Israel needs prayer for UN summit
The State of Israel needs much prayer for the UN Summit meeting next week.
Anti-Semitic Durban Declaration 10th Anniversary
On the 22nd, the UN is holding the tenth anniversary of the anti-Israel Durban Declaration but the UK, Canada and Israel have already announced they will not be attending and there is prayer and pressure for the US to follow them.
“That conference, and the anti-Semitic atmosphere in which it was held, was a particularly unpleasant and divisive chapter in the U.N.’s history. It is not an event that should be celebrated,” said Foreign Secretary William Hague.
The United States and Israel walked out of the original 2001 World Conference against Racism, held under U.N. auspices in Durban, South Africa, over Arab attempts to brand the Jewish state racist. A follow-up conference in Geneva in 2009 also descended into chaos with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prompting a walk-out when he called Israel a “cruel and repressive racist regime.” (Reuters)
Palestinians may push for statehood at UN
The next day, Friday 23rd September, may see a showdown between Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with Abbas planning to push for membership for a Palestinian state and Netanyahu arguing against it.
“Despite the pressures that we face, Palestine goes to the UN on the 23rd of this month to seek admission as a full member,” Abbas told Egyptian TV on Wednesday.
TheUnited States has threatened to veto the move if it is made in the UN Security Council, saying it would harm prospects for peace talks and that a Palestinian state can only result from negotiations with Israel. Britain has not yet made its position clear.
Confusingly, the Palestinian envoy to the UN said the Palestinian leadership has not yet decided whether to seek full membership and on Wednesday Abbas assured Saudi and European officials that he would not press for statehood.
Israel is strengthening security in Judea and Samaria (the so-called ‘West Bank’) ahead of expected Palestinian violence to conincide with the UN move.
Turkey rattles its sabres but Greece is a friend in need
Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Tunisians last Thursday his country could have frigates and assault vessels in the eastern Mediterranean “at any time” to ensure freedom of movement.
“Israel will not be able to move in the eastern Mediterranean as it wishes,” Erdogan said at a joint news conference with his counterpart, Interim Prime Minister Beji Caid el Sebsi. “It will see our determination in this regard.”
The comment follows the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador and its other high-level diplomats from Ankara in the wake of the Mavi Marmara Gaza flotilla affair in May 2010 and raises the spectre of a possible maritime confrontation with the Israeli navy.
On the positive side, Israel and Greece have invoked their new, secret mutual defense pact to counter heavy Turkish sea and air movements in the eastern Mediterranean. They also agreed to share intelligence. Israel’s expanded cabinet of eight was called into session over the Turkish threat to its off-shore oil and gas rigs.
Three Faiths Forum appoints anti-Israel intifada supporter
Lastly, although many other stories could be brought to the light, the Three Faiths Forum has selected a student who called for a third intifada against Israel for its parliamentary leadership training.
On Twitter, Nadia Marques de Carvalho, who attends the London School of Economics, supports a violent uprising against Israel, and urges people to boycott the country, tweeting: “If I lost everything I had at the hands of Israel, I would become fearless. Most dangerous predator. Palestine, realise your strength.”
The Three Faiths Forum website, which numbers Lord Carey of Clifton among its patrons, and is funded by Ealing Council among various wealthy trusts, says it ‘has worked to encourage harmony and confront prejudice for the last 14 years … and to encourage friendship, goodwill and understanding, especially between Muslims, Christians and Jews’
It is not readily clear how Ms de Carvalho’s appointment will assist those aims.
WRITE: The Three Faiths Forum say on their contact page: ‘We would be pleased to hear from you’. Write of email using the contact details below.
Contact: Three Faiths Forum
Star House
104 Grafton Road,
London NW5 4BA , UK
Phone 020 7482 9549, Fax 020 7485 4512, email: info@threefaithsforum.org.uk
PRAY: Into all the problems facing Israel. Pray for the Durban Declaration to be abandoned, for Mr Abbas to give up on his statehood ploy, for peace in the seas in the Eastern Mediterranean and against anti-semitism wherever it rears its head. Please pray also for Palestinian Christians, who face daily oppression from Muslims, and for Jews to recognise their Messiah, the only true hope for peace.
