Wednesday, April 25, 2018
According to journalist Yanki Farber, Christian
missionary Hananya Naftali has just been appointed Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s new deputy media advisor. This presumably means that
Naftali will be managing or directing the prime minister’s social media accounts.
As the Israeli PM has a significant online presence, this would seem to be a
position of some consequence.
קבלו את סגן יועץ ניו מדיה החדש לראש הממשלה נתניהו @HananyaNaftali נפתלי חנניה, שירת בשריון כטנקיסט, כשרון אדיר, לא סתם הוא הגיע לאן שהגיע pic.twitter.com/mRHluA6gcC— Yanki יענקי פרבר (@Farberyanki) April 22, 2018
I’ve been aware of Naftali since at least 2015. Naftali
previously served in the IDF Armored Corps,
and used the close quarters of a tank to spread the word of Jesus (Y”Sh) to
Jewish soldiers. He also made pro-Israel videos while wearing his IDF uniform. No
one seemed to question his intent. People kept sending me his videos. “Isn’t he
wonderful?” they’d gush.
As his social media presence grew, some pro-Israel
organizations shared Hananya Naftali’s videos in support of Israel and wrote
articles about him, too. In each video and article, I recognized certain code
words suggesting Naftali’s true motive was to gain the trust of the Jewish people
for the purpose of drawing them away from Judaism and persuading them to become
Christians.
Because Naftali was a social media star whose videos were
shared by pro-Israel organizations, in some ways, he was untouchable. I couldn’t
write to expose him because it would be smearing pro-Israel organizations. It
would be undiplomatic.
Writing to the pro-Israel organizations seemed to get me
nowhere. I got the brush-off: “Nah. He’s not a missionary,” they swore.
But he was. Is.
The only thing I lacked was a big ole smoking gun, where
Naftali would actually come right out and say: “I’m all about converting the
Jews.”
In June 2017, I interviewed my friend Shannon Nuszen, a blogger at Jewish Israel. As a former Christian missionary (now Orthodox Jew), Shannon knew the lingo. She’d been following Naftali’s antics for some time. With Shannon’s help, I laid out my case that Naftali’s seeming support for Israel in his popular videos serves as cover for his missionary work.
Some months later, Aussie Dave
of Israellycool
found it: the smoking gun we’d been seeking. A video in which Naftali came
right out and said that, “God put him in the army precisely to share Jesus with
Jews, to be ‘a light among Jews.’”
The video also had Naftali
saying, “It is not easy to be the light in the dark,” which Aussie Dave
credibly suggests is the missionary’s way of implying that “the dark” is Jewish
belief.
You cannot see the video anymore,
since Naftali took steps to remove the video from circulation after the blog
came out. (Apparently. Because when I went to see it at Israellycool, it was marked “unavailable.”) SEE UPDATE, at bottom for the video.
But it was out there long enough
to document. And I thank Aussie Dave for exposing the little creep. We did not
survive the Holocaust and create the State of Israel in order to let some sneaky
dweeb kill our connection to our Jewishness; our connection to God and His Holy
Torah.
On the other hand, people are
STILL NOW sending me Naftali’s videos. Each time, I explain it to them: He’s a
MISSIONARY.
Some believe me, some don’t.
And now I discover that Bibi has hired this missionary to handle his social media. Think of it! The prime
minister of the Jewish State becomes the vessel through which a Christian
missionary, Hananya Naftali, gets easy access to millions of Jewish Israelis
with his message about Jesus (Y”Sh). Appointing Naftali to a position of influence, moreover, tends to whitewash his missionary activities, gives him an imprimatur: makes him seem clean. I can just hear people saying, "He can't be a missionary if the prime minister of Israel hired him!"
As I was writing this piece, in fact, my attention was drawn to this article in the Jerusalem Post, which suggests that Naftali's missionary work is a figment of the imagination, and that the "accusations" are merely a part of his "colorful past."
As I was writing this piece, in fact, my attention was drawn to this article in the Jerusalem Post, which suggests that Naftali's missionary work is a figment of the imagination, and that the "accusations" are merely a part of his "colorful past."
It’s unconscionable.
So I did what I could. I wrote to Bibi and explained the situation to him. I tweeted to him. But the thought occurs that considering Naftali being Bibi’s deputy new media advisor and all, it may be Naftali who intercepts and reads my tweets and emails.
So I did what I could. I wrote to Bibi and explained the situation to him. I tweeted to him. But the thought occurs that considering Naftali being Bibi’s deputy new media advisor and all, it may be Naftali who intercepts and reads my tweets and emails.
I have not yet had a reply from
the prime minister or his deputy, the missionary Hananya Naftali. If I do, I will update this space.
Don't hold your breath.
UPDATE: Jewish Israel informs me that there are still two extant copies of the smoking gun video that was found by Aussie Dave at Israellycool in which Naftali says he is in the army to share Jesus with the Jews at 46 seconds in, see the clip at https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=93a_1511190545
Don't hold your breath.
UPDATE: Jewish Israel informs me that there are still two extant copies of the smoking gun video that was found by Aussie Dave at Israellycool in which Naftali says he is in the army to share Jesus with the Jews at 46 seconds in, see the clip at https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=93a_1511190545
.jpg)
