Israeli President Reuven Rivlin

“Who will rise up for me against the wicked?  Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?”  (Psalm 94:16)

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin met his nation’s Europe-based ambassadors last Monday in Jerusalem, two days after the 43 representatives received a paper that lists common anti-Semitic lies used in parliamentary debate.  The paper was designed to help Israel’s ambassadors counter these lies. 

On Monday, when Rivlin met Israel’s ambassadors for the first time, he praised those in the room as frontline heroes who contend with attacks on Israeli policy, rising anti-Semitism and boycotts:

“Every person sitting in this room is a hero in the truest sense of the word,” he said, noting that in their roles as Israel’s ambassadors they have often had to stand alone for Israel.  (JPost)

President Reuven Rivlin addresses Israeli ambassadors serving in Europe.

“One is amazed at how allegedly respected people make things up and lie through their teeth, during very complex debates.  You would expect some kind of depth or at least knowledge,” Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.  (Ynet)

The list was compiled by Sammy Revel, the head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Europe division in response to some of the “lies and distortions” that have been heard in Irish, Spanish and Swedish parliaments.

For instance, the Irish debate on whether to recognize a “State of Palestine” saw some MPs refer to Israel as the “racist Zionist state.”  (Ynet)

Independent Irish politician Mick Wallace took a shot at Israel in reference to the 1948 War of Independence, issuing this startling lie, “People might forget but, in 1948, the Jews expelled, massacred, destroyed and raped in Palestine.”

His string of distortions also morphed into lies about last year’s war in which he minimized Gaza aggression against Israel, misrepresenting Israel’s self-defense against Gaza bombs as a massacre.

“The war in Gaza was a massacre, with Hamas firing toy rockets,” he said.

Mick Wallace is an Irish independent politician.  (Photo by Paul Reynolds)

While anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism are on the rise in Europe’s parliaments and press, occasionally there are some bright moments.

For instance, Israel’s President Rivlin was picked among the “heroes of 2014” by Britain’s liberal daily newspaper The Guardian.

The paper named him an “unlikely hero,” noting how he has visibly been “standing up for the civil rights of Palestinians.”  The Guardian did not mention the president’s stated opposition to the division of Jerusalem and to removing the Jews from Judea-Samaria.  (Israel Today)

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”  (1 Corinthians16:13)