I want to thank all of you who contributed so generously to our end-of-year fundraising campaign. We fell a little short of our goal, but we trust that as the year goes on, additional resources will be raised to cover the shortfall. Thank you for your partnership, prayers and support.
Is the upcoming “Peace” conference in Paris another Evian moment?
I
n various ECI conferences over the years we have spoken about the infamous Evian conference of July 1938 when the international community failed to help the Jewish refugees who wanted to leave Nazi Germany. We have noted the sad fact that the Christian community did nothing to help. As the nations showed no interest in helping the Jews, Hitler saw this as a green light to move forward with his own plans for the Jewish people. The rest is history.
Could it be that the upcoming “Peace conference” in Paris on Sunday 15th January is another Evian moment? 70 nations are expected to meet in Paris to try to reach an agreement on the parameters of a so-called two-state solution, which would include expelling Jews from their ancestral homeland in East Jerusalem (which is the Old City), Judea and Samaria. What will the Christians do this time?
ECI was founded in 2003 to give Christians a platform to speak up in support for Israel when the nations are plotting to uproot the Jews from their ancestral homeland and isolate and demonize them in the international community. Through prayer, education and advocacy we are raising a voice which can be heard and understood in all spheres of society, in the corridors of power in international capitals as well as on the streets of Europe.
Thank you for standing with us in these next weeks and throughout 2017 as the battle against Israel heats up again. With your help, through prayer, activism and financial support, we can help prevent another Evian experience, in showing that the Jewish people are no longer alone.
For more information on what you can do during these next days please read more here.
New York – During a tumultuous Christmas week at the UN Security Council in New York, the outgoing US President Barack Obama chose not to use the US veto against a UNSC resolution which is calling all disputed territories in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria “illegal”, thus providing a further argument to empower the international BDS movement for further boycotts and demonization of the Jewish state.
This was the first time in his 8-year presidential term that the president chose not to use the US veto against an anti-Israel resolution, and it came only one day before Christmas and Hanukkah and less than one month before president-elect Donald Trump is sworn in as the new President.
ECI has been warning about such a move for months but thought the immediate danger was over when the Egyptian government had agreed to withdraw their UNSC resolution just one day prior.
The UNSC Resolution 2334 builds the basis for the planned Peace conference in Paris on 15th January which would use the resolution as a blueprint for establishing the parameters for a two-state solution, declaring all disputed territories illegal and the Old City of Jerusalem as the capital of a new Islamic Palestinian state.
The tone and the spirit of the new resolution was reaffirmed in the last speech by US Secretary of State John Kerry where he blamed all the shortcomings in the peace process on the current Israeli government and stated that, ”Israel cannot be democratic and Jewish at the same time.” His statement clearly violates international law in that it contradicts both the Mandate for Palestine and the UN Partition Plan which both speak explicitly about a Jewish state.
It also alludes to the 1975 resolution which called Zionism, the Jewish national movement for self-determination, a form of racism. In just a few weeks the international community has taken a huge step backwards towards a diplomatic abyss, in that it has given more ammunition to the anti-Zionists of today and at the same time made peace less likely in the region.
In 1975 the Christian community remained silent when Israel was demonized at the UN. This time we need to speak up. You can read an open letter that ECI will send out to the 15 members of the UN Security Council here. ECI will also participate in a solidarity rally in Paris on the day of the Peace conference and organize prayer vigils in different parts of Europe. You can read more information here.
In the last two articles, we will share some practical examples of how we make a difference today.
Brussels – While the international community is coming out aggressively against Israel at the UN, ECI has managed to drum up unprecedented support for the Jewish state in the European Parliament in Brussels.
In the first week of December, ECI co-hosted a conference on EU-Israeli cooperation, together with European Christian Political Movement, to express support for the Jewish state. In one of the largest pro-Israel conferences in the European Parliament ever, ECI activists came to show their support for Israel.
In his intervention, ECI director Tomas Sandell reminded the audience of the words of the late Elie Wiesel when in 2004 he asked why it was only Jews who defended Jews against anti-Semitism. Where are all the others?, he asked.
"12 years later we want to answer that question by saying, look around you, we are here," Sandell said.
When the Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Hilik Bar looked around the conference hall, he said,
"They tell us that we have no friends in Europe. But when I look around I see a full conference hall of enthusiastic friends of Israel. Thank you for your support."
A big thank you to our Brussels coordinator Ruth Isaac who was the primus motor in mobilizing new friends of Israel to the conference in the European Parliament.
The next annual conference will take place on Thursday 30th March 2017 in Brussels. More information will be sent out soon.
But already on Monday 23rd January you can participate in a new conference against BDS that ECI is co-organizing. Please read more information here.
Picture: Speakers of the December conference. Among them Members of Parliament and the Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Knesset (third from the right).
Brussels – In an unprecedented move, in time for the 25th anniversary of the revocation of the UNGA Resolution 3379, a government-mandated delegation from an African country travelled all the way to Brussels to meet with the leadership of ECI to express their regret for the role their country played in initiating the resolution in 1975, and to seek counsel as to how their government can repair the damage it caused. The visit illustrates that whilst the international community as a whole may be turning against Israel, there are also many individual nations that are seeking to draw closer to Israel in recognizing the legal and historical rights of the Jewish people to their own homeland.
In recent weeks, the new British Prime Minister Theresa May has rebuked US Secretary of State John Kerry for his one-sided speech (whilst still voting for the Resolution 2334 in the UNSC) and the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has affirmed that they would have voted against the resolution if they had been part of the Security Council. These are just a few examples of nations who are willing to stand on the side of Israel as long as they have strong legal arguments to justify their support.
This is also one of the goals of the work of ECI; to help empower those governments and decision makers that want to keep an open mind and wish to support the rights of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland. Needless to say, this work has never been more important. Thank you making this work possible through your prayer, activism and financial support.
15th January 2017 – Paris Peace Conference. ECI co-organized solidarity rally for Israel.
23rd January 2017 – Anti-BDS conference in the European Parliament, Brussels.
30th March 2017 – ECI Annual Policy Conference in the European Parliament.
31st March – 2nd April 2017 – ECI European Prayer Summit in Brussels.
More information on the March events coming soon.
n various ECI conferences over the years we have spoken about the infamous Evian conference of July 1938 when the international community failed to help the Jewish refugees who wanted to leave Nazi Germany. We have noted the sad fact that the Christian community did nothing to help. As the nations showed no interest in helping the Jews, Hitler saw this as a green light to move forward with his own plans for the Jewish people. The rest is history.Could it be that the upcoming “Peace conference” in Paris on Sunday 15th January is another Evian moment? 70 nations are expected to meet in Paris to try to reach an agreement on the parameters of a so-called two-state solution, which would include expelling Jews from their ancestral homeland in East Jerusalem (which is the Old City), Judea and Samaria. What will the Christians do this time?
ECI was founded in 2003 to give Christians a platform to speak up in support for Israel when the nations are plotting to uproot the Jews from their ancestral homeland and isolate and demonize them in the international community. Through prayer, education and advocacy we are raising a voice which can be heard and understood in all spheres of society, in the corridors of power in international capitals as well as on the streets of Europe.
Thank you for standing with us in these next weeks and throughout 2017 as the battle against Israel heats up again. With your help, through prayer, activism and financial support, we can help prevent another Evian experience, in showing that the Jewish people are no longer alone.
For more information on what you can do during these next days please read more here.
The UN gangs up against Israel – in the spirit of 1975
New York – During a tumultuous Christmas week at the UN Security Council in New York, the outgoing US President Barack Obama chose not to use the US veto against a UNSC resolution which is calling all disputed territories in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria “illegal”, thus providing a further argument to empower the international BDS movement for further boycotts and demonization of the Jewish state.This was the first time in his 8-year presidential term that the president chose not to use the US veto against an anti-Israel resolution, and it came only one day before Christmas and Hanukkah and less than one month before president-elect Donald Trump is sworn in as the new President.
ECI has been warning about such a move for months but thought the immediate danger was over when the Egyptian government had agreed to withdraw their UNSC resolution just one day prior.
The UNSC Resolution 2334 builds the basis for the planned Peace conference in Paris on 15th January which would use the resolution as a blueprint for establishing the parameters for a two-state solution, declaring all disputed territories illegal and the Old City of Jerusalem as the capital of a new Islamic Palestinian state.
The tone and the spirit of the new resolution was reaffirmed in the last speech by US Secretary of State John Kerry where he blamed all the shortcomings in the peace process on the current Israeli government and stated that, ”Israel cannot be democratic and Jewish at the same time.” His statement clearly violates international law in that it contradicts both the Mandate for Palestine and the UN Partition Plan which both speak explicitly about a Jewish state.
It also alludes to the 1975 resolution which called Zionism, the Jewish national movement for self-determination, a form of racism. In just a few weeks the international community has taken a huge step backwards towards a diplomatic abyss, in that it has given more ammunition to the anti-Zionists of today and at the same time made peace less likely in the region.
In 1975 the Christian community remained silent when Israel was demonized at the UN. This time we need to speak up. You can read an open letter that ECI will send out to the 15 members of the UN Security Council here. ECI will also participate in a solidarity rally in Paris on the day of the Peace conference and organize prayer vigils in different parts of Europe. You can read more information here.
In the last two articles, we will share some practical examples of how we make a difference today.
ECI brings in a full house to the European Parliament in support for Israel
Brussels – While the international community is coming out aggressively against Israel at the UN, ECI has managed to drum up unprecedented support for the Jewish state in the European Parliament in Brussels.In the first week of December, ECI co-hosted a conference on EU-Israeli cooperation, together with European Christian Political Movement, to express support for the Jewish state. In one of the largest pro-Israel conferences in the European Parliament ever, ECI activists came to show their support for Israel.
In his intervention, ECI director Tomas Sandell reminded the audience of the words of the late Elie Wiesel when in 2004 he asked why it was only Jews who defended Jews against anti-Semitism. Where are all the others?, he asked.
"12 years later we want to answer that question by saying, look around you, we are here," Sandell said.
When the Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Hilik Bar looked around the conference hall, he said,"They tell us that we have no friends in Europe. But when I look around I see a full conference hall of enthusiastic friends of Israel. Thank you for your support."
A big thank you to our Brussels coordinator Ruth Isaac who was the primus motor in mobilizing new friends of Israel to the conference in the European Parliament.
The next annual conference will take place on Thursday 30th March 2017 in Brussels. More information will be sent out soon.
But already on Monday 23rd January you can participate in a new conference against BDS that ECI is co-organizing. Please read more information here.
Picture: Speakers of the December conference. Among them Members of Parliament and the Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Knesset (third from the right).
African delegation apologizes for 1975 UN resolution
Brussels – In an unprecedented move, in time for the 25th anniversary of the revocation of the UNGA Resolution 3379, a government-mandated delegation from an African country travelled all the way to Brussels to meet with the leadership of ECI to express their regret for the role their country played in initiating the resolution in 1975, and to seek counsel as to how their government can repair the damage it caused. The visit illustrates that whilst the international community as a whole may be turning against Israel, there are also many individual nations that are seeking to draw closer to Israel in recognizing the legal and historical rights of the Jewish people to their own homeland.In recent weeks, the new British Prime Minister Theresa May has rebuked US Secretary of State John Kerry for his one-sided speech (whilst still voting for the Resolution 2334 in the UNSC) and the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has affirmed that they would have voted against the resolution if they had been part of the Security Council. These are just a few examples of nations who are willing to stand on the side of Israel as long as they have strong legal arguments to justify their support.
This is also one of the goals of the work of ECI; to help empower those governments and decision makers that want to keep an open mind and wish to support the rights of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland. Needless to say, this work has never been more important. Thank you making this work possible through your prayer, activism and financial support.
Upcoming events
15th January 2017 – Paris Peace Conference. ECI co-organized solidarity rally for Israel.23rd January 2017 – Anti-BDS conference in the European Parliament, Brussels.
30th March 2017 – ECI Annual Policy Conference in the European Parliament.
31st March – 2nd April 2017 – ECI European Prayer Summit in Brussels.
More information on the March events coming soon.