side to the story?

Remarkably, despite its extreme biases and, one could argue, heretical beliefs, the PCUSA wants to use its position to be peacemakers. They state their position “is pursued with the hope it will lead to a peaceful reconciliation for the people of Israel and Palestine similar to that which occurred in South Africa when apartheid was internationally acknowledged.”

So, just “Christians spoke out in the 1950s against segregation in the United States and later against apartheid in South Africa,” today, “They must again raise their voices and condemn Israel’s discrimination against Palestinians and give a name to the crime against humanity that this discrimination represents, the crime of apartheid.”

One of the elements of antisemitism is the holding of Jews to a different standard than others. So, we ask, where are the PCUSA resolutions decrying actual crimes against humanity rather than ascribing this hateful allegation only to Israel? 

If it wasn’t enough to misrepresent what apartheid was and how it does not apply to Israel, the PCUSA resolution went even further by evoking the Holocaust.

“After World War II when the horror of the Nazi Holocaust was revealed, Jews around the world said ‘never again.’” And this is now being used against the Jewish people in Israel, who are still in a daily fight for survival?

The statement continued, “Christians too vowed that never again would they be silent if a government passed laws establishing and maintaining the domination by one ethnic group over another ethnic group through systematic separation, oppression and denial of basic human rights. Silence in the face of evil was wrong then, and it is wrong now.”

So, today, it is the Israeli Jews who are the Nazis and the Palestinians who are the innocent Jews. Does the PCUSA have no shame? Is this denomination that tone deaf to historical and contemporary realities?

In order to counter charges that the PCUSA is antisemitic, the leaders recommended that the church replace references to antisemitism with “anti-Jewish,” asserting that antisemitism “encompasses other people groups in addition to our Jewish siblings.”

But as we all know, the term “antisemitism” was coined with reference to Jews alone, not all Semitic peoples (such as the Arabs today or the Babylonians of old).

There is no ambiguity here at all, but rather than be charged with antisemitism (certainly a fair charge), they want to rewrite the dictionary. Seriously? What would Jesus say?

The Buffalo Shooter Wanted to Murder Blacks and Jews, Especially Jews

America is reeling again at the news of yet another mass shooting, this time resulting in 10 people dead and 3 injured. In particular, the Black American community is reeling, since they were the particular targets of a depraved White teenager, allegedly a self-professed White-supremacist. Now is the time for Americans Jews and Blacks to join together, backed by every follower of Jesus in the nation, and declaring, “There is no place for this kind of murderous hatred in our land!”

The Buffalo Shooter Wanted to Murder Blacks and Jews, Especially Jews | Articles | AskDrBrown

America is reeling again at the news of yet another mass shooting, this time resulting in 10 people dead and 3 injured. In particular, the Black American community is reeling, since they were the particular targets of a depraved White teenager, allegedly a self-professed White-supremacist. How can such a thing happen in this day and age? Innocent Black Americans having their blood spilled by an evil White man?

Yet the evil in this young man’s heart goes deeper still. It was not just Black Americans he targeted for murder. He was a Jew-hater as well, actually calling for Gentile Americans to declare war on American Jews.

In his own words (from the manifesto he posted online), “The real war I’m advocating for is the gentiles vs the Jews. We outnumber them 100x, and they are not strong by themselves.

“By their Jewish ways, they turn us against each other. When you realize this you will know that the Jews are the biggest problem the Western world has ever had. They must be called out and killed.”

This is reminiscent of the sentiments of Jew-killer John Earnest, himself a professing Christian, who told a 911 emergency line dispatcher, “I just shot up a synagogue . . . because Jewish people are destroying the White race.”

To be clear, I do not want to draw attention away from the very real tragedy that unfolded live and online on Saturday. (What kind of sick world are we living in?)

Ten men and women went out shopping and never came home. Others were seriously wounded. Families are in shock and agony. Who can imagine their grief?

May God give them comfort and hope in the midst of their unspeakable pain.

And tragically, this massacre only confirms the fears of many Black Americans, in whose minds racism is alive and well in our country and violent White supremacists are never far away.

May we rise up as a nation to condemn these evil acts and to demonstrate tangibly that they represent the sentiments of the tiniest, most demented fringe minority. Not on our soil! Not on our watch!

At the same time, we do well to recognize that White supremacists hate both Blacks and Jews. Both are considered different and therefore dangerous. Both are considered outsiders. And both, despite the white skin of most American Jews, are considered a threat to America’s whiteness.

As reported by the New York Post, “Through his ‘research,’ the self-described white supremacist and anti-Semite came to see low white birth rates around the world as a ‘crisis’ that ‘will ultimately result in the complete racial and cultural replacement of the European people.’”

This mirrors what John Earnest (himself only 19 at the time) wrote in his own manifesto: “It is unlawful and cowardly to stand on the sidelines as the European people are genocided [sic] around you. I did not want to have to kill Jews. But they have given us no other option.”

In the early 1990s, while walking the streets of Manhattan with a colleague of mine, himself a Jewish believer in Jesus like me, I encountered a group of Black Hebrew Israelites preaching on a street corner with a loud sound system.

The main speaker was railing against White Jews like me. He claimed we were not Jews at all but were the manifestation of Satan.

Never one to back away from confrontation, I approached their stage and asked him, “If we are not Jews, why did Hitler try to exterminate us?”

He gave a lame answer (although he actually quoted a few words in Hebrew to me!), and I walked on, only to sense in my spirit that I was not finished yet.

So, I turned back and began to shout out, “These men are preaching a religion of hate! Jesus preached a religion of love!” (At this, the burly bodyguards approached me with clubs in their hands, but I made clear that my intentions were entirely peaceful.)

Then I said, “We are both nations of liberated slaves, and one day, we’re going to find ourselves at the bottom of the barrel. As Blacks and Jews, we need each other!”

At that, as I was the only White person in the crowd (along with my friend), the listeners began to shout, “Death to the White man! Death to America!”

But I had made my point, which I believe to this day. (For my 2019 encounter with a similar group in Charlotte, NC, see here. For the 2019 murder of Jews in New Jersey by a Black man connected to Black Hebrew Israelites, see here.)

As Blacks and Jews in America, we do need each other.

White supremacists hate us both with a passion, and the lies being used to destroy Blacks are being used to destroy Jews.

We are both minorities. We are both “different.” And we are both considered a threat. (For the record, antisemites hate Jews who believe in Jesus just as they hate Jews who do not believe in Jesus, as Jewish Christians in Nazi Germany tragically learned.)

Sadly, the strong bond once felt by American Blacks and Jews, epitomized in the famous picture of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marching arm and arm with Dr. Martin Luther King, has largely been severed.

Now is the time to talk face to face and overcome mutual suspicions and fears.

Now is the time for Americans Jews and Blacks to join together, backed by every follower of Jesus in the nation, and declaring, “There is no place for this kind of murderous hatred in our land!”

And now is the time to uproot the lies which fuel the fires of this hatred.

Theological Antisemitism at Home in the Presbyterian Church

Over the last decade, PCUSA has suffered a sizable decline in its churches, and membership. Perhaps this is because people realize PCUSA is as spiritually and theologically vacant as its pews, or perhaps it is the affirmation of God’s clear statement that He will curse those who curse Israel.

Theological Antisemitism at Home in the Presbyterian Church | Articles | AskDrBrown

By Dr. Michael Brown and Jonathan Feldstein

In a recent statement published on the annual celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), not only misrepresented and defamed Dr. King’s legacy, but he did so using some of the most vile antisemitic tropes singling out the Jewish people and Israel.

In his statement, Dr. Nelson wrote of Dr. King’s legacy and overcoming societal inequities in the US and all over the world. Listing a broad range of social problems, Dr. Nelson then seamlessly pivoted into antisemitic lies, mentioning only Israel in a whole world of injustice. 

“The continued occupation in Palestine/Israel is 21st-century slavery and should be abolished immediately. Given the history of Jewish humble beginnings and persecution, there should be no ambiguity as to the ethical, moral, and dehumanizing marginalization and enslavement of other human beings. The United States of America must be a major influencer of calling this injustice both immoral and intolerable. I…hope that the Jewish community in the United States would influence the call to join the U.S. government in ending the immoral enslavement.”

In fewer than 100 words, Dr. Nelson crossed about every red line imaginable. First, there is not only no slavery in Israel, but Israel is the only country in the world to ever rescue black Africans from persecution to freedom. Israel is a beacon for black Africa with tens of thousands of refugees streaming into Israel to find a life away from persecution in their countries.

Days after an antisemitic hostage event in a Texas synagogue, Dr. Nelson doubled down on the notion of Jewish influence and conspiracy theory which drove the Texas terrorist. How many others will be inspired by Nelson’s antisemitic stereotype?

Referencing “occupation in Palestine/Israel,” Dr. Nelson crosses another line suggesting that Israel has no legitimacy, and should be “abolished.”

Voicing this as he did is bad enough.  Doing so on the day on which we celebrate Dr. King’s legacy could not be more egregious and dishonest, misrepresenting and tarnishing Dr. King’s actual beliefs.  Dr. King was unambiguous in his understanding of Israel’s significance theologically, and said so on multiple occasions.

“How easy it should be to understand and support the right of the Jewish people to live in their ancient Land of Israel.  All men of goodwill exalt in the fulfillment of God’s promise that His people should return in joy to rebuild their plundered Land. This is Zionism. Nothing more and nothing less.” And noting Israel as a beacon of democracy, the antithesis of slavery, he said, “Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality.”

As if he were rebuking Dr. Nelson directly, Dr. King was succinct, “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews; you’re talking antisemitism.”

Of all the injustice in the world, the PCUSA statement uniquely singles out alleged injustice only in Israel, doing so in a way that’s dishonest.  Israeli Arabs are not only not enslaved, they are thriving, full equal citizens, leaders in many areas throughout Israeli society. There is no case, ever, anywhere, that a slave, was exalted to be member of the parliament of the enslaving society, a judge on its Supreme Court, as media personalities, doctors, lawyers, and even in the military. 

The unresolved conflict in parts of the Biblical Land of Israel that Nelson calls “occupied” disregard the fact that for decades there have been peace offers and territorial compromises on the table which the Palestinian Arab leadership has rejected, one after the other.  Not only that, Palestinian Arabs supported and heralded as heroes commit daily acts of terror against Israelis.  That’s too inconvenient an injustice for Dr. Nelson to acknowledge, not to mention the anthesis of Dr. King’s non-violence.

Among the responses to the PCUSA statement, the Kentucky Jewish Council sent an unanswered letter to Dr. Nelson. They “condemn(ed) the libelous, deeply antisemitic letter (whose) singular focus is on Israel while ignoring genuine human rights abuses around the world from the Uyghur genocide in China to…international terror by Iran show(ing) that your focus rather than on civil rights is on the Jewish people. (Using) Dr. King‘s name and legacy (like this) is a treacherous betrayal of his memory.”

Signed by Rabbi Shlomo Litvin, the letter concludes, “These words of division and bigotry have no place in our beloved community that Dr. King sought to build, and I urge you to retract them and to repent from the prejudice with which it was written.”

Over the last decade, PCUSA has suffered a sizable decline in its churches, and membership. Perhaps this is because people realize PCUSA is as spiritually and theologically vacant as its pews, or perhaps it is the affirmation of God’s clear statement that He will curse those who curse Israel. Of course, we are not God, but we also don’t believe in coincidences.

PCUSA spins its decline in a positive way, showing “no change in decline rate for membership” which essentially acknowledges that it is a sinking ship. When asked why their churches are disaffiliating with PCUSA, one main reason cited is PCUSA ministers regularly suggesting that the Bible is fiction. And if the Bible is fiction, then the biblical promises to Israel are fictional as well.

PCUSA has seen a decline in membership of more than 15% since 2016, slightly outpacing the drop in the number of PCUSA affiliated churches with a more than 10% decrease in the same period. It’s not surprising then that the total number of “professions of faith” in PCUSA has dropped, by more than 50%.

In 1987 PCUSA acknowledged its long history of Jew hatred and their complicity in crimes against the Jewish people, and sought to repent. It seems that PCUSA still has some repentance to do.

Michael L. Brown, Ph.D.,is host of the Line of Fire radio broadcast and author of Resurrection

Jonathan Feldstein is President and CEO of the Genesis 123 Foundation, Genesis123.co, and RunforZion.com

The Incredible Incoherence of Ben & Jerry’s Capitulation to the BDS Movement

The iconic, famously woke ice cream company, Ben & Jerry’s, announced that it will no longer sell its product in “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Put another way (and to read between the lines), “We will continue to sell our ice cream to the evil oppressors in their own apartheid state..."

The Incredible Incoherence of Ben & Jerry’s Capitulation to the BDS Movement | Article | AskDrBrown

The iconic, famously woke ice cream company, Ben & Jerry’s, announced on Monday that it will no longer sell its product in “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” As the company explained, 

“We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).” However, they added, “Although Ben & Jerry’s will no longer be sold in the OPT, we will stay in Israel through a different arrangement.”

Put another way (and to read between the lines), 

“We will continue to sell our ice cream to the evil oppressors in their own apartheid state, one that was founded on genocide and ethnic cleansing and one that exists to this day on stolen Palestinian land. But we will not sell our ice cream to these evil oppressors who live in illegal settlements in other portions of equally stolen land.”

Had I not given up eating Ben & Jerry’s ice cream 7 years ago (for health reasons, along with lots of other foods I dropped), I would be losing my taste about now.

The responses to Ben & Jerry’s announcement have been as predictable as they have been telling.

From the Israeli side, the new prime minister Napthali Bennett said, “There are many ice cream brands, but only one Jewish state.”

Israelis can do without the ice cream but not without their state.

Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted, “Now we Israelis know which ice cream NOT to buy.”

From the anti-Israel side, the BDS movement tweeted, 

“Following years of #BDS campaigns @benandjerrys has announced it will end sales of its ice cream in Israel's illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land.

“We warmly welcome their decision but call on Ben & Jerry's to end all operations in apartheid Israel.

In other words, “This is a good step in the right direction, but if you really want to do the right thing – and be assured we will keep pressuring you until you – you must stop doing any business with evil Israel.”

A fuller statement from the BDS movement (which stands for boycott, divestment, and sanctions) said this: 

“After years of pressure from activists, Ben & Jerry’s announced it will not renew its licensing agreement with its Israeli licensee, who is involved in selling the ice cream in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“The BDS movement welcomes Ben & Jerry’s decision as a decisive step towards ending the company’s complicity in Israel’s occupation and violations of Palestinian rights.

“Ben & Jerry’s, a leading socially responsible international company, is finally bringing its policy on Israel’s regime of oppression against Palestinians in line with its progressive positions on Black Lives Matter and other justice struggles. We hope Ben & Jerry’s has understood that, in harmony with its social justice commitments, there can be no business as usual with apartheid Israel.”

The Jewish people in Israel have created an apartheid state on stolen land. No business as usual with them. Not until they remove the protection barrier designed to keep out murderous terrorists. Not until they retreat to pre-1967 (= suicidal, indefensible borders). And not until they allow all Palestinian “refugees” to return to their homeland.

In other words, BDS will exist until Israel is no more, since the demands of the movement, if fully implemented, would result in the end of the Jewish state.

Why then is Ben & Jerry’s only pulling its ice cream from the “illegal settlements” rather than from the nation as a whole? Why allow those evil Israelis, those apartheid genocidal monsters, to enjoy these sumptuous treats in the luxury of their homes in West Jerusalem or their restaurants in Tel Aviv?

And if the ice cream will not be sold in the “OPT,” does that mean that the Palestinians living nearby will not be able to buy it either? Or that those of them whose jobs involve the distribution of the ice cream will be hurt economically by the boycott?

As for these last these two questions, I’m simply putting them up for discussion, since the official announcement is lacking in details. But one thing is sure: a good case can be made for the fact that the BDS movement actually hurts the Palestinians more than it helps them. (For a strong, anti-BDS statement from Palestinian activist Bassam Eid, see here.)

Of course, there are other reasons not to be impressed with Ben & Jerry’s “righteous” stand, not the least of which is the company’s contractual agreement with Unilever.

As explained on the Washington Free Beacon, 

“The most common expression of anti-Semitism on the left is the application of double standards to Jews and the Jewish state.

“Look no further than Ben & Jerry's partnership with Unilever, which acquired the ice cream company in 2000. There is no comparison between Israeli policy in the West Bank and the practices of the world's greatest human rights abusers. Unilever happily does business everywhere from occupied Northern Cyprus to occupied Tibet and Xinjiang, home to Uyghur concentration camps. We won't hold our breath for the ice cream boycott of China or Russia. But hey, there are no Jews in Xinjiang.”

As a lover of God and a lover of justice, I, too, want to see the fair and equal treatment of the Palestinians along with the safety and thriving of the Jewish state of Israel.

That’s why I so reject the incoherent and hypocritical policy decision of Ben & Jerry’s.

‘Christian’ Antisemitism Raises its Head Again

After coming to faith in Jesus in 1971, I met with the local rabbi, who quickly befriended me and took a genuine interest in my well-being. He challenged my beliefs, forced me to dig deeper into the Scriptures, and provoked me to learn Hebrew well. He also challenged me to look at the record of church history, which was a total shock for me. What?! Christians hating the Jewish people? Christians persecuting the Jews? Christians killing the Jews?

‘Christian’ Antisemitism Raises its Head Again | Article | AskDrBrown

Shortly after I came to faith in late 1971, at my father’s request, I met with the local rabbi. 

By God’s grace, my life had been radically transformed, going from a heroin-shooting, LSD-using, rebellious, hippie rock drummer to a Jesus-loving, clean-living child of God. And this happened virtually overnight. What a miracle!

But as much as my dad was thrilled to see me off drugs, he wasn’t thrilled to see me believing in Jesus. As he said to me, “Michael, we’re Jews. We don’t believe this.”

So it was that I met with the local rabbi, who quickly befriended me and took a genuine interest in my well-being. He challenged my beliefs, forced me to dig deeper into the Scriptures, and provoked me to learn Hebrew well.

He also challenged me to look at the record of church history, which was a total shock for me. What? Christians hating the Jewish people? Christians persecuting the Jews? Christians killing the Jews?

The gave me a book to read, accompanied by a poignant letter, which I still have today, enclosed in the pages of that book. This is what he wrote:

“I’m lending you this book so that as you read its pages you can share in the thousands of years of agony your people have undergone for the sake of the Almighty G-d of Israel and His absolute unity. Perhaps it will touch a note in your heart which will help you realize what your destiny on earth is to be.”

Then, after citing powerful verses from the Hebrew Bible, he closed with this: “I pray our G-d give you the inner strength to face the truth no matter what the consequences.”

What a moving letter this was to receive, and what a shocking book it was to read.

But to be perfectly candid, the book didn’t affect me that much, even though it was filled with painful stories of the mistreatment of Jews at the hands of Christians. Growing up, I had been unaware of this history, and in the church where I came to faith as a sixteen-year-old in 1971, I was met with great love, not hatred. These dear Christians seemed to have a tremendous heart for the Jewish people, including those who rejected the gospel. They showed nothing but grace to me, and their hearts were also joined with the modern State of Israel, recognizing that it was God who brought the Jewish people back to their land out of the ashes of the Holocaust, as if alive from the dead.

In the decades that followed, as I traveled around America as well as overseas (now with roughly 200 ministry trips outside the United States), I also met with profound love for Israel and the Jewish people. And, over the years, when I shared with these precious believers the history of “Christian” antisemitism, they were absolutely shocked. As an Iranian Christian once said to me, “It is impossible to be a Christian and hate the Jews!”

That had been my experience for forty-seven years, with rare exception, and I could count on two hands the amount of “Christian” antisemites I had met – until 2019. Since then, I have encountered more “Christian” antisemitism than in the previous 47 years combined. I am not exaggerating.

It’s as if an ancient plague has been revived, spreading from person to person until millions are affected. It’s like watching a nightmare unfold in front of your eyes, as professing Christians from all branches of the Church experience some kind of mass deception, coming to the “recognition” that the Jews, as a people, are the cause of all the world’s troubles. Those evil Jews! And to say it again: It is often professing Christians who are believing and spreading these lies.

Some, like John T. Earnest, on April 27, 2019, while just 19-years-old, took things even further. It was on that fateful day that he marched into an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Poway, California and opened fire, killing one and wounding three, before his gun locked up. Among the injured are an eight-year-old girl and the rabbi, who lost a finger on one hand.

According to a court affidavit, Earnest told a 911 emergency line dispatcher, “I just shot up a synagogue . . . because Jewish people are destroying the white race.”

But that’s not all that he said. In a manifesto written prior to the shooting, he gave an in-depth explanation of why he tried to murder as many as Jews as possible, and it was not simply a matter of the Jewish people allegedly “destroying the white race.” Earnest, you see, professed to be a devout Christian, raised in a Christian home and the member of a local Presbyterian Church.

In his manifesto he explained, “I did not choose to be a Christian. The Father chose me. The Son saved me. And the Spirit keeps me. Why me? I do not know.” But as a Christian, he has a responsibility: “There is no love without hatred. You cannot love God if you do not hate Satan. You cannot love righteousness if you do not also hate sin. You cannot love your own race if you do not hate those who wish to destroy it. Love and hate are two sides of the same coin.”

Earnest proceeded to rail on the Jewish people in typical white supremacist fashion, but with a distinctly spiritual tone, declaring, “It is unlawful and cowardly to stand on the sidelines as the European people are genocided [sic] around you. I did not want to have to kill Jews. But they have given us no other option.”

Indeed, he claimed, “My God does not take kindly to the destruction of His creation. Especially one of the most beautiful, intelligent, and innovative races that He has created. Least of all at the hands of one of the most ugly, sinful, deceitful, cursed, and corrupt,” by which he means the Jews allegedly destroying whites of European origin. This was his Christian duty!

Earnest then cited a number of New Testament that antisemites through the ages have used to defame and even attack the Jewish people. Then, he provided a list of 15 reasons why the Jews must be killed, repeating some of the standard, ugly antisemitic libels, and concluding with this: “And finally, for their role in the murder of the Son of Man—that is the Christ. Every Jew young and old has contributed to these.”

Shades of the words of Christian antisemites through the ages. The Jews as a people are guilty of killing Christ. Yes, “Every Jew young and old has contributed” to the murder of the Messiah. “For these crimes,” he wrote, “they [the Jews] deserve nothing but hell. I will send them there.”

He then pulled out his gun and put his words into practice. The American Jewish remains shocked and wounded to this day.

In 1992, I wrote a book recounting the horrible history of “Christian” antisemitism, releasing a new edition in 2019. Now, I have found it necessary to write a whole new book exposing that terrible spiritual disease in our midst today. It is titled Christian Antisemitism: Confronting the Lies in Today’s Church.

Better still, read it and say, “Not on my watch!”

(This article was adapted from Christian Antisemitism: Confronting the Lies in Today’s Church. Used with permission.)

What began on Twitter as an attempt by antisemites to expose alleged Jewish privilege in America quickly became a platform where Jews could share their own stories of suffering and pain. Contrary to the claim that Jews control the media, the banks, and the governments of the world, Jews have often been the first to suffer, the first to be persecuted, the first to exiled, the first to be killed. That’s what Jewish privilege really looks like.

What Jewish Privilege Really Looks Like | Articles | AskDrBrown

What began on Twitter as an attempt by antisemites to expose alleged Jewish privilege in America quickly became a platform where Jews could share their own stories of suffering and pain. 

Contrary to the claim that Jews control the media, the banks, and the governments of the world, Jews have often been the first to suffer, the first to be persecuted, the first to be exiled, the first to be killed. 

That’s what Jewish privilege really looks like.

Writing for the Times of Israel on July 15, Stuart Winer explained that, “The Twitter hashtag ‘#JewishPrivilege’ has been used by anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists for years, but over the last few days has instead become a locus for personal accounts highlighting discrimination faced by Jews over the centuries and today.”

The tables were dramatically turned, as one Jew after another posted his or her experience with antisemitism. Yes, Jewish privilege meant that Jews have been privileged to suffer in nation after nation simply for being Jews.

It is true that Jews in America today are among the best educated and most prosperous members of our society. But that is hardly through some kind of privileged status.

Not only so, but financial prosperity and exalted social status have certainly not been the norm throughout Jewish history. Rather, Jewish privilege through history often looked more like Tevye and his family in Fiddler on the Roof: dirt poor, excluded from the best jobs, second-class citizens, and having to flee for their lives because of the latest pogrom.

Jews, then, have been especially privileged to excel in the following categories.

Jews have been exiled from more countries than any other people group. There’s not even a close second. Antisemites will tell you that this is because Jews are so evil. But of course!

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