During the week covered by this review, we received 9 articles on the following subjects:
Messianic Congregations
Anti-Missionary Activity
Arab Believing Communities
Political Issues
Christians and the Holocaust
Messianic Congregations
Iton Shacharit, April 24, 2020; Mishpacha, April 23, 2020; HaModia, May 1, 2020
These articles were about Messianic Jewish Beit Hallel Congregation in Ashdod, which, according to Yad L’Achim, continued to meet during the lockdown, against regulations, in order to stream religious services. Yad L’Achim reported that people from the congregation met six times, and in one instance, as many as 13 gathered without distancing. Yad L’Achim contacted the police on numerous occasions, and then finally also contacted the deputy mayor, who got involved. The police raided a religious service and warned Beit Hallel that it would be seriously fined if its congregants were caught meeting again. Beit Hallel announced the following day that the center was to shut down until further notice.
Anti-Missionary Attitudes
Hod Ha’Ir, April 22, 2020
This article reported that missionary materials were put in mailboxes throughout cities in the center of the country. One resident is quoted as saying that “Missionaries know that to come with the cross in order to convert the Jews is passé, so they come with clever methods and package Christianity in a Jewish wrapping.”
Arab Believing Communities
Yedioth Ahronoth , April 28, 2020
This was a piece about the Tsadal (South Lebanese Army) community living in the North of Israel. In May 2000, the IDF left the South of Lebanon hastily. Members of Tsadal, who were IDF allies, fled for their lives and were given refuge in Israel. Many expected to return back to Lebanon within months, but twenty years on, the Tsadal community, which is predominantly Christian, continues to reside in various town in the North of Israel. This piece interviewed two such members, George and Shadi, children of Tsadal soliders, who now serve in the IDF. As a rule, Tsadal members are exempt from serving in the Israeli military, and only few in fact do. Some are afraid that word of their service will endanger family members still living in Lebanon. George said he serves in the IDF with many religious Jews, with whom he says he gets along very well. He said he is now as familiar with Judaism as he is with Christianity. George remembers, as a young child, grabbing his little blanket, and being carried across the border. Tsadal members have their own church in the city of Akko, where they meet every Saturday, and on some holidays, a priest from Lebanon is given a permit to cross the border in order to officiate special services.
Political Issues
Haaretz, April 30, 2020; HaModia, April 30, 2020
In a broadcast recorded for European Evangelicals, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reminded the audience of President Donald Trump’s promise to recognize an Israeli annexation of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria. Pundits have said that Netanyahu’s speech was meant to put pressure on Trump, whose approval ratings have been dropping, and who is relying on Evangelical support to win the next election. Netanyahu seemed to imply that if Trump fails to keep his promise, he may lose crucial Evangelical support. A spokesperson from the US Department of State, however, has confirmed that Trump will be ready to recognize expanded Israeli sovereignty in keeping with the new peace plan.
Christians and the Holocaust
Israel Hayom, April 30, 2020; Haaretz, May 1, 2020
Both pieces reported that a group of German historians working at the newly opened World War II archives at the Vatican, have found evidence that Pope Pius XII received detailed accounts of the mass murder of Jews in Poland and in other parts of Europe, but remained silent. The pope, it was reported, was surrounded by people who were suspicious of the validity of the reports, one saying that their authenticity should be doubted because “Jews exaggerate easily”. Some of the reports were coming from Catholic bishops in Eastern Europe, who were not taken seriously as Eastern Europeans were dubbed “untrustworthy”. Much work remains to be done at the archives, which was put on hold because of Covid-19.