The battle against Israel: bringing light to minds darkened by lies — Vivienne Myburgh

Hamas, an organisation whose official manifesto includes a pledge to obliterate Israel, kill Jews and reject negotiation has once again got a free pass from mainstream media, big tech social media, the UN, and the South African government for its latest indiscriminate, murderous attacks on Israeli civilians. Israel’s defence of its people has been condemned and misrepresented by these same groups. On Tuesday, Vivienne Myburgh, national director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem South Africa went to an anti-Israel meeting at Stellenbosch University and addressed a student audience that is largely hostile to facts that conflict with the demonise-Israel narrative. Gateway News asked Vivienne to write an article about what it is like to confront such audiences with facts and why it is important to do so.

“The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream- stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in the twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?” — Mark Twain

Israel and the Jews for that matter should logically speaking only have been a distant historical dot in history…

The fact that Israel exists and actually thrives today and that the Jewish people are still a people with their own unique nation, culture and language, is beyond the scope of our understanding or common logic.

The agenda to eliminate the Jewish people from their very beginnings, the constant attacks on Israel and desire by certain elements throughout the ages to eliminate every Jew from the planet is a manifestation of the demonic antisemitism that our Jewish family have contended with from time immemorial.  How many times have I not heard the words from our Jewish friends, “Why do they hate us so much…what have we done to deserve this?”

Clearly the story of the Jews is different to any other people’s story. It started with Abraham and continued with his descendants, the 12 tribes of Israel and their descendants. These are the people God set apart to demonstrate to the nations the reality of a God who would make Himself known to man and how He would relate to man. 

God chose Abraham and His descendants and made a covenant with them. The covenant was everlasting and it included a land of predefined borders. A land strategically placed at the intersection of the ancient world where the surrounding nations would be able to observe what would transpire there. It would be the stage for the demonstration of the outworking of His interactions with His people. The fact that God made a covenant with man, would give the one who opposes God an opportunity to fight God by attacking His covenant partner. God is all powerful, all knowing and not an option to directly oppose. But an imperfect people, whose very name is linked to this God would become the target. If this unconditional and eternal covenant could be broken through the elimination of the people God made a covenant with, then God’s very character, His Word and His power would be undermined and in essence then….God Himself! 

What arrogant futility to fight against God Himself but this is exactly what the enemies of Israel are doing as they fight against His covenant people!

These enemies of God, often unknowingly represent the kingdom of darkness and are present in every nation. These who are present in South Africa, promote an agenda of hatred towards Israel and justify their fight against Israel with a deceptive narrative that finds fertile ground within the minds and hearts of those who suffered under the previous apartheid regime. They feed the misinformed a narrative of lies and disinformation who often respond with an “identification” with the “oppressed” and with an emotional desire to protect the vulnerable from the “oppressor”.  

God connects Himself so closely with the descendants of Abraham that He states that those who bless them will be blessed by Him and those who curse (despise, insult or hate) them, He would curse (cut them off from His blessing).  

Today the curse of antisemitism has a new focus, anti- Zionism! To justify the demonisation of Israel the truth will be exchanged for a lie in their attempt to eventually destroy the people of Israel. 

The fact that our nation is officially embracing these lies about Israel and even calling for diplomatic relations to be officially broken with Israel does not bode well for our country!   

 We need to bring the facts to those who might still be open to hear the truth. It is good and essential for our own beloved nation to stand with Israel for we sorely need the blessing that flows from that! 

The anti-Israel agenda is rife on our campuses as it is an important focus of the anti- Israel establishment to influence the minds and hearts of the younger generation as they recognise that these will be the leaders of tomorrow. We were informed that meetings were planned for Tuesday  May 19, across a number of campuses, including Stellenbosch University campus.

I called an Israeli friend, who had lived in Israel for most of her life, to join me at the event. It was better attended than many of the previous meetings of the PSF (Palestinian Solidarity Forum). We listened to the first speaker spew lies concerning Israel — that Israel was purposely killing children and was in fact committing genocide against the Palestinians. My Israeli friend could not contain herself and asked to speak, in an attempt to counter the blatant falsehoods. She was shouted down by the crowd and we waited for a further opportunity to speak. I was eventually handed the microphone and could convey some of what was really taking place in the present conflict and the lengths that Israel goes to, to avoid civilian deaths at all costs [see below]. The response is sad as many seem to have made up their minds already in condemning Israel to be an “oppressive coloniser”. 

It was however encouraging to be surrounded by students after the meeting who wanted to engage further. They were from various backgrounds and some eventually recognised that there was another narrative that they were not hearing anywhere else. 

We praise the Lord for answered prayer, in as much as the agenda of Israel bashing was somewhat thwarted this time around.

It is really important that we understand the facts of this present conflict so that we can bring light to minds darkened by lies. We are not to keep silent in the face of falsehood and lies, even if there is a backlash. It is an honour to defend the nation and people of Israel, who God called His own special treasure and through whom our very salvation has come!

The enemy modus operandi has not changed and I could encourage some of those who engaged with us afterwards to study the words of Psalm 83 and so to recognise that the battle is not new — it is in fact an ancient hatred that is rooted in a hatred of God Himself!

“Do not keep silent, O God! Do not hold your peace, and do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” — Psalm 83:1-4

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