Bartholomew's Notes

(Title corrected)

Various Christian Zionist websites are publicising a Christian “Israel-Palestinian Peace Rally” to be held outside the London Israeli Embassy next week. The organiser is an obscure group called the Good Shepherd Movement, and it is promoting the slogan “Try Peace”. The “Try Peace Campaign” website explains:

We the coalition of people who want to speak out for Peace as a Voice of Reason, wish to call on all honest people and those who love peace to stand up and condemn Hamas and its allies for resuming rocket attacks after a period of agreed ceasefire with the State of Israel. Nobody wishes to see the Palestinian population subjected to the same blockade to which the Nigerian Government and its Allies subjected Biafra to between 1967-1970. We all know what happened to the lives of millions of the Biafran people. We feel that continued broadcasting of pro-Hamas protests by the media is irrational, biased against Israel, dangerous to the welfare of ordinary Palestinian people whom Hamas is hiding behind to carry out a proxy war for the enemies of Israel…

However, unlike many Christian Zionist organisations, the Campaign also believes that “Palestine has a right of a viable state”.

As indicated in the above quote, the Good Shepherd Movement has a particular interest in Biafra; the GSM leader, Enyinna Amadikwa, has a rather unusual perspective:

In 1990 in Macclesfield, in the North of England, I was opportuned to purchase an antique map of Africa which indicated in reality, that Biafra existed before Nigeria by  hundreds of years, if not thousands, therefore making it an ancient landmark. This realisation instantly made me to recall my visions and my role in the restoration of what is Biblically an ancient landmark…It might appear that we have pro-Israeli posture because it has been passed down to us that the Biafran people (Igbos) have a historical heritage with the Hebrews of Israel.

A report in IBO Media notes Amadikwa’s participation at a London Iri ji (Igbo celebration of the New Yam) festival:

Amadikwa stressed that Biafrans were offspring of Ishmael [UPDATE: sic – see comment below about this misquote – RB], who migrated to Ethiopia before dispersing further to the dream country…Asked later if GSM was an offshoot of the embattled Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) Amadikwa said no, he said that GSM believes that the ills plaguing Igbo Land like lack of respect for elders, corruption and others would not be tolerated in the new Biafra.

The idea that Biafrans – and specifically the Igbo – are related to the Jews was popularized by Olaudah Equiano, who cited Dr. John Gill’s opinion that Africans are “descendents of Abraham by Keturah his wife and concubine “. Equiano added:

We practised circumcision like the Jews, and made offerings and feasts on that occasion in the same manner as they did. Like them also, our children were named from some event, some circumstance, or fancied foreboding at the time of their birth.

Some Igbo groups today go further, suggesting that Abraham adopted these customs after visiting the Igbo, although there is no suggestion that Amadikwa takes such a view. Also, Amadikwa’s vision for Biafra is explicitly non-tribal.

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Excellent work from Tim Ireland at Bloggerheads about self-promoting “terror expert” Glen Jenvey, who has featured on this site previously. A few days ago Jenvey appeared in a UK Sun article in which he warned:

…online forum Ummah is being used to prepare a deadly backlash against UK Jews. His warning came as Europe was hit by anti-Semitic attacks over Israel’s push into the Gaza Strip…Mr Jenvey, 43, said: “The Ummah website has been used by extremists. “Those listed should treat it very seriously. Expect a hate campaign and intimidation by 20 or 30 thugs.”

Several high-profile British Jews were named as possible targets.

Septicisle noted the backstory on this by visiting the Ummah website, where a poster (a certain “Saladin1970”) had suggested that

The names and addresses of Wealthy Zionist Jews can be found in the lists of sponsors and contributors of Zionist Charities…It would be beneficial to start compiling a list so that we can write polite letters reminding them of the injustices of israel and to stop supporting israel.

Make of that what you will; certainly it is not unreasonable to read “intimidation” into “polite letters” from strangers wanting to have a political argument, particularly if you have been targeted due to your ethnicity [UPDATE: More on “Saladin1970” here].

The thread did not gather much steam; there are only six contributors spread over two pages, and a couple of posters suggest that such a campaign would be a waste of time and that corrupt rulers in the Islamic world were the real problem.  However, one  poster, a new member named “abuislam”, upped the ante by naming three famous British Jews and calling for doorstep protests. An Ummah site manager then tells us:

This is the Thread which triggered the Headline in The Sun News Paper Today

I can confirm that the User “AbuIslam” who is posing as a Muslim on this forum is infact a freelance Journalist by the name of “Richard Tims” who registered on this forum to twist what the original Intent of this thread was for and to make Muslims look bad.

Abuislam Deliberated added comments on this thread which made is as if this thread was intended to cause harm to names that were mentioned

This has been confirmed from his IP address and Email addresses has he used on this forum and previous usernames

“Richard Tims'” contribution was this piece of spam:

Islamic stories wanted by the media world wide why not sell your story for cash.

http://www.sellyourstory.org

The same advert appears on the UK blog of Paul Ray (“Lionheart”); Ray claims to have links with Jenvey.

Tim Ireland now brings to attention the following entry on 1DirBiz:

 Title: Sell Your Story – http://www.sellyourstory.org
…Category: Business & Economy: News and Media
Link Owner: glen jenvey
Date Added: July 28, 2008 01:35:11 AM

As Tim notes, this is highly suggestive

…that Glen Jenvey and ‘abislam’ are one and the same person.

In other words, he has created the very ‘militant’ content that the Sun has based their story on.

Further, in his quote he warns those listed to take the threat very seriously and to “expect a hate campaign and intimidation by 20 or 30 thugs”… when he was the one who listed them, and was the only person talking about doing anything other than writing letters!

Of course, there may be some other explanation, but it is worth noting that Jenvey did in the past run a Jihadist website as an “undercover” activity, which he then replaced with a message mocking Islamic extremism and offering his views on Israel (“There is no such thing as a ‘Palestinian'”) and Kashmir (“belongs to the Indians”).

Incidentally, it appears I wrote a premature obituary of the “VIGIL Nework”, with which Jenvey is also connected.

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