During the week covered by this review, we received 12 articles on the following subjects:
Political Issues
Israel
Anti-Missionary Activity
Anti-Semitism
Christians in Israel
Interfaith Dialogue
Christian Zionism
Miscellaneous
Political Issues
Maariv, November 20, 2016
This article discusses the possibility that Mike Huckabee will be the next US ambassador to Israel. “The media buzz according to which I have been appointed ambassador to Israel is incorrect,” Huckabee stated on Twitter, adding that “this has never been discussed with president-elect Donald Trump,” and that “the appointment will not take place before a candidate is chosen for Secretary of State.” However, after a meeting with Trump, Huckabee evaded a CNN question on “the possibility that he would serve in the Trump administration.”
Huckabee is a Baptist minister, a former governor of Arkansas, and has twice been a candidate in past presidential primaries. The report regarding his appointment as ambassador appears to have come from an official on Trump’s staff who spoke to the British Daily Mail, who also said that “one of the first items on Huckabee’s agenda would be moving the embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem.”
On Thursday, November 17, Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to the US, visited the Trump staff center and “appears to have given a ‘kosher stamp’ to Steve Bannon, the chief strategist of the president-elect. US media items attribute anti-Semitic pronouncements and connections with racist organizations to Bannon.”
Haaretz, November 25, 2016
This article covers the history of the Nazi and neo-Nazi movement in the US from the 1930s to the present. It begins with the founding of the German-American Bund in the 1930s; continues with the activism of George Lincoln Rockwell, who became notorious as a result of picketing the premier of the film Exodus dressed in an SS uniform and his later influence on the Ku Klux Klan; Rockwell’s influence on David Duke of Louisiana, who has been vocal in his support of president-elect Donald Trump; the influence of The Turner Diaries, by Rockwell’s colleague and heir William Pierce, on Timothy McVeigh of Oklahoma City fame; and the radical right-wing idea that just as Jews from the northern US supported black integration, so also are Jews offering secret support to illegal immigrants from Latin America, “whether because of their liberal views, in a moderate case, or because of their desire to weaken the white race, in a radical case.”
The article mentions that BDS supporters, anti-Semites, white racists, neo-Nazis, and actual Nazis all espouse white supremacy and think that Jews “pull the strings of immigration behind the scenes,” as well as supporting Trump. However, it does say that Trump “is not an anti-Semite,” and “it is reasonable to think that most of those who voted for him are not anti-Semites either” but that Trump did “use notorious stereotypes about Jews. He allowed racist and neo-Nazi movements to raise their heads.” By so doing, he and others “have raised ghosts from the past that many Jews thought buried forever.”
Israel
Maariv, November 21, 2016
MK Basel Gatass (Balad–Joint List) has stated that if the law prohibiting the use of loudspeakers during the call to prayer in mosques is passed excluding the siren alerting passersby to the beginning of Shabbat, “his movement would take care that the muezzins will be heard from churches as well,” since it “is not an issue of noise anymore, but an anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic move to emphasize Jewish superiority in the land and suppress any sign of Arab-Palestinian identity.” Gatass also stated that “he has agreed with several Christian Arab clerics that the law is a danger for churches and Christian Arabs with a Palestinian identity as well.”
Haaretz, November 22, 2016
The Supreme Court has ruled that the formal appointment of Colonel Eyal Krim as IDF chief rabbi should be delayed “till he clarifies his controversial comments on women, gays and non-Jews” by affidavit. The ruling, made by Supreme Court president Miriam Naor together with two other judges, came about as a result of an appeal against the appointment submitted by three Meretz party members, who said that the comments in question “show burning hatred of women, homophobia and an abominable lack of tolerance towards foreigners.” During the discussion the attorney for the state, Adv. Michal Tzuk-Shafir, stated that Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkott “was not aware of Krim’s statements when he was appointed, as he was a civilian at the time.”
The comments in question made by Krim “imply that it is permitted to rape women during war, that women should not be drafted to the IDF, that injured suicide bombers should be killed, that women cannot testify in court because of their ‘sentimental’ nature, that a gay person should be treated like someone who is mentally ill or with a physical defect, and that the New Testament should be burned.”
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of HaBayit HaYehudi, criticized the Supreme Court and stated, “The judges have decided that they understand the appointment of commanders better than the Chief of Staff.”
The Jerusalem Post, November 24, 2016
MK Yehudah Glick (Likud) has stated that he intends to petition the High Court of Justice for the right to ascend the Temple Mount, even though he is a member of Knesset. This comes as a result of a year-long ban, according to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s instructions, following a police assessment that MK visits spark more violence. This assessment has been withdrawn in recent months but the ban remains in place, and therefore Glick stated that “after a year of quiet on the Temple Mount and in light of the police’s recommendation, there is no logical reason to prohibit MKs from ascending the mount. I have no choice but to petition the High Court against the decision.”
Before becoming an MK, Glick was “an activist for equal Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount. He survived an assassination attempt by a Palestinian terrorist who shot him point blank and called him ‘an enemy of al-Aksa.’”
Anti-Missionary Activity
Merkaz Ha’Inyanim Tzafon, November 21, 2016
Many rabbis in Israel have withdrawn their attendance from an interfaith conference in Buenos Aires also presented as a conference on the seven commands to Noah’s descendants. These withdrawals follow their having been informed by Merkaz Ha’Inyanim that the conference in question was “being organized by a Christian evangelical businessman with missionary purposes.” The article notes that “while Christian evangelicals have tried to arrange conferences like this before, it is the first time they specifically targeted rabbis.”
Anti-Semitism
The Jerusalem Post, November 23, 2016 (x2)
A neo-Nazi group “masquerading as a policy think tank” by the name of the National Policy Institute held a conference in Washington during the past weekend. During his speech at this conference, Richard Spencer, the organization’s founder, “described an effort to cast white identity—ethnic nationalism—as a legitimate political priority” and “questioned whether the press had worked against president-elect Donald Trump in order to protect Jewish interests.” Of particular note is the fact that Spencer said, “One wonders if these people are people at all, or instead soulless golem,” and that when he spoke about white identity as a political priority “the audience responded with a Nazi salute.”
The conference has drawn stiff criticism, both in the US and in Israel. Saying that “the Holocaust did not begin with killings; it began with words,” the US Holocaust Museum stated, “The museum calls on all American citizens, our religious and civic leaders and the leadership of all branches of the government to confront racist thinking and divisive hate speech.” MK Yair Lapid, leader of the Yesh Atid party, said that “seeing a video of Nazi salutes in the heart of Washington was sickening and intolerable.” Citing the relationship between America and Israel being “built not only on mutual interests but also on deeply held shared values of freedom, tolerance and democracy,” Lapid called upon “the leaders of the United States to publicly condemn expressions of Nazi sympathy and fascism as well as rising anti-Semitism.” Lapid further said that “the failure to recognize the danger of fascism and tackle it head on” was “one of the greatest mistakes humanity ever made,” and “the Jewish people paid the price for it with the murder of six million of our people.”
The Lead, a Cable News Network (CNN) program, reported on the National Policy Institute’s conference on Monday, November 21. This segment was guest-hosted by Jim Sciutto. During the report a banner flashed on screen reading “Alt-right founder [Spencer] questions whether Jews are people.” On Tuesday, CNN apologized for the banner, saying, “It was poor judgment and we very much regret it and apologize.” During the program, Sciutto and the rest of the panel “expressed disgust after seeing a clip of Spencer’s remarks.”
Christians in Israel
Gal-Gefen Ramla, November 24, 2016
Thousands of Christian pilgrims visited Lod on November 16 for the Christian Orthodox feast of Saint George, as tradition holds that he was born in Lod and that after his execution his head was buried there. The celebrations included a mass as well as a parade, which included, among other things, eleven Scout groups and a marching band.
Interfaith Dialogue
The Jerusalem Post, November 20, 2016
A group of “leading religious figures from the Jewish and Muslim communities” met recently in Spain and “issued a joint denunciation of violence and incitement.” The specific goal of the summit was “to work toward a situation in which religion is no longer an obstacle to peace and reconciliation.” The declaration specifically stated that “the two peoples are responsible for their common fate”; “the three religions are responsible for creating peaceful existence”; the leaders are those “responsible for promoting a life of mutual respect”; “violence conducted supposedly in the name of God is a desecration of his name”; and “called for a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict ‘that recognizes the right of the two peoples to exist with dignity.’”
“The meeting and declaration were the fruition of many months of work by former government minister and coexistence activist Rabbi Michael Melchior,” who stated that this summit was different since it included religion in the process, an essential element since “religion is such an important aspect of people’s lives in the region.”
Christian Zionism
Maariv, November 25, 2016
This article is a biography in interview form with Canon Andrew White, the Anglican priest known for having been the vicar at St. George’s Church in Baghdad till 2014, when he had to leave as a result of abduction threats against him, and who still has a price on his head of 57 m. USD by ISIS. Born in London, White at first thought to study medicine, but soon decided to study theology. He studied for his PhD at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studying in a yeshiva in Mea She’arim as well. During his time in Iraq, bombs exploded by his church, bullets whistled past him, he was invited to dinner with Saddam Hussein’s sons, and he was abducted some years before, although he emphasizes that he was not tortured and was able to pay for his own release. He was also involved in moving Tariq Aziz’ body to Jordan, to be buried by his family.
He now “divides his time between Jerusalem and Britain.” As “someone who has seen executions with his very eyes,” White utterly rejects the Palestinian claim that Israel “is cruel to them.” He has recently been removed from working with the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, which he founded, for having sent monies to ISIS together with Steve Maman of Canada for the release of Yazidi women who had been serving as sex slaves; the foundation considered this “a possible sending of money to a terrorist group.” White emphasizes that he was the one who facilitated the transaction and Maman was the one who paid. “What was done to them was horrible. They were turned into sex slaves, and whoever didn’t agree was put in a cage and burnt alive.”
Miscellaneous
Haaretz, November 25, 2016
This five-page article covers the life of the community of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Israel. It explains the history of the group, their theological stand on various issues, the order of their meetings, and their genial community life. It details their objection to being called a cult, as “they are not led by a guru, they are not required to give all their possessions to the community, and there is no attempt to separate them from their friends and family.”
The Jehovah’s Witnesses in Israel have said that they suffer much harassment, according to this article. The anti-missionary activist organization Yad L’Achim and the far-right anti-assimilation group Lehava are both quoted as being of the opinion that Jehovah’s Witnesses are “a missionary cult that acts against the state and for the proselytizing of minors,” as well as “acting to separate families and endangering its members by preventing them from receiving medical treatment.” However, the community utterly rejects these views, saying that they don’t object to medical treatment but only to blood transfusions, that they do not act to separate people from their families, and that they object to violence only. They are now attempting to get recognition from the state as a separate religion in order to gain formal standing and to “reduce people’s fear of them.”