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The strident, revolutionary tones of the email declared, “In the midst of Israel’s attempt to end Palestinian armed resistance in Gaza…”  Was this a statement from Hamas or Islamic Jihad?  No.  It is a fundraising appeal from the tiny, fringe non-governmental organization (NGO) Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) whose principle donors include various mainstream Christian institutions.

This is but one of scores of instances of anti-Israel NGOs receiving funding from Christian sources, themselves largely funded by European governments.  The current war in Gaza brings this unholy alliance sharply into focus.

This ICAHD email, sent during Israel’s attempt to halt Hamas’ rocket attacks and terrorist infiltrations targeting Israeli cities and towns, calls attention to the role of major Christian institutions in fanning the flames of the Arab-Israeli conflict.  ICAHD promotes the BDS (boycotts, divestments and sanctions) campaign against Israel and explicitly advocates for the end of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.

Another protégé of Christian charities is the tiny fringe group Zochrot, established with the aim of “recognizing and materializing the right of return” of millions of descendants of the 1948 Palestinian refugees. The full realization of such a “return” is correctly understood by every Israeli – including Zochrot – to mean the erasure of the State of Israel.

In the Middle East these funds are often transferred to NGOs claiming to foster peace and human rights in the Arab-Israeli conflict.  In reality, these groups actually fuel conflict by promoting BDS against Israel accompanied by a torrent of delegitimizing propaganda denouncing Israel as “apartheid” and “racist.”

The Christian funding of these extreme NGOs makes no moral sense.  True peacemakers avoid worsening conflict and seek to create trust between disputants, and foster an atmosphere of reconciliation.

Funding groups that support Israel’s destruction, that euphemistically refer to Hamas terrorism as “armed resistance,” that seek to isolate Israel and dehumanize Israelis has brought many Christian charities into the conflict participants.  Until these Christian groups change course, no credence should be given to the claim of their acting on any kind of ethical prophetic voice.