Dexter Van Zile, center, an analyst for CAMERA, spoke Sept. 12 at the Gideon Lidor Memorial Lecture at the East Brunswick Jewish Center. With him are Rabbi Aaron Benson and Linda Lidor, who funded the program in her late husband’s honor.
Photo by Debra Rubin
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September 21, 2009
A pro-Israel media monitor charged that condemnation of Israel by some mainstream Protestant denominations amounts to a “third Intifada.”
Broadcast around the world by various human rights groups, agencies, and Muslim extremist groups, allegations by the Christians have contributed to what Dexter Van Zile called “a third Intifada” that “seeks to demonize Israel and the Jewish people throughout the world.”
Van Zile analyzes the Christian media for CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America. He delivered the Gideon Lidor Memorial Lecture at the East Brunswick Jewish Center on Sept. 12.
In his reports for CAMERA, Van Zile has accused a number of Christian nongovernmental organizations — including Christian Peacemaker Teams, the Mennonite Central Committee, Pax Christi, and WorldVision — of being “regular providers of anti-Israel propaganda to Western audiences.”
The steady drumbeat of allegations of Israeli human rights abuses has been partially intended to put the spotlight back on such denominations as the Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, United Church of Christ, and Episcopalians, whose influence has been fading in recent decades.
These “mainline” Protestant groups are distinct from the evangelical denominations, which are distinctly pro-Israel.
“One of the things you have to understand,” said Van Zile, “is that all of these churches have been steadily losing members since the mid-1960s, while the evangelical churches have been growing. It used to be that the mainstream church groups were among the most influential in the country, and they’re not anymore.”
Fortunately, he said, the attitude of church leadership is often not shared by local pastors and their congregations. Van Zile recommended that local rabbis engage their Protestant colleagues and demand to know their stance on Israel before participating in any interfaith events.
“The national leaders enjoy the publicity but I can tell you the local ministers can’t stand it because they want to grow their churches,” said Van Zile. “They want to preach the gospel, not vamp for the media.”
“We know Israel has a better human rights record than any other country in the Middle East,” he said. “We know Israel is imperfect, but it is a self-correcting legitimate democracy.”
Van Zile knows the situation from the inside; he was a lifelong member of the United Church of Christ who has worked for organizations promoting Israel. He fought for years for Israel advocacy from within, finally walking away last year from a Massachusetts church, where he chaired the board of deacons, to become a Roman Catholic.
“One way for [the churches] to get members — and the sociologists are pretty clear on this — is by preaching the gospel,” said Van Zile. “It is not by condemning Israel. Embracing anti-Zionism doesn’t help improve the lives of anyone, and it doesn’t help the members of these churches.”
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