Antisemitism will only ultimately be beaten when Jesus returns, a spokesman for Chosen People Ministries told a zoom meeting in Britain.
Speaking on the issue from the United States, Olivier Melnick, a Jewish believer originally from France, warned Christians that “we could be inches away from mass murder of Jews,” which is where things are headed due to worrying factors such as apathy, misinformation and people getting away with outrageous insults.
A particularly worrying factor was that antisemitism was not on the radar of most Christians as they did not consider themselves affected by it.
“But silence is complicity,” said Olivier, reminding participants of German pastor Martin Niemoller’s famous quote suggesting that if we did not stand up for others, there would be no-one left to speak for us.
Melnick cited a recent case in France where a man has walked free for throwing a Jew out of the window to his death on the basis that he was high on cannabis, whereas French law dictates that you can be imprisoned for simply throwing a pet out of the window.
He further warned that some may soon be forced into civil disobedience when the law no longer protected Jews, citing the case of Anne Frank in Nazi-occupied Holland. “Those who hid Anne Frank were breaking the law; those who killed her were following the law.”
Antisemitism, he said, would “only be fully dealt with when Jesus returns. But we must fight it; we must be vocal against it.”
Doing so also enables us to build bridges with the Jewish people and earns the right to speak to them about Jesus – many Jews are still under the impression that the church was complicit in antisemitism over the centuries.
You can listen to the recording of the CMJ UK Online Event here on our YouTube Channel and download Olivier's PowerPoint here.
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