I am currently working on a Stand with Israel event scheduled for August 24 from 7pm-10pm. This is a Wednesday night so I understand if you feel it would be a issue to cancel your planned teaching to come to the capitol. I have been working with people representing Restoring Courage that takes place actually in Israel on Aug. 24. We have been organizing groups across the state who may be intereste
d in setting up viewing parties for those in our community that do to the heat or other ailments may not be able to attend. I feel your facilities would be of great benefit to our community if it would be possible to host a viewing party. I would also ask that you inform your congregation of our plans to Stand at the capitol and our reasons why we fill it is our duty to do so.
• A two state solution as proposed by our President would leave a large part Israel less than 10 miles from border to sea.
• in July 2009, Khaled Meshal, Hamas's Damascus-based political bureau chief, said the organization was willing to cooperate with "a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict which included a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders," provided that Palestinian refugees hold the right to return to Israel and that East Jerusalem be the new nation's capital.
• The Hamas Charter (or Covenant), issued in 1988, outlined the organization's position on many issues at the time, identifies Hamas as the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine and declares its members to be Muslims who "fear God and raise the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors."
• The charter states "our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious" and calls for the eventual creation of an Islamic state in Palestine, in place of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and the obliteration or dissolution of Israel.
• Among the charter's controversial statements is the following: "The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews [and kill them]; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: Oh Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!” The document also quotes Islamic religious texts to provide justification for fighting against and killing the Jews of Israel. I know this is not something people want to hear from the pulpit, but it is the truth. May I add that it is a small piece from the charter and by far not the worst. There are people in this world that believe the exact opposite of what you hold to be true. The Issue is these people are not setting at home doing nothing. They are definitely not in the same opinion as us that every man has the right to choose. I need you to recognize the struggle the Jewish people are dealing with at this very moment. If we choose to say nothing, or sit when I am asking you to stand then there will be no one left to Stand against a Islamic State in place of Israel. As history has shown us when evil speaks it usually acts when there is no one standing in its way. We as a nation have always been slow to recognize evil, not because we are not looking but because we are in awe of the blatant disregard for human life. We are in need of people of faith to reconnect with their values and the need for these values in the world. We are the good people. The people who cannot handle seeing people suffer. We have a opportunity to come together despite our differences and stand for what we believe in. Stand and be thankful that we have the right to disagree and the courage to Stand together.
