European Parliament Hosts Christian Zionists

Call for Judeo-Christian Constitution to Oppose Islam

Next European Parliament Chairman Takes Part in Conference

The European Coalition for Israel wants to make our flesh creep:

The threat of the destruction of the state of Israel should not only be considered an issue of Jewish concern. The same forces which are trying to wipe Israel off the map would also want to conquer Europe. This became clear at the 4th Annual Policy Conference of the European Coalition for Israel in the European Parliament in Brussels last week. Several speakers confirmed that the same militant Islamic forces which are waging a war against Israel would also like to see Europe conquered.

Various speakers explain the peril:

“It may happen through violence or it may happen through natural growth, but in only two generations most parts of Europe will be under Islamic law”, predicted bestselling author and journalist Dr Udo Ulfkotte from Germany.

(Ulfkotte has long-standing links with the German foreign intelligence agency (the BND), and last December he was the source of a story claiming that the USA will strike Iran in 2006.)

He was followed by Kamal el Batal, who warns us that Europe is being Islamized like his home country, Lebanon. Further underwhelming analysis was provided by “former French minister of Health Georgina Dufoix”:

The caliphate (the rulership of Islam ) is incompatible with European values…These values are not only contrary to Judeo-Christian values but are also in contradiction with generally accepted European values such as freedom, brotherhood and equality”.

Then, rather more cryptically:

“The Biblical mandate to love one’s neighbor does not mean that you have to agree with him.”

(Dufoix’s political career was ill-starred; she is remembered mostly for a tainted-blood scandal in the 1980s, which saw her being tried and acquitted on charges of manslaughter in 1999.)

So what’s the answer?

The new designated chairman of the European Parliament MEP Hans-Gert Pöttering agreed that it was a mistake to leave God out of the European Constitutional draft. As the chairman of the Christian-Democratic group in the European Parliament he has strongly recommended that God would be clearly mentioned in the new European constitution.

I’ve often wondered how Americans manage with a constitution that doesn’t include theological ruminations. Pöttering is a member of the ruling CDU party in Germany, and just last month Chancellor Andrea Merkel announced her support for “Christian values” in the constitution after a meeting with the Pope.

And, to finally get to the point, once we’ve got God in the constitution, support for Israel will follow (or is it the other way round?):

…Many speakers confirmed that Europe’s lack of support for Israel is an expression of their disconnect with their own Judeo-Christian heritage. Conference host MEP Hannu Takkula summarized the conference in his speech when he stated that “A European Union which is not true to its past will have difficulty navigating in to future.”

Takkula has spoken at the behest of Christian Zionists before; back in May, the International Christian Embassy organised a “Europe Day”, in which he opined that “the European Union was founded on three cities – Athens, Rome and Jerusalem”.

The Coalition’s president, meanwhile, hints that those who don’t feel the need for a religious reference in the constitution are Nazis:

…”Europe has cut off these Jewish roots and missed the fruits”, observed Coalition chairman Willem Glashouwer from the Netherlands. “We cut off our roots when we sent 6 million Jews to the gas chambers but also when we rejected God and Judeo-Christian values in the European constitution”, he said.

Glashouwer explains his take more fully in an interview on the website of Christians for Israel:

“As an international organisation we try to bring a prophetic warning to the Church worldwide about the end-times we are living in. We have no eschatological timetables and try to stay away from all kinds of eschatological science fiction leading towards the coming of the Lord. However, our message is that Israel is not just one of the nations. It has a special dimension to it. They are God’s chosen people, the apple of His eye, His firstborn son.”

The interview also gives a bit more background to the Coalition:

The recently established European Coalition for Israel by 4 international Christian Israel-organisations: Christians for Israel International, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Bridges for Peace and the Christian Friends of Israel, but many more Christian organisations and Churches and individuals in the 25 member-states of the European Union are in the process to become a member of the Coalition as well.

Further details appear in this 2004 Haaretz report:

The meeting in Jerusalem [between Israeli politicians and Christian Zionists] was only one facet of the vast network of ties worldwide the Israeli right is establishing with Christian supporters of Israel, most of them fundamentalist. The depth of the ties with Christians in the U.S. has received considerable exposure. Now, while the European Union is expanding, these ties have another pillar: the establishment of the European Coalition for Israel, based on the American model. Its establishment was announced two weeks ago in Brussels, where its first meeting also took place, attended by 50 representatives from nine countries. In practice, a political alliance of conservative movements with a deeply religious orientation was formed there. The benefit for the Israeli right is clear: increased support for its positions within the institutions of the European Union.

“This will be the pro-Israel lobby alongside the European Parliament,” declared MK [Yuri] Stern, who represented Israel at the founding session of the Christian coalition. “There are 3,000 lobbies alongside the parliament, and not one of them was registered as pro-Israel. The Greens have an Israeli equivalent and that’s certainly true for the labor parties. We, for our part, will be the address of the Christian parties, who have no natural address in Israel.”

…”The pro-Israel Christian coalition in Europe is still small, because Europe is today secular by definition,” he explains. “I told them that it is possible that this activity with Israel may actually help Christians strengthen their ties to their religion. I think that the current world conflict is essentially religious in nature. And if the fight is a religious one, you have to approach it with your faith reinforced. If Israel’s position in the U.S. is strong compared to Europe, the only explanation for it is the depth of religiosity in America.”

Pay no attention to Palestinians complaining about military occupation and the loss of property and dignity: it’s all about Islam vs Judeo-Christian civilisation, with evil secularists undermining the West. A somewhat simplistic assessment, but one apparently shared by the next chairman of the European Parliament.

One Response

  1. […] at the European Coalition for Israel here; it’s a project of Christians for Israel International, the International Christian Embassy […]

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