In my early teens, I helped my father provide food and supplies to Christian refugees, hidden in Swedish west coast summer cottages that the owners had allowed us to use. I remember how we in the winters carefully swept away every trace in the snow so that no one would suspect that there were people in the darkened houses.
The reason was that my father, in the 1970s and 1980s, was part of a network that rescued Armenian Christians from persecution. Occasionally he sailed Elida between Denmark and Sweden with a considerable number of refugees. With the Soviet Union and Turkey as bordering regions, no country on the European continent would take them in, as they didn’t want to come into conflict with these great powers.
The encounter with people scarred by fear and torture – who gratefully accepted whatever we had to give – has stayed with me ever since, as has the insight into how a democratic society can become a protection for communities, minorities and a free society. I saw and felt gratitude for how God’s Ten Commandments are the very foundation of Western society – and also understood the importance of preserving this.
More recently, I have been deeply concerned when seeing how the persecution of Christian minorities remaining in the Middle East – the very cradle of Christianity – is increasing, yet ignored in the West.
The silence that prevails when these Christians are exterminated must be broken! The systematic persecution must be stopped!
The oppression that prevails in areas where extreme Islam rules is far from a dignified life, and we in the West must dare to stand up and raise our voice.
The fear I have encountered among Swedish Jews in recent years has also made me worry about where we are heading in our country. Unless we ordinary Swedes stand up and speak out, who will? I’m sure there are many of us who abhor anti-Semitism, but we also have a great responsibility on our shoulders not to be silent, but rather show solidarity with the Jews and stand up to the evil they face.
As the daily leader of a small, all-Christian organisation working with Swedish youth, I have often wondered what we can do to make a difference to people struggling for their lives and their faith around the world. And out of that, the idea of these manifestation sails was born. In the Middle East, there is only one country that opens its ports to a boat like Elida, marked on the sides with ”Sailing for Jesus”, and that is the democracy of Israel.
No country is faultless, no country is without problems and challenges. But as a Swede, I can look at Israel from the outside and see what a beacon it is for democracy and human rights in a region where this otherwise has no place.
It was the Jews who once received God’s Ten Commandments, which provide the basis of both human dignity and our human rights and freedoms, and the Jews have since preserved and defended them. Thanks to this, the West has been able to build its societies on these very values of human rights. A good enough reason for honouring the Jews!
Moreover, after the multiple decisions and statements by our previous government that disparage Israel as a democracy, we want to send a signal that there are Swedes who disagree with this, and we wish to look for ways to find good relations between the two countries again.
All who want to show solidarity with threatened Christians, stand up against anti-Semitism and show support for Israel are very welcome to sail along with us, in this movement of love, friendship and desire for true peace.
Best regards,
Pilgrim 2018 - Our previous trip to Israel
In 2018, Elida made a similar voyage to Israel for the first time. Along with us on board we had more than 50 people who wanted to stand with us in this manifestation, private individuals and clergy as well as journalists and politicians. The reception we received was overwhelming and far beyond anything we could have ever imagined, with open doors to both ordinary Israelis on the street and authorities at the national level, not to mention domestic media.
We were able to meet with hundreds of Israelis who came to visit Elida, we were invited to both the Foreign Ministry and the Knesset (Parliament), as well as to the Swedish Embassy, we held open concerts with our own music team, we were invited to the home of Armenian Christians in the Old City of Jerusalem, we participated in multiple TV shows and newspaper interviews, we visited and were able to encourage people in the city of Ashdod, on the border to Gaza – and so much more.
The very fact that we arrived from Sweden, which for so long has cultivated frosty diplomatic relations with Israel, along with the fact we came simply to show love, encouragement and friendship, proved to mean a great deal.