by David Blewett
originally published as an NCLCI Backgrounder
August 1998
Once again the world has seen grim pictures of terrorist bombings, this time in Kenya and Tanzania. It is no accident that an Israeli search and rescue team took the lead in going through the rubble looking for survivors. The terrorist bombings in Israel have made them experts at that difficult task. But have you ever wondered what happens to survivors of such a bombing? Not long ago I learned what happens in Israeli hospitals, and it is a remarkable story. Read More
by David Blewett
originally published as an NCLCI Backgrounder
August 1997
I have always recognized terrorism as a heinous criminal act against innocent people. Each attack has been like a kick in the chest that takes my breath away and steals any kind of happiness that I might have been feeling. But my reaction to last weeks’ terrorist bombs in the busy Mehane Yehuda market in central Jerusalem was different . . . my friend Petra was in the market when two bombs went off. Read More
Since the latest ceasefire between Israel and Hamas I have had many opportunities to speak about the war and the current situation in Gaza. During the discussions that follow each presentation there is one topic that always seems to come up – Israel and “disproportionate force.” Read More
Lest We Forget
by Dr. Franklin H. Littell
no date available
Who did it – and why? What were the circumstances? And who says so?
Those are the questions that we teach in every history class. Because trained minds do not make judgments based on rumor, we insist that restraint be exercised in reaching conclusions. First-hand information and evidence (“primary sources”) are demanded if historical incident is to be understood. Read More
By Franklin H. Littell As originally published in Christian Ethics Today, December 1995
Dr. Franklin H. Littell is a well known author, lecturer, and Christian ethics activist. An ordained Methodist minister, he has been president of Iowa Wesleyan University and has held a number of significant teaching posts including a position last year as the Robert Foster Cherry Distinguished Visiting Professor at Baylor University. By action of the Israeli cabinet, Dr. Littell was given the first non-Jewish appointment to the International Council of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. By appointments from Presidents Carter, Reagan, and Bush, he served for fifteen years as a member of the council that planned and built the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The Center for Christian Ethics is pleased to be working collaboratively with him on matters of mutual concern. Read More
By David Blewett
In July 2004, the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) addressed several issues that dealt with the Middle East conflict; one of those issues has dominated public discussion for the past several months. In an attempt to move the Palestinian cause from words to action, the Presbyterian General Assembly voted 431 to 62 to direct the church’s committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment to look into the possibility of selective divestment of church holdings in multinational corporations that do business in Israel. Use of the word “divestment” set off a fire storm of protest from a wide variety of Christians and Jews, including a large number of Presbyterian pastors, professors, and lay people in churches, colleges and seminaries throughout this country and in Israel. Read More
Much has been said and written in recent months about former President Jimmy Carter and his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Most reactions have been highly critical. Over the past few months, some friends of Israel have been asking how Carter, whom they had respected as a successful peacemaker, could turn and present such an uncritical and biased case for the Palestinians, blaming Israel for practically everything that has prevented a peace settlement and Palestinian prosperity. Carter’s blatant partisanship is indeed troubling. Read More
On July
1, 2004, delegates to the 216th General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church USA voted 431 to 62 to begin a process of phased,
selective divestment from certain companies doing business in Israel
that harm innocent Palestinians. In adopting that resolution, the 216th
General Assembly set off a firestorm of criticism from Christians and
Jews around the country and in Israel, but nowhere is the criticism as
severe as it has been within the Presbyterian Church USA[1]
itself. Today the PCUSA is a church in trouble. Read More
Of all the problems that have confronted, or will confront, the Israelis and Palestinians in their peace process, none can compare with that of the city of Jerusalem. More than a few observers have held that it should have been taken up first, not last, on the peace agenda, and this for the simple reason that it is not at all impossible that such a crucial problem may end in a stalemate that could nullify the progress already made and revive enmities and violence of the past. Read More
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