News Alert

Israel Today, 10/24/10: Catholic Church: Christ nullified God's promises to the Jews [Excerpts]--A Catholic synod called at the Vatican to address the rising persecution of Christians in the Middle East wrapped up [10/23/10] with a joint statement that focused a lot of attention on demanding [that] Israel end its "occupation" of Arab lands. The gathering was meant to address the various acts of persecution, intimidation, and discrimination that are resulting in a severe dwindling of Christian communities across the region. But the bulk of the two-week meeting was spent discussing how Israel is the root cause of all the Middle East's woes, including those faced by its Christians.

Cyril Salim Bustros, the Lebanon-born Greek archbishop of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Boston, Massachusetts, was responsible for delivering the final statement. ...[H]e stated that "the Holy Scriptures cannot be used to justify the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of the Palestinians, to justify the occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands." He then escalated the situation by declaring that the original promises made by God to the children of Israel "were nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people." Bustros rejected the idea of Israel as "the Jewish state," and insisted that eventually all the so-called "Palestinian refugees" must return to the land, a sure recipe for the demographic destruction of the world's only Jewish nation-state.

Mordechai Levi , Israel's ambassador to the Vatican, decried Bustros' comments and the damage they had done to strengthening ties between Israel and the Church.

The Catholic Church has for years been trying to repair its image as an institution steeped in anti-Semitism. But Bustros' remarks make fairly clear that the Vatican remains as dedicated as ever to replacement theology--that teaching that says God has tossed aside the Jews, despite His irrevocable promises to them, and that "the Church" has instead inherited those promises.

Israel Today, 11/4/10: UN declares Rachel's Tomb to be a mosque  [Excerpts]-- The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) decided [the week of October 25] to relabel as an Islamic mosque the tomb of Rachel, one of Israel's matriarchs, and demanded that Israel remove the site from its National Heritage list. UNESCO also said Israel had no right to add the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, where most of the rest of Israel's patriarchs and matriarchs are buried, to the National Heritage list. Israel responded on Wednesday by suspending all cooperation with UNESCO. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said the suspension will remain in place until UNESCO reverses its decision.

Sites such as the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb (which sits on the edge of Bethlehem) present an inconvenient truth for the pro-Palestine movement and its supporters, who want to claim that the Jews have no historic ties to this land.

Once again, the UN has shown itself to be anything but an impartial broker by ignoring historical evidence and embracing Muslim revisionism.