During the weeks covered by this review, we received 9 articles on the following subjects:
Political Issues
Anti-Missionary Attitudes
Christians and the Holocaust
Political Issues
Jerusalem Post, October 9, 2021
According to this article, ever since the creation of the State of Israel, the Catholic church and other Protestant churches have refused to pay the taxes due to Israel and its municipalities on church-owned properties and income. In 2017, the Jerusalem Municipality asked for payment of unpaid commercial taxes amounting to NIS 650 million (about $186 million) and froze church bank accounts. In response, the article claimed, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and other churches “demonized Israel, going so far as to imply that Jerusalem does not belong to the Jewish state”.
“Why do churches insist that they are not obligated to pay taxes to the Jewish state, even though their scripture states that ‘…it is necessary to submit to authority, not only to avoid punishment, but also as a matter of conscience’?” asked the author. He also mentioned that there are an “untold number and invaluable Jewish artifacts in the Vatican archives… plundered over the centuries,” and suggested that the State of Israel cut the Catholic Church a deal, and offer a credit against the tax bill in exchange for the Jewish treasures.
Maariv, October 11, 2021
In this interview, former US Senator Joe Lieberman expressed concern about the decline he sees in the Democratic Party’s support for Israel, and he believes that Israel must work hard to “earn” its support again. “Sympathy for Israel is at its lowest level, perhaps even since the establishment of the state. The effort to warm relations must be on Israel’s part. The Israeli government must confront its American counterparts with the facts, in face-to-face talks,” Lieberman said. He also expressed concern regarding the Jewish communities in the USA, and the fact that “they feel as if their needs are not being met”, but he believes that a lot of support for Israel still comes from Evangelical Christians.
Anti-Missionary Attitudes
Several Articles
According to several articles, an internal “missionary publication” that has reached anti-missionary organization Yad L’Achim reveals that Christian organizations are training their “members” in the IDF in how to get their fellow Jewish soldiers to convert. Officially, one of these organizations claimed that it was helping its members cling to their faith in the army environment. But Yad L’Achim is accusing them of “instructing them on how to take advantage of their service to preach Christianity to Jewish soldiers who put their lives on the line and could be emotionally vulnerable.”
Yad L’Achim and Or L’Achim sent an urgent letter to Defense Minister Benny Gantz, in which they demanded that he “put an end to the military service of soldiers who act to get Jews to leave their religion and stop drafting cult members”, as they are being trained to preach to their fellow soldiers.
Christians and the Holocaust
Haaretz. October 21, 2021
This article was about Pastor Alex Cho and the Taiwan Holocaust Peace Memorial – the “smallest Holocaust museum in the world”, as he refers to it.
“The main thing is the Christians come from Jews. They are our source, our roots,” Cho says. “[Taiwanese] don’t know about Israel. All they know is what’s in the newspapers and in books: that Jews are smart, and they can make money.” Cho’s goal is to teach Taiwanese people, and particularly Christians, about the Holocaust beyond the walls of the museum. It’s a mission Cho and his father have been carrying out since the 1990s.
The museum itself opened in 2002, and its collection of artifacts is impressive. Among handmade Judaica and centuries-old pottery excavated from the land of Israel, there is also a handwritten Hebrew scroll written by an Auschwitz camp victim, original Nazi badges, Otto Frank’s tie and one of the Frank family’s menorahs. These last were donated to Cho’s father by Frank himself after the two met in Japan.
In this island nation, said the article, Christian Zionists fight to win hearts and minds for Israel.