“What does ‘settlements’ mean? How can you talk about illegal settlement in land that is yours? the African bishop asked, referring to the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
By: United with Israel Staff
Bishop Scott Mwanza from Zambia, Africa, visited the Samaria region last week and pledged his support for Israel.
Mwanza, who has millions of followers, visited the archaeological dig in ancient Shilo, met with Israeli and Palestinian workers and directors of factories in the Barkan Industrial Park and visited with the Samaritan High Priest on Mount Gerizim .
After visiting the factories, Mwanza declared that “there is no apartheid in Israel, and what is happening in Samaria cannot be compared to Africa,” the Israeli 0404 news reported.
“What I saw on this tour in Samaria proved to me that there is no apartheid in Israel, there is a lot of coexistence, there is no apartheid in the communities that exist here,” he said.
Responding to the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement and the attempt to boycott products made in Judea and Samaria, Mwanza charged that “the BDS program is inhuman, it is inappropriate because when you ask people to boycott the industry that provides them food, life, and a solution for people, what are you trying to do? Why boycott the hand that feeds you? Why boycott something that gives you a solution?”
Israeli ‘Settlers’?
During the meeting with members of the Samaria Regional Council, Mwanza referred to the so-called settlements in Judea and Samaria.
“What does ‘settlements’ mean? How can you talk about illegal settlement in land that is yours? I passed Route 60 [through Judea and Samaria] and the history is there. I know that this is where Abraham came from Haran, this is the road to Shechem, to Shilo, to the altar of Joshua. So how can you be a settler in land that is already yours? It is unreasonable,“ the African leader said.
“This is your land. No one has the right to transfer you from here. You are the owner of the land and you must fight for it. We will support you and stand by you, because this land belongs to Abraham’s sons,” he added.
He then quoted the Bible: “Please raise your eyes and see, from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward. For all the land that you see I will give to you and to your seed to eternity.”
Bishop Mwanza is a faith leader in Zambia who heads a large prayer organization in contact with millions of Africans. His house of prayer is part of a network of churches spread out in five African countries, and it has influence and connections in the Zambian and other parliaments.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, who met with Mwanza, said that “day after day, leaders from all over the world come here to be part of the great thing that is happening here: the return of the Jewish people to its land. We merit to see the realization of the prophet’s words.”