Steve Conover: Welcome to The Friends of Israel Today. I'm Steve Conover. With me as our host and teacher, Chris Katulka. We have an exciting show for you once again this week. But before Chris comes, I'd like to remind you to visit our website foiradio.org. That's foiradio.org. We have over seven years worth of programming on our site for you to listen to, and I'd invite you to browse around and enjoy the content we offer there. And on our main ministry page, foi.org, you'll find trustworthy and accurate news on Israel and the Middle East. And while you're there, you can support our ministry by clicking on the donate button to help us continue teaching biblical truth about Israel and the Jewish people. Once again, that's foiradio.org.

Chris Katulka: That's right, Steve. Today, we actually have Ty Perry on during our Israel My Glory In Depth episode, and he's going to be talking about his article, The Never Ending Hatred, which is connected to our most recent issue of Israel My Glory, a biblical look at antisemitism. But before we get to that, let's see what's happening in the news.

After a series of mega earthquakes rocking Turkey and Syria, Israel is sending aid to these countries as they deal with the aftermath that killed more than 1500 people in the region. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel has received requests through diplomatic channels to assist Syria and that he would ensure the proper aid is provided. Well, here's my take. The images and news coming out of Turkey and Syria are absolutely horrifying. We need to continue to pray for those who are suffering as a result of these earthquakes and for God to grant wisdom to their leaders during this difficult time.

Additionally, we need to be praying for Israel who has taken a proactive role in helping Turkey in Syria, which shows that Israel has empathy and compassion toward their neighbors, especially Syria, who has considered Israel an enemy since 1948.

Chris Katulka: Well, everybody, it's always a joy to have Ty Perry, he is our Field Ministries manager for North American Ministries with the Friends of Israel, to be with us. He's not in the studio, but he is online, and he's able to share with us about his most recent article in Israel My Glory called The Never-Ending Hatred. And this is a very important article that he wrote, especially as we look at our most recent issue of Israel My Glory, which is all about antisemitism. Ty, it's great to have you on the program.

Ty Perry: Good to be with you, Chris. Thank you for having me.

Chris Katulka: Ty, I always like to start with the definition of antisemitism because a recent poll from 2020 found out that 21% of Americans more than one in five say they have never heard the term antisemitism before. And then additionally, 25% of Americans overall have heard of the term but are unsure of what it means. So it's important to define this term as we're going to be talking about antisemitism. So Ty, to make sure we're all on the same page here. What is antisemitism?

Ty Perry: Well, in a word, it's Jew hatred. It is the hatred of the Jewish people. There really is no term “semitism.” Antisemitism simply means a dislike or a hatred or a prejudice against the descendants of Shem. That’s where we get the term “Shemite.” And so to be antisemitic is specifically to hate the descendants of Shem, meaning the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So it's any manifestation, and there's many manifestations of antisemitism, but any manifestation of it that demonstrates a hatred for God's chosen people, Israel, the Jewish people.

Chris Katulka: So what does antisemitism look like today? Is it as blatant as it was during the Holocaust when Jewish people were being sent to their deaths for simply being Jewish? Or is it more nuanced today?

Ty Perry: It's certainly more nuanced. Thankfully, we're not to that point where it's resulting in widespread murder. But when you look at antisemitism today, we see that it has all the hallmarks of antisemitism in the days leading up to the Holocaust. There is a discrimination against Jewish people along political lines. And this is not the ground of only one political party. You see this in the United States on the left and on the right. Many of my Jewish friends often say, “we're blamed because we're communist, because the capitalists think we're communist, and the communists think we're capitalists.” They're too liberal, they're too conservative. It comes along those political lines. It comes along religious lines. We see this some within the church certainly, but we also see it with cults like the Black Hebrew Israelites. Certainly with those who are part of Islam.

So it's usually more nuanced in that it's not physical acts against Jewish people, although we're seeing those on the rise, particularly in New York City, but often it takes place online. It takes place in terms of comments that are made against Jewish people, really any way that it can be spread, it's being spread short of physical violence.

Chris Katulka: I like what you said too about antisemitism being online, because if you want to see antisemitism worked out right in front of you, I always tell people to go read YouTube comments on anything related to Israel. If there's a video related to Israel or if there's a video related to Jewish people in some way, somehow, people hide behind these names and they post incredibly antisemitic statements about Jewish people. Maybe it's something to do with money or maybe it's something to do with controlling the media, whatever.. Like you said, these statements that almost go back to leading up to the Holocaust in the early 20th century. You see it, you can read it. In fact, it's a problem that the ADL is talking about is that antisemitism is alive and well online.

But I want to talk really quickly about something that's even beyond social media. Recently, the House of Representatives voted to kick Minnesota Democratic representative Ilhan Omar off the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a decision that Republicans vowed to take because of Omar's history of antisemitism and anti-American remarks. She's been known to criticize Israel and America. She's equated both of the countries to Hamas and Taliban. She's received a lot of pushback when she suggested in 2019 that Jewish people were buying US political support when she said, "It's all about the Benjamins baby," she actually tweeted that she put that on social media. So again, we're seeing social media at work here with antisemitism. And that really struck a lot of the Republicans and a lot of Democrats as an antisemitic trope.

Okay, let's define this. What are antisemitic tropes? Why are they so dangerous and why would that get a congresswoman kicked out of a house committee?

Ty Perry: Sure. So the tropes are essentially stereotypes that we see all throughout the history of the Jewish people, particularly in modern history, for example, that Jewish people are controlling the banks, controlling the media. This is a very common thing, and we'll see that particularly on the far right in our country. On the far left, you see these tropes about the Jewish people being colonialized. And so that is very closely tied to Israel. That's why there's a fine line. There is a line, but it's a very fine line between being anti-Zionist and being antisemitic.

Chris Katulka: And that means that you're anti-Israel. To be anti-Zionist means anti-Israel. And that's a conversation to have in and of itself. But sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off there.

Ty Perry: No, that's exactly right. And so there is a line there because you can be critical of Israel and not be antisemitic, of course, but when you call for Israel's destruction or you call for Israel to meet certain standards that no other nation in the world is required to meet, then you have a double standard for the one Jewish state in the world.

Now, when it comes to “why is this so dangerous?” with what Representative Omar has said, it's because she is in a place of power and a position of power on this committee in the most powerful nation on earth that has historically been a safe haven for the Jewish people. And her rhetoric is the same type of rhetoric that was used to justify the genocide of the Jewish people. So we don't want to limit freedom of speech certainly, but when you're in a position of power on a committee like that for the United States government, you're held to a higher standard. And so your rhetoric does indeed have consequences. And in her case, it meant being removed from this committee, which I think was applauded by certainly all Republicans and many Democrats.

Chris Katulka: I'm really glad that you brought up the topic of why antisemitism is a problem, especially with the words that representative Ilhan Omar had said. But I was recently reading an article, Ty, from Mattie Friedman. It's an Atlantic piece that goes back to 2014. And it was fascinating because he was even talking about media's kind of running the fine line between anti-Zionism, hatred of Israel, and antisemitism. And he was saying how even the media elite that work out of Jerusalem from the Foreign Press, it's almost as if they have this issue with the “Jewish moral failure,” he called it. And they write articles, not even so much to balance what's going on in the Middle East to present truth, but to say, "Hey, these Jewish people are everything that's wrong in the world. They're colonialists, they're Zionists, they're all of these things."

This is an Atlantic piece. And so maybe you want to comment on that. But Mattie Friedman, I think it opened my eyes to really what the media was doing when it comes to ... I don't want to go over a line and say it's all antisemitism, but it definitely rides that line and can enter into dangerous territory.

Ty Perry: It does and it can. And one of the things, Brooke Goldstein at the Law Fair Project does some good work on this. And one of the issues we're seeing is that whether it's the anti-Zionism or it's blatant antisemitism here in the United States or around the world, the media often turns a blind eye to it as does the government. If it's racism of any sort against people of color or against people of different faiths, it's usually addressed. But when it comes to the Jewish people, I would say there's a reason. But the world would say, “well, for some reason we're not addressing them.” And that's a shame, and it's antisemitic in itself.

Chris Katulka: I want to encourage you right now to go to foiradio.org. If you have never subscribed to Israel My Glory magazine, I want to offer you a one-year free subscription to either our print edition or our online edition. This will give you six free issues that will come right to your door or online where you're going to be able to engage with what the scriptures teach about Israel and the Jewish people, the Christian trends that are happening in relationship to Israel. We really here at The Friends of Israel, we really believe that Israel is the centerpiece of what God is doing globally as God continues to have a plan for Israel and the Jewish people. And we want you to be informed about that, and that's why you need to get your hands on a copy of Israel My Glory magazine. You can subscribe for our print edition or our online edition, our digital edition, by going to foiradio.org.

And if I can add just one more thing, when you get our digital edition, not only do you get the most current issue, but you also get the last 40 years of Israel My Glory right in the palm of your hand by reading it on your phone, on your tablet, or even on your computer. Again, don't forget to go to foiradio.org to get your one-year free subscription to Israel My Glory, and to be able to read Ty's article, which is very important, The Never-Ending Hatred.

Chris Katulka: Ty, it's great to have this conversation with you about antisemitism. And antisemitism or Jew-hatred isn't a modern phenomenon at all that just appeared within the past 200 years. You actually, in your article, call it a “millennia-long struggle of the Jewish people.” And so my question is, what's the root of this intolerance toward Jewish people?

Ty Perry: Well, there's a lot of theories about this in the world. Certainly there's the idea of the “other,” the Jewish people stand out, and so they are a prime target. But I think the real rationale goes much deeper. From Genesis 3 onward, God had made this prophecy in Genesis 3 to Satan actually, and he tells him that there's coming this person, we call him the Mashiach, the Messiah, the head crusher, who's going to come and he's going to crush Satan's head, even though Satan will bruise his heel, he will crush his head. And as we go throughout Scripture, the identity of that person becomes clearer. We come to Genesis 12, we now know it's going to come not only from Adam and through the line of Shem, but it's going to come specifically through Abraham and then through Isaac and his son Jacob, and then specifically through the tribe of Judah.

From that time on, we see this hatred of those people in an attempt to annihilate that line through whom the Messiah's going to come. God loves the Jewish people. He's tied his name to that people. He ties his name to the place that the land that he gives them, Israel. And so throughout history, we see that antisemitism at its core is satanic. It is a hatred of the Jewish people that the world is all too ready to get onboard with and to perpetuate. But ultimately, at its core, it's satanic.

Chris Katulka: Yeah, it really is Satan attempting to thwart God's plan. I always like to say that Satan hates what God loves.

Ty Perry: Exactly.

Chris Katulka: Satan has attempted to thwart God's plan with the Jewish people, and Satan also is trying to thwart the plan that God has for the church and ministering the gospel all around the world. And so whatever God loves and God has given purpose to, Satan tries to thwart. And antisemitism, like you said, it goes back to the earliest parts of the Scriptures where Satan is attempting to annihilate God's plan.

Ty Perry: And if I might say Chris, at the Friends of Israel, we believe Jewish people have a bright future. One of the practical reasons for why we believe that is we see that the Jewish people are continually persecuted. It didn't end with the coming of the Messiah. It's still happening, and there's a reason for that. God has promises yet to fulfill to this people. He has a future for them.

Chris Katulka: Ty, again, in your article, you have this section that's titled Scattered, and you write this: “wherever the Jewish people have settled, persecution has followed.” Why is that?

 

Ty Perry: Well, just take it back to the Scripture in Deuteronomy 28, God makes it plain right in the Torah that one of the results of Israel's disobedience to him would be that they would be scattered, they'd be sent throughout the four corners of the Earth, and wherever they go, they're going to be persecuted by the Gentiles. And this is not necessarily that God is going to incite them to persecute. They're already, they're ready to persecute the Jewish people. And so wherever they are, they're going to be persecuted, first of all on a human basis because throughout history, we've seen this for many reasons, they're different. Their worship is different, their culture is different.

Throughout Christian Europe, historically, they've been blamed for killing Christ. Every generation has been, but part of this also is that it's part of God's judgment on them for a time period where he takes his hand of protection off of them. Now he says he's never going to allow them to be destroyed, but he is going to take his hand of protection off of them. And the Gentiles who are all too willing to persecute them wherever they are, they will go after the Jewish people.

Chris Katulka: Yeah, and it's amazing when you follow the migration patterns of Jewish people throughout the past 2000 years, it's always been associated with the persecution that's come as a result of, like you said, the nations coming in and scattering them. It's fascinating to see, even starting in 70 AD when the temple was destroyed, 135 AD when they're kicked out of the land, wherever they went, they would settle, they would create a community. Honestly, they would bless the society around them.

Ty Perry: Very much.

Chris Katulka: And then all of a sudden they would become the issue for everybody, and then they'd have to go and move to find refuge somewhere else. If you think about it, America is a great place of refuge like you had mentioned in our earlier segment, but many Jewish people were moving here to find freedom, to be able to worship and to be Jewish apart from antisemitism.

Ty Perry: Yes, exactly. And you look at pre-Holocaust, Germany was very much like the United States in terms of it being a liberal society where the Jewish people, they fit in, they blended in, they thought this is going to be a safe haven forever. As it turns out, it was not. And for many of our Jewish friends, they're starting to get worried about what's happening in the United States. They're seeing some of the same patterns.

Chris Katulka: This is for our listeners, 60% of recorded hate crimes are directed toward the Jewish people, and that's here in the United States. So when you think about recorded hate crimes happening all around the US and you hear what's going on in the news, rarely do you ever hear that 60% of them, the vast majority of hate crimes are directed toward the Jewish people, and that's here in the United States.

Hey, Ty, I got one more question for you, especially as we end with thinking about the fact that antisemitism is alive and well, it's still even here present in the United States, in Europe, in the Middle East. Ty, how should we as followers of Christ biblically understand antisemitism that's been going on for thousands of years, and what should we do?

Ty Perry: Well, fundamentally, we need to understand that it's satanic, that it is an evil thing. In terms of what to do, I think this is really where we need some teaching on this. Christians are not called to just sit idly by and hope that their Jewish neighbors are not persecuted. We need to be the best friend that Jewish people have. We should be with them vocally standing up against antisemitism. I think of, whenever we talk about this, I always think of Matthew 25 because in Matthew 25, Jesus talks about these people during the Tribulation. So during the time of Israel's greatest persecution, which is yet future, there are people who will protect the Jewish people, and he tells them, when the Messiah returns, he talks to these people and he says, "When I was hungry, you fed me. When I was naked, you clothed me." And he goes through this whole line of things where they helped him and they say, "When did we ever see you hungry and feed you or naked and clothe you?"

And he says, “When you did it under the least of these, my brethren.” Now we can use that for a lot of different social causes, that's fine. But in context, he's speaking about these believers' treatment of the Jewish people. And I think that's a great way for us, a great model for believers today, even though this is yet future, but it's to say we are called from Genesis 12 where we're called to be a blessing to Abraham all the way through the end of time. Believers are always those who are identified with blessing God's people never with cursing. So when it comes to antisemitism, we have got to be the ones standing with them and standing up for them.

Chris Katulka: I love that, especially since we're biblically minded. I go back to Genesis 12:3 all the time. God said,  “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” That was actually a promise to Abraham of protection against the nations, those nations, whether they were believers or not, who blessed you, God would bless, those who cursed, God would curse. But if there's anybody that should be blessing Israel and the Jewish people, it's Bible-believing Christians who trust in God's Word because it's all right there in the Scriptures.

Ty Perry: That’s right.

Chris Katulka: Ty, thank you so much. Hey, listen. For our listeners who are tuned in right now, this is your opportunity to get a hold of Ty's article through our most recent issue of Israel My Glory. And you can do that by going to foiradio.org. And if you've never subscribed to our magazine, again, you get a one-year free subscription. Ty, thank you so much for being with us.

Ty Perry: Thank you, Chris. Always a pleasure.

Steve Conover: Thank you so much for joining us for today's program. It's been a real joy having Ty Perry as our guest. Chris, where are we headed next week?

Chris Katulka: Yeah, Steve, over the next four weeks, we're going to be studying the prophet Hosea, not only to see the judgment that was coming on Israel from the prophet, but also the great hope that awaits them.

Steve Conover: Our host and teacher is Chris Katulka. Today's program was produced by Tom Gallione. Our theme music was composed and performed by Jeremy Strong. And I'm Steve Conover, executive producer. Our mailing address is FOI Radio PO Box 914 Bellmawr, New Jersey, 08099. Again, that's FOI Radio PO Box 914 Bellmawr, New Jersey 08099. And I'll give you one last quick reminder to visit us at foiradio.org.

The Friends of Israel Today is a production of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. We are a worldwide evangelical ministry, proclaiming biblical truth about Israel and the Messiah, while bringing physical and spiritual comfort to the Jewish people.