Showing posts with label Judean Rose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Judean Rose. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 20, 2021


The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) made headlines last week, when it announced it was cutting ties with Return Ministries, due to a breach of contract. But a closer look at the announcement reveals some head-scratching contradictions. Return Ministries, through its Aliyah Return Center in Israel, used the Jewish Agency’s 15-acre Bikat Kinarot campus to spread the gospel to lone IDF soldiers and new immigrants. We know this, because they said so in videos distributed to their followers. In an internal document distributed to the Jewish Agency board, however, JAFI claimed that Return Ministries did not engage in proselytization at Bikat Kinarot. The Agency says that Return Ministries only claimed to be engaging in proselytization, which is the breach that led to the termination of its contract with the group.

The JAFI statement says, for example, that accusations by Beyneynu (see: The Jewish Agency for Israel is Partnering with Evangelical Christians and “They’re not here just to pick grapes”) were “false” and that the Agency found “no evidence” that the group was proselytizing. At the same time, the Agency statement says “[Return Ministries] erroneously took credit in their media posts for involvement in areas such as Aliyah, specifically with proselytizing lone soldiers and new olim.”

In summary, the Jewish Agency appears to be saying, “Return Ministries didn’t proselytize, but they bragged that they did, and that’s the reason we ended their contract.” In that statement somewhere is also more than an intimation that my friend, Shannon Nuszen of Beyneynu, is a liar. Here is the official written statement from the Jewish Agency for Israel:

Return Ministries, through its Israel activity at their Aliyah Return Center, was found to have inaccurately portrayed our relationship with them at our Bikat Kinarot campus. They erroneously took credit in their media posts for involvement in areas such as Aliyah, specifically with proselytizing lone soldiers and new olim. We executed an examination of these flagrantly false representations during December 2020 and our leadership took swift and firm action, issuing Return Ministries a cease and desist letter, notifying them of the immediate termination of the partnership agreement in its current form. Return Ministries admitted this violation of our agreement.

The Jewish Agency then demanded Return Ministries remove all presence of Aliyah Return Center activity and employees at the Bikat Kinarot campus.

Our examination showed no evidence of any direct missionary activity. Yet the videos posted by Aliyah Return Center create a perception that is in direct opposition to the mission and values of The Jewish Agency for Israel and has unfairly entangled the organization’s work and reputation.

So there you have it: JAFI says that Beyneynu’s information is false and that no evidence was found to suggest the group was proselytizing. At the same time, the JAFI statement suggests the decision to terminate the contract was based on the information Beyneynu provided, in the form of video footage issued by the Aliyah Return Center, which Beyneynu found and sent to JAFI. These videos, says the JAFI statement, “create a perception that is in direct opposition to the mission and values of The Jewish Agency for Israel and has unfairly entangled the organization’s work and reputation.”

The reasoning here is so convoluted it beggars belief. The Jewish Agency severs ties because of evidence that Return Ministries portrayed itself as proselytizing to soldiers and new immigrants, and not because they actually did so. Perhaps that is because Return Ministries swears up and down to the Jews that it is not a proselytizing organization. They state that they do not and have not missionized any Jews. At the same time, they tell their followers that everything they do is in preparation for the Second Coming, which includes bringing the Jews to Jesus. Why, when apprised of this situation, does the Jewish Agency refuse to believe what they see in front of their eyes and hear with their ears?

Did they not even glance at the Return Ministries website, where this mission statement appears?


Here is where I would like to offer a few thoughts:

·         An organization named “Return Ministries” is only going to be a missionary organization formed for the purpose of proselytization. It can’t possibly be anything else, as its name makes crystal clear. The belief is that Jesus can’t “return” until the Jews are saved.

·         The Jewish Agency got caught letting the foxes run the henhouse. So now they’re engaging in a bit of CYA, terminating the contract while claiming the accusations of proselytization are false.

·         If the Aliyah Return Center—there’s that word again: “return”—says it was proselytizing, and then trumpeted this fact to all and sundry on social media, why should the Jewish Agency believe otherwise (or even pretend to do so)?

If the Aliyah Return Center—there’s that word again: “return”—says it was proselytizing, and then trumpeted this fact to all and sundry on social media, why should the Jewish Agency believe otherwise (or even pretend to do so)?

Haaretz writer Allison Kaplan Sommer pleads the Jewish Agency’s tortuous case like this: "The decision to break with Return Ministries, [the Jewish Agency] stressed, was not because the group was conducting missionary work, but because it represented itself as doing so.”

To this claim that Return Ministries only “represented itself” as proselytizing and didn’t actually do it, I can only say, “Vas you dere, Charley?”

Which leads to my next point: why was what is clearly a missionary organization, left to run this Jewish Agency center for lone soldiers and new immigrants without any oversight? What in the world was the Jewish Agency thinking? (My best guess: free labor and lots of Evangelical shekels for the JAFI coffers.)

Will the Jewish Agency continue to work with Return Missionaries, albeit in a different capacity? According to the Christian Post, Return Ministries International Director Dean Bye finds this to be a real and plausible possibility. “As for the partner organization that has been persuaded to terminate agreements with us, we are yet to learn what all this entails but understand their ‘termination’ is only related to our Bikat Kinarot Campus agreement in its current form. As those who have committed our lives to God’s call to serve and bless Israel, we are prepared to work together on a peaceful resolution to the dissension that has been created,” said Bye, who continues, "We declare our continued commitment to Israel's Aliyah and Absorption, the Return and Restoration of God's people to their land. We pray that our relationship with the Jewish Agency for Israel will continue to grow stronger as truth prevails."

What, exactly, is the meaning of “termination in its current form?”

The termination of the Jewish Agency contract with Return Ministries, if it is indeed a termination, comes after the Agency worked double time to blame and defame the messenger: Beyneynu. Prior to terminating the contract with Return Ministries, the Agency threatened the nonprofit—dedicated to monitoring and raising awareness of missionary activity in Israelwith legal action: “Contrary to what is stated in your letter, Return Ministries has no involvement in the Jewish Agency's programs, and the Jewish Agency strongly [opposes] any prohibited missionary activity which is inconsistent with the Jewish Agency's character, goals and activities. Therefore you are hereby required to immediately cease your activity which contradicts the provisions of any law . . . The Jewish Agency will act in this matter to exhaust any right it has under any law, including against you personally . . . and will take every step necessary to charge you for any damage or expense caused . . .”

Note that the threatening letter says nothing about which laws were said to be broken by Beyneynu. That’s because Beyneynu broke no laws. Beyneynu did what it was created to do: raise awareness of missionary activity, in this case missionary activity occurring under the auspices (and nose) of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

The goal of The Aliyah Return Center, after all, is no secret. That goal is to aid in the fulfillment of “prophecy” regarding both the “physical and spiritual restoration of Israel,” a time when all Jews, God forbid, will come to accept Jesus as their messiah. Evangelicals believe all this will trigger his “return.” This belief is reflected in the name Aliyah Return Center, and its parent organization, Return Ministries. Beyneynu meant only to raise awareness of the inherent problem of the Jewish Agency working in tandem with an organization whose sole mission is to proselytize the Jews of Israel.



Instead of thanking Beyneynu for shedding light on the issue, and dealing with the problem, the Jewish Agency threatened Beyneynu. It was only when the story began to attract publicity that the Agency decided to cover its tracks by terminating its contract with the missionary organization. Why such a contract existed to begin with is, again, not difficult to fathom: free missionary labor, lots of missionary shekels, lather, rinse, repeat.

Beyneynu is taking it all in its stride. The termination of JAFI’s contract with Return Ministries is, after all, a victory for the organization and for Israel, on whose population the missionaries prey (no pun intended). Rabbi Tovia Singer, a counter missionary expert with Beynenu says he is “delighted that sound minds prevailed here. These are evangelical Christians who work in partnership with the Messianic movement and create a toxic environment. The wording of the Agency’s statement is simply ‘damage control.’”

Founder and Director of Beyneynu, Shannon Nuszen, also expressed satisfaction with the Agency’s decision. "I am pleased that in the end the Jewish Agency made the right decision to terminate this relationship. We are grateful for, and appreciate our non-Jewish friends of all faiths that stand with us. But, for the protection of the Jewish people it is the job of Jewish leadership to ensure that certain lines in this relationship are not crossed

"Beyneynu simply brought to light, through presenting the video evidence from Return Ministries themselves, that these lines were indeed being crossed at the Jewish Agency program. While it hurts that the Agency attacked our group through this process, I am happy to hear that in the end leaders made the difficult decisions that had to be made, protecting our most vulnerable Jews.”

Wednesday, January 13, 2021


Galilee Gold is the kind of book you can’t put down. I started reading the book on a Friday night after supper, read late into the night, picked up where I’d left off the next morning, and had read the entire book—cover to cover—by 11 AM, just in time to sit down for Sabbath lunch. Not bad for this first effort—a novel that is part historical fiction, part romance—from author Susie Aziz Pam.

The story outlined in Galilee Gold takes place in the 18th century and is based on the life of Daher el-Omar, a powerful figure of the time. El-Omar was a self-proclaimed Bedouin king who encouraged Jewish settlement in the Galilee. In Pam’s skillful hands, el-Omar’s tolerance for the Jews leads to romance when el Omar falls hard for the niece of a Syrian Jewish family under his protection.

The Jewish heroine of the book, Tamar, is of course, beautiful, with a fiery nature and golden hair. It’s no wonder that el-Omar is smitten, though I admit I was discomfited by the concept of a Bedouin-Jewish romance—especially since this is fiction: it never actually happened.

That being the case, why imagine a romance between a Jewish woman and a Bedouin king? Because it makes for darned good reading, even if I didn’t like the concept in theory. And make no mistake: I devoured this book and hope that Galilee Gold is only the first of many books to come from the pen of Susie Aziz Pam.

I spoke to Susie Pam to learn more:

Varda Epstein: Can you tell us a bit about your upbringing, your family, and how and when you came to make Aliyah?

Susie Aziz Pam

Susie Pam: My family were kind of nomads. Both my parents were Persian Jews, from the Mesh'adi community. Mesh'adi Jews were known for keeping the mitzvoth inside their homes, while practicing Islam on the outside—but that is the subject of my next book.

My father's family lived in the Bukharan Quarter in Jerusalem, where their house stands to this day. My mother's family lived in London. After seeking their fortune in London, New York, South Africa, and New York again, my parents settled in Kew Gardens, Queens. We are a very Zionistic family and all of my father's family remained in Israel. So a few years after the Six Day War, in the wave of pro-Israel sentiment, my parents moved to Jerusalem, giving me just enough time to finish high school in New York.

1925 photo of the ancestral Aziz home in the Bukharan Quarter of Jerusalem


Varda Epstein: Can you talk about how you came to write this story? How did you come to hear about Daher el-Omar? Why did this story beckon to you?

Susie Pam: We first met Daher el-Omar when we visited the Yehiam Fortress. The little I found out about el-Omar then, made him stand out like a Disney character: he traded with pirates, he fought off the Ottomans, and he crowned himself the King of the Galilee. But after I began to read up on him, I discovered an amazing fact—el-Omar invited the Jewish communities from Turkey and Syria to settle in the Holy Land. "Return and inherit the land of your forefathers!"

Yehiam Fortress

Inside Yehiam Fortress


Varda Epstein: Who was el-Omar? What was he like?

Susie Pam: Daher el-Omar was the son of the local tax-collector in the Galilee. His vision of Moslems, Christians, and Jews living together and prospering in the eighteenth century, made him a very tolerant and pluralistic leader.

Varda Epstein: Is there any evidence that el-Omar had a romance with a Jewish woman or took a Jewish wife?

Susie Pam: Not to my knowledge. He had many wives and many sons. I only deal with two of his wives in my novel. At the very end of his life, when he was in his 80's, he had a young wife from Russia, who was blond and blue eyed. Legend has it, that the Ottomans attacked Acco (Acre) and he went back to save this wife, and he was killed. But I do not cover that part of his life in my book.

Susie with her two daughters, this past summer. The author also has two sons.


Varda Epstein: How long did it take you to write Galilee Gold, your first novel?

Susie Pam: Well, when I first started I had brown hair and now it’s gray! It took me a good many years—mainly because I wrote most of the chapters in my writing group in Jerusalem, and we only met once a week! Also, when I started writing, there was not a lot of available information about that period—now there is a lot more.

The whole Pam family (see what I did there?)

Varda Epstein: Can you tell us about some of the research involved in writing this work of historical fiction?

Susie Pam: Let's just say that over the last few years, I sent a lot of $5 donations to Wikipedia. My husband is a tour guide and he had a few books in which el-Omar is mentioned. I wrote about herbalism during that period, so I had to read up on plants and their uses, and which were available in the Middle East. My daughter studied herbalism, so I was also able to ask her questions. When I reached a point where I had a lot of questions, we went back up to the Galilee and I found a tour guide whose specialty is Daher el-Omar.

We arranged to meet Sharif Sharif, a heritage and conservation expert of Nazareth. He introduced us to Ziad Daher Zaydany—an architect and artist who drew a portrait of el-Omar and is one of his many descendants. Of course, I imagined him a little more handsome and dashing in his younger days than he appears in the portrait.

Daher el-Omar portrait painted by Ziad Zaydany in 1990


Varda Epstein: Without giving away too much in the way of spoilers, your fictional Jewish heroine Tamar, is depicted as el-Omar’s captive. Do you think it likely that if the story had been true, the Jewish community would have made an effort to ransom and reclaim her? How important is the concept of ransoming a captive in Jewish law?

Susie Pam: Traditionally, ransoming a captive is a very important concept, even today—and I believe the Jews of Aleppo would have made an effort to raise the funds needed to rescue Tamar, had it been feasible.

Varda Epstein: What’s next up for Susie Pam?

Susie Pam: I have another three books in the works—at different stages of completion. Two are historical fiction, and one is a story about an American girl who volunteers on a kibbutz—a traditional kibbutz from the old days—and decides to stay.

***

Galilee Gold is currently available at Booklocker and Amazon.



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Wednesday, January 06, 2021

Sovereignty is a dead issue in Israel for now, but maybe it always was. The issue of applying Israeli civil law over the Jordan Valley and Judea and Samaria comes up as regularly as Israeli elections, but never actually comes to fruition. On September 10, 2019, however, it seemed the stars had at last aligned to make sovereignty possible. That was when Prime Minister Netanyahu announced, with only one week to go before elections, his intention to apply Israeli sovereignty over all the settlements, beginning with the Jordan Valley and then moving on to settlements in Judea and Samaria.

“One place that can have sovereignty immediately applied to it after the elections is the Jordan Valley. The next government will apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley.

“We haven’t had such an opportunity since the Six Day War, and I doubt we’ll have another opportunity in the next 50 years. Give me the power to guarantee Israel’s security. Give me the power to determine Israel’s borders,” said Netanyahu, who added that there was an “unprecedented opportunity to apply sovereignty to our settlements in the West Bank.”

We were to understand by this announcement that with Netanyahu secure in office in Israel, and the Israel-friendly President Trump in the White House, we would finally be free to do what we should have done in 1967: exercise Israeli sovereignty over all territory under Israeli control. After all, this territory is Jewish indigenous territory and has been for thousands of years. But the Jews had been dispossessed by one invading occupier after another and the land had slipped out of Jewish hands, the Jews, dispersed.

Back in 1967, however, when Israel was once again attacked by invading Arab armies, it looked like the end of the Jewish State. Instead, Israel ended up liberating much of its ancient territory, but left the disposition and administration of Judea and Samaria vague, in hopes that later, they might barter the land for peace, something that was never to happen. This has been a frustrating situation for many Israelis, in particular, those of us who actually live in Judea and Samaria.

Those of us who live in Judea and Samaria, never felt this part of Israel to be a commodity: something that could be traded away for something else. To the contrary, we felt it an imperative to settle and build on every part of our land: Jewish land. We never felt we had a partner for peace, moreover, but instead a murderous rabble, looking for opportunities to murder us, to murder Jews. Not that we thought it possible to give away our inheritance, but even if we had, we understood that giving them land would only encourage them in their bloodthirsty violence resulting in yet more dead Jews for us to bury and to mourn, God forbid.

So the horizon seemed a bit more exciting when it seemed as if, yes: this could finally happen: this thing called sovereignty. Netanyahu and Trump would make it happen. Israel would finally exercise sovereignty over this important part of our land and inheritance as Jews

But it never did happen. First, the idea that we were going to exercise sovereignty over all our territory was walked back. As I wrote in August 2019, (Peace for Peace or Sovereignty for Peace? Was Sovereignty Ever Really on the Table?) it turned out that the goal was only “to create a Palestinian state on 70 percent of Judea and Samaria through the application of Israeli sovereignty to just 30 percent of that land, effectively giving up another huge chunk of Jewish land to the Arabs for good.”

And even that partial plan got suspended, thanks to the Abraham Accords, when the United States promised the UAE not to support Israeli sovereignty until 2024. The signatories to the accords assumed that by then, Trump would be long gone from the White House. Anyone other than Trump in the Oval Office was bound to be against the idea of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, effectively making the issue disappear off the table for good—though some still hold out hope Trump will be in the running for the 2024 presidential election.)

Still, it’s not fair and a little too facile, for Israel to pin its hopes and aspirations on an American president. It’s not right because the will to exercise Israeli sovereignty must come from the top: from strong Israeli leaders. But our current Israeli leadership doesn’t care about this issue and now and in the past, has had no will to discuss sovereignty except as a bargaining chip for the enemy, or for the sake of pushing an Israeli election toward this direction or that.

With this new Israeli election season upon us, some may be wondering if the tried and true false promise of sovereignty might once again be dangled before our eyes. But no, there are the Abraham Accords to tout, and the—disastrous for Israel–results of the American election which means that the White House will no longer be in Israel’s corner, plus the insistent need to prove stellar handling of the pandemic. All of these red letter events: the accords, the election, the pandemic, have shoved the issue of sovereignty into a faraway corner, and have rendered it obscure and practically irrelevant.

Sovereignty will not soon again be an issue to lure Israeli voters to the polls.

“I really doubt Bibi will push sovereignty. He didn't push it in the last elections except as a little teaser; but essentially, when he had the opportunity, he was not interested. And to the extent he dangled the idea in front of his supporters, it was only because Trump was in favor,” said Eugene Kontorovich who heads the International Law Department of the Kohelet Policy Forum, a Jerusalem think-tank.

But what of the changing of the guard? Why should it matter? Why doesn’t Netanyahu just do the right thing and exercise Jewish sovereignty over all of Israel’s rightful, legal, and holy land? “With Biden as president, I can't imagine Bibi opposing him on this,” said Kontorovich "He doesn't care much about sovereignty himself, and cares a lot about avoiding fights with POTUS. He likes things quiet, and does not fundamentally understand the need for sovereignty.

“I think the moment has been lost for at least four years.”

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Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Netanyahu has held onto the reins of power far longer than any other Israeli prime minister. But love him or hate him, at some point Bibi must go, because barring other reasons for being deposed from the prime ministerial throne, no one lives forever. The problem is, there is no one to step into Netanyahu’s shoes, because he hasn’t groomed a successor. From Jonathan Tobin:

The defection of Likudniks under Sa’ar’s leadership to join the other former Netanyahu aides that oppose him at the head of other parties, like Bennett and Lieberman, reminds us that the prime minister has never tried to groom a successor. Indeed, he doesn’t seem to believe in the concept. That “après moi, le deluge” attitude is not only a good argument for term limits. It’s a bad look for any leader in a democracy even if, as is true of Netanyahu, his expertise in diplomacy, security and economic issues may be unrivaled.

With another election looming, the fourth since April 2019, Israelis must again ponder their electoral choices. There is no question that the right is stronger than the left in Israel right now, and has been for years, but the right has reason to be dissatisfied with Netanyahu. The right doesn’t like how Bibi has handled the situation in Southern Israel where Gaza uses Israeli citizens for target practice. They aren’t crazy about the fact that Bibi promised sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and it never happened. Aside from these issues, Likud, the party of Netanyahu, is seen as failing in its mission. Likud is supposed to be the party of Greater Israel, the party that builds in all parts of the Land, but it seems like illegal Arab building in the territories gets a pass, while Jewish homes are deemed illegal and are demolished in the blink of an eye to make a show for the EU, the UN, and fake human rights organizations, whenever they give a schrie, a shout.

Because of this situation, where Likud is deemed to be not really on the right, many voters took a chance, the last several times around, on the smaller right wing parties, which sucked away votes from Netanyahu’s party, the Likud. This necessitated the Likud wooing several smaller parties to join together as a coalition, in order to gain enough seats to form a government. As these smaller parties vie for a place in the government, Netanyahu has to be careful about divvying out political favors to rising stars on the right, lest they rise above to supplant him and usurp his place of power.

And that is how someone like Gantz, someone unseasoned and unsuited to rule, rises to power. It’s all about balancing out that coalition and those favors. Bibi dare not cede too much power to anyone else on the right, lest he lose his place and fall off the throne.

But whenever elections are announced, there are always some who will jump ship to form new parties, diluting the vote even further, and demanding more favors for the sake of joining the right wing coalition. This time, Gideon Sa’ar a longtime member of Likud, tendered his resignation from the Knesset and left the Likud to form the New Hope party. That same day, Yoaz Hendel and Zvi Hauser of the Center Right Derech Eretz party signed on with Sa’ar's party. Likud members Yifat Shasha-Biton, Michal Shir, Sharren Haskel, and Ze'ev Elkin, subsequently left the party of Netanyahu to throw in their lot with Sa’ar.

This many people coming onboard with Sa’ar tells us that the former Likudnik is attempting to form a new Likud, a party that will truly represent the right, and not fake it to make it, as the Likud, under Netanyahu, has done. This is not a new phenomenon. Many parties have sprung from the loins of the Likud. Some of the parties make it, some of them don’t. But none of these parties, and none of their leaders have succeeded in amassing the power of a Benjamin Netanyahu. And this is, in part, because Netanyahu has not groomed a successor.

It is the responsibility of a leader to groom a successor. No one lives forever. No politician can stay in power forever. If Netanyahu cares about securing the future of the Jewish State, he must prepare someone to take over from him when the time comes.

That could have been Sa’ar. But Sa’ar saw no future in the Likud, because Netanyahu gave him no hope that the former more junior member of Likud might someday succeed him. Nor did Netanyahu give hope to any other rising star in the Likud that he or she might someday rise to power.

Maybe that is because Netanyahu doesn’t see anyone in the talent pool of rising stars in the Likud who comes close to meeting the Netanyahu standard of statesmanship. And maybe there really is no one who is capable of the magic of statecraft Netanyahu-style—no one to pull rabbits out of hats, the way Netanyahu always seems to do, like when he stares down the UN . . .

 

. . . or speaks to Congress against the wishes of Obama.



But I’ll tell you this: I’ve seen Netanyahu speak, and it’s like he’s the entire room. You feel as though he’s speaking only to you. Maybe he was born that way, with a gift. Or perhaps Netanyahu was born with the potential to be a leader and someone took a chance--took him under his wing, and helped to nurture that gift.

All I know is that love or hate him, Netanyahu makes every other potential Israeli leader look small. I see no one with the gravitas to take his place. And that’s a scary thought for the future of Israel. Which is why Netanyahu must groom a successor, now. Netanyahu needs to create a leader in his own powerful image, a Bibi 2.0--except more rightwing--to take his place on that day when it will finally be time for him to step off the dais and let someone else lead the Jewish State to prosperity, peace, and success. 



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Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Esther Horgan, HY"D

Esther Horgan went for a run in the forest, as she was wont to do on nicer days. The air would be crisp and pine-scented, and she loved the feel and smell of being free in such a beautiful part of Eretz Yisrael. Here she could sing as loud as she wished, with only the clouds to hear. It felt good to stretch her limbs.

No doubt she came here often to run and to think, to exercise and stay in shape, while pondering life’s issues, large and small. There was bound to be always something to think about and resolve. After all, Esther Horgan was a mother of six and an immigrant who sought refuge in Israel from France, a European country that has seen more than its share of violent antisemitism over the past decade or so. Here in Israel, Esther might have thought, one can worry about things like where to send a daughter to high school or a son’s religious studies, instead of worrying that a child might be killed, God forbid, in the halls of a Jewish school, for the crime of being Jewish.

And that might have been true. And Esther Horgan may have been safer in that forest in Samaria, in the heart of Eretz HaKodesh, except that evil exists and infiltrates everywhere. Even in the Jewish State, or perhaps especially so. For many are the Arab terrorists who covet our beautiful land and want it, Jew-free, for themselves.

And the thing is, Esther Horgan wasn’t stupid. She knew that Arab terrorists might be anywhere, looking for opportunities to kill Jews. But the forest where her children were robbed of their mother was not just a random, isolated wood, but a nature preserve, a protected Jewish tourism site. The Israeli government invested here in bike paths and signage. It should have been safe.

It should have been safe for Esther Horgan to run and think and stretch her limbs in this part of the ancient Land of Israel. There should have been no danger to breathing in the pine-scented air of a forest whose name means “fragrant basil"—to bask in the glorious freedom of being alive in the Jewish State and of “coming home” to live in Tal Menashe in Samaria, indigenous Jewish territory for thousands of years. 

But it wasn't safe. Eitan Melet, a field coordinator at Regavim posted about it on Facebook with this stunning 360 degree photo of the Reihan Forest, where Esther was murdered:

(photo credit: Eitan Melet/Regavim)

Eitan Melet tells us that while the forest is beautiful, and the Israeli government has invested in developing the nature reserve, there's absolutely no police or army presence there, and it's become a shooting gallery and a dangerous hangout for all the Arabs of the areafrom Umm el Fahm and Reihan and the entire areawho do unspeakable things there. Melet was there only recentlya fully-armed, combat-trained maleand he was very uncomfortable.

And still, Esther Horgan went out of her home that morning, as she always did, seeking nothing but the peace of the forest. Nothing had ever happened to her before. But this one time, when she didn't come home, they found her dead, with signs of violence on her body. 

From the Jerusalem Post:

"We walked together for 30 years and yesterday you went and did not return. How can a few words describe the depth and breadth of your beauty and goodness?" said Esther's husband, Benyamin. "You built both a physical house and a spiritual house – everything – and it was supposed to be just the beginning. There were so many more plans.”


Nothing had ever happened before, but she was a small thing. You can see it in the pictures. She may have been fit, but she was no match for a brutal murderer, filled with lust for Jewish land soaked with Jewish blood. It shouldn't have happened, but it did.

And still, if Esther Horgan could speak, she would tell you how much better it is to run in the forest, to die as a Jew in the Land of Israel, than to die on the foreign soil of a France that never loved us. She would tell you to keep running in all the forests and beautiful parts of our indigenous territory, land that God gave us alone, to build on and live in. Land where we might someday run, free of any danger from the enemy within.

My neighbor Jocelyn Reisman Odenheimer, not to be deterred, runs on the security road behind her home, in memory of Esther Horgan. (photo credit: Ephraim Odenheimer)


(Thanks to Naomi Linder Kahn, director, international division of Regavim, for her assistance with this piece.)


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Wednesday, December 16, 2020

“Settlements” is the chosen subject of many a question posted by the anti-Israel crowd on Quora. The word has been, for ages, a dirty word in the lexicon of the Arab War Against the Jews. And in fact, even among right-wing Israeli Jews, the word “settlements” has fallen into disfavor. We don’t need this word, because it’s enough to say we’re building homes. And every human being has the right to shelter, especially in indigenous territory where previously, no homes existed, land that was returned to Israel when the Jews were attacked and fought back.

We didn’t ask for the wars. We have a right to the land we regained. We have a right to shelter and to build homes on Jewish land. Full stop.

The world, however, believes that Jews have no right to shelter. They call the settlements “illegal.” Because they prefer to think of it this way. And after Europe went ahead and murdered close to 7 million Jews in the Holocaust, they now want us to have no place to go. They want to install the Arabs on our land, strip the Jewish State of its ancient name “Israel,” and revert instead to the insulting Roman designation of “Palestine.” They want to take away Jewish land from the Jews and call it an Arab state.

Just as this antisemitic, anti-Israel crowd has managed to turn reality on its head, robbing Jews of their rights to Jewish land and to shelter, we have a responsibility to restore the narrative of truth, by constantly driving these facts home to the public. Quora is a good place for this. On Quora you have the anti-Israel crowd pushing lies, but you also have people pushing back with the truth.

By way of example, not long ago, I was asked to answer the following question on Quora:

Why are Israeli settlements in the West Bank all over the place? Isn't this dangerous for Israel? Won't this culminate in a binational state as it makes it difficult to partition the land?


There were some pretty detailed responses among the answers, but I kept my own response short and to the point, believing this to be better absorbed by readers, and therefore more efficient than a long and wordy answer:

It’s not the West Bank. No water in sight. It is and has been for thousands of years, Judea and Samaria. It is part of Jewish indigenous territory, and like any other human beings, Jews have a right to shelter. No reason they shouldn’t build homes for themselves or establish towns and cities in their ancient homeland.

It takes very little time to craft a quick response like this and to do so is as important as any other work we can do on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people. Every time someone answers a lie with the truth, the narrative of truth is strengthened and spreads further into the ether that is public opinion. How do we know this work is bearing fruit? The UAE will be importing olive oil and wine from Samaria, and Bahrain was going to label items from Judea and Samaria as “made in Israel” before they retracted that decision, presumably due to pressure from the PA.

At Chanuka time, we remember that the Greeks tried to Hellenize the Jews of Israel, forbidding circumcision, Sabbath observance, and the study of Torah. The Greek occupiers of Jewish land went so far as to sacrifice a pig on the altar of the Holy Temple, profaning everything that is holy to Jews. This is not much different than the way the UN and the EU collude with the PA, Hamas, and other Islamic extremists to drive Jews out of their land, their holy places, and into the sea. The ultimate goal is to separate Jews from their land and from Jewish observance, too. They may see Jewish practice as an affront to their beliefs, seeing as how Christianity and Islam were meant to supplant and obviate the need for Judaism.

Chanuka, however, is a time of miracles. We see our former enemies coming to accept a Jewish presence in the Middle East. We watch as peace accords spring up, new ones almost every week, miracles in our own time. There are good and practical reasons for making peace with Israel. But the accords and newly formed diplomatic ties are also an acknowledgement of reality: the Arabs lost. The Jews won and turned a barren, forsaken land into a busy and bustling, successful modern state.

The peace accords come from the knowledge that the Jews have more than earned the right to seek shelter: to live in and build homes on Jewish land. That comes from simple people, like you and me, just putting the truth out there, over time. Slowly, slowly, the truth is making inroads, like water dripping on a rock, gnawing away at the hard substance, and cracking it open over time.

Chag Urim Sameach!



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Wednesday, December 09, 2020

The Jewish Agency for Israel is actively partnering with evangelical Christians who seek to bring Israeli Jews to Jesus. That’s because 1) These missionaries are saving the Jewish Agency money by setting up and running absorption centers for new immigrants, lone soldiers, and young pre-army students and 2) The missionaries swear up and down until they’re blue in the face that they’re not missionaries—they swear they’re not here to bring Israeli Jews to Jesus.  

That promise of innocence is of course, ridiculous. They are missionaries. Full stop. If the Jewish Agency believes them, I’ve got a bridge I can sell them for cheap.

As mentioned in an earlier column: Shannon Nuszen is working to expose the mission of evangelical Christians in Israel—Jews are trying to shut her down, regular Jewish Israelis, not unlike the Jewish Agency, are happy to save money. And just like the Jewish Agency, these Jews swear up and down that the missionaries aren’t missionaries. The evangelicals, meanwhile, harvest grapes in the Jewish orchards of Samaria for free—a dream come true for any farmer. (But at what ultimate cost?)

With all that free labor, is it any wonder that some Israeli Jews fight the notion that in actual fact, these Christians are here to bring Israeli Jews to Jesus? But Jews looking the other way on the presence of missionaries in Israel has, perhaps, another subtext: some Israeli Jews retain a pathological need to seek constant approval from outsiders. These remaining vestiges of the ghetto mentality of these Israelis living free and easy in Israel is almost understandable: What happened to past generations in the diaspora has no doubt scarred the less emotionally hardy of our people.

So if just regular Israeli Jewish Joes support the evangelicals in their mission, it only stands to reason that the Jewish Agency believes it can get away with underwriting projects like the Aliyah Return Center for Lone Soldiers, run by, yes, missionaries.

Now it wouldn’t happen in America. This is made clear in this most recent clip from Beynenu, narrated by Rabbi Tovia Singer.


From the film:

"What's going on here in Israel would not go on in the United States. Both the Reform and Conservative movements have bylaws that they will not work with messianics, who are evangelical fundamentalist Christians who use Jewish terminology, symbols, and icons in order to bring Jewish people to know Jesus in a Jewish way.

“Here in Israel there seems to be no separation.

“The Reform Movement [in America] is the most liberal, and even they would not allow anybody of the messianic movement to be involved in any aspect of their education, much less run their programs.

"Jewish Community Centers around the world deal with the problem of messianics working to infiltrate their centers and social networks all the time, and they work very hard to address it.

"Yet here in Israel we have messianics partnering with the Jewish Agency running absorption centers for new olim, lone soldiers, and young pre-army students. Nowhere else in the world would Jews think to cross this line!

"The Jewish Agency is partnering with the Aliyah Return Center, a Christian organization headed in this country by a Messianic Jew. It's astounding!"

This latest—some would say shocking—clip from Beynenu is, in part, a response to the Jewish Agency, which has accused the organization of doctoring footage to back the narrative that the evangelical Christians are missionaries. Here is the official press release from the Jewish Agency for Israel on the subject:

“The Jewish Agency runs an educational facility near the Sea of Galilee called Bikat Kinarot. The site, fully managed by The Jewish Agency, includes facilities for lone soldiers, new immigrants, preparation for service in the IDF and serves as a regional center for those involved with civic projects.

“We have a formal agreement with the Canadian Christian Zionist organization Return Ministries to provide volunteers and to assist with construction, maintenance and landscaping work on the campus. This is done within a very clear contractual framework, stipulating that any kind of missionary activity is strictly prohibited.

“We are familiar with Beynenu and while the videos are heavily edited, using old and irrelevant footage and containing many false statements, they do raise grave questions and concerns for us regarding our relationship with Return Ministries.

“Let us emphasize that Return Ministries has no involvement whatsoever with any Jewish Agency programming. Any involvement of Return Ministries or the Aliyah Return Center beyond the very clearly demarcated roles mentioned above is in clear violation of their agreement with The Jewish Agency. The Jewish Agency will make no compromise on allowing any missionary activity. We are examining the allegations and intend to take firm action if they are found to be correct. We reject any effort to apply pressure on our internal process by any outside body, who is trying to tarnish our good name. If necessary, we will take steps to prevent this besmirching of The Jewish Agency’s reputation and unwavering dedication to keeping the Jewish people connected to each other and to Israel.”

That’s the official statement to the press. An internal email from the Jewish Agency, however, tells a different story:

“From this examination we have issued a very strong formal letter of complaint sent to Return Ministries. As we have searched for the facts, numerous violations of our contractual agreement have been discovered which have been included in our letter.”

As a result, Beynenu, went ahead and sent the following letter to the Jewish Agency:

As for claims by the Jewish Agency that Beynenu is using doctored, old, and irrelevant clips to prove a specific and unfounded point, Shannon Nuszen has this to say:

"We wish we could say that this is Hollywood, but these videos are real and it's happening in Israel. We understand that leaders are upset about this, and I think we all understand that mistakes happen. However, it would be a bigger mistake to be defensive rather than taking this seriously and addressing the problem.

"Whether they are baptizing olim, or just doing the gardening, we should not be partnering with Messianics. Legitimizing Messianics undermines Jewish communities, and as the Jewish Agency emphasizes, these communities are the building blocks of Jewish life.

"This would not happen anywhere else in the world, but for some reason this grave mistake has happened here in Israel.

"I assure you we are on the same side, and we would be happy to help the Jewish Agency address this serious matter."

So what exactly is Beynenu, and why are they going after these evangelical Christians like a dog with a bone that just won’t let go? Nuszen says that Beyneynu is a team of former missionaries, counter missionary experts, and “concerned persons of influence.” Here is Beynenu’s official mission statement:

Beyneynu is a non-profit organization that monitors missionary activity in Israel and works with government and community leaders to create awareness of the challenges facing the public and to facilitate the establishment of proper boundaries in their partnerships with faith-based organizations.

Establishing “proper boundaries” would seem to be something sorely lacking here between the Jewish Agency and organizations like Return Ministries, Hayovel, and the Aliyah Return Center. As a Jewish Israeli, I am happy that organizations like Beynenu exist. Because the last thing I want Jewish Israelis (such as my children) to encounter, is a missionary hiding the fact that what he really wants is for you to come to Jesus.  

(h/t Shannon Nuszen of Beyneynu)




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Tuesday, December 01, 2020

Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of JStreet, on Sunday condemned the assassination of senior Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. Ben-Ami took his cue from the EU, which took its cue from Tehran. One can understand why Tehran would condemn the assassination of the man considered to be the father of Iran’s nuclear program, someone considered “irreplaceable” in the mullahs’ quest to get the bomb. Iran wants the bomb, and the elimination of Fakhrizadeh is a setback. Big time. The condemnations coming out of Brussels and from Ben-Ami, on the other hand, can be explained only by the famous quote from Winston Churchill:

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."

It makes sense that JStreet would want to appease Iran by condemning the elimination of Fakhrizadeh, a man with deep knowledge of the Iranian nuclear program. A nuclear Iran threatens the free world, not least of all the United States. Go to any protest, or even to the Iranian parliament after Soleimani was killed, and you will hear the chants of, "Marg bar Āmrikā," (Death to America).


JStreet’s Ben-Ami hopes that in agreeing with his wannabe murderers, they will consent to eat him last.

Perhaps more to the point, JStreet is an anti-Israel organization pretending to engage in Israel advocacy. JStreet actually shares the aim of the Iranian nuclear program: the elimination of the Jewish State—witness the organization's covert support for BDS. It is believed that Israel is behind the assassination of Fakhrizadeh, though the Jewish State has neither confirmed nor denied a role in the targeted killing of the scientist. Israel has a good motive for taking out Fakhrizadeh and that is that while a nuclear Iran may be the greatest existential threat to the free world—which unfortunately includes Jeremy Ben-Ami among its inhabitants—Israel is Iran’s closest target, and the elimination of the Jewish State a primary goal for Khameini.

Ben-Ami, knowing that Israel is first on the menu, hopes that in condemning the actions of the Jewish State, he will be last on the list of tasty items to be consumed by the crocodile named Iran. That is why Ben-Ami was pleased to be included on the guest list of Jewish leaders invited to Obama’s table to discuss how Israel might be pressured to give away more indigenous Jewish land to the Arabs. Obama is the main architect of that ultimate appeasement of Iran: the JCPOA (which Iran never signed). It is Obama who sent the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, pallets of untraceable cash.

It is only natural that Ben-Ami would wish to be a starring ingredient in the dessert course, to ally himself with Obama. Ben-Ami, like Obama, wants to be eaten last. Alas, the only way for these men to fulfill this aim is to make themselves relevant until the end. They hope that if they appear to share the goal of the crocodile, and even assist in procuring food for the beast, the beast might save them for another day, when there is nothing tastier to eat.

The problem is that the crocodile is a bully, and the problem with appeasing a bully is that the bully always comes back for more. Which means that the bullied are never free, even as they delude themselves that the opposite is true, that they are saved. Being last to be eaten, on the other hand, by definition means that one is eventually eaten. Which is how the game ends.

And the game always ends unless you stand up to the crocodile, to cut off its sustenance for good. That is the only way to do away with the crocodile, once and for all. Which Israel knew. Which is why Fakhrizadeh had to go.

It only makes sense. It’s the only real way to game the system, to not get eaten, last or otherwise.

Anyone who understands this, anyone with a modicum of sechel or common sense, therefore did not vote for Joe Biden. Biden, predictably, intends to revive the JCPOA, because he too, hopes to be eaten last, as do those who voted for him. The Biden voters either hope to be last to be eaten by the Iranian crocodile, or else they are oblivious to the danger in the swamp. They are oblivious because the media dangles progressive sugar plums before their eyes, the shiny and exciting causes they prefer to embrace above life itself: BLM, Antifa, illegal immigrants, and above all, a supreme hatred of the Orange Man.

The people who voted for Biden (and Obama before him), can’t see the crocodile lurking, waiting to pounce on those with no clue of the danger waiting for them in the wings. The crocodile, meanwhile, watches on as its early prey, the Biden voters, spew their hatred of anyone who thinks differently from them: the people who won’t get with the plan. The Biden voters don’t know that all along, the plan has been out of their hands and even unknown to them, the people to be eaten first.

The people who voted for Biden, knowing he would probably reinstitute the JCPOA, are like so much unwitting chum. They have no idea how delicious they are, as an appetizer, or even a main course. Ben-Ami, meanwhile, awaits his turn on the platter with bated breath—perhaps garnished with edible gold—as the crocodile opens its yawning cavern of a mouth, never to be sated or satisfied.

Always wanting more.



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Wednesday, November 25, 2020


Shirley Kopelman Meyers, January 10, 1927-November 8, 2020

I like to tell people I made aliyah when I was young and stupid and that that’s the way to do it. When I made aliyah at the age of 18, I wasn’t thinking about what it would be like to have an aging parent far away, and not be able to help. I didn’t think about how, someday, in middle age, I would long to care for my mother, as I only I would have cared for her had I been there. But I was not there, except in fits and starts, two-week visits that were somehow never enough for either of us. And now she’s gone.

In the middle of the morning, the message came: “Our mother went to the true world this morning.”

I was not even surprised. I had seen it coming. She was 93. She was fading. This was Sunday morning, and she had fallen asleep in the middle of our last phone call, on Thursday night.

I watched her funeral on Zoom. Which was a blessing. I always knew I would not be going to the States for her funeral, as she had forbidden me to do so, some years ago.

A child of the Great Depression, my mother was practical. She didn’t see the point of me spending all that money on a ticket when she wouldn’t even be there to see me. Never mind that in some respects, the rituals are for those who remain. My mother had made her wishes clear, and I was stuck with respecting those wishes, and her.

Because of the Depression, she couldn't go to college. But at age 46, widowed with 4 children, she became a student at the University of Pittsburgh. It took her 8 years, but she got her degree in journalism. 

Had there not been a pandemic, perhaps no one would have thought to set up that Zoom funeral I got to see, so at least I had that: the beautiful chill autumn day, some red and gold leaves still on the trees in the Beth Shalom Cemetery, in Millvale, Pa. 

We visited my dad a few years ago. Now she is next to him.


On the other hand, had there not been a pandemic, I might have been able to see her one last time. But I was terrified at the thought of picking up the virus during my travels and that I might somehow, unwittingly, bring it to her, when I loved her almost as much as life itself. The thought of making her sick was paralyzing, in its most literal meaning. That thought kept me here in place in Israel, and far away from her.

And I think that was difficult for her. Knowing that I wasn’t going to be there that one more time. Perhaps—at least a little—she gave up hope that I would ever come again. It was not going to happen: a thing that made life worth living when she could no longer walk, see or hear, a visit from her baby.

It hurts that I hurt her that way. And it hurts that I lost my mom. But in spite of the terrible pain of losing my mother—of missing out on being able to care for her as only I would have cared for her—in spite of depriving her of my presence at the end, and missing her funeral, I do not regret making aliyah. “Non, je ne regrette rien.”

I regret nothing.


Is aliyah a selfish act? In some ways, no doubt, it is.

There’s no doubt it was excruciating for my mother not to have me with her all these years, when she loved and needed me so. It was I who picked up and left Pittsburgh to make aliyah to Israel. I who made the decision, and simply did it—made aliyah—when I was young and stupid, and unaware of what the future held. It was painful for my mother to not be close by my children, her grandchildren, whom she loved so dearly.

I put out photos of my mother in the shiva house, and there was one photo where you could see just the edge of her face, and she was glowing with love for a newborn grandchild she held, and you could see it, that love, though much of the picture was in shadow, including the object of her love, obscured. How it must have hurt her, to be so far away from them, her grandchildren, whom she would have loved to have cuddled and loved and known.

As evening fell on the day my mother died, Z”L, my rabbi’s wife came to my house to help me do kria, to help me tear my shirt just over the heart, as one does for a mother. “This is the price of aliyah,” I said to her, and she knew what I meant: that I hadn’t been there to care for my mother or be with her at the end, that I was observing the rituals from a distance: that I wasn’t there.

It was all a part of the price: the price of aliyah.

She issued no bromides or platitudes, my rabbi’s wife. My rabbi’s wife, who is wise, said something I’ve held onto, during the past two weeks, through my shiva and the days that followed. “Look,” she said in her quiet voice. “That’s Lech Lecha. You did Lech Lecha.”

This was a reference to the Torah portion not long past, Lech Lecha, in which God directs Abram to leave his native land and all that he knew, for a “land that I will show thee.”

Now the LORD said unto Abram: 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee.’ Genesis 12:1

One can only imagine the depth of Abram’s faith, leaving his father’s house like that with no second thoughts. But I was no Abram. The repercussions of the act were not clear to me at the time of the act: It is not an easy thing to leave a mother, or to leave all that I knew. I gave up one life for another, yet the shock and the pain of it all, came on only over time. It was a gradual sinking in.

And now that I’ve experienced this loss, I think that had I known how painful this all would be—the not being there—the enormity of this thing, I might not have made aliyah, at all.

I don’t think I could have done it, though I regret nothing, “Non, je ne regrette rien.”

It was the right thing to do, to make aliyah, and I’m glad, every day, that I did.

I didn’t know what I was doing at the time. I only longed and yearned to be here in Israel and I made it happen. But there was a cost to aliyah that makes Israel and my living here, all the more dear to my heart. I put my people ahead of myself, and even my own dearest mother, z"l, by moving to Israel. And how can I regret the chance to play a part in this noble project, the building of our national home, making Israel stronger, just by dint of being here?

“Non, je ne regrette rien.”

I wish that things had been different. I wish that my mother hadn’t fit into Pittsburgh the way I wished I fit Israel: like a glove. Because then she might have come here and I could have taken care of her. She would have had the chance to really know her Israeli grandchildren and great grandchildren, growing up under a different sun, proud and free in the Jewish State. 

Instead of snatching a few weeks here, a few weeks there, for a birth or a bar mitzvah.

But it was understood: my mother was a Pittsburgher, born and bred, and she would never live anywhere else. It was who she was.

And the truth is, it is who I was, and the last several times I visited there, I found myself touching the trees, and the buildings, the low walls and soaring yellow street lights, and would shed a tear or two as I said goodbye, over and over again. The smells of that place! The sight of that curb, that hill, this tree! A sensory experience that reached down to me, toward some primal place, an essence.

But Israel had called, had always called, that nobler cause from afar, from when I was little. This too, was me. Perhaps the ultimate me, the place I had to grow into. The place I had to earn.

Yes, I was young and stupid when I made aliyah. I hadn’t seen the cost. But no. From afar, from this distance, I regret nothing.

“Non, je ne regrette rien.”

I regret nothing in part because I live in a wonderful community that embraced me in my sorrow, came to sit with me, talk with me, cook for me. The people here know they are my family, since my family cannot be here. And they try hard to fill the breach. They know that I gave up my real family to be here with them in our land. And that makes them my family, in some ways more even than the real family I knew as a girl.

But community cannot replace my mother. It is hard to lose a mother. It hurts: another one more installment on the price of aliyah, which I continue to pay in ways and amounts I never anticipated, back when I was 18, young, and stupid. I think I never could have done it—made aliyah—if I’d known the price, how much it would cost, how much it would hurt.

It’s the kind of knowledge—well, it’s better not to know, to be young and stupid: to dare to just do the thing without knowing what’s ahead, the repercussions of the act. Did Abram know what was ahead, the trials and tribulations? Can anyone really make an informed aliyah, for instance know loss of this sort without having been in it, away from a mother they love, so far away?

Now I can say I’ve been there. I’ve dwelt in the country of my loss and I know the price of aliyah.

And still, I am here.

Today, and hopefully for a long time, I am here in Israel. And I do not and will not regret that.

“Non, je ne regrette rien.”



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Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Shannon Nuszen is coming up against Jewish opposition to her work at Beyneynu, which is all about exposing the true nature of Christian missionaries inside Israel. These evangelical Christians are careful not to use overt language in describing their mission to the Jewish Israelis they meet and work with. But Nuszen captures the truth by way of videos created by the Christians for their supporters abroad, in which their mission is stated in explicit terms. And the truth is that these Christians are in Israel for the express purpose of converting Jewish Israelis to Christianity.

Why would any Jew not want this truth exposed? It’s not a mystery: money talks, nobody walks. Evangelical Christians give a lot of money to Israel, and they’re very nice people. No one wants to believe they have any underlying, hidden purpose in being here. The Jews don’t want to believe these Christians are anything other than what they purport to be: nice people who support the Jews and the Jewish State.

Jews are tired of being hated. When someone shows them a bit of love, they drink it up. They are like Sally Fields at the Oscars gushing, “You like me! You really like me!”


via GIPHY

They need to believe these Christians don’t have an ulterior motive. They need it for their self-esteem. And of course, there’s the money. Lots and lots of it. And a lot of these Christians are working the vineyards of Samaria, for free. Which is as good as financial support, right?

So we have a situation where Shannon Nuszen, through her organization, Beyneynu, is distributing videos to Jewish journalists in which Christians expose their true purpose on camera. And Jews are going around behind the scenes and sometimes, shamelessly, right in front of Nuszen, casting aspersions on her work.

These Jews tell the journalists and anyone else who will listen that Shannon is disturbed, that because of her past, she has a vendetta—that these Christians are REALLY NICE PEOPLE who have told them, the Jews, that converting the Jews is the furthest thing from their sweet little innocent minds. These Christians LOVE the Jews, say the Jews, and only want to help and support them.

Would that all that were true. But it’s not. And Shannon is only curating words said by these very same Christians—words which clearly have no other context—that is, if one is being honest about this stuff. The Christians are in Israel for one sole purpose. They want to bring the Jews to Jesus.

They’ll swear up and down it isn’t so. But the videos say otherwise, if you can get past all the Jews out to destroy the messenger, Shannon. To them I say, “Methinks thou dost protest too much.”

The Jews know on which side their bread is buttered. And it’s actually a really shameful thing to witness how they grovel to those trying to convert them while speaking out against their own: Shannon. But you know what? Let’s give Shannon a chance to explain it all in her own words. And then you can decide whom to believe: Shannon, or the Jewish naysayers who benefit from these Christians and work behind the scenes to deride their fellow Jew:  

Varda Epstein: Can you tell us a bit about your background?

Shannon Nuszen: I was born and raised in Evangelical Christianity. My father was a minister, and for many years I was a missionary myself with a tremendous love for Israel and a focus on the Jewish people.

In 2005 I visited Israel for the first time and returned home more determined than ever to prove to myself and every Jew I knew that Jesus was indeed the messiah prophesied in the bible.

However, homing in on that one issue and fully immersing myself in learning about the fulfillment (or lack thereof) of these prophecies did not result in any reaffirming of my faith, or in me perfecting my arguments for bringing Jews to Jesus. The opposite happened, and through learning the Jewish perspective, it became clear that everything I knew and believed in was false.

Long story short, I ended up converting to Judaism and have been living as an Orthodox Jew ever since. I now live in Israel.

Varda Epstein: Why did you decide to focus on exposing and fighting missionaries in Israel? Is this really a significant presence or threat to the Jews of Israel?

Shannon Nuszen: I was on the other side. I was one of those missionaries. I understand better than most how aggressive and unyielding these missionaries are. Most Jewish people, though they may have encountered these missionaries, really do not understand the full scope and danger they present to our people. We are not just dealing with Christians trying to convert Jews. It’s worse than that and more insidious because they are playing word games.

The missionaries misappropriate Jewish symbols, icons, and traditions in order to evangelize the Jews. They are portraying Christianity in a Jewish way to get Jews to believe in Jesus. I know this because I was one of those people. As a result, I feel a heavy responsibility, almost a burden, to alert the Jewish community to the problem that confronts them.

It is shocking. It is a stage four cancer, and there is no stage five. These missionaries have managed to infiltrate and become a part of the highest echelons of the Israeli government and its leadership. Because of their financial and political support for Israel these evangelicals have managed to blind Israelis to the inherent dangers of their mission. Evangelical support comes at an extremely high price, and I understand why Israeli leaders and many ordinary Israelis and Israeli businessmen turn the other way. We have many enemies, and therefore we are willing to work with anyone, even when it comes at a very dangerous price.

Varda Epstein: Would you tell us about some of the people and organizations you’ve worked with on the issue of missionaries in Israel?

Shannon Nuszen: In my quest to research and supply information about specific missionary groups that are active in Israel, I have worked with and continue to work with every organization I know of in this field. In an official capacity I began this work 13 years ago in Houston, countering local missionaries in a grassroots effort with Rabbi Stuart Federow. During this time, I also worked for Outreach Judaism for a span of a few years. Most of my work in this field, however, has been with Jewish Israel, as their North American liaison.

Varda Epstein: Tell us about Beyneynu. Why did you decide to found this organization and what is its purpose?

Shannon Nuszen: Beyneynu is a nonprofit organization that monitors missionary activity in Israel and works with government and community leaders to create proper boundaries in their partnerships with faith-based organizations.

Are we against Christian support for Israel? No! We simply draw the line at missionary efforts, and do not believe Jewish organizations should be forming alliances or partnerships with those who have as their agenda the desire to bring Jews to faith in Jesus.

I do not consider myself a “counter missionary,” and Beyneynu is not another counter missionary organization. Our focus is on alerting the Jewish community to missionary efforts, and to help the Israeli leadership to identify those who threaten the Jewish character of the State of Israel.

Varda Epstein: You’ve released some shocking videos of missionaries in Israel and abroad. How are these videos created?

Shannon Nuszen: These videos are created the same way news publications produce videos. They scour hours of videos and take the most germane elements they find and broadcast them to the public. This is critical to this effort.

Most videos put out by the missionaries are over an hour long. The Jewish community needs to know about the elements in these videos that specifically speak about their intentions in regard to the Jewish people of Israel.

It’s important to understand that if these missionary groups—based as they are inside of Israel—were self-sustaining, they wouldn’t take the risk of discussing these topics in videos, but all their financial support comes from abroad, from outside of Israel. The videos are created precisely for this audience: evangelical Christians who live beyond the borders of Israel. Virtually nothing comes from native Israeli missionaries, therefore they must convey to evangelical Christians abroad the work that they are doing, and that is “winning Jewish souls for Yeshua.”

These people all, without exception, use language that serves as dog whistles for their followers. None of them would ever come straight out and use the term “convert Jews to Christianity” to describe their mission. That type of language is no longer used among the Jews because Jewish people translate “convert to Christianity” as losing their Jewish identity (and they’re right).

This was clear in another video Beyneynu released not long ago where the CEO of God TV, Ward Simpson, clearly stated “We don’t want Jews to convert to Christianity, we simply want them to accept Jesus as their messiah.”

Varda Epstein: There have been some accusations that you are selectively editing these videos to show something that isn’t really there. They say you have a vendetta, because you were one of them, and have now converted to Judaism. What would you say to your accusers?

Shannon Nuszen: The accusers are not bystanders. They are the same activists who repeatedly carry water for these evangelical Christian groups by repeating their talking points, because they work with them and depend on them for their financial support. They have a vested interest in protecting these missionaries.

The real question for these accusers (or perhaps “handlers” is a better word) is: Do these Christians believe it is their obligation to carry out “The Great Commission?” Matthew 28:19 “. . . to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

In our latest video, these Christians are clearly speaking of this obligation to their followers, if not in so many words. If the naysayers cannot answer to the charge or prove that it’s not the case, then the only tactic left for them is to attack the messenger: me.

As far as having a vendetta, I would say the opposite is true. Just as much as I feel it is an obligation to warn fellow Jews of this danger, I would love to be able to demonstrate to Christians the pain their actions inflict on the Jewish people in order to foster some understanding.

Varda Epstein: Why are so many Jews against your work, and speaking out against this work and even you, personally? What do they stand to gain by allying with Christians, and working against you, a fellow Jew?

Shannon Nuszen: I do not think even our most fierce opposition opposes the goal of our work. This is the one issue that Jews across the spectrum agree on. The entire Jewish world is against efforts to convert Jews. They just refuse to believe that the Christians who give them financial support, and who support their programs, could possibly have any missionary agenda. It becomes for them a very personal issue.

The information we present, however, is not our opinion. We are not quoting out of context or interpreting what these Christians are saying. Our only aim is to inform.

Varda Epstein: Is there anything else you would like to say to your accusers?

Shannon Nuszen:  I try not to focus on the negative attention or answer those who are aligning themselves with missionaries. They have their reasons for what they do, and they will have to answer for that. My focus is on the effect of these missionaries on Jewish communities worldwide.

Varda Epstein: Can you give us some examples of things these missionaries have said for which the context is undeniable, and cannot possibly be explained away by selective editing?

Shannon Nuszen: The undeniable issue that cannot be disputed is “The Great Commission,” which you’ll find being preached in each of the videos we have curated, and is common to all missionaries. “The Great Commission” is the commandment given by Jesus himself “. . . to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Those who teach this concept are fully committed to living by this commandment and everything they say and do is by way of fulfilling this obligation.

The methods and language used to explain this in ways that won’t offend Jews are many, but the bottom line is that they do not believe they are exempt from this commandment or that they should refuse to participate in its fulfillment. They see this commandment, “The Great Commission,” as their primary goal, and crucial factor in the “restoration” (you’ll hear them say that word a lot) process that in their belief, serves as preparation for the second coming of Jesus.

Varda Epstein: Where are you and Beyneynu going with this work? What can we expect to see coming up next?

Shannon Nuszen: Beyneynu’s efforts are primarily behind the scenes working with government and Jewish leadership to understand the dangers of partnering with missionaries. With the tremendous outpouring of love and support coming from the Christian world, it is important that we understand who we can and cannot trust.

Sometimes our efforts include informing the public of problematic events or relationships that require their help to demand action. This was the case with God TV. Even though they had already secured a contract with the cable provider, and had been licensed by the Israeli government to broadcast this programming, it was public outcry that brought about the complete reversal of this state of affairs and caught the attention of the world.

That is the message that every organization looking to partner with us should understand. We appreciate the support for Israel, but we must draw the line when it comes to missionary activity.



We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 14 years and 30,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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