David Neunuebel of Santa Barbara, California was Moderator (2000-2001) of Santa Barbara Presbytery. He is an anti-Israel activist with Americans for a Just Peace in the Middle East, a group that, like Neunuebel, demonizes Israel and insists on placing all blame for the situation in the Middle East on Israel alone.

On April 7, 2005 Neunuebel published a letter in the Presbyterian Layman that went beyond his habitual demonization blind hatred of Israel to stray into overt anti-Semitism.

Writer says PCUSA divestment focus is on illegal occupation, not Israel

After the letter to the editor by Susan Pentlin, Ph.D from Warrensburg, Mo. [posted February 15, 2005], I think she may not understand what the G.A. has actually suggested. The G.A. passed an overture to research the idea of divesting our multi-billion dollar investment portfolio of companies who facilitate the illegal Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. It's a study. If the study determines that there would be efficacy in bringing a just peace to this conflict, the next step would be to identify those companies who facilitate the occupation. Then we would confront these companies to share our concerns and try to get them to cease their activities in this area. If the companies decline, we would work on organizing a shareholder resolution to force the company to end its work in the occupied territories. The focus is on the illegal occupation, not on the state of Israel. We have consistently supported Israel's right to exist and right to live in security.

Dr. Pentlin's suggestion that we've disregarded the history of the establishment of Israel is uninformed at best. To suggest that the assembly failed to understand that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was an "avid supporter of Adolf Hitler, even visiting him in Berlin," is a bit silly. What does that have to do with the current consistent violation of human rights perpetrated on the Palestinians by Israel? Besides, the Zionists were in bed with the Nazis both in Palestine and in Germany for years during WWII; what would we do with that fact?[...continued with responses in the extended entry.]

Furthermore, I doubt that the assembly doesn't understand that the State of Israel was a decision by the United Nations, nor that Jews "have lived in Palestine since Biblical times" and that they're not all living "in the Diaspora." Dr. Pentlin should know, however, that more Jews live in the Diaspora than live in Israel and most Jews are not Zionists. Additionally, what Dr. Pentlin seems to forget is that more Palestinians have lived in this same region since Biblical times. Many can trace their family lineage back to Christ himself. In fact, today there are more Christians in the Middle East than there are Jews in the whole world. Dr. Pentlin seems to want to exclude these people from our concerns, if not from the historic demography of the region. This has always been the Zionist dream from the beginning, as espoused by David Ben Gurion:

"We will expel the Arabs and take their place. In each attack, a decisive blow should be struck, resulting in the destruction of homes and the expulsion of the population."
David Ben Gurion, Israel's First Prime Minister
Letters to his son, 1937

Dr. Pentlin's suggestion that the Arab nations did not accept the partition of Palestine belies the fact that no Jew in his or her right mind would have accepted the same deal either. If fact, they didn't even accept it in 1948 as acknowledged by Menachem Begin himself.

"The Partition of Palestine is illegal. It will never be recognized. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for Ever."
Menachem Begin
Iron Wall, p.25, after the UN vote to partition Palestine.

If anyone wants to drive anyone into the sea, it's the Zionists, and in fact, they've pretty much succeeded. There is now no hope for a two-state solution with the way Israel, with help from the United States, has carved up the West Bank with Jewish-only roads and Jewish-only housing (settlements) leaving only Bantustans for a remnant of Palestinians.

The General Assembly has consistently supported Israel and her right to exist and prosper within secure borders. Palestinians have that same right.

The assembly's actions are directed toward the illegal occupation, not toward the state of Israel. It is surprising to me that Dr. Pentlin doesn't get this. If she is anti-Palestinian, then she may be anti-Christian because "Jesus loves all the little children of the world," no matter how old they are. Peace rests on justice, not tired old propaganda, ideologies and ethnic cleansing.

To suggest that because a Mufti had meetings with the Nazis we should exclude Arabs and Palestinians would be to suggest that because the chancellor of Central Missouri State kicked me out of school after I returned from military duty in 1968 during the Vietnam era to go to school simply because I was living off campus (a clear injustice), we should shut down the school, if not the entire town of Warrensburg.

David Neunuebel
Santa Barbara, Calif.
Moderator (2000-2001) of Santa Barbara Presbytery
and president, Americans for a Just Peace in the Middle East

...Mr. Neunuebels letter, ...contains a large number of outright untruths. He writes that the Zionists were in bed with the Nazis both in Palestine and in Germany for years during WWII." He writes that the Jews "didn't...accept...the partition of Palestine" in 1948," and asserts that the Jews aim to "drive (the Arabs) into the sea."

Obviously, the Jews accepted the 1948 partition and the UN allotment of a tiny sliver of Palestine, it was the Arabs who refused to accept partition, and Arab Armies that invaded in an attempt to extinguish the Jewish State. The phrased ambition to "drive the Jews into the Sea" was President Nassar's war aim in 1956. Israel harbors no parallel ambition. If it did have such an ambition, Israel has long had the armed might to carry it out, and refained from doing so. Moderator Neunuebel's demonization of Israel is repugnant.

As to the assertion that Zionists collaborated with the Nazis, this canard is a frequent recourse of anti-Semites and of Arab propagandists trying to draw attention away from the very real collaboration of many Arabs with the Nazi power. The Mufti of Jerusalem was a particularly active Nazi. In North Africa, enthusiastic Arabs cooperated in herding Jews into concentration camps (these Jews were saved not by the governments of the states of which they were citizens, but by General Montgomery who drove the Nazis out of North Africa before they 'final solution' got fully underway.) At present, Hamas expresses its solidarity with Nazism by giving the Nazi salute at its rallies.

What is true is that during the war, some Zionist officials in Romania agreed to keep their knowledge of the death camps quiet, and the victims quiescent, in exchange for the opportunity to move some tens of thousands of Jewish out of the country, thus saving their lives. Whether this deal, made at a time when all Jews in Romania lived under Nazi death sentences, was morally defensible or not I cannot say. I think none of us not living under a Nazi death sentence is entitled to judge. But of a certainty, this was not the collaboration with Nazis that Mr. Neunuebel calls it. Mr. Neunuebels statement is a hateful, anti-Semitic canard. It is, moreover, a notorious canard that any well-intentioned person would easily identify as anti-Semitic propaganda.

All of this is capped by Neunuebel citation of another notorious piece of anti-Semitic propaganda, a bogus quotation purportedly from David Ban-Gurion that is one of several such fictional quotations falsely attributed to prominent Israelis that enjoy a wide circulation among anti-Semities. (for an explication of this bogus quote, see: Colin Rubensteins review of Peter Rodgers, HERZL'S NIGHTMARE: ONE LAND, TWO PEOPLE, Scribe, in the Australian Book Review - Dec. 2004 - Jan. 2005)

Here is the bogus, anti-Semitic quote, as cited by Neunuebel, "We will expel the Arabs and take their place. In each attack, a decisive blow should be struck, resulting in the destruction of homes and the expulsion of the population."
David Ben Gurion, Israel's First Prime Minister
Letters to his son, 1937"
...

It is a shame that some strive for the death and destruction of the Jewish nation

The letter from David Neunuebel of April 7, 2005 is a good example of the bigotry and ignorance that passes for progressive thought among powerful members of the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Neunuebel states that "today there are more Christians in the Middle East than there are Jews in the whole world." This is very true. Christians and Muslims spent centuries conquering, killing and converting, while Jews were stateless, powerless and ultimately unable to prevent the genocide of their families and communities at the hands of European Christians. Mr. Neunuebel dishonestly claims that "Zionists were in bed with the Nazis both in Palestine and in Germany for years during WWII." Perhaps Mr. Neunuebel is referring to efforts by Jewish relief agencies to help Jews escape from Germany in the early 1930s, efforts that often required the consent of the German authorities. Only a person who has an obsessive dislike of the Jewish people can possibly condemn or disparage these rescue attempts, which saved thousands of Jewish lives, though they failed to save millions more.

Mr. Neunuebel is also being dishonest when he argues that "most Jews are not Zionists." Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people have a right to an independent state. In reality, almost every Jew in the world supports Zionism. While its certainly true that millions of Jews live outside of Israel, it is also true that millions of Irish, Italians, Greeks and Poles live outside of their own states. How many Americans of Greek birth or descent believe that the Greek people have no right to the state of Greece? Probably a handful, just as there are tiny insignificant groups of Jews who oppose Israel. Sadly, the Presbyterian Church parades the few members of these groups as "authentic Jewish voices." In truth they are authentic Jewish voices in the same manner as a pedophile priest is an authentic Catholic voice or the Rev. Jim Jones or David Koresh were authentic Protestant voices.

Mr. Neunuebel shows his Biblical knowledge when he states that "[m]any [Palestinians] can trace their family lineage back to Christ himself." In my church Christ was a Jew who had no children. Perhaps in Mr. Neunuebel's liturgy Christ converts to Islam (700 years before the birth of Muhammed) and raises a family.

Finally Mr. Neunuebel displays his ignorance of Israeli history and politics by claiming that the "Zionists" wish to drive the Arabs "into the sea." In reality there are over one million Arab citizens of Israel, who serve in its government, on its courts and vote in its elections. Meanwhile the hundreds of thousands of Jews of the Arab world were almost all driven from their homes and arrived to Israel as penniless refugees. The Big Lie that Israel has ambitions to drive the Arabs into the sea can be refuted by simply looking at a map of the region. Israel is so small as to be almost invisible. It is a shame that so many people who pass themselves off as Christians continue to strive for the punishment, humiliation, death and destruction of the Jewish nation. It is a disease that most Christian denominations have gotten over. Shamefully this sickness continues to infect many Presbyterians and their leaders.

Robert Hardage
New York

Letter writer makes several doubtful factual assertions

The letter written by David Neunuebel (April 7) was very enlightening. He informs us that, "Dr. Pentlin's suggestion that we've disregarded the history of the establishment of Israel is uninformed at best." If commissioners to the 216th General Assembly did have all of the information, a question naturally arises: Did they intend for the offices of the church to give a presentation of facts to members of the PCUSA and the press that willfully excluded most of this background material?

The leadership of the PCUSA and many like-minded people and groups have singly blamed the existence of the occupation for violence in the region. Since they publicly ignore the many and complex causes of conflict, the activities and views of Al Husseini (the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem) become both relevant and important. This is not an assertion that because one man held these views or took these actions, he thereby discredited Palestinian aspirations today. Rather, Al Husseini has had and continues (even since his death) to have a profound influence on Middle Eastern politics. Al Husseini was co-founder of the Arab League – which endorsed all four wars in the region and both Intifadas. Al Husseini founded the Muslim Brotherhood and the World Islamic Congress. His influence on Nasser is pronounced. As late as 2002, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Yasser Arafat compared himself to Al Husseini and referred to him as the hero of the Palestinian people.

Mr. Neunuebel also makes several doubtful factual assertions. He stated, "Most Jews are not Zionists;" but most Jews do support the state of Israel. He said of the Palestinians, "Many can trace their family lineage back to Christ himself;" in fact, no one alive can trace his or her physical ancestry to Christ. He said, "Today there are more Christians in the Middle East than there are Jews in the whole world;" however, there are currently around 12 million Christians in the Middle East while there are around 14 million Jews in the world. Neunuebel's assertion, "Besides, the Zionists were in bed with the Nazis both in Palestine and Germany for years during WWII," is extraordinarily misleading. It is true that the SS supported Zionism in 1934 and for several years thereafter because they supported a voluntary exodus of Jews from Europe; it is also true that Zionists cooperated with such emigration plans as well as the "transfer agreement." There is, however, an extraordinary difference between this and Al Husseini' s direct involvement in extermination projects in Bosnia during WWII; to imply otherwise is dishonest.

Will Spotts
North East, Md.

Real tears are being shed in Jewish households in Israel

David Neunuebel's letter [posted April 7, 2005] attempting to blame Israeli Jews for the PCUSA's divestiture decision uses quotes out of context to support his contentions. Tell me, Mr. Neunuebel, can you set aside the sophistry and name one Jew who has strapped-on explosives and murdered innocent civilians while killing himself in the process? No you can't. Only Muslims have done that.

Mr. Neunuebel, your crocodile tears are pathetic. There are real tears being shed in Jewish households in Israel and our PCUSA is on the wrong side – again and again and again.

Jack O'Brien
Pittsburgh, Pa.