Caspari Center Media Review………………………. April 2002, #2
In the period of time covered by this review, we received 61 articles on the subject of Messianic Jews, Christianity and the mission. Of these:
- 19 articles dealt with the situation at the Church of the Nativity
- 3 articles dealt with Greek Orthodox land issues
- 12 articles dealt with Christian support of Israel
- 9 articles dealt with the Greek Orthodox Church
- 3 articles dealt with missionary activity in the country
- 2 articles dealt with the Catholic Church and the Vatican
The remaining 13 articles were single articles dealing with matters of Jewish or Christian interest on their own merit.
Foreign workers support Israel (14/04/02, HaAretz)
The work market in Israel relies in a large part on foreign workers from Chili and Bolivia as well as from China and the Philippines. These workers, who are poorly treated, bordering on slave labor, contrary to all expectations, are pro-Israel.
The reasons for this, as explored in this article, seem to come from different places: first, the longing for acceptance in this foreign country and second, the religious identification with Israel due to the fact that many of them are Christians. Besides these facts, the workers live in Israel and have the same fears of terrorist attacks as many of Israelis do. “I identify with the Jewish people because they are influenced from the Bible, and the Bible is from God. On the other hand, the Arabs learned from the Koran which is a false book,” says a Chinese worker.
The interesting thing to mention is that most of the foreign workers are more right wing than many Israelis, in spite the fact that a right wing government holds to a much more strict policy towards foreign workers regarding status issues.
Status of non-Jewish parents of soldiers discussed (22/04/02, The Jerusalem Post)
On the 21/04/02, a committee was established to discuss the status of non-Jewish parents of soldiers. In these cases the parent is allowed to stay in Israel for the time of their son or daughter’s service, and then they are requested to leave, unless their child is killed during their service.
The issue was brought up due to the recent death of a German soldier in a terrorist attack near the northern border.
Kfar HaMakabim still attacked (11/04/02, Chadashot HaMishpacha)
The Messianic conference held at Kfar HaMakabim during the Passover holiday received much press in the religious papers. The demonstrations at the conference itself were also covered by the press. These have been reviewed in previous media reviews. The only thing new to be found in this latest article is the accusation which states that the so-called missionaries at the conference intentionally converted young Jewish kippa wearing children.
A cry of support (16/04/02, Yediot Acharonot)
The messianic movement in the country posted a whole page “notice of support” directed towards the government and the people of the country on the occasion of Israel’s 54th independence day. The article also called out to lovers of Israel and called them to pray for Israel, fight anti-Semitism, and aid Israel in these times of hardship.
Massive prayer campaign launched (12/04/02, The Jerusalem Post)
In the state of Texas in the U.S, an evangelical minister, Michael Evans, is beginning to revive a century old tradition of praying for Israel and the peace of Jerusalem. The tradition, originated in Holland during 1844 to 1944 was a weekly prayer for the peace of Jerusalem and resulted in aiding Jews to escape the Nazis.
The goal today is to enlist one million Americans to pray daily and 100,000 churches to pray weekly. “You can’t love Jesus without loving the Jewish people” says Evans.
Christians celebrating Passover in Israel (In Jerusalem, 12/04/02)
Even with the trying situation in the land, apparently there are still some strong supporters of Israel that even the current situation can not scare away. This phenomenon was witnessed at the King David Hotel during the feast of Passover/Easter. A group of Israel supporting Christians visited the land in search of the Jewish roots of the Easter holiday. “We are sweeping the paganism of Easter out of the Church and applying the seasons of God” said Christine Drag CBN-TV “Worldsearch” host, who led the conference for the fifth year.
Among the list of speakers were: David Hathaway international conference speaker, the British Israeli Lance Lambert and Sid Roth, host of TV show, “It’s Supernatural.”