He may be the most intelligent theoretical physicist in the known universe, but when it comes to Israel, Stephen Hawking is just as susceptible to Islamic propaganda as many lesser mortals.
 
Seems he’s fallen for the phoney “Palestinians are pathetic victims of the evil colonial Zionists” and “consequently, Israel must be boycotted,” narratives.
 
Hawking has declined an invitation to attend the Israeli Presidential Conference next month, a decision which has aroused dismay by his Israeli hosts and applause from the Palestinian academic community.
 
 

The Israeli Presidential Conference, now in its fifth year, brings together statesmen and leading experts in various disciplines to discuss ways to address the world’s problems. The goal, organizers say, is to identify challenges and propose solutions.

 
 
Perhaps Mr. Hawking needs to educate himself a bit on the facts behind the Israeli-PLO conflict. In reality, as CanadaFreePress reported last week, the current Israeli Government has reiterated that it stands ready to resume peace negotiations with the PLO without pre-conditions.
But, surprise(!), Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected this overture. Instead ~

Abbas has taken unilateral steps outside the negotiating processes laid down under the Oslo Accords and the Bush Roadmap including:
 
1. Disbanding the Palestinian Authority – the party designated by the Oslo Accords to negotiate with Israel on a final peace treaty
 
2. Seeking and gaining admission of Palestine as a member state of UNESCO and a non-member State observer at the UN
 
3. Declaring himself President of the country of Palestine on 3 January this year and traversing the world’s capitals seeking recognition and the establishing of ambassadors and embassies in the world’s most recently created country.

Upon hearing of Hawking’s declination, Raheem Kassam (Executive Editor for The Commentator and director of the counter-extremism pressure group, ‘Student Rights’) penned an Open Letter to the scientist ~

… I must let you know that as someone whose upbringing was steeped in the dogma of groupthink and mysticism, it was in part your work that made me realise what more there was in life. What questions the universe raised, why we should be skeptical of over-simplified and lazy explanations, and importantly, to never stop asking these questions.
 
Your approach to rationality, as well as that of your contemporaries, has opened up new doors for millions of people. The way we think, the way we act, the way we go about our lives, have all been impacted by the work you have dedicated your life to.
 
Sadly, however, I now believe that you are the latest in a line of celebrities, academics and politicians who are being misled by the closed-minded, closed-shop style of debate that I know you to have rejected over the majority of your life.
 
You see, you taught people to question things – but your involvement with the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine reflects that you have either abdicated your commitment to the scientific method, or you simply have abdicated your sense of morality.

 
Yep, clearly very smart; not too wise.

Since he took a pass on the conference, Hawking must have gotten a lot of blow-back, because he’s now saying that he’s unable to attend due to health reasons. (Oddly enough, he had no trouble visiting Iran in 2007 for the International Physics Olympiad.) However, that’s more than a little inconsistent with his original declination ~

“I accepted the invitation to the Presidential Conference with the intention that this would not only allow me to express my opinion on the prospects for a peace settlement but also because it would allow me to lecture on the West Bank.
 
However, I have received a number of emails from Palestinian academics. They are unanimous that I should respect the boycott. In view of this, I must withdraw from the conference.
 
Had I attended, I would have stated my opinion that the policy of the present Israeli government is likely to lead to disaster.”

 
Here are a few facts for Mr. Hawking:
Palestine – the Reality
Hamas-Israel Conflict – a Primer for Slow Learners
 

Apparently it wasn’t just those dreaded Tea Party people that Uncle Sam was after: IRS Targeted Well-Known Christian Ministries. That’s right, as part of the Obama administration’s anti-Christian crusade, Red State reports that the following non-profit groups were also singled out for audits: the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Samaritan’s Purse and the Biblical Recorder – the newspaper of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention.
 
Franklin Graham, Billy’s son and president of Samaritan’s Purse, wrote to the White to register his dismay ~

“I am bringing this to your attention because I believe that someone in the Administration was targeting and attempting to intimidate us,” wrote (Graham) in a letter Tuesday to President Obama. “This is morally wrong and unethical – indeed some would call it ‘un-American.’”
 
…. The IRS eventually cleared both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, but Graham noted that the audit cost the ministries money.
 
“Unfortunately, while these audits not only wasted taxpayer money, they wasted money contributed by donors for ministry purposes, as we had to spend precious resources servicing the IRS agents in our offices,” Graham wrote.

 
This isn’t the first time Big Brother has attempted to derail Samaritan’s Purse’s charitable activities. In 2011, cadets at the Air Force Academy were ordered not to solicit donations to Operation Christmas Child.
 

OK – this one really infuriates me! Samaritan’s Purse is a wonderful Christian charitable organization, one that I donate to regularly ~
 

 
I’m sure they already have a team dispatched to Granbury, Texas in the wake of the tornadoes. Last month they were quick to arrive on the scene of the fertilizer plant explosion in West, TX. They’ve provided resources and assistance for virtually every natural disaster in years – nationally and internationally.
In fact, it’s safe to say Samaritan’s Purse does more every year to help those in need – both here in the U.S., and around the world – than Barack Obama will do in his entire lifetime!
 

So what’s the deal?! Suddenly an organization who helps others in Jesus’ name is being intimidated? In America?! It is immoral!

Through over 30 years of earthquakes, hurricanes, wars, and famine, Franklin has led the ministry in following the Biblical example of the Good Samaritan all across the globe. God has blessed the organization under Franklin’s leadership, and the ministry has seen explosive growth.
 
“Go and do likewise,” Christ commanded after explaining the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. So we do. Samaritan’s Purse travels the world’s highways looking for victims along the way. We are quick to bandage the wounds we see, but like the Samaritan, we don’t stop there. In addition to meeting immediate, emergency needs, we help these victims recover and get back on their feet.
 
No matter where we go or what we do, we offer more than help. We offer hope. To suffering people in a broken world, we share the news of the only One who can bring true peace—Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.

There is really only have one word for a government (and its leader) who attempts to thwart an organization like Samaritan’s Purse: EVIL.
 

May 14, 2013 – Up-date:

Unfortunately, today the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Obama Administration’s denial of asylum granted to the Romeike family.
Apparently the Romelikes are part of the wrong demographic. (And pseuedo-Conservative Marco Rubio is too busy trying to give amnesty to illegals to be concerned…)
 
From the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA)~

The Romeikes fled Germany in 2008 when they were subjected to criminal prosecution for homeschooling. They were granted asylum in 2010 by Immigration Judge Lawrence O. Burman, but that grant was overturned by the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2012. A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit heard the Romeikes’ appeal on April 23 in Cincinnati, and issued today’s unanimous decision against the family.

 
HSLDA plans to appeal. Please keep the Romelike’s in your prayers.

Originally posted on April 25, 2013 ~

 
Suspicious young men on student visas from predominately Muslim countries… ? No problem. Instead, the Obama administration is focused like a laser on the real threat to our national security: Homeschooling German Christians ~
 

 
That’s right. The UK Daily Mail reported on the Romeikes’ story last month: Home-schooling family who fled to U.S. from Germany face deportation: Parents face charges and $9,000 fine for taking kids out school as Obama officials prepare to send them back.
 

Some history ~

The German government prevented Uwe and Hannelore Romeike from teaching their five children at home instead of sending them to government-run schools, fining them and threatening to prosecute them if they (didn’t) obey.
 
When they took their three oldest children out of school in 2006, police showed up at their house within 24 hours, only leaving after a group of supporters showed up and organized a quick protest.
 
But their legal troubles were just beginning. Germany began fining the family, ultimately racking up a bill of more than 7,000 Euros ($9,000).
 
After they fled to the United States in 2010, the Romeike family found a home in Tennessee.

When they arrived here, a U.S. court granted political asylum to the family on the basis of religious persecution in Germany. But then, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) decided to appeal the asylum decision in 2012. Why?
 
Unbelievably, the Obama administration hasn’t provided any real justification for their action. Although, according to Attorney General Holder; banning homeschooling wouldn’t violate fundamental liberties.
 
Oh really?
As the Daily Mail reports ~

Germany made school attendance mandatory in 1918. During the Nazi era, that law was made even more restrictive to ensure that young Germans were indoctrinated with Adolph Hitler’s national socialist ideology.
 
The German Supreme Court has ruled that it wants to ‘counteract the development of religious and philosophically motivated parallel societies,’ Michael Farris (founding chairman Home School Legal Defense Association) explained. ‘And that’s a direct quote.’
 
‘We want to give them a safe harbor. That’s what asylum is for.’

 
Hey isn’t that what the first Europeans came to America for; freedom from religious persecution? Guess that was a long time ago…
 
Fast-forward to the enlightened 21st century, where it seems Obama & Co. don’t believe parents have a fundamental right to educate their own children. Four hundred years after the pilgrims arrived, the ruling class gets to decide what worldview will be imposed on the peasants.
 

Here’s a short video produced by the HSLDA who sued the US Department of Justice on behalf of the family ~

Michelle Malkin has a great piece posted today that ties in nicely with this story ~ America’s Insane Asylum for Jihadists, Hustlers and Frauds. As she reports, asylum and refugee claimants are being rubber-stamped at all-time-high rates.
 
Except for people like the Romeike’s!
 
Who are the sort of families the Obama Administration grants asylum to these days? Well, those like the Boston Marathon bombers’ ~

Though they had convinced the U.S. that they faced deadly persecution, the Tsarnaevs’ parents both returned to their native land and were there when their sons launched last week’s terror rampage. Authorities will not reveal any details of the sob stories the Tsarnaevs originally spun to win asylum benefits for the entire family.

 
What an appalling double standard!

 
The Daily Mail article concludes with this assessment of the Romeike’s case from HSLDA’s Farris ~

He believes there are likely only three possibilities that would explain why the Obama administration is working so hard to deport the Romeike family.
 
‘It could be that the government is just anti-homeschooling, or anti-religious-freedom,’ Farris said. ‘Or perhaps they have some deal with the German government.’
 
‘I don’t know which it is, but none of the options is pretty.’

Please go HERE to sign a petition in support of the Romeike’s.
 

Here’s a bit of positive news – as Ken Klukowski at Breitbart reported earlier today; Congress wants some answers from Chuck Hagel. This morning the House of Representatives dispatched two letters to the Defense Secretary ~

The first letter demanded that Hagel explain why Pentagon brass met with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein. It highlighted various disturbing statements Weinstein has made—most of which were first reported by Breitbart News—such as calling Christians “monsters,” and claiming sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ an act of “treason” and equating it with “rape.”
 
Now a second letter has gone to Hagel, co-sponsored by Congressmen Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Doug Lamborn (R-CO). The letter reminds Hagel that—as Breitbart News previously reported—Congress enacted Section 533 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to protect freedom of religious belief and conscience for all men and women serving in uniform, with a special focus on military chaplains.

 
In addition to the Pentagon’s ill-considered consultation with radical anti-Christian Weinstein, other recent events seem to indicate a growing hostility to traditional religious values and practices in our military ~

• A recently revealed power point presentation used in equal opportunity training in an Army reserve unit in Pennsylvania included evangelical Christians, Catholics, Mormons, Sunni Muslims, and some Jews on a list of religious extremist groups alongside groups like Al Qaeda and Hamas.
• A memo regarding visitation policies at Walter Reed issued in December 2011 prohibited visitors from bringing Bibles and other religious materials on the premises.
• A particularly concerning memorandum issued on September 1, 2011, General Norton A. Schwartz prohibited commanders from notifying Airmen about Chaplain Corps programs, stating that only Air Force chaplains are trained to provide leadership on religious matters.

 
Sadly, considering President Obama’s Tin Ear Toward the Persecuted Christians, protecting “the constitutionally guaranteed right of religious freedom for our servicemembers and chaplains” will remain an ongoing challenge as long as the Leftists are in charge.

… the Religion of Peace wages war on Christianity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While we may or may not finally be learning the truth about the administration’s mishandling of the Libyan crisis last September, there are other stories out of Benghazi that the main stream media deliberately ignores as well, primarily because they involve Christian persecution. (Apparently, since the U.S. State Department removed the sections covering religious freedom from their annual Country Reports on Human Rights,* persecution no longer exists anywhere on the planet.)
 
Just in the last couple months we have this story ~

Torture Likely Led to Death of Egyptian Christian in Libya, Sources Say ~
 
[3-14-13] Repeated electrical shock torture of an Egyptian Christian accused of “proselytizing” in Libya likely exacerbated his heart ailment, leading to his death (on March 10th) in custody, according to sources close to the deceased.
 
Atallah was arrested without being formally charged in Benghazi on Feb. 13 as Preventative Security was rounding up expatriate Christians and accusing them of spreading Christianity to Muslims.

 
 
And this one ~

Egyptian Christians allege torture at hands of Libyan Islamists ~
 
[3-5-13] Libyan Islamists detained 48 Egyptian Christians in Benghazi last week, torturing them and using acid to burn off tattoos of the cross, according to family members.
 
The Christians, who are peddlers, were arrested by Islamist Salafists in Benghazi, who said they had Christian icons at their marketplace stalls, according to Mideast Christian News. The men were later reportedly freed and await deportation, but their family members back home told the Egyptian press they were abused while held, initially on charges of proselytizing.

 
And this one ~

Libya Christians fear rise of Islamic extremism ~
 
[2-24-13] “Not a day goes by without tombs being vandalized,” says Dalmasso Bruno, caretaker of the Italian cemetery in the Libyan capital where Christians fear rising Muslim extremism.
 
“Human bones have been taken out of their tomb and scattered across the cemetery” in central Tripoli, he said. “The Libyan authorities came and took pictures. They promised to take measures but nothing has been done.”
 
Since the 2011 fall of Moamer Qadaffi regime, the small Christian community’s fears for its safety have increased, especially after a church bombing in December killed two people in the Mediterranean town of Dafniya.

 
And things are really getting desperate when;

Libyan human-rights official flees country after death threats ~
 
[3-21-13] The head of the Libyan Parliament’s Human Rights Committee has resigned and fled to London, saying he’s received death threats. Hassan Al Amin, prominent for his long opposition to the Gaddafi regime, recently spoke out against armed gangs and militias in his Misrata area. His self-imposed exile comes as hostilities against Libya’s Christian minority, many by armed groups in the east, have increased in recent months.

 
Although the Obama administration is choosing to ignore it, Christian persecution across the globe has been escalating rapidly in the last few years, particularly in the Middle East, Northern Africa and parts of Asia ~
 

 

If, as Gregory Hicks (U.S. diplomat in Tripoli at the time of the annex attack) claims – the administration could have saved its diplomats’ lives (in Benghazi) if it had dispatched just one aircraft – does anyone think they’ll bother lifting a finger to help Libyan Christians?

 
Nope. Libya: Turns out the dictator was right

 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Since the one country in the world who used to espouse, embrace and defend freedom of religion has decided it’s no longer a priority, we have to rely on the following non-profit organizations for the latest information about religious persecution:
 
World Watch Monitor (was Compass Direct)

Morning Star News

Persecution.Org

Open Doors

Maghreb Christians