The Confessing Seventh-day Adventist

An Adventist Zionist wrote:The SDA Church isn't defending atrocities---Read it correctly---Shubert.

“The government accepts us as one of the Christian communities in the country,” said Richard Elofer, president of the Adventist Church there and pastor of the Jerusalem congregation. “I know that they know us, we don’t hesitate to communicate with them, and every year I am invited by the president of the state to attend a reception for the [leaders] of the Christian communities.”

Israeli media—not often a friend of Christian churches operating and evangelizing in the country—had very positive things to say about the Seventh-day Adventist Church when its publishing house, “Chaim Veshalom,” or, “Life and Peace,” opened in Jerusalem in 2003. The nation’s oldest newspaper, Haaretz, published a highly favorable report.

The article stressed the industry, honesty, temperate lifestyle, and Sabbathkeeping of Adventist believers, with one Israeli employer, identified only as “Eli,” saying, “They’re very neat and well-groomed. They don’t smoke, they don’t drink. They are excellent, diligent workers and completely honest. I trust them with my eyes closed. I bring them to a work site and don’t have to come back to check on them. Their word is golden.”

Elofer asks believers to keep an open mind about today’s Israel: “We would like our Adventist brethren to cease to see Israel as the ‘black sheep’ of the Middle East,” he told the Review.

“Maybe it is not the case in the United States, but recently a survey has been done in all the European countries, asking the question ‘Who is the biggest threat for the peace of the world?’ The majority of the people answered ‘Israel,’ not Iran, not terrorism, not [Osama] bin Laden, but Israel. This answer demonstrates a very high level of anti-Semitism, because rationally Israel is threatening no one, just defending [itself] against dozens of Muslim countries around who would like to see only one thing, its destruction,” Elofer said.

“Among Christians, probably the religious community who has a closer theological connection with Jewish biblical thinking [than any other] is the Adventist Church, and we should always be willing to extend the arm of fellowship to our Jewish friends,” Rodríguez said. But, he added, “political concerns should not be part of that agenda, so that motivation comes to play a significant role in this.”

On November 14, 2012, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) unleashed another massacre in Gaza. In just one day, 15 Palestinians were killed, most of them women and children. Dozens were injured, homes destroyed and the hospitals in Gaza are overwhelmed with the wounded. Israel and its apologists say this is a war, but the people of Gaza have no military, no planes or tanks or helicopters or drones. They are largely a civilian population trapped in the largest outdoor prison in the world. They cannot run or hide or escape. They are, in fact, sitting targets for Israeli war games. Yesterday, we heard from one of the internationals, Adie Mormesh in Gaza. His message is below:

“Here in Gaza, more than 10 people have been killed so far in the Israeli operation named “Pillar of Defense” within the last 7 hours, including countless children such as 7-year-old child Ranan Arafat and an 11 month old baby. We’ve seen charred bodies of dead and injured children pouring in to Al Shifa hospital of Gaza City and the other depleted hospitals around the Gaza Strip. There have been 50 airstrikes all over the Gaza Strip so far. Deafening explosions shook us all, as bombs landed close to us in the streets near the Universities. Huge explosions are landing all around us in Gaza City as I write, some entire families have been injured. We can also hear the shelling of Israeli Gunships. (The Israeli war machine will announce)… a possible Israeli land invasion very soon”… a fear fueled by Israeli leaders dropping leaflets in North Gaza warning of an imminent overland invasion.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has called the Israeli actions “wanton aggression on the Gaza Strip” and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr has, “warned Israel against the consequences of escalation and the negative reflections it may have on the security and stability of the region.” The new Egyptian government is led by the Freedom and Justice Party, which issued a statement saying: “The wanton aggression against Gaza proves that Israel has yet to realize that Egypt has changed and that the Egyptian people who revolted against oppression will not accept assaulting Gaza.”

However, the One Democratic State Group in a statement, also signed by the University Teachers Union and the Palestinian Students’ Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel is skeptical. It reiterated its “condemnation of the international conspiracy of silence and Arab impotence in the face of these continuous Israeli crimes... We note that not a single action against Israel has been taken by any Arab country. Will the Arab Spring stand aside and watch while we are being butchered? Empty rhetoric will no longer be accepted. Words of condemnation have to be translated into action.”

Hospitals throughout the Strip have been inundated with victims of the attacks. Speaking in a press conference outside al-Shifa hospital, Dr. Mafed el-Makha el-Makhalalaty, the Minister for Health, explained that hospitals are suffering shortages due to the ongoing closure of the Gaza Strip and the increased attacks over the last week. Today’s attacks have left hospitals depleted of medicines and medical supplies.

We are calling on your support for the besieged people of the Gaza Strip. You can make a difference. Act now to stop another Gaza bloodbath. Since Israel has the tacit approval of the U.S. government as well as weapons of mass destruction, please call the following numbers, even if you are not an American: Please be polite, but firm.

US State Department, Public Communications Department +1 202-647-6575

White House: Comments: +1 202-456-1111, Switchboard: +1 202-456-1414

If you want to join a protest, please check for locations and times here:
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/11/worldwide ... -gaza.html

For additional information, the following people in Gaza can be contacted:
Lydia de Leeuw (Dutch) +972 (0) 597478455
Adie Mormech (British) +972 (0) 592280943
Adriana Zega (Italian) +972 (0) 597241318
Gisela Schmidt Martin (Irish) +972 (0) 592778020
Joe Catron (United States) +972 (0) 595594326
Julie Webb-Pullman (New Zealand) +972 (0) 595419421

Meri Calvelli (Italian) +972(0)598563299