During the week covered by this review, we received 6 articles on the following subjects:
Christians in Israel
The Pope and the Vatican
Christian Zionism
Israel
Art
History
Christians in Israel
Yediot Haifa, January 20, 2017
Recently, a wake was held in Haifa at the Emil Toma Center for Archbishop Hilarion Capucci. Scores of clerics were present, and the gathering opened with a moment of silence. After this, however, former MK and the Center’s director, Issam Makhoul, gave a speech praising the archbishop for his weapons smuggling, among other things.
The wake caused stiff controversy among the residents of Haifa. City council member Shimshon Ido stated that such anti-Israel activity “wounds the coexistence in the city.” Vice-Minister Iyov Kara said that he plans to investigate the possibility of closing the center. He noted, “We will not allow an undermining of Israeli democracy in the name of freedom of speech.”
The Pope and the Vatican
Maariv, January 23, 2017
In an interview with the Spanish daily El Pais, Pope Francis stated he is “still waiting to see what U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies will be.” The Pope cautioned against “the increase of populist phenomena”, referring to Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.
Christian Zionism
The Jerusalem Post, January 25, 2017
The World Jewish Congress and the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus honored Dr. Robert Mawire and Cary Summers with an award at a ceremony on January 25. The two were given this award for their pro-Israel activism. Mawire received his award for acting “to create a groundswell of support for the Jewish state amongst Christians in the US, Africa and around the world,” as well as helping to build the city of Ariel. Summers was recognized for his work with the Philos Project to “establish the Passages program that provides subsidized trips to Israel for the next generation of Christian leaders.”
Israel
Yedioth Ahronoth, January 24, 2017
This article analyzes the possible scenarios that may make it necessary for the IDF to act if U.S. President Trump should decide to move the embassy to Jerusalem. The first possible situation focused on the potential response of the Israeli Arabs to the move as “the fundamentalist Muslims object to any sign of Jewish or Christian rule in Jerusalem, and they would see a U.S. Christian embassy in the city as a pretext to invite the radical Islamic world to fight the return of the Crusaders.” The second scenario in the article focused on the Palestinian Authority, as “its leaders understand that they would need to lead a protest in the streets, but a move such as this is likely to result in a loss of control on their part.”
The third scenario covered in the article addressed the Sunni countries in the region, such as Jordan and Egypt, who “need Israel and the US to ensure the existence of the current regime,” on the one hand, but will “feel obligated to lead the protests against the embassy transfer,” on the other. The final scenario spoke to the possible unrest in Muslim communities all over the world, “which is likely to affect international Israeli interests.” The article concluded, “Without preparatory diplomatic activity on the part of the US, the consequences [of an embassy move] are likely to fall mostly on the IDF.”
Art
Haaretz, January 26, 2017
This article noted that the exhibition on Jesus in Jewish and Israeli art will continue at the Israel Museum until April 20.
History
Haaretz, January 26, 2017
This article by Michael Cohen, professor emeritus of general history at Bar-Ilan University, revisits the popular opinion of Winston Churchill as “the only one in his government who understood the historic significance of the Holocaust,” in light of the opening of the British World War II archives in 1970 and the opening of the Churchill archives in 1995. It also revisits the opinion that Churchill was prepared to bomb the Auschwitz concentration camp. The article states that in fact, Churchill would have been less determined to fight Germany, “if he had been convinced that Hitler would be content with conquering Eastern Europe.”
This piece describes the explanation given to the Zionist leaders in London that Auschwitz was beyond striking distance of the fighter planes before calling this explanation into question in light of the fact that a critical target, the Farben manufactory, was “only 7km from Auschwitz.” In addition, the air bridge supplying the Polish rebels in Warsaw passed “almost directly over Auschwitz.” Cohen also noted that in a speech to the House of Commons on August 1, 1946, Churchill said, “the idea that the Jewish problem could be solved by moving Europe’s Jews en masse to Israel is stupid.” Cohen calls upon Yad VaShem, as “the formal institution for the memorial of the Holocaust,” to “ensure that the memory should be the correct one.”