By Charles Gardner, UK Correspondent
As we approach the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on January 27, to be marked by the now annual Holocaust Memorial Day in the UK and elsewhere, I struggle – as many do – with the ongoing injustice of our world, especially when it comes to Israel and the Jewish people. That the release of just 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds, possibly thousands, of imprisoned terrorists should be welcomed by some as an “epic” deal simply blows my mind. Though every hostage is precious and certainly worth a thousand terrorists, if that’s how Hamas sees it.
But as we remember the Holocaust once more, it is with the shuddering thought that the potential for another Shoah has been spreading its tentacles around the world ever since October 7 2023 when we witnessed the worst single attack on Jewish people since World War 2.
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Instead of sympathising with Israel over this brutally inhuman assault, the world turned on them for daring to defend themselves. And whereas former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was once derided for being a “friend” of Hamas, now it seemed that there were thousands of such “friends” taking to the streets of London, New York and elsewhere as antisemitism has spread into a global pandemic.
But I was faintly encouraged that at long last the London Metropolitan Police seem to be waking up to how their “softly-softly” approach in respect of the pro-Palestinian marches has proved disastrous. Instead of keeping the peace, their lack of intervention has only served to further inflame the situation, bringing the Middle East conflict to our streets as Hamas supporters have incessantly banged their antisemitic drums for 15 long months. Not before time, however, the Met successfully curtailed Saturday’s planned anti-Israel march to a more-or-less static rally. The original route would have passed close to the BBC and a synagogue, and the police considered that it was likely to unnerve those attending Sabbath services. In fact, many have been too afraid to attend Sabbath services during previous marches. On Saturday, some of the protestors still managed to break the police cordon, and 77 arrests were made.
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It was always patently obvious that these highly offensive protests were upsetting for Jewish people by effectively calling for their extermination. And in view of their use of hate speech (now a crime), they were surely breaking the law all along. But I sense the police, along with the government, are noting the growing anger of ordinary people, not only here but also in other parts of the West, who are sick and tired of being fed a constant diet of left-wing woke propaganda that flies in the face of all we have stood for in this great nation for many centuries. And it has been hugely encouraging to see King Charles, especially at this time, continuing to show the compassion he has long felt for Holocaust survivors, following in the footsteps of his great-grandmother Princess Alice of Greece who hid a Jewish family from the Nazis in her palace, and who is buried on the Mt of Olives.
As for the rising antisemitism fanned by pro-Palestinian marches and shocking propaganda from the BBC and other media outlets, the Church has in the main been reduced to inertia, indifference and spineless sitting on the fence as they blatantly ignore St Paul’s instruction not to conform to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. For only then will we be able to test and prove what God’s will is. (Romans 12:2).
The general impression in the Church is that it’s nothing to do with us; it’s yet another war in the Middle East which we may occasionally deign to mention in passing in our prayers. But we dare not get our hands dirty. We won’t stand up and be counted. It’s a political hot potato and is likely to cause division in our Church, so we’ll neatly sweep it under the carpet. But we have a divine duty to our Jewish brethren – it’s in the Bible! After all, they gave us the Bible…and the prophets…and the law… And, above all, they gave us the Jewish Messiah. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul tells the Roman believers that they are indebted to the Jews, in view of the precious spiritual heritage they have left us, and that we should support them practically (Romans 15:27) – with finance, at the time he was writing the letter as they were experiencing poverty, but surely now also with prayer and public support.
A new book, Ninette’s War, records the trials of a young Jewish girl growing up in France during the Nazi occupation whose mother gave her cyanide in case of discovery. Ninette eventually settled happily in London after marrying David Montagu – later Lord Swaythling – whose family owned a merchant bank. For all her adult life (she died in 2021) she worked hard to get recognition for the French Gentiles who had helped save Jews during the war. But she never got over her horror at the speed with which the country of her birth turned against its Jewish population. Published by Profile Books, her story is chillingly relevant today.
But while much of the world is baying for their blood, the God of the universe has an “everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3) for the Jewish people, which means he will never break his covenant promises to them. The Apostle John, one of Yeshua’s closest disciples who was also Jewish of course, wept with frustration when he figured that no-one was worthy to open the scroll he saw in his heavenly vision – God’s great salvation plan for Jew and Gentile. But then one of the elders told him: “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” (Revelation 5:4f)
So don’t despair. Messiah is coming!
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