Ashley Church
The Advocate
Newsletter of IINZ
Like many of you reading this, I attended one of the rallies in support of Israel which took place last weekend. In my case it was the Hastings rally which was seamlessly coordinated by the amazing Pastor Nigel Woodley and his team from the Flaxmere Christian Fellowship.
Despite inclement weather and a cessation of hostilities a couple of days earlier, about 250 people turned out making the Hastings event easily the largest in the country on a per capita basis – but that should, in no way, diminish the significance of the sister events in Wellington and Auckland which also attracted hundreds of supporters and created a visible testimony to the determination of those who turned out to not just lie down and accept the anti-Israel rhetoric coming at us from every direction.
That said, I feel the need to share with you my growing disquiet at the extent to which kiwi conservatives are apparently allowing the so-called ‘progressive’ agenda to steam roll over values that this country has held up for generations. The week prior to our rallies in support of Israel there were a couple of marches promoting the cause of the Palestinians in which a narrative was pushed portraying Israel as a bullying apartheid state which kills babies – reminiscent of the blood libels of medieval times. Yes, that narrative is supported by a compliant and juvenile media which eschews readily available counter arguments from supporters of Israel – but, as we saw the previous weekend, we would be foolish to ignore the numbers that turn up in support of pro-Palestinian causes.
How has this happened? It certainly isn’t because the bulk of New Zealanders fall on the Palestinian side of the debate. A survey conducted by the Israel Institute in 2018 revealed that 55% of kiwis declared themselves to be in support of Israel, and only 13% were explicitly opposed to Israel’s existence. Sure, these numbers may have moved in the 3 years since – but they will still be massively in favour of the pro-Israel position. And we saw even more people take to the streets in 2014 to demonize Israel. So how do anti-Israel marches and demonstrations continue to attract numbers which are, in many cases, larger than the attendance at the events which we organize in support of peace?
I understand why the Jewish community would be hesitant to attend such events. Very real safety concerns and a desire for it all to just ‘go away’ are reasonable responses for a people who are collapsing under the weight of constant attack – but where are the Christians? Depending on which figures you accept, there are hundreds of thousands of Christians in this country of whom tens of thousands (at least) take the practising of their faith seriously. So where are they on this issue? Certainly, some of these labour under the mistaken belief in ‘replacement theology’ in which the Church has apparently ‘replaced’ Israel as the subject of their God’s favour – but even accounting for these, there are still tens of thousands for which this should be a cause at the very centre of their faith.
Why isn’t it? Are we simply not connecting with the Churches in any significant numbers in any sort of meaningful way? Do we need to become even more focused on correcting perceptions of Israel in a way which matches the excellent work being done to keep the Holocaust at the forefront of public dialogue? Or is it simply a primal human instinct to turn up for hate (even if it’s premised on lies) rather than for love and truth?
Whatever the reason, a small but focused anti-Israel movement is able to rouse larger crowds and that will likely be noticed by our politicians who have little time to hear the truth about Israel.
The need to reverse this has never been greater.
We hold the high ground historically, legally, morally – and many of us believe – spiritually. Let’s step up.
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