Two and a half years ago, in an incident evocative of the recent threat by Florida pastor Rev. Terry Jones to burn copies of the Qur'an, Jewish religious students in Israel burned Christian New Testaments ­ by the hundreds. AP: "Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land. Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary materials." Aharon said he "got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students the books were dumped into a pile and set fire in a lot near a synagogue." Aharon claimed it is "a commandment [in Talmudic Judaism] to burn materials that urge Jews to convert.'" (Haaretz, "Orthodox Jewish youths burn New Testaments in Or Yehuda,") At that time, there were some reports in western, even Christian media, of this outrage ­ yet nothing compared to the worldwide indignation against the Florida pastor. No major leader or denomination publically criticized the burning or the government of Israel, which neither forcefully criticized nor did anything to punish the offenders. Here we see the too familiar dichotomy: Last week an extremist Christian pastor was held up to international contempt for his threatened desecration and lack of "respect for diversity." The floodgates of international media poured forth unlimited copy, alerting the world of what a Christian might do. But do you remember significant protest by Christian media and leaders in 2008 of the actual burning of a great religion's most sacred text, as well as continuing persecution of the Messianic Jews in Israel who distributed the offending New Testaments? Did Messianic Jew Jay Sekulow's American Center for Law and Justice rail against that violation of the human rights of his spiritual brethren? Did WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah write a fiery editorial accusing the government of Israel of habitually doing nothing to oppose the persecution of some ten thousand Messianic Christians by ultra-Orthodox Jews? Of course not. We know well the reason for this double standard: If a public figure or organization criticizes Israel, Jewish attack groups will smear them as "anti-Semitic," effectively ruining their careers or ministries. The Jewish media and "Holocaust industry" has taught us for generations that Jews are the historic victims of Christianity and that criticism of Jews could lead to more gas chambers. It's all right then, even fitting, that Christians be mocked, persecuted, stripped of their religious symbols and holidays, because, according to popular ADL-nurtured culture, Christianity needs to be taken down a notch. The Jews, however, have demanded from respectable society, and generally received, perpetual exemption from criticism. As we have been seeing more frequently of late, if a public figure criticizes matters Jewish, the Anti-Defamation League will force him to grovel in apology, a rite of contrition an ADL-conditioned society considers appropriate. As a result, all it takes is the intolerance of one Christian pastor to ignite international furor. But arousing righteous indignation against the Jews in Israel who have demonstrated at least equal bigotry is like trying to make rain-soaked kindling catch fire ­ almost impossible. ADL's Pro-Islam Strategy Lurking in the wings of Rev. Jones' high drama is the Anti-Defamation League, ever alert to ways that will stereotype evangelical Christians as bigoted, possibly violent, haters. Here's how ADL is working to protect Islam in America so that anti-Islamic Christian/conservatives will appear narrow and mean spirited, potential "hate criminals." As I point out in my video "Hate Law Jihad" (available at Truthtellers.org), while very little appreciation of Islam exists in Israel, Israel's PR representative, ADL, has chosen a vastly different strategy in the West. In order to make right-wing critics of Islam into hate criminals, ADL is now promoting Islamic rights, creating hate laws that harshly criminalize those who publicly demean Islam. With Christians force-fed the Zionist lie that militant Islam is the greatest threat to civilization, ADL knows that members of the religious right, outspoken against it, are abundant candidates to become offenders under ADL-inspired hate laws. Thus, in ADL's hard line hate crimes nations, such as Canada, England, Holland, France and Australia, the indigenous Islamic councils work closely with ADL to mete out the harshest penalties against Christian "haters." But ADL also wants to make criticism of Islam a federal offense in America. To that end, ADL is orchestrating a coalition of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian groups to advocate for mosque-building rights in America and take measures against those who are "intolerant" in opposition. "Working under the sponsorship of the Anti-Defamation League, which initiated the concept, ICOM [The Interfaith Coalition on Mosques] will carefully monitor incidents of mosque discrimination around the country, gather facts and analyze the information, and speak out when appropriate to help Muslim communities who are encountering prejudice." (adl.org, "Interfaith Coalition to Assist American Muslim Communities Facing Opposition to Building Mosques,") ADL: Not Really Afraid of Islam You may ask: "But doesn't ADL/Zionism fear that by encouraging Islam it is creating a potent rival to its own dream of world domination?" Actually, until the advent of Zionism a little more than a century ago, Jews and Muslims got along very well. Both religions, largely founded on the Old Testament, are strictly monotheistic, abhorring the Christian Trinitarian claim that the Godhead is three in one. Since Islam does not teach Jesus was crucified, it has never laid the charge of "Christ killers" upon the Jews. This has made Jews much more secure, especially in medieval times in Muslim lands. But now ADL is relatively comfortable with encouragement of Islam in the West because Zionism has demonstrated over the past century that, even though their former friends have become enemies, the Jews will probably always be able to outwit, frustrate, and contain the Muslim/Arab world. The Jews have shown themselves as organized as the Muslims are disorganized. Even before the Balfour Declaration and subsequent Sykes-Picot Treaty supplanted Arab rights to Palestine, Jewish brains and capital, deeply entrenched in the nations and governments of the west, rendered Arab resistance virtually impotent. Yes, Islam wants to conquer the world through its high birth rate, proliferation of mosques, and imposition of Sharia and ADL-inspired hate crimes laws everywhere. Yet looming much more powerfully than possible Islamic expansion is the established, formidable reality of Jewish control of international finance, governments, big media, Congress, and even the popular evangelical movement. In short, the Jews will always be able to handle the Muslims, and for this reason ADL sees alliance with Islam in America as a powerful tool. Despite a century of infatuation with Israel among evangelical Christians, the truth is that authentic, New Testament Christianity (if it is ever widely re-discovered) still poses the greatest threat to Jewish supremacism. The New Testament is filled not only with adverse commentary upon Rabbinic (pharisaic) Judaism, exhorting believers to be suspicious of it and deny its spiritual validity, but is an ever-indicting testimony that the Jews had Christ killed. Just as rankling to Judaism are the commands of Jesus to convert Jews to their true Messiah. Add to this the fact that in "Christian" America at least half of young Jewish men are marrying Gentile brides. Jewish leaders see Christian-encouraged proselytization, as well as assimilation, as tantamount to potential spiritual and genetic genocide of the Jewish people. ADL's Strategy Becomes Clear With this in mind, we can understand why ADL is now aligning itself with Islam in America and western nations and why Jewish big media has been publicizing, and vilifying, the bigotry of an obscure Christian pastor. How do Christians/conservatives counter such manipulation against them? By recognizing that Jewish supremacism poses a vastly greater threat to civilization than does Islam. They should speak out against it without fear of being called "anti-Semitic" or being cursed by God for criticizing His chosen people. Christians can also bring themselves and others into reality by simply doing what Christ taught ­ not showing special respect to some (the Jews) but instead responding with simple compassion to the sufferings of their Messianic brethren in Israel. Reports continue to come out of Israel that the ultra-Orthodox "Haredim" only increase in their militant discrimination and harassment against Messianic Christians, assisted by an Israeli government that looks the other way. No longer should Christians also look the other way when they hear of Israel's state-permitted persecution of Christians. No longer should they allow millions of dollars to be sent by Pastor John Hagee to fund the ultra-Orthodox persecutors of their Messianic brethren. (See, Hagee: Tea-Partyin' American Heretic) Now, as never before, Christians must be responsive to the question put to them by the apostle John: "But whoever beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?" (1 John 3:17) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rev. Ted Pike is director of the National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative watchdog organization. TALK SHOW HOSTS: Interview Rev. Ted Pike on this subject. Call (503) 631-3808. The freedom-saving outreach of Rev. Ted Pike and the National Prayer Network is solely supported by sale of books, videos and your financial support. All gifts are tax-deductible. NATIONAL PRAYER NETWORK, P.O. Box 828, Clackamas, OR 97015 www.truthtellers.org