BDS Movement Not Impressing Methodists

Nadene Goldfoot
The Methodist delegates at a general conference in Tampa, Florida have voted to reject divestment from Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett-Packard companies that trade with Israel.  I am most happy to hear this.

Desmond Tutu has been instrumental in getting people to divest from Israel..  He is South Africa's Archbishop who has endorsed this initiative which is like  adding one more pebble to the raft to sink Israel.  Here we had many Jews fighting against apartheid in his country but he doesn't want to  understand that apartheid simply doesn't exist in Israel.

The people behind this divestment are a certain group of Palestinian Christians, the United Methodist Kairos.  They are connected with Hamas and Fatah, who want to bring down Israel.  They keep drumming up antagonism with claiming that Israel violates Palestinian human rights and denial of their freedom.

The truth is that Israel has done everything possible to keep Palestinian  human rights and gives them freedom.  Palestinians of Israel number 1.4 million and are in the Knesset.  It is the Arabs living in Gaza under Hamas's rule that are attacking Israel constantly that don't regard Israel's human rights and freedoms.  It is also the Arabs in Judea and Samaria who are intolerable to Jews who also live there as well.  They want the whole land to become "Palestine" and be Judenrein, without Jews.  They attack Jews as well under Fatah's ruling.  The Druze who live in Israel are wonderful citizens and participate in Israel's Army.

I don't think there is another country on the face of this earth who are under such stress and attack as Israel, and to think that they are keeping their heads up above water and work to be fair to everyone is only a reflection of their inner beliefs.  They are a people surrounded by enemies in a world that seems to reject Jews at every possible chance they have.  This is one time that a group has resisted.

However, there are some holdouts.  There are several regional churches who will divest and they're hoping that they will be copied.  It's too bad they couldn't open up their ears, hearts and minds to find out what's really happening in Israel.  I would suggest they stay in Sderot or Ashkelon for a few days and visit with people there.

As someone whose mother had many Methodist ministers on the family tree, I am grateful that there are people who are rational.

Resource: http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/methodist-church-says-no-to-israel-divestment-initiative-1.427922
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2012/02/kairos-palestine-against-israels.html

France Bends to the Will of...Trade Benefits With Gaza & Co.

Nadene Goldfoot

Don't count on the European Union of 27 countries to back Obama when he vetoes the creation of the state of Palestine on September 22nd.  France's Sarkozy has  a mind to do otherwise and keep the European Union with him.  Abbas, being the negotiator and speaker for Hamas and Fatah Arabs, is trying to obtain recognition without going through a peace agreement with Israel.  They have been busy shelling Israel and will not sit at the table to create a peace treaty with their very close neighbor.  Obama has promised to veto Hamas and Fatah at this time.  The situation has been something like this:

Abbas:  We want all of Judea and Samaria and want all the Jews to leave from there.

            We want all of the descendants of Arabs who lived here for even only 2 years to return.  This includes the 4 wives for each man and their children which could be anywhere from 20 to 20 per woman.  And their concubines as well. 

           We want all of Jerusalem.

Netanyahu:  Wait a minute!  We have to talk about this. 

Abbas:  No-this is it.  It's all or I'm leaving.

               (He gets up and leaves, thinking to himself; and we want all of Israel, too.) 

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is after a trade deal with the Palestinian Authority and will take their fish and farm products of cut flowers, fruits and vegetables.  In return the Hamas-Fatah Arabs will buy EU machinery, chemicals and transport equipment. 

Sarcozy criticized only Obama for not doing more towards peace.  There is no mention of him criticizing Hamas or Abbas for shelling Israel and not coming to a peace agreement with them.  Sarcozy uses the Arab Spring as the reason for his wanting a trade deal now.

This will give the exporters unlimited duty-free trade with European markets.  Trade between the EU and Judea/Samaria and Gaza was only worth 60 million euros in 2009.  Hamas exports made up just 10% of exports to the EU.  Their economy, they complain, is weakened by chronoic conflict with Israel!  How ironic is it that they are the ones that initiate this conflict by raining Qassam rockets, mortars and missiles on Israel! 

The EU is built on the idea of the 50 states making up the USA on a single continent.  Like us," they launched a single European currency to use between their 27 states, and are progressively building a single Europe-wide market in which people, goods, services, and capital move among Member States as freely as within one country."  They all had the majority of the Christian religion with a majority of Caucasians for citizens in each country.  Freely trading between them today should keep them all from starting wars such as the World's 2nd destructive war.  They have a great plan for their continent and it seems to be working.  They cannot consider that what they are proposing with Abbas is on the same wave length and will bring about peace.  They're only going to be stoking the furnace for a greater fire. 

They have the ability to tell Abbas and his group of terrorists that if they stop attacking Israel and come to a respectable peace agreement they will have such markets.  It could be the reward for becoming peaceful.  Instead, they will have more power and be more belicose, if that indeed is possible.  By not thinking about what they could do to bring about peace, all they have thought of doing is to criticize Obama and most likely Israel as well. 

This will be construed as backing Abbas's bid for a recognized state of Palestine.  Right now even Jordan is telling Abbas to reconsider statehood.  It seems like only the EU's interests will benefit if  Palestine is recognized without becoming a peaceful state. 

France is no longer the nation known for its democratic values who risked their necks in helping the fledgling America to fight against the British.  I can hardly believe that our Statue of Liberty was a gift from them. 

Considering what has been happening in France with all the immigrants there from Arab countries, I am not surprised. 

The countries France hopes will follow Sarkozy's lead are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and of course, the United Kingdom which is made  up of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.  Hopefully, some of these countries will have the backbone and integrity to think for themselves and not help instigate another wrong against Israel.  . 

Resource: http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=236189

http://europa.eu/about-eu/27-member-countries/index_en.htm
http://europa.eu/about-eu/basic-information/index_en.htm

Intel in Oregon and Israel

Intel has 15,000 employees in Oregon, more than any other business. They are planning on building a semiconductor factory in Israel which means a $2.75 billion expansion. They build parts for computers. Intel is in 14 different sites in the United States.

The Oregon site is in Hillsboro, 16 miles from Portland. They started the business here in 1976 We have Israelis working at Intel.

10/6/10: Today's paper has another article titled: Governor will talk trade in Israel. Ted Kulongoski has a delegation planned for October 25 for 8 days of a trade mission to Israel. This will be his 2nd trip to Israel in the past two years and actually his 4th trip to Israel. He will meet with clean tech companies and venture capitalists and visit an Intel facility that is slated for expansion.

Israel is as far ahead as any country in the world on renewable energy, he commented. He thinks Israel and Oregon can partner on these things. He will also visit Intel's semiconductor factory in Kiryat Gat in the south. The Israelis working here in Hillsboro come from that facility to train them on new manufacturing technology. The Kiryat Gat factory is going to have a $2.75 billion dollar expansion. The Oregon chip industry people think an even larger project is planned here.

The Port of Portland is also sending a delegation. Last year Oregon exports to Israel added up to $107 million , which is 21st among the state's biggest trading partners. Oregon's top export country is China which bought $3 billion in Oregon last year. The governor said that we have a very strong commercial connection with Israel. He believes in Israeli democracy and sees an economic opportunity for Oregon with Israel. "I've always been taken by it", he said. "I'm a student of history."

Reference: Oregonian 10/5/10 page C6.
http://www.intel.com/jobs/usa/sites/hillsboro/
Oregonian: 10/6/10 pages B6 and B9.