by Yair Altman
Christian Empowerment Council investigation finds World Council of Churches sending BDS activists into Israel on tourist visas to evade suspicion • CEC leader Gabriel Naddaf: Activists distort Christianity to promote an extremist agenda.
Father Gabriel Naddaf led
the investigation into the Christian BDS activists
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Photo credit: Oren Ben Hakoon  |
An investigation by the Christian Empowerment
Council revealed that one of the better-known boycott, divestment and
sanctions groups is engaging in illegal activities in Israel, and
Israeli authorities appear to be completely oblivious to the phenomenon.
The Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in
Palestine and Israel, which is run by the World Council of Churches, has
been active in Israel since 2002. The council is one of the biggest
proponents of divestment from Israel.
As part of the program, around 80 Christians
arrive in Israel every year -- around 1,000 have arrived up until now --
on tourist visas, to monitor the activities of Israeli security forces
in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria by filming and blogging about them,
and then going on to lecture in campuses all over Europe.
Volunteers undergo meticulous training in
dealing with security forces and documenting their encounters with them
before arriving in the country. Volunteers then use these encounters to
accuse Israel of harassing Christians in Jerusalem, planting weapons on
the bodies of terrorists killed in attacks, preventing Christians from
visiting the Temple Mount, provoking Christians by allowing Jews to
visit the Temple Mount and massacring Palestinian children. The
activists also tend to blame "the American Jewish lobby" for silencing
any opposition.
From their investigation into the EAPPI, which
began in February of 2015, the CEC found that the activists arrived in
Israel on tourist visas and not volunteer visas, as required by law.
These BDS activists violate their tourist visas by masquerading as
tourists.
The Zionist Foundation for Israel and the DMU
organization joined the investigation into the EAPPI's activities in
Israel in recent months. The right-wing My Israel movement joined the
investigation in June.
Father Gabriel Naddaf, the leader of the
Christian Empowerment Council and the spiritual leader of Aramean
Christians in Israel, said, "I will continue to work toward exposing any
organization or program that claims to be Christian while working
against the State of Israel, the safest place for Christians in the
Middle East, and tries to weaken it in the face of terror in the region,
uses the Christian religion, rewrites history, harms real coexistence,
the Christian-Jewish relationship in Israel and around the world and
ratchets up anti-Semitism."
He went on to say, "The Christian world should
know exactly who is behind the mask and distorting Christianity in
order to further an extremist agenda."
In a statement, Israel's Population and
Immigration Authority said, "If someone entering on a tourist visa does
not raise suspicions, there is no reason to deny them entry."
The police said, "The Population Authority is
the body entrusted with distributing entry visas to Israel. If it is not
brought to the police's attention that this or that tourist is
problematic, there is no way for the police to know what they are doing
inside Israel."
Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy Minister Gilad
Erdan told Israel Hayom, "No normal country would allow activists
encouraging the boycott of that country to enter and operate freely, and
here, too, we will do everything in our power to stop this
reprehensible phenomenon in the coming months."
Yair Altman
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=34925&hp=1
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