UK forum promotes Christian Zionism
By Etgar Lefkovitz, Jerusalem Post Correspondent, London
Attempting to stem the tide of rising Islamic fundamentalism in Europe, a group of British evangelical leaders hosted a conference in London on Sunday, 28 January seeking to rekindle the faded force of Christian Zionism in the United Kingdom.
The first-ever Jerusalem Summit Europe, which was held at London's Central Hall Westminster, brought together Israeli right-wing thinkers and members of the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus with leaders of Britain's small, pro-Israel evangelical community who feel increasingly threatened by the spread of radical Islam in Europe, and specifically the UK.
"We are in a critical season and crossroads for Great Britain which is a test case for the challenge of Islam," said Christine Darg, the head of the UK-based Exploits Ministry which organized the event.
"Now is the time to rekindle the almost unique relationship Britain has had with the Jewish people over the last couple of hundred years."
a 'Gideon's Army' of 300 Christians and Jews attended the London Summit
at Parliament Square
The event, which was held nine decades after the landmark Balfour Declaration spelled out the British government's support for a "national home" for the Jewish people in Palestine, coincided with worldwide events marking the Holocaust. Christian Zionist in the UK are forced to contend with growing Islamic extremism coupled with mainstream political correctness among many Christians.
In an unusual turn of events, Israeli speakers at the event encouraged Christian revival based on Biblical beliefs, while members of the British Jewish community called for coordination among members of both faiths in supporting Israel, and in lobbying the British government on its behalf.
Summit organizer Christine Darg"The Bible is the real bridge between us," said the chairman of the Christian Allies Caucus MK Benny Elon (National Union-National Religious Party).
"This basic connection should overcome the mistakes that have soured our historic relations in the past."
"The main message we are bringing is not a request to support Israel but to support Christian revival in Europe, not to save Israel but to save yourself," said Dmitry Radyshevsky, the executive-director of The Jerusalem Summit, a right-wing Jerusalem-based NGO which debuted four years ago.
Radyshevsky, a Moscow-born Harvard Divinity school graduate, noted the irony that an Israeli Jew was calling for Christian revival in Europe, but said that it was part of a common struggle against radical Islam which required both Jews and Christians to believe in the moral right of their Bible-based values.
"Either it will be a fundamentally Christian Europe or a Europe of Islamic fundamentalists," he opined.
Blowing the Shofar to open the SummitLabor MK Orit Noked, whose political views were to the left of the other participants in the conference, said that she was nevertheless overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for Israel in the evangelical world.
"From a historical point of view, it is especially important that we are having this meeting here in London," Noked said.
The gathering, which received the blessing, if not the attendance, of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who serves as the religious leader of the Church of England, also was attended by several British Jewish leaders who called for greater cooperation between the two communities in making their voices heard by British politicians.
Israel Parliament Member Rabbi Benny Elon"We are very much aware of your unfaltering support for the State of Israel, and your consistent and unfailing belief in the righteousness and return of the Jewish nation to its ancestral land," said Cyril Stein, a philanthropist and chairman of the non-profit Go to Israel tourism campaign.
His remarks were unusual in that most British Jews, like their American counterparts, have traditionally distanced themselves from evangelical Christians due to conflicting world views on domestic issues, such as abortion and public prayer.
"Today the people of Israel are more aware than ever that it is Christians who have stood by our side through thick and thin, and Christians all over the world are more aware than ever before of what is at the stake...[which] is nothing less than our way of life, and the Judeo-Christian values upon which Western civilization was built," said caucus director Josh Reinstein.
Delegates Sign a Declaration Scroll of Solidarity Between Christians and JewsStill, the London event highlighted the gap that exists between Israel and the UK.
"There is a whole new generation of Britains who have no concept of our heritage and ties with Israel, and all they hear in the popular press about Israel is negative, negative, negative day in and day out," said Peter Darg who heads the Christian Broadcasting Network in Europe.
"This is a clarion call to be biblically-correct and not politically correct," Darg concluded.
Listen to Highlights of the Jerusalem Summit London
UK baroness: Islamic Extremism Greatest Threat to West
By Etgar Lefkovitz, Jerusalem Post, London
Islamic extremism poses the greatest threat to the Western World, and endangers the very essence of democracy, a British baroness said Tuesday."The threat of a militant and totalitarian form of Islam poses the greatest threat to our cultures today, and Israel is standing at the front-lines of this struggle against militant Islam which would destroy the values of our societies," Baroness Caroline Cox said in an address at the House of Lords.
Cox, an outspoken supporter of Israel, was speaking in the Moses Room at the conclusion of the Jerusalem Summit Europe, which held its first meeting in London this week. Hundreds of evangelical Christians attended the summit, which was coordinated with the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus.
The erudite baroness of Queensbury, who, together with John Marks, wrote The West, Islam and Islamism: Is ideological Islam Compatible with Liberal Democracy?, told The Jerusalem Post that a recent public opinion poll reporting that 40 percent of Muslims youths in the UK wanted to live under Islamic law was indicative of a growing state of malaise that threatened to destroy Britain's society and core values.
"The sad thing is that growing in our midst there is a significant portion of youth who seem to believe in values that are absolutely antithetical to the spiritual, political and cultural values on which this nation has been based over the centuries," Cox said.
"Given their continuous embrace and manifest endorsement of terror activities, this represents not only a political threat but a physical threat which demonstrates their ruthlessness in their commitment to do everything they can to take over our society and to destroy our faith and freedom."
The meeting at the House of Lords, which was attended by several fellow peers and MPs as well as the chairman of the Christian Allies Caucus, MK Benny Elon (National Union-National Religious Party) and British Jewish and Evangelical leaders, included a slide show presentation of Palestinian media clips demonizing Israel and praising "martyrdom" presented by the head of Palestinian Media Watch, Itamar Marcus.
"Violent Islam is clearly the greatest problem mankind is facing today," said Lord Malcolm Pearson, a prominent Euro-skeptic who was presented with the Jerusalem Summit's' third Henry "Scoop" Jackson award by the Russian tycoon Michael Cherney, who has helped fund the summits, for his fight against the Soviet Communist regime.
"The dark shadow of the collective human spirit has moved from Soviet Communism to violent Islamism," Pearson said.
Christian and Jewish leaders at the meeting agreed the attitude of Muslim youth in the UK, as reflected in the poll, was indicative of a general problem in a politically-correct, complacent society that was guided by short-term political interest.
"It is a shame that one-third of our young people do not feel as strongly the need to uphold Christian laws that are the backbone of this nation," said Pamela Thomas, the national director of Bridges for Peace UK, an evangelical organization.
"The poll did not surprise us at all because of the education in the Madrasa system in the UK," said Andrew Balcombe, the chairman of the Zionist Federation of the UK and Ireland, referring to Islamic religious schools. "There is gender and creed apartheid which causes considerable political and social problems."
The speakers said the threat posed by Islamic extremism exceeded the menace of Soviet Communism, and was reminiscent of the threat of Nazi Germany during the period of appeasement.
"We feel ourselves living in the 1930s all over again," Cox said.
