During the week covered by this review, we received 18 articles on the following subjects:
Political Issues / Christian Zionism
Political Issues / Arab Believing Community
Christian Organizations
Anti-Missionary Activity
Christians and the Holocaust / The Pope
Political Issues / Christian Zionism
Various Articles
In response to an interview with Ron Dermer, in which the former Israeli ambassador to the US said that Israel should be investing more in its relationship with American Evangelicals and less in American Jews, Consul General Dani Dayan argued that this was a dangerous opinion. Dayan said Israel has a moral obligation to maintain “ties of brotherhood” with the Jews of the diaspora.
Another article noted that younger Jews, who tend to be politically liberal, are feeling increasingly alienated from Israel. The author warned that if Israel keeps taking Jewish support for granted, in 10-15 years it will be entirely dependent on Republican Evangelical support, or support from countries like China. Another article reported that a recent American poll showed that support for Israel amongst younger Evangelicals has also dropped from 75% to 33% in the last two years. Half of Evangelicals ages 18-29 support the establishment of a Palestinian state.
One commentator wrote that he was disappointed with the lack of support from American Jews during the recent war with Hamas, noting that more support came from the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ), which organized pro-Israel events in many different countries. Another article reported again that the ICEJ donated 15 mobile shelters to communities in the south of Israel. Dr. Mike Evans, the head of the Friends of Zion Museum, made a trip to communities in the south of Israel during the recent war. Evans said he would raise funds to improve the quality of the shelters in order to make them more child friendly.
Finally, one article was about the way in which Israel invests millions to shape its image in the world, even though it is questionable how impactful some of these investments are. Israel, for example, paid Evangelical TV presenter Laurie Cardoza Moore $80,000 to make an appearance at a pro-Israel conference. (Cardoza Moore has said that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are two kings crowned by God, and has made it her goal to educate Christians about their biblical responsibility to stand by Israel.)
Political Issues / Arab Believing Community
Globes, May 27, 2021
This was a piece about Yosef Hadad, a Catholic Christian from Nazareth, who was raised in Haifa, and has started an organization dedicated to reconciliation between Arabs and Jews called “Beyachad – Arevim Ze Le Ze.” Hadad opted to serve in the IDF and has since been a vocal supporter of Israel. Despite recent violence, Hadad is optimistic about the future of Jewish-Arab relations.
Christian Organizations
Israel Hayom, May 28, 2021
This was a piece about babies and children with heart defects that are brought from Gaza into Israel to receive medical treatment. One doctor said they receive 500 children from Gaza and 2,700 children from the West Bank annually. He said it mattered little to the doctors whether the children come from Gaza, Tiberius, or Shechem, all children get treated the same. Some of the children arrive through the Christian organization, “Shevet Achim” (“brothers dwelling together”), which is mostly funded by American Christians. Shevet Achim was started by Jonathan Miles, an American Christian who came to Israel in 1990 as a journalist. In 1994, he set up the organization after learning of the prevalence of heart disease in Gaza. Miles has said that “to save the life of a child is an entire world”. His organization also brings children from other Muslim countries to receive treatment in Israeli hospitals. The article mostly focused on three Palestinian mothers from Gaza, whose children were currently receiving care in Israel.
Anti-Missionary Activity
Various Articles
The anti-missionary organization, Beyneynu, recently claimed that a man named Timothy Buckles is a Messianic Christian missionary who has been posing as an Orthodox Jew. Beyneynu also claimed to have exposed Michael Elk, who was posing as a rabbi, scribe, and mohel. According to them, Elk appointed Buckles to be the head of a Messianic non-profit in the US called Tzemach David in 2010, and in 2017 Buckles made Aliyah after converting to Judaism in a “fake rabbinical court”. The article claimed that Elk has written a children’s book that is sold by the Messianic organization First Fruits of Zion. Other articles claimed that Buckles, together with Boaz Michael, runs a Beit Midrash in Jerusalem by the name of Tzemach David that “trains Christian missionaries to live as Orthodox Jews”.
Christians and the Holocaust / The Pope
The Jerusalem Post, May 27, 2021; Israel Hayom, May 27, 2021
Holocaust survivor Lidia Maksvmowicz recently met Pope Francis, who kissed the number tattooed on her arm after hearing her story. Maksvmowicz was nearly three years old when her family was forced to leave their home in Belarus and sent to a concentration camp in Poland. In Auschwitz, Maksvmowicz was one of the children who underwent medical experiments under the hand of Dr. Josef Mengele. After the war, Maksvmowicz was adopted into a Catholic Polish family, and later met her birth mother when she discovered that she had survived.