During the week covered by this review, we received 10 articles on the following subjects:
Political Issues
Christian Organizations
Anti-Missionary Activity
Christians in Israel
Christians and the Holocaust
Anti-Semitism
Interfaith Relations
Political Issues
Israel Hayom, August 2, 2020; Iton Shacharit, August 3, 2020; Yedioth Ahronoth, August 4, 2020
The first article was about the political situation in the United States, noting that President Trump is dependent on the Evangelical vote to win the upcoming elections in November. Historically, a Republican nominee cannot win without Evangelical support. While Trump continues to enjoy Evangelical support, he is losing hold of the Mormon vote.
The second article reported that the Patriarch of the Maronite Church, Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, who represents most Christians in Lebanon, demanded that Lebanon work towards a stance of neutrality in relation to regional conflicts. Al-Rahi said that Lebanon will not receive the aid it needs so long as it is beholden to Hezbollah. Another bishop said: “We’ve decided to stop being silent: Hezbollah must disarm.” This is seen as a shift in the church’s stance.
The third article reported that the heads of the three biggest churches in Israel – the Greek Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, and the Armenian Orthodox Church – have turned to Prime Minister Netanyahu to demand the Ministry of Justice cease from hostile treatment of churches. The context for this request has to do with the Greek Orthodox Church’s attempts to sell its land. According to the churches, the Jerusalem Municipality has purposefully delayed verifying there are no debts attached to these lands. The Municipality is meant to issue certification within 45 days.
Christian Organizations
HaModia, August 2, 2020
There is a storm brewing in the Haredi community to do with a Christian hotel in the Galilee, the “Magdala Hotel”, which is offering a “kosher” holiday to the Haredi community. It was reported that the hotel belongs to a Mexican church called “Legionaries of Christ”. Several rabbis have ruled that Jews are banned from staying at this hotel, and that its kosher status cannot be trusted. Yad L’Achim has claimed that the hotel was built on a Christian tourist site with churches.
Anti-Missionary Activity
Yeted Ne’eman, August 4, 2020; HaModia, August 6, 2020
The Knesset Finance Committee approved the income tax exemption for 100 public institutions and non-profit organizations. Two “missionary” organizations, however, were excluded from the exemption.
The second article reported that teachers have complained to Yad L’Achim that Israel’s Ministry of Education is promoting biblical resources produced by “missionaries”. Yad L’Achim sent the Ministry a letter requesting the missionary materials be removed from the resource list for Bible teachers.
Christians in Israel
Matzav Ruach, July 31, 2020
Zayid Zayid, a Christian Arab from Shfaram, has opened up the largest women’s clothing complex in Israel. The complex sells designer clothing and wedding dresses from around the world, and has become particularly popular amongst religious Jewish women.
Christians and the Holocaust
Mizkar, July 31, 2020
German researchers published their findings in April, arguing that Pope Pius XII received information regarding the horrors that European Jews were facing during the Second World War and kept silent after he was advised that the Jewish reports could not be trusted.
Anti-Semitism
Mizkar, July 31, 2020
Knesset member David Bitan has warned that the Coronavirus has spurned a new wave of Christian and Muslim anti-Semitism, and that the Knesset must urgently put together a committee to fight anti-Semitism. Bitan cited a study done at Oxford University, which said that 19.1% of the public in the United Kingdom believe Jews caused the outbreak of the virus.
Interfaith Relations
Haaretz, August 7, 2020
This was a long piece about the history of interfaith relations between the Catholic Church and Orthodox Judaism over the last fifty plus years. While the Second Vatican Council in 1965 marked a turning point in the Catholic Church’s attitude towards Judaism, notably in that it rejected the idea that the Jews killed Jesus and that the Jews are no longer the chosen people, Orthodox Jews, on the whole, have not been very receptive to attempts at reconciliation. The article surveyed a number of developments in Catholic theology, noting that Pope John Paul II’s visit to Israel in 2000, in which he asked the Jewish people for forgiveness, was particularly important. However, on the Orthodox Jewish side, attitudes towards Christianity have not changed, and old questions still persist, such as whether Christianity ought to be considered a form of foreign worship. Orthodox Jews have also used the establishment of the State of Israel and the return to Zion as polemical proof that Christianity is in error in its interpretation of the Bible. “Sadly,” the article stated, “while the Church marches forward towards reconciliation and interfaith peace, Orthodox Jewish circles are embracing the old partisan arguments and claiming victory.” The article noted that while many Christian theology students come to Israel to study Judaism in order to better understand Christianity, it is still inconceivable that Israeli schools would likewise teach the New Testament in order to give students a better understanding of the Talmud.