Wow, talk about timing.

We were just talking the other day about World Vision's criticism of Israeli "obstructions" in Gaza and the West Bank. (By "obstructions," they mean Israeli security barriers that restrict the entrance of Palestinians into Israel, as well as their movements once they've gained entry.) Rich's op-ed piece in the Washington Post wasn't overtly anti-Israel, as I mentioned earlier, but it had a very definite pro-Palestinian spin on it.

It's the same, old, time-worn yarn—the Israelis are the big, bad bullies who take advantage of the poor, disadvantaged Palestinians. 

They should take down the barriers. Ease the security measures. And of course, tear down that horrible wall.

israelis, bad guys; Palestinians, good guys. That's the gist of it.

Of course, this kind of talk is nothing new. Bishop Desmond Tutu and other liberation theology religionists have been spouting this rubbish for decades. Liberal, mainline NCC and WCC denominations tend to take this line. Some of them are quite outspoken about it, like the United Methodists, who are currently in the process of divesting themselves of any financial investments in the State of Israel.

Again, this isn't anything that's new. It's old hat.

What is new, however, is that this anti-Israel rhetoric is beginning to emanate from certain sectors of the evangelical camp. It's being articulated in various forms by organizations like World Vision and others who are supported mainly by evangelicals in the US and Canada.

Virtually everyone (including us) agrees that the Palestinians are a poor, downtrodden, and disadvantaged people. With the exception of a small and affluent ruling class, Palestinians are clearly economically disadvantaged. Many of them are unemployed. They have few opportunities to better themselves through education or vocational training. They and their families often live in filth and squalor.

A subset of Palestinian society is the Palestinian Christians, who suffer along with their Muslim and secular counterparts. Again, we recognize this—and we empathize with the plight of our Palestinian brothers and sisters. We help them when we can (and I explained in an earlier post why we can't disclose many details about this aspect of our work).

I don't know anyone who doesn't agree that the Palestinian people suffer greatly in the Middle East. They've been a persecuted minority for decades (for instance, the Syrians murdered thousands of them outright in Hama back in 1982—a horrific bloodbath known as "the Hama Massacre"). Where people disagree is on the issue of who is to blame for their suffering. We say the blame should be laid squarely at the feet of the Palestinians themselves (specifically, their leadership) and the rest of the Arab world. Our opponents, on the other hand, say the Israelis are to blame.

This, too, is nothing new. Jewish scapegoating is as old as the hills. The Jewish people were blamed for Germany's economic ills after World War 1. They were blamed for Russia's problems under the Czars. They were even blamed for the Black Plague during the Middle Ages. If anything bad happens, just blame the Jews!

So this was our topic earlier this week—and just this morning, here's what landed in our "In" box: (click here)

Thanks to our friend Gev at the Rosh Pina Project in London for calling this to our attention.

The Tablet article is entitled "Christians for Palestine." The subtitle is "A vocal majority of evangelical Christians are zealous supporters of Israel. But a growing movement seeks to align them with the Palestinian cause."

This is precisely what we've been talking about. It is a "growing movement," indeed.

It's time to wake up, folks!