July 26, 2010 Media Review
During the week covered by this review, we received 4 articles on the subjects of Messianic Jews, art and books, and anti-missionary activity.
Of these:
• 1 dealt with Messianic Jews
• 1 dealt with anti-missionary activities
• 1 dealt with art
• 1 was a book review
This mixed, sparse Review includes an article referring to the death of Boaz Falco in 1997.
Messianic Jews
Haaretz, July 23, 2010
An article featuring Gila Garaway – “Israel’s unofficial liaison” in the Democratic Republic of Congo, “termed by the UN the ‘rape capital of the world'” – reported that she returned to the war-ravaged African country following the death of her husband, who was killed on his way “to deliver a blessing from Israel. After his death, Garaway and her two sons went to the crash site with a tallit, in the hopes of returning the body to Israel for burial. Gila Garaway says her late husband was adamant that she not join him on the visit. He went instead with the couple’s neighbor and friend, a recent immigrant from the U.S. by the name of Boaz Falco, a Messianic Jew. Both bodies were burnt beyond recognition and were unable to be transported back.”
According to this report, “missionaries” distributing literature in Ra’anana were recently “documented beating and restraining a yeshiva student who innocently passed them by. The missionaries were located and captured, and even confessed to the act, although they claimed that they thought the incident was about someone who had previously attacked them.” The article complained that, despite being “a closed case from every aspect,” the police have not charged those involved but are merely “investigating” the episode. Following a question to the Internal Security Minister, the latter replied that an inquiry had been opened in the wake of complaints made by two tourists who had been attacked and injured by two Orthodox men while standing with a “Yesh-Yeshu-Yeshua” poster at a road junction in the city. The same evening, one of the tourists was standing holding a banner with other people and realized that young men were photographing them. The tourist suspected that one of them was the person who had assaulted them in the morning and began to pursue him with another person, finally catching him. Retroactively, it transpired that he was not the attacker. According to the tourist’s version, his intention was to take the person making the complaint to the police. The latter filed a complaint of assault. The investigation into the case has concluded and the file has been transferred to the charge section, which will determine whether there is place for an indictment following an examination of the charge.
The Tel Aviv Museum is holding an exhibition by American photographer David LaChapelle, including “a photograph of Madonna with a halo around her head and of Courtney Love posing as the Pieta and holding a naked man integrating the features of Yeshu and her late husband, Kurt Cobain.”
Mosab Hassan Yousef’s autobiography, Son of Hamas (SaltRiver, 2010 in English), has been translated into Hebrew. Under the title “Ballad for a double agent,” Yael Na’omi reviewed it for Yediot Ahronot, suggesting that “The talk of a deal for Gilad Shalit has bestowed upon the Son of Hamas a relevant connection, but the weighty story of Mosab Hassan Yousef is wasted in an emotionally shallow book.” Na’omi argues that the book makes two promises, namely to be the “stirring story of the adventures of a spy” and “the heartbreaking story of a man who fights for his fate and pays a heavy price. Only the first comes close to being fulfilled, and then only when great allowances are made.” In addition to making light of Yousef’s literary abilities, Na’omi also belittles his “theological” techniques, in particular the praises he showers on his father, who refuses to forgive Yousef despite the latter’s pleas, and his “preaching” that “‘God used the Security Service to show me that Israel is not my enemy and has now given me the answers to the rest of my questions directly through this little book in my hand, the New Testament.'” She concludes: “Yousef had to undergo a radical painful process of soul searching in order to understand what he did. The path he chose had to conclude with a good ending. This psychological searching should have been the extra dimension to the book, the moving side of the Son of Hamas. But Yousef neutralizes his sufferings, difficulties, and problems. Anyone looking for the human aspect, the deep element, is likely to be very frustrated.”