In mid-October, those attacks included picket lines in front of the first of Sabeel's annual series of conferences in the U.S., presented this year in Chicago, Denver, Toronto, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After attending the Chicago conference, Dexter Van Zile, Boston-based David Project's Christian outreach director, wrote on the Stand with Us Web site that "to these folks, the Jews are the new Nazis." That comment, designed to evoke the Holocaust, has no basis in fact. (I attended the Chicago conference; no such statement was made or implied.) Sabeel describes the "moral basis" for its work this way: "We acknowledge the sufferings and injustices committed against Jews by the West, especially those inflicted in the Holocaust. Nevertheless, anti-Semitism does not justify the injustices committed against Palestinians."

...James M. Wall quotes me (accurately) as writing that "to these folks the Jews are the new Nazis," continuing: "That comment, designed to evoke the Holocaust, has no basis in fact. (I attended the Chicago conference; no such statement was made or implied.)"

In fact, such a statement was made and implied by Marc Ellis during his presentation on Saturday morning. During his presentation, Dr. Ellis displayed, in a Powerpoint presentation, a letter written by his son Aaaron, the full text of which can be found on pages 81-82 of the September/October 2003 Issue of Church and Society. The two relevant passages of the letter, sent to the Israeli consul in Houston, are:

"If you are too ignorant to step out of your postion for one second and see that the Israelis are using brute force to oppress the people, just as the Nazi regime once used against the Jewish people, then I don't think you can be helped." (I have faxed a copy of this page to Mr. Heim and have mailed a copy of the page directly to James M. Wall).

A few paragraphs later, this letter states:

"If you say that Palestinians must move out because you are more military (sic) developed than they are, then you are creating a totalitarian government much like that which was created by Germany in the 1930s. You are saying in essence, that those with the most powerful thugs - Gestapo, army or secret police - should ruile, no mattter what their poltical views. This is exactly what led to the extermination of many thousands of fellow Jews and others. It is what is also happening to the Palestinians, even as you read this, only on a smaller scale."

Clearly, these passages, offered during a presentation in which Ellis states that the Jewish identity must now include misdeeds perpetrated by Jews of Israel demonstrate that indeed, James M. Wall was not paying very close attention to Marc Ellis' talk and that indeed, statements comparing the Jews to Nazis (a current anti-Semitic trope that is making the rounds in anti-Israel circles) were made at the conference in Sabeel...