I cannot remember being so restless about an international situation. I am a Christian with three Jewish grandparents. I receive anti-Semitic hate mail every week. To the bigots, my faith in Jesus is not as important as my Jewish blood. This I can tolerate.

What I find more troubling is the frequent polarization of Christian opinion on the subject of Israel and Palestine.

First, there is what can be broadly termed the Christian pacifist approach. Activists are seen on television marching with Palestinians and calling on Israeli soldiers to think again. Fair enough. But they have to understand a few things.

Jews ask where these Christian pacifists were during the Holocaust, when more than a third of them in Germany actually served in the military. Christians did not, repeat, did not produce the Holocaust. But the Holocaust did occur in what was known as Christendom.

Where, they continue, were the Christian pacifists when 800,000 Jews were thrown out of Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Jordan and elsewhere? The families of these people had lived in the Arab worlds for centuries, but were expelled with only the clothes on their back. Many were killed.

And why, they also ask, are there no Christian pacifists in Syria or Algeria, where Arabs are treated appallingly and slaughtered. An entire village wiped out in the former, hundreds of thousands killed in the latter. Frankly, if a group of eager young people went to these two countries to protest they would not get out again. No media to take pictures, no rule of law, no free courts.

Easter pain
A good, fine Mennonite woman wrote to me recently about Israel. She wrote of Easter, and how peace should descend at such a time. Amen to that. But empathy is vital here. She should know that Easter was traditionally the time of greatest fear for Jewish people in Europe. The local priest would fire up the congregation, and rape, murder and pogrom would result. No young people then standing between Jewish villagers and drunken mobs.

It has become almost fashionable to fly to Israel, drive to the West Bank and spend a few weeks with a Palestinian family. Then fly home to the suburbs. Perhaps they should spend an evening with what is left of the Koren (Hebrew uses a K) family in Israel, after a dad and two sons were blown to pieces whilst committing the very aggressive act of going to the store to buy some food for the family lunch.

Simply, some people have no safe suburbs to which to return. They want peace, compromise, mutual dignity. But their parents and grandparents went to Israel precisely because Christian Europe tried to eliminate them from the face of the earth.

Yet none of this can allow Israel the right to do whatever it wants. Terrorists must be stopped, but most Palestinians have no link to terror and simply want the same as their Israeli cousins—a safe and free state, self-worth, food and warmth, a future.

Because of prophecy
Because of prophecy, because of the biblical and moral need for a Jewish homeland, many Christians dehumanize Palestinians. They ought to remember that, apart from anything else, a large number of these people are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Yes, Arabs just like North Americans and Europeans, in relationship with Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah.

A Palestinian Christian friend told me the story of a pastor in the West Bank whose town suddenly came under Israeli fire. He ran with his daughters to a safe place. The girls became hysterical. Sheer terror. When the bombardment stopped the pastor went back to his home and turned on the television.

By chance there was an American evangelist interviewing the very same Israeli officer who had been directing the shelling of the pastor's town. The American was, in effect, wishing the Israeli luck in the attack and explaining that American Christians were behind him.

Well they're not. And must not be. Christians must be behind peace. We must seek to understand both sides, to fight anti-Semitism as well as anti-Arabism, and we must look for plausible and genuine alternatives to violence, whomever is the victim.

We must pray, must love, must act. Salaam, Shalom, Jesus, who must be weeping for His beloved homeland.

Michael Coren's new book, JRR Tolkien: The Man Who Created The Lord Of The Rings (Stoddart), is now available. He is the host nightly TV show Michael Coren Live, and a columnist for the Sun newspaper chain. Visit his web site: www.michaelcoren.com