Israel’s "New" European Friends

Czech Rally Sends Message To EU

David Parsons, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem
April 22, 2004

PRAGUE -- Clothed in spring, the city of Prague has an inexhaustible storybook charm, the jewel of a Czech people that have gracefully endured centuries of oppressive overlords, only to emerge as a freedom-loving nation and symbol of the "new" Europe.

Ahead of a large rally against anti-Semitism he organized in Prague on Sunday, Dr. Mojmir Kallus, national director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ)-Czech branch, explained why he believes his country is uniquely positioned to help change Europe’s slanted policies and views on Israel as it enters the European Union this summer.

"The Czech Republic has often been an island of democracy amid a sea of totalitarianism," said Kallus.

"First the Austrian Empire came and imposed Catholicism on the Protestant majority. Then the Nazis marched in after the Western democracies abandoned us to Hitler in 1938. We were betrayed again at Yalta to appease Stalin and two decades later when Soviet tanks crushed the ‘Prague Spring’ uprising."

"As a people, we have come to truly appreciate our freedoms and sympathize with Israel as a small, democratic country surrounded by dictators," said Kallus. "It was actually Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War that inspired our own popular revolt against communism in 1968."

"We also used to look to the democracies of Western Europe as models for our own aspirations," he added, "but now we feel we have something to teach them."

The ICEJ sponsored rally, held on the nation’s official Holocaust Remembrance Day in a picturesque garden inside the historic Czech parliament complex, conveyed an important opening message.

Attended by over 1,000 leaders and members of the Christian, Jewish and secular communities, the event aimed to apply the lessons of the Holocaust to the problems of our day, particularly the scourge of global terrorism.

The Mayor of Prague, members of parliament and prominent Jewish and Christian leaders (including Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox clergy) heard a Jewish survivor of the Terezin concentration camp lament that today’s youths in Eastern Europe remember being freed from Soviet communism but they know little about what really happened to her generation under Nazism.

Czechoslovakia lost over 77,000 Jews to the Nazi death camps, more than 80% of its Jewish population. Today, 3,000 Jews remain.

Next, the son of a Czech Christian couple declared "Righteous Gentiles" for saving 12 Jewish lives, recalled how his parents risked everything by hiding them in a barn among the cows for months on end.

"I inherited my parents’ love for the Bible and for the Jewish people," said Jan Ostrolucky. "My father knew that without them, we would not have salvation."

In his remarks to the gathering, Israeli Ambassador to Prague Arthur Avnon noted that another six Czech families have just been recognized as Righteous Gentiles by Yad Vashem.

"In the Holocaust, most Europeans were passive, unconcerned for the fate of the Jews," said Amb. Avnon. "But now many of you are concerned -- about fascist groups, about vandalism and attacks on Jewish properties and persons."

"Israel is determined never to leave Jews unprotected again, but we cannot do it alone. We need friends like we have in the Czech government and in the International Christian Embassy."

Dr. Shimon Samuels, European director for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, then drew on the "universal lessons of the Holocaust" to challenge the Czech Republic and EU to outlaw suicide terrorism as a "crime against humanity."

"We have seen that what happens to the Jews first eventually happens to others," said Samuels. "Today, a concerted campaign of suicide bombings against Jews in Israel has crossed the threshold into a global intifada and the systematic, widespread use of suicide terrorism."

Over recent years the international community has been unable to agree on a definition of "terrorism," explained Samuels, but the post-Holocaust Nuremburg Declaration defines "crimes against humanity" as pursuing a goal through a campaign of murder, genocide or "any other inhumane acts that outrage the conscience of mankind."

"Taking this step would put on notice all those who brainwash children to be suicide bombers, those who recruit them, the command-and-control networks and those who finance, promote and protect them. You may be getting away with it for the moment, but one day we will hold you accountable," said Samuels.

Known for hunting down Nazis decades after their war crimes, the Wiesenthal Center’s challenge would mean that, as a crime against humanity, acts of suicide terrorism would not be subject to any statute of limitations and all nations would be required to combat them. Also, there is absolutely no goal or excuse (ending occupation, asymmetry of forces) that would exonerate a state or group engaging in suicide terrorism, said Samuels.

In the weeks before Sunday’s rally, Kallus was able to secure the endorsement of a number of Czech politicians and church leaders on the Wiesenthal initiative, and the government is seriously considering pushing it when they join the EU in coming months.

In addition, Kallus said he has polled the leaders of the three major Czech parties vying for seats at the European Parliament, and they all are determined to alter the EU’s traditional appeasement policies towards the Arabs.

The Czech Republic is one of 10 Central and Eastern European nations poised to enter the EU on May 2nd, and Slovakia and Hungary also seem intent on promoting a more pro-Israel agenda, according to Kallus and others.

This infusion of the "new Europe" will come at the same time that the European Coalition for Israel, a Christian initiative, will establish its permanent presence in Brussels.

This pan-European alliance of Christian organizations will be the first official pro-Israel lobby at the EP and is committed to building support for the Jewish State and to standing against the rising tide of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in Europe.

The Coalition had its official launch in early March, during a special conference on anti-Semitism in Brussels organized in conjunction with the European Parliament and the European Jewish Congress. The founding members of the coalition are Bridges for Peace, Christians for Israel International, Christian Friends of Israel and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.

If Sunday’s rally among the captivating gardens and spires of Prague is any indication, there should be many members of the EP’s new guard ready and willing to work with Christians for fairer treatment of Israel.

David Parsons is the editor of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) News Service.