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On college campuses across the country, anti-Israel activists are pushing the "BDS" movement---which advocates for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctioning of Israeli products.
Portland State University, a 28,076 student university located in downtown Portland, is a national leader in the BDS movement.
But would students go a step further than boycotting, and actually help fund terrorists in bombing "soft targets" such as schools, places of worship, hospitals and cafes?
The response is chilling.
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Filmaker Ami Horowitz recently visited the Portland State campus to discover just how far anti-Israel students would be willing to go.
Posing as a representative from "American Friends for Hamas," a fake organization, Horowitz was able to raise hundreds of dollars from students willing to help terrorists bomb "soft targets" in Israel.
This is a link to his video. The student response is chilling---and stunning.
Horowitz tells students "We're not your father's terrorist organization, we're kind of rebuilt and re-branded---it's BDS at the next level. There's BDS and we're like, BDS plus."
At one point in the video, Horowitz says, "The suicide bomber is all we've got because it's like the poor man's F-16."
The student responds with, "Right, right."
Another student--a woman in the video says she'll donate $27 because that's the amount she gave to Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.
Horowitz was able to raise hundreds of dollars in a few minutes, to advance not a boycott, but acts of terrorism toward Israel.
Portland State University is one of the hot spots in America for advancing the BDS.
But unfortunately, it's not the only place where this is happening.
Are a majority of those supporting BDS willing to take the next step and actually fund terrorism against Israel?
In a New York Times op-ed, Professor Eric Alderman writes that some Jewish students are targeted and even removed from certain pro-Palestine lectures where he teaches at the City University of New York---he says regularly there are arguments which sometimes turn ugly, with demands being made to "bar" Zionists from campus.
He explains, "At private colleges and universities, pressure to suppress pro-boycott activities is usually administered quietly by donors or alumni and rarely makes the news. But at publicly funded institutions, boycott-related arguments inspire politicians to legislate punishment if the school refuses to shut them down."
Alderman's cure for the problem is pretty much the same as others in education---on both sides of the issue--- "By protecting the right to free speech and expression, while simultaneously demanding civility and respectful discourse on all sides, universities can take care of these problems..."
The professor is, at best, naive.
This sounds much like President Obama demanding respect from ISIS, telling them to "stop it, or else."
The issue of Israel runs deeper than it appears to the secularists.
The AJC, a Global Jewish Advocacy organization has a much more realistic view of what is really happening.
In their article, "5 Things You Need To Know About BDS On Campus," they lay out the realities in these 5 points: (1) BDS has arrived on campus in full force, (2) BDS is dividing students, (3) BDS creates a toxic campus environment, (4) Academic associations are voting to boycott Israel and (5) BDS doesn't advance the cause of peace.
Theirs is a true political view of the issue.
But the relationship between the biblical Christian and Israel is different---it's not political, but very clear.
Nowhere is our relationship more clearly defined than in Genesis 12:2,3: "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
That's pretty clear.
We now know how God will bless "all the peoples on earth" through Israel.
John writes, "Salvation is from the Jews." (Jn. 4:22) God became flesh through a Jewish virgin.
Secularists don't understand or even believe Scripture, and can be easily misled by secularist professors.
However, some of the strongest attacks against Israel come not from government education, but from some mainline denominational churches.
An example: Rev. Diane Dulin, a retired United Church of Christ pastor from Oregon who now works with an anti-Israel organization, Kairos USA, has produced literature that is very anti-Israel, but according to her text, is biblical.
Dulin has also lectured at Portland State University. And other schools.
To demonize modern-day Israeli Jews, Dulin characterizes them as perpetrating the same evils done in the First Century in New Testament accounts---particularly in Luke.
Citing the gospel, she says that Jesus "laments the headstrong rush to ruin which seems to be in Jerusalem's DNA" which she says includes "killing the prophets" and "stoning those sent by God."
In essence, they killed Christ and the prophets and must now be held responsible. And Israel is self-destructive anyway.
She then provides a litany of misdeeds by Israel, much Like Obama has done regarding America when he has been speaking in other countries.
Her writing is used by her own United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church and other mainline denominations who seek to advance an anti-Israel narrative in their teaching.
The growing hatred toward Israel, including some students who are ready to help fund terrorist acts against them, is not born entirely in the citizen-funded, government-run classrooms of America.
It is birthed at the intersection of church and state.
While these same folks advocate fervently for separation of church and state on most issues, these churches and the state are snuggly tucked in together on the issue of Israel.
One driven by rebellion toward God, the other by having lost their way, their mission, their identity---and are now trying to re-authenticate themselves with a new and relevant identity.
John defined our state of affairs when he wrote (Jn. 1:5) of the Messiah who came from the Jews, "In Him was life and the life was the Light of men, and the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not."
God Help Us.
Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Blessed.