Israel Watcher - A Second Opinion

Wannsee: Evil Gets Organized

2012-01-30T14:12:00.000-06:00

by Eddie Santoro in Jerusalem

Ahavat Yeshua Congregation (TheLove of Yeshua)

Zion’sGlory and Tikkun Ministries

It happened 70 years ago. The date was January 20, 1942. For the first time since the outbreak of World War II in 1939 and the subsequent blitzkrieg conquest of Europe, the Nazi war machine was having difficulties. The drive to occupy Moscow had stalled, being held up by the long and hard Russian winter. At the same time, the British troops had a series of victories in the Middle East and North Africa. In addition, the United States had all but renounced its neutrality and had started supplying the Allied Forces with much needed armaments while it began mobilizing for its soon entry into the war.

But even as the German political and nationalistic goal of establishing the “Third Reich” was beginning to crumble, the true satanic goal of this war; the destruction of the Jewish people was accelerating. Satan knew that in order to stop God's plan to return the Messiah, there could not be an Israel. The Jewish people had to be destroyed.

On that January day, Germany's top ranking officials gathered for the "Wannsee Conference" in Berlin to formulate a "Final Solution to the Jewish Problem”. The Nazi machine had already gathered most of the Jews of Europe into squalid ghettos and concentration camps. They had been denied all human rights and thousands were dying daily of starvation and disease. But the imprisonment, dehumanization and gradual destruction of the Jewish people was not enough.

In light of the weakening war effort, a more certain means of their total destruction needed to be implemented. The goal of this evil gathering was to find the quickest and most efficient way to murder all of the Jewish people in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

This planned Holocaust was not a new strategy. Time and again the Jewish people had been attacked and murdered for the crime of being Jewish. Pharaoh had attempted to destroy them in the days of Moses' birth. Herod had taken his turn at the time of Yeshua's birth. And throughout later history the Jewish people had suffered persecution, expulsion and death at the hands of every “civilized” European nation.

But now at this moment, right before the time that God had determined to rebirth the State of Israel, Satan's servant Hitler and his demonic organization gathered to plan the “Final Solution to the Jewish Problem”. It was at the "Wannsee Conference" that leaders such as Himmler, Eichmann, Muller and twelve other high Nazi officials finalized the idea of building death camps throughout Europe and the mass transportation by rail of the Jewish people to their appointment with death. Never in history had the mass murder of so many millions of people been transformed into a precise and almost business like undertaking. Actual documents from the conference (pictured above) numbered an incredible 11,000,000 people who were set apart to be murdered!

But now at this moment, right before the time that God had determined to rebirth the State of Israel, Satan's servant Hitler and his demonic organization gathered to plan the “Final Solution to the Jewish Problem”.

Over the following years, the "Final Solution" would become operational through the construction of death camps. Auschwitz, Triblanca, Bergen Belsen, Buchenwald and Dauchow, just to mention a few, are today infamous for the horror that was carried out within them. Their sole purpose was the systematic and efficient annihilation of millions of Jews along with any other people that the Nazi's found undesirable.

Highlighting the fact that the primary demonic goal of World War II was the destruction of the Jewish people is the reality that in the later years of the war, as the German war effort was being stopped, the number of those being murdered increased. The ovens continued to burn non stop until the last minute. It was as if Satan knew that his time was short and his desire to accomplish his goal manifest in an obsession by the Nazis to complete their evil work before they were defeated.

Not too much has changed since then. The primary goal of the powers of darkness is still to prevent the return of the Messiah. And as always the means of accomplishing this goal is through the destruction of the Jewish people.
Today antisemitism has taken on a new name. In much of the world, hating Jewish people just because they are Jewish is politically incorrect. So in response to this new found sensitivity, the enemy of God has found a more palatable way of presenting his goal. The new face of antisemitism is now anti Israel. You do not have to hate the Jewish people and try to kill them which would brand you anti-Semitic. Rather, you can just stand against Israel and work toward its destruction. This will be enough to prevent the fulfillment of God's great plan for this earth. But in the end there is no difference. To hate Israel is to hate the Jewish people.

The new face of antisemitism is now anti Israel.

Today there is a never ending campaign to delegitimize and criminalize and ultimately destroy the nation of Israel. Whether it is Iran's threat to remove Israel from the earth, or the unending condemnation in the United Nations, or the Islamic Jihad which openly calls for the destruction of Israel and the removal of the “cancerous Jews”, or European democracies that look upon the one democratic nation in the Middle East and condemn it while overlooking the horrendous behavior of the nations that surround it, the truth cannot be denied. The enemies of God are once again taking aim at their age old target. It is Israel that represents God's faithfulness and it is Israel to which Yeshua must return.

Seventy years ago fifteen people from just one nation gathered together to plot the destruction of God's “Chosen People”. Their actions were the expression of the Kingdom of Darkness upon the planet Earth. Today, it is not the leaders of just one nation but rather it is the nations of the world that are gathering against Israel.

As the Day of the Lord draws nearer, the anger and hatred of the enemies of God is increasing. Our Bible tells us that there will be one last, great gathering of all the nations against Israel. The Bible also tells us that in the last hour, as Jerusalem is being destroyed, the Messiah will return.

Yeshua's feet will touch down in the Jewish city of Jerusalem and the “Lion from the Tribe of Judah” will make war against the very ones who are attempting to destroy his beloved Israel. He who guards Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers. He has written her name upon the palm of his hand and as a mother cannot forget her firstborn son, he will come to save his people.

In this day and at this time, even as we remember the evil of the past, let those of us who love God and love his Word arise to stand with the nation and people of Israel. May each of us take our place on the wall and with one loud voice proclaim God's love and purpose in these challenging days. May we stand united;Jew and Gentile, that the world may know that He is Lord.

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DREADFUL DREAM Jan 4 2011

2012-01-04T15:28:00.000-06:00

From David Ortiz in Ariel we received an extremely sobering dream he had that we believe is important for the coming year. In his own words:

January 4, 2012 I want toaddress this crisis because it applies to those of us who live here and thosewho live outside the country. There are many who are doing anexcellent and vital work in Israel, and who are glorifying the Lord in thisland. In the Messiah, David Ortiz

16 So it was, from that time on, that half ofmy servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, theshields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house ofJudah. 17 Those who built on thewall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one handthey worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. 18 Every one of the builders had his swordgirded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was besideme. 19 Then I said to the nobles, therulers, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and weare separated far from one another on the wall. 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our Godwill fight for us.” 21 So we labored inthe work, and half of the men held the spears from daybreak until the starsappeared. Nehemiah 4:16-21

DREADFUL DREAM Last night I had adream. I heard an announcement that wasmade from Hell, saying, “There is a sword that has been issued to cut downthose that are declaring the message of salvation to the Jewish people thatYeshua is the Messiah. It should cut them down to pieces.”

I could hear that the order was given from far away and from a very deeppit. The believers were in a type of adark catacomb, caves where there were many passage ways. Soon a very tall man came out who had a verydark shadow on him. He came out runningand swinging a machete with all his might. People began fleeing from before him. As he ran towards the groups of people, one of the brothers bracedhimself as the man was swinging and coming in his direction, but he bypassedthis brother and made it clear that he wasn’t the target, but the otherswere.

As he chased theothers, I could hear the clinking sound of the weapon hitting solid rock whenthe machete didn’t hit its mark, but some were hit. But just because he wasn’t able to hit some,that didn’t deter him from continuing to pursue the people in the catacombs anddidn’t stop him from his goal.

The brother that was spared by beingbypassed was gripped with fear and backed up to the cold wall behind him inorder to not be seen. Once again, theassassin bypassed him, but this time made it clearer that he would not betargeted as long as he didn’t get involved. The brother felt relieved that his life had been spared.

Among the courts of men, people’s motives aren’t always clear-cut andidentifiable. Sometimes it isn’timmediately clear if the crime was intentional, 1st degree, 2nd degree, or doneout of ignorance, because man doesn’t know the heart and it can take a longperiod of time or even years before the true motive is revealed. But with God this is not the case. Truth is evident in less than a secondbecause all the intentions of a man’s heart are laid bare and not hidden.

Man stands before God completely naked and without excuse (Hebrews 4:12-13),and in the dream this was plainly understood and evident. Thereason why the brother did not get involved and didn’t take interest in tryingto save the others is because he was relieved that his life had been spared. It was almost like he was in the heat of ahot a desert with no relief in sight and all of a sudden he was transported toa room that was fully air conditioned and comfortable and had all the amenities he needed to refreshhimself from the trauma of what he had seen. At least he thought so, because little did he know that his escape wastemporary and he would also meet the same fate.

When I woke up, I was in shock that I had even dreamt something likethis so clearly and plainly. These wordsfrom the book of Esther came immediately to my mind:

And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Donot think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more thanall the other Jews. 14 For if youremain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise forthe Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yetwho knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:13-14

I am a student of history, like many of us are. As a child I always wondered how people couldstand by and let others be mistreated, just so their lives could be spared. I wondered because I was raised in a home andin a certain group of people with the mentality that felt that it was acowardly act to stand by when others were being attacked and abused especiallyif it was in your power to do something about it. But my experience growing up and examples inhistory show us that when people don’t stand up for others, it allowsaggressors to hurt whole people groups and communities. The Bible says

Butwhoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth uphis bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 1 John 3:17

As we see, read and hear, the Ministry of Interior, other governmentagencies, anti-missionary groups and non-believing religious groups thatpurposely target Christian groups to get funds and benefits, are making itclear that all those who work with Messianic believers will be harasseddirectly or indirectly, and when applicable, visas will be taken away or putinto question.

The College in Ariel has made it completely clear to Christians that come tostudy in their programs that if they work with or even fellowship withMessianic Jews, their visas will be revoked. Born-againbelievers submit to that threat and intimidation, thereby even consideringto have their right eye to be removed like in the book of 1 Samuel 11. TheAmmonites came against a tribe of Israel, and the Israelites who were badlyoutnumbered wanted to make a peace treaty with them. The Ammonites said they would consider thatonly if the Israelites would allow them to gouge out their right eyes, and thusbring a reproach to Israel. In the same manner, believers allow theirGod-given freedom of choice and worship to be taken away in order to sparethemselves. May God give us the strengthwhen the time comes to cling to the words of Yeshua,

Greater love has no man, than to lay down his life (or hisself-interest, or his ministry) for hisbrother. John 15:13

And to stand up forHis bride that He gave and shed His blood for.

Rememberthe prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since youyourselves are in the body also. Hebrews 13:3

Here are some practical steps you can take to help Jewish Believers whohave made Yeshua Lord and Savior of their lives in Israel.

- Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May those who love you besecure.” Ps 122:6

- Pray for body of theLord that lives in Israel.

- Adopt a person,family or congregation in prayer.

- Support businessesand buy things made by believers in Yeshua.

- Request newslettersfrom credible ministries in Israel so you can stay informed.

- Support the more than120 Messianic Congregations which are spread from the Northernmost to theSouthern-most part of the country.

- Read your Bible, understandhistory, the economy, up to date events, understand disputes, facts aboutIsrael, past present and future, know who are the Ethnic groups and religionsthat live here.

World War II was won with morethan tanks, missiles and an army. It waswon also by something called “The Home Front” who were people who took it upon themselves to write letters, makephone calls, send pictures, remember people’s birthdays, send care packages,and in doing so encourage and strengthen the soldiers on the front lines.

Thereare numerous ministries in Israel that are doing a tremendous work for the Lordin spiritual and physical ways that the home front can strengthen andencourage.

ADDITION added Jan 5 2012 at 7 AM
by Donna Diorio

"Dreadful Dream" is the warning of an assignment from hell that has gone out against those declaring salvation to the Jewish people, and how some believers think themselves "safe" if they just keep out of the way, un-involved. I received the Dreadful Dream early yesterday from a ministry in Israel whose sons was miraculously spared by God when he opened a Purim basket that had been rigged with powerful explosives and left on the Messianic family's doorstep by a religious extremist.

I believe that all word curses spoken out against these are a major factor in David Ortiz's "Dreadful Dream".

Words are like arrows - whether intentional or unintentional - speaking evil against someone unleashes an assignment for those words to hit their mark.

I'm not just offended by the lack of backing the Body in Israel gets from the Church - I am alarmed at how vulnerable we leave them. Selah.

January 5, 2012 6:57 AM

Urgent Prayer Update from Zion's Glory on Egyptian Elections

2011-12-01T14:28:00.001-06:00

We felt the need to send out an urgent prayer update following the first published results of the Egyptian elections.

There are still two more rounds of voting and the results won't be final until January. These first results show the Islamic Brotherhood winning 40% of the vote with an additional 25% going to the ultra conservative "Salafis" party. These numbers ensure that 65% of the newly elected legislators will be representing the Islamic forces within the country. This is all the more foreboding as the one third of Egypt’s population that is currently voting live in what is considered to be the least conservative areas of Egypt.

As I mentioned in the last update, it has been obvious to us that since the overthrow of the Mubarek government that this has not been an “Arab Spring” but rather a demonic move of Islamic forces to gain control and radicalize the entire Middle East. In just six months, Islamic governments have been established in Tunisia and Morocco with Libya soon to follow. Syria’s government is on the verge of collapse and now Egypt with its 80 million people is in danger of falling under the cloud of radical Islam.

The significance of these Islamic takeovers cannot be underestimated. If history is any measure of the future, then Islamic democracy which can be defined as “one person, one vote, one time”, will probably guarantee that this current round of elections in the Middle East will be the last democratic elections. The very essence of Islamic rule does not embrace the existence of a secular government separate from the Islamic faith. Rather, in a nation ruled by Islamic law, the clergy is the highest authority. Islamic religious doctrine or Sharia law as it is called, would rule education, the courts, employment, marital relations, dress, entertainment and every other aspect of life.

The more conservative "Salafis" party which captured 25% of the vote is already calling for rescinding a woman's right to vote and establishing separate sex based curriculum in all areas of education with the establishment of Sharia law.

The ramifications of these events for Israel and the Western world are immense. The Christian population in Egypt and throughout the Middle East which has already been experiencing persecution from Islamic forces is facing even darker times.

This morning as I was praying about these developments, the Lord quickened to me the verse ; “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work”. (John 9:4)

At our Revive Israel prayer meeting, we had already started praying when we were joined by five Koreans who had come from Cairo and wanted to spend some time in Jerusalem before returning there. We began to pray with them and for the situation in Egypt and the Middle East. I felt strongly the significance of the scripture the Lord had given me earlier. Asher also had a vision of a window closing combined with an intense urgency to pray. We had a mighty time of intercession with them and sent them forth renewed and empowered in the Holy Spirit.

In response to all of this, we are calling on you to join with us as we continue to pray and intercede for all of these developments in the Middle East.

Pray that the Islamic takeover of these nations would be stopped.

Pray for the role of the military government that is now ruling Egypt. Their place in the future government can have a significant controlling effect on the impact of these radical Islamic forces.

Pray for an unprecedented revival of faith in these countries.

Pray for the believers in these nations who may very soon find themselves enduring increased persecution from Islamic mobs and hostile Islamic governments. Pray that their faith will be strengthened and their local indigenous expressions would grow and increase during the difficult season that lies before them.

Pray for Israel and its leaders who must chart a clear course through the storm that is sweeping through this part of the world. If an Islamic regime takes over Egypt, the peace treaty with Israel will be terminated. In addition, it is safe to assume that every government that moves in an Islamic direction will embrace policies that are aimed at the isolation and ultimate destruction of this nation.

This is a time for God's people to arise in the mighty power and authority that we have. Let us not remain silent as the church has done in the many dark times of the past, but let each of us go to battle in prayer and raise our voices so that we may see the goodness of the Lord blaze forth in truth and righteousness.

Light has overcome the darkness!

We send you our love from Zion,
Eddie & Jackie Santoro
Zion's Glory and Ahavat Yeshua Congregation
Jerusalem

We Are Not in the First Chapter of God's Plan to Save All Israel Anymore

2011-09-27T14:29:00.002-05:00

by Donna Diorio
Published as a FACEBOOK NOTE on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 8:03am

Please pray for Israel Messianic Jews who are organizing and leading the Boycott Durban III rally across from the UN at noon today. This is an important event in more ways than one. Spiritually it significant because of the support the Israeli govt has thrown behind the Messianic Israeli Human Rights Attorney organizing it - Calev Myers.

When we read the Book of Acts we see only the first chapter of God's intent to save all Israel being played out. We see a great deal of resistance to the Gospel because that was the plan of God - Who concluded / "shut up together, enclosed" them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy on all.

Okay, so in God's plan, it was necessary AT THAT TIME to shut up Israel's ability to discern their Messiah, so God could extend the mercy of salvation to all the nations. That was Chapter 1 of the salvation of the Jews through the faith in His Messiah of Israel.

Resistance to the Gospel by Jews has been with us a long time because it was necessary to the plan of God being fulfilled BUT that doesn't mean the resistance we read about in ACTS is supposed to be the response from the Jewish people to the end of days! That was Chapter 1 of God's salvation of the Jews through Messiah Yeshua, today we have gone through a page turn that has put us in a new day of God's plan.

We are so conditioned to the days behind us that we can barely perceive a mighty new day has dawned upon us!

The resistance to the Gospel is a habitual response of the Jewish people. How will that negative habit be broken? The same way it is being broken in this instance.

Calev Myers' has the favor of many in Israel even though he is a Messianic Jew, and even though he represents most of the discrimination cases that Messianic believers file in Israel. The Jerusalem Institute of Justice stands for democratic fairness in many issues in Israel and is the only Israeli human right's organization to be pro-Zionist.

When no one was doing much of anything about the racism of the UN's "anti-racism" Durban conference, JIJ stood up and cried, Not on my watch!

JIJ fights for what is right and good, and worth fighting for - including the right of all Jews to choose on their own what they believe without being singled out for persecution because they chose to follow the Jew from Galilee.

The point is that Calev is most definitely a target of religious persecution - but he is also a man who walks in the great favor of many Israelis, including many influential Israelis. That is a page turn. That is a new chapter in the tale of God's plan for the salvation of all Israel.

Yes, there is still intense religious resistance to the faith of Messianic Jews who believe in Yeshua - but that does not mean that the Jews are still "shut up together/enclosed" in unbelief by God.

WE HAVE TO CHANGE OUR EXPECTATIONS to include the habit of Jewish resistance of the gospel beginning to fade and fall away!

I have been getting a hint of this over the past few days, and this morning I am seeing it even more clearly, as I'm sure it will continue to gel in my understanding in the days ahead. But what the takeaway here is that we must understand that we are in a new day of the salvation of all Israel, and although it does not mean an end to religious persecution, it does mean that we should not be ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation.

We need to understand that the glory of the LORD is rising upon the Messianic Jews like Calev Myers who are walking in a Daniel anointing of wisdom, integrity and fidelity to Yeshua. That may make him the target of religious Jews who have a habit of resisting the Gospel, but that does not tell the whole story for all Jews! Calev has FAVOR with God AND MAN.

It is a new day and we need to raise our expectations to see the unbelief falling away from the Jewish people as they compare the acts of say, Yad L'Achim to those of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice! No comparison between those who are activists for what is right and good, and those whose only mission is to persecute.

Closing Note on Sept 27, 2011: Later on the day I wrote the above the Boycott Durban III rally took place without Calev Myers taking the podium. It was his own choice to stand down because of the uproar that had been created by several American Jewish organizations. Just in the past day I have read that one of the most prominent rally cries heard that day was, "Not on our watch!"

Then 2 days later news also reached us of the death on that same Thusday of Yad L'Achim founder, Rabbi Dov Lipshitz. This is more than coincidence at work here.

Our comments in the above all came before these events transpired, and we believe that indeed a page has turned and our expectations in the harvest should follow suit.

MOSQUES, MINARETS AND MILITARY TRAINING: What happens in Israel, doesn't stay in Israel

2011-04-26T08:54:00.005-05:00

A Guest Column and Call to Prayer from Israel

Have you heard Israel described as the canary in the coal mine? It is a spiritual truth that I have seen repeatedly bear out, especially in terms of the struggle that Israel has been forced to wrestle with against the demonic force of Islamic terrorism.

Western nations thought (and still think!) that Israel's problems with Islamist terrorists is a territorial dispute that doesn't directly concern them. We couldn't have been more wrong. The Islamist-political agenda is the same for Western nations as it is for Israel: Increase until Islamists are able to bring the nation under submission to Islam or the infidels must die. It is only "stealth jihad" until the turning point has arrived in their increase of numbers and power.

In this article, Uzi talks about noticing a multiplication of mosques and minarets only 3 miles from his ministry and home Alfei Menashe. (The heavy concentration of mosques and minarets being built in Palestinian Authority-held Qalquilya is pictured below.)

For every American or European who has been concerned over the raising up of mega-mosques in their nations in areas where there is not Muslim population to support it, this article holds a key to understanding what is going on under the cover of religion.

What happens in Israel, doesn't stay in Israel. - Donna Diorio

MOSQUES, MINARETS AND MILITARY TRAINING
by By Uzi Lotan of Beit Hallel House of Praise
in Alfei Menashe, Samaria,Israel
April 25th, 2011

On the evening of February 18th, after formally filing the papers for Ukrainian citizenship, Mr. Dirar Abu-Seesi, the 42 year-old Jordanian-born Deputy Engineer for the Gaza Strip's sole electrical plant, was making his way by train to Kiev airport. His intention was a reunion with his brother Youssef, who was residing in the Netherlands. Just outside the city of Poltava, two men, whom Abu-Seesi's family believes were Ukrainian security agents, entered the train and removed Dirar. After that, he disappeared. His Ukrainian wife, Veronica, who was in the Ukraine at the time as well, didn't hear from him for a week. During that period of silence, she summoned the Ukrainian Press and stated that the Israeli Mossad had kidnapped her husband.

In a live interview with YouTube World View and Israel Channel Two News, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially admitted that Abu-Seesi is in Israeli custody. Netanyahu added that Abu Seesi is a Hamas activist, and that he has disclosed valuable information. Israeli officials were insinuating earlier that Abu Seesi was involved in weaponry development for the terrorist movement.

On April 4, 2011, Abu Seesi was indicted in a court in Beer Sheba, charged with "membership in a terrorist organization, conspiracy to commit a crime, the production of illegal weaponry, assistance to an illegal organization and various other crimes".

According to the indictment, Abu Seesi was the central developer of the Qassam rocket, among other rockets and anti-tank missiles, and was responsible for upgrading older rockets for Hamas. As the commander of Hamas' Military Academy, he designed, wrote and implemented the curriculum for those attending the Military Academy.

It is this last charge, being the Architect, Founder and Commander of Hamas' Military Academy, which is our focal point this time.

THIS IS MORE THAN JUST A GOOD SPY STORY The Abu-Seesi story makes more than just a good, old fashioned and exiting classical Spy Story. It gives us insight into another aspect of Islam's dark tactics: everything Evil and Deadly is done in secret. Inside and underneath what we would call "A House of Prayer"!

In the past six months or more, we have started noticing an unprecedented amount of Mosques and Minarets being erected around us: in the six Palestinian-Muslim Villages surrounding Alfei Menashe, as well as in the large Palestinian Authority city next to us - Qalqilyah. It was not only the sheer number that caught our attention, but their proximity to each other. Being amazed by the phenomena, we asked ourselves:

"Hmm... OK, our neighbours are becoming more devout, but why do they need a mosque for every half-a-block of houses??"

The truth is, that somehow, deep down inside, we started feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the whole thing.

Mosques and Minarets in Qalqilyah.
"Skeleton" means in the process of being constructed

In March-April this year, the cat came out of the bag: we started hearing some of Abu-Seesi's "confessions". We heard more details of his account, as the Hamas' Commander of their Military Academy.

The strategy was/is to build more mosques, compacted together, in every Palestinian city, town and large village. The idea being to establish in and under every mosque, AND BETWEEN THEM, Military Schools, as well as workshops for manufacturing missiles, rockets and other Self Propelled Weaponry, such as RPG's and other Anti-Tank, armour-penetrating rockets!

So, here we have it: they are not necessarily becoming more devout to their God, Allah, but more devout to their Theology and Philosophy of worshiping Death. As the Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said over two years ago, during Operation Cast Lead: "We value death as much as Jews and Christians value life".

As a result of Israel's Cast Lead Operation in Gaza, in December 2008, after thousands of Qassam Rockets were fired deliberately on Israeli towns and civilian population, the UN's Human Rights Commission appointed the Goldstone Commission of Inquiry. The commission's mandate was "to investigate Israel's War Crimes during Cast Lead".

We will not go into the injustice of the mandate itself, however, we will mention, that one of the points that the Commission raised was the fact that Israel unlawfully bombarded some mosques in Gaza. Israel proved that not only Mortar Bombs AND Missiles were fired from these mosques, but that they were used as underground Ammunition Factories. As a result they exploded big time, unlike some innocent Houses of Prayer!

And since Hamas "saw that it was good" after the Goldstone Report, they have made it into an improved, well-structured and efficient strategy - everywhere, believing that Israel will never take the risk of bombarding another mosque, because this will add clout to the De-legitimization Campaign against her.

IF IT CAN HAPPEN HERE - IT CAN HAPPEN ANYWHERE Guess what? The issue is no longer Israel alone: if Mosques and Minarets, and everything inside, underneath and between them, are used for the purposes of ammunition manufacturing and storing, as well as military training grounds and schools for their troops here, they can do the same everywhere - in every large city. In New York, in Mufreesboro, Tennessee, or in Paris, in London, in Madrid and in Dublin!

Just good, Middle Eastern food for thought: Understanding what is taking place around us, means being in possession of wise, Godly Discernment, and of understanding "the signs of the times" - not only here, in Israel, but everywhere.

THE SOLUTION: PRAYER, PRAYER and MORE PRAYER! For God to give us all - including our Spiritual and Political Leaders - a good measure of discernment, understanding and wisdom. The ability to see things the way they really are, and what their implications and consequences will be.

GOD'S WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT: In this article the word "Minarets" was mentioned several times. It was mentioned in connection to the Muslim Mosques. The minarets are actually Towers. Thank God, He has already provided His own tower - for eternal safety:

"The name of the LORD is a Strong Tower:
the righteous run to it, and they are safe"
(Proverbs 18:10).

So in these turbulent times, let us never forget this wonderful option: He is always there!

What We Can't Learn from History to Protect Us from the Devils We Face Today

2011-04-19T15:12:00.006-05:00

by Donna Diorio
First blogged in a FACEBOOK NOTE on Friday, April 15, 2011 at 1:03pm

Somewhere around the mid-1990's I spent a year studying why the Church failed to be a contending force against the rise and implementation of Nazi Germany. I read a broad array of resource materials, letting the main question I had lead me from book to book and subject to subject.

My question was, if Hitler was a forerunner type of Anti-christ, what mistakes did the Church make that rendered us so impotent to stand against that evil? The one screaming fact of Nazi Germany is that Christian resistance was so rare and so minimal as to be effectively non-existent. How could it be that so many people of faith were sucked into a state of being useless in challenging and impacting the moral condition of their nation.

Of course, the answer everyone gives to the failure to stand up against the rise of Hitler's Nazis is fear. That is not what I found to be true from studying the dynamics at play during that period. The Christians were not as fearful as they were deceived, and they were deceived by a strategy that was executed on every level of German society from theology to the judicial system. It was the way of thinking that caused so many good German Christians not to discern good from evil, and I hate to say it, but we American Christians have some real issues in the same areas that caused the German church to stumble and fail in their hour of testing.

I think many of us have researched Nazi Germany hoping to discover the keys that tripped our spiritual failure there "so it will never happen again." That is generally a good thing, but it can also be a deception if we think it is enough to keep us from our own national spiritual failure.

The number one spiritual lesson that was impressed upon me by the end of this year of study is that we can sift through every shred of documentation of that era and we can take steps to guard ourselves from making those mistakes, but that is not enough. The enemy of our souls is no fool. While we are busy preparing ourselves to avoid the mistakes of Nazi era Christians, the adversary is devising schemes to catch us on the blind side.

The next "Hitler" will rise in a guise that we are not prepared for. His appeal to the masses will be just different enough that all of our study of Nazi Germany did not prepare us to immediately recognize the danger of evil lurking under cover of this leader's stated vision and policy. While it is true that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," as Francis Frangipane wrote in 1989 in his landmark book on spiritual warfare, The Three Battlegrounds, our adversary is "an ancient and extremely treacherous foe."

We do well to take the lessons of Nazi Germany to heart, but we cannot let it end there because the danger will rise from another direction we are not prepared to look in.

Genesis says of the serpent that he is the most cunning of all the beasts God created. We don't want to over-estimate our enemy, nor do we want to under-estimate him either. The truth is, we need to look at the past for patterns, but not expect specific details to remain unchanged.

Hitler rose to power tapping into a strong hunger the German people had for a restoration of order, prosperity and national pride. They were down and they wanted someone to lead the way back up, where they could hold their heads in pride again. They had a strong sense of having been betrayed, the proverbial "knife in the back" was the populist rallying cry that drew Germans to Hitler's vision for putting Germany back on top.

There was a strong victim mentality operating in the German people and Hitler jacked up that sense of German victimization, giving them a scapegoat for the people to hate and blowing the smoke of Aryan superiority to restore their sense of pride.

Now, here is the thing: both the Right and the Left can take those basic essential elements and make a case against each other being the Hitler-esque party on the American political scene. What is required is spiritual discernment to know which is, in fact, working in those patterns and simply accusing the other of what they themselves are doing.

As someone who has followed the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for two decades or more, one trend has stood out and that is how frequently Palestinian rhetoric against Israel steals talking points from the Israelis. That's a classic scheme of our spiritual enemy and something to always be on the alert for: Those whose defense is to accuse others of what they themselves are doing.

Even "the Naqba" (Day of Catastrophe), is an attempt to paint the fleeing of Palestinians from the Land in 1948 - after Israel declared itself a state and its neighbors declared an invasion - as the moral equivalent of the Holocaust Jews had just come out of. This is how the enemy works - accusing its victim of the very evil it is attempting to perpetrate on its victim.

We can see this in operation in all the Western nations where radical, political Islam is softening up the natural resistance to radical, political Islam by psychologically beating up Westerners with accusations they are violating the Muslims' religious freedoms.

They have pegged us pretty well, knowing that even Christians who hate terrorism and want to fight it, will back far away from any suggestion of constricting Muslim's religious liberties. Because of our past with Black slavery, the ultimate accusation against any American is that they are racists. But in terns of exploiting Christian sensitivities, any accusation that America is infringing upon religious freedom of Muslim results in too much knee-jerk siding of Christians with the supposed Muslim victims.

That exploitation of Christian sensitives holds true in the communities that are in uproar over major mosques and religious schools being built in them from funding outside of the country and for communities that do not have the Muslim demographic to support such vast building facilities.

It is not an issue whether Muslims should be allowed the freedom to worship, but it is about whether we are going to indiscriminately allow radical political Islamic indoctrination centers to be erected in our communities.

The city council level governments are not lifting a finger to know what form of Islam they are welcoming into their communities and this is critical. We have to wake up to the fact that radical mosques and schools are being planted throughout America with one goal: to raise up a generation to conquer and dominate American society. If that sounds conspiratorial to you, then you just have not opened your eyes enough to see what is happening under our noses.

It is not just the establishment of terrorist cells that is important, but the mainstreaming of radical, political Islam within American society. We are conditioned to be fearful of anything that appears to be restrictions on religious liberties in the United States, but in dealing with the agenda of political Islam, we have to understand that the radical forms of Islam use the religion to subjugate people to oppressive political rule. The end game is not the religion, but the political rule. We have to become discerning enough to know where to draw the line between American national (public!) security issues and true religious freedoms.

This is why the controversy over wearing the burqa and niqba is seen among some Christians as going too far in restriction of Muslim religious liberties. These do not appreciate that those sects that have put women under wraps so fully as the burqa and the niqba are the most radical and dangerous sects of all Islam.

Plain and simple this is the ultimate manifestation of the political Islamist vision - the power of religion to subjugate people under political rule.

These Christians do not understand that if this "religious liberty" is allowed the foothold in our society, it will never quit increasing its hold until it has enslaved the whole society.

These sects don't believe their women belong under wraps, they believe ALL women should be forced to adopt their level of pious modesty. They don't believe in religious freedoms, they believe those who do not voluntarily submit to Islamic rule, they will one day be forced to submit when they have exploited and overtaken our weak-willed, liberal democracies.

The problem is that Westerners cannot imagine being forced into such a place.

Neither could the French, but now they see their permissiveness with these issues in the past several decades has only encouraged the aggressiveness of political Islam to attempt to dominate and conquer their Western societies. Germany and the U.K. have come to similar understandings, but Americans are way behind that learning curve. Those riots in Europe in past years? What we have been hearing on our nightly news is the part Muslims were playing in the 'days of rage' played out on European streets.

Every time I hear someone say, "That couldn't happen here!" I shudder. They have no idea how far down that road we have already traveled.

Even during the Bush administration, the general public was not really prioritizing terrorism and the terrorist network in operation in the United States, as highly as it should. It was not then, and it is not now, "just the economy, stupid."

The public could not prioritize terrorism correctly because generally we have no idea just how threatened we already are in our own homeland, our own states, and our own cities. This is a problem that has been downplayed at every level from government to news reporting and is a problem that has been multiplied under the Obama administration.

How could it not with terrorist defender Eric Holder at the Justice helm and crackpots like James Clapper as director of national intelligence? (Could they have picked a more clueless man to head that outfit?).

Most analysts are now explaining the unexplainable backing of Islamists by the Obama administration/Left as a temporary alliance of those with the same agenda to break down what stands in order to build a new society. The Left has just enough foolhardy hubris not to realize they are crossing the river with a scorpion on their back. The Left is doing all the swimming for the political Islamists, but in the end the Islamist scorpion is going to deliver a fatal sting.

That is IF Christians, as in Nazi Germany, are not discerning and do nothing to stop this unholy alliance. We must take up the prophecy of Daniel 11:32 - "And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits."

The apostle John said something very important, "Little children, it is the last time: and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time."

Instead of fixating on "The" antichrist, we need to understand our battle is ongoing with "many antichrists." Instead of speculating if this one or that one is "The One" we need to just take up our charge as Yeshua said to "occupy" until His return. That word occupy means not giving over our authority to an aggressive, hostile force. We are not to let our nation slip into the abyss of political Islam! We have to rise up and fight and not to be lulled to sleep by the cunning of their ability to manipulative Western sensibilities.

For one thing, the word occupy is "pragmateuomai" where we get the word pragmatic. To be pragmatic is "Dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations." To occupy the spiritual territory, we have to look at our world realistically and sensibly.

How can we occupy our nations for the values, ethics and morals of the kingdom of God, when we cannot even look over the landscape and discern where evil is at work in our midst? When we cannot tell the difference between people pursuing their freedom of religion and those who are using religion to pursue an agenda to political domination? Are we Christians as undiscerning as the unbelieving idealists on the Left?

There is an unholy alliance between the radical Left and political Islam. I grew up in the Sixties, and I know that the radicals who desired to overthrow the government then declared that they could not win the revolution from without, but they must be patient and go within to win it. They said, 'We must join the establishment to overthrow the establishment eventually. We must become teachers, government workers - we must go into fields we can impact long term and in a generation we will be in a position to carry out the overthrow we desire.'

Clearly, this is exactly what was done. I saw that in one of the defense lawyers for one of the Holy Land Foundation heads who claimed that the FBI has been spying on her since the 1960's. Apparently the FBI had good reason, because look where she is now - fighting tooth and nail to keep the political Islamist terror network out of jail and free to operate in the United States.

We can see the same manifestation throughout the Erik Holder's Justice Department and in all the critical halls of power in the Obama administration. Glenn Beck has done a marvelous job of uncovering many of the players and the agenda in the Obama administration who are working the old Sixties revolutionary plan to overthrow the American establishment from the inside.

These liberal Leftists see political Islam as their temporary alliance and means to an end. They foolishly believe they are the stronger force, but left unchecked to achieve their goals, political Islam will surely in the end swallow the Leftist Revolution whole. Think how we have seen this play out in Egypt and many other Middle Eastern nations where the governments of lesser evil were allowed and even encouraged by the President of the United States to topple to the greater evil of radical. political Islam. What happened in Egypt quickly will take more time in the United States if we do not rise up and counter what is happening.

One of the ways we have prepared ourselves not to fall for the schemes of antichrist has actually become a detriment to actually standing strong against the real scheme of the enemy against us today.

We are so keyed up to protect OUR religious liberty that we are not distinguishing between true religious liberties and religious suppression.

They can call forcing women to wear a burqa a "religious freedom" all they want to, but it is no religious liberty - it is a form of religious oppression. Some Muslim women claim that they want to be fully covered head to toe, but that does not mean those women are not psychologically damaged from religious indoctrination and abuse. Have you heard of Stockholm Syndrome where kidnap victims bond with, identify with, or sympathize with his or her captor? Same dynamic here.

If you don't know that it is abuse for women to have to wear coverings where only an eye slat is permissible, then you have a serious issue with discernment! Sorry to be be so blunt but that is just the God's honest truth of the matter. In your wildest dreams, this abusive oppression of women could never be considered a religious liberty, and should never be accepted in Western civilization as legitimate or acceptable public attire.

Head covering is one thing - that could legitimately be a choice of a woman, but the niqab and burqa crosses the line of both abusive oppression, as well as crossing the line of public and national security. The obscuring of the face should not be made acceptable anywhere in Western societies.

Another way we think we are being on guard against the schemes of the antichrist is our over-distrust of modern technology and anti-terrorism measures. There are many Christians who actually opposed the bar code system when it was being initiated in the 1970's. (One good thing about being older is first hand knowledge of how things came about back in the day.) Many Christians were convinced that bar codes were "the mark of the beast."

Then there was opposition to the internet and the world wide web, national ID cards and almost every measure we have taken to try to identify terrorists before they can perform terrorist acts. We are on guard against the schemes the anti-christ might use against us, but it is without discernment whether that is the reality at this time. That is why it's called discernment, we have to judge if a generalization is applicable to the current situation.

We might as well go live in an underground bunker away from the real, modern world if we are going to automatically resist the very things that are being instituted to protect us from real, currently aggressive enemies. In an effort to be a step ahead of the enemy and "not doomed to repeat" the mistakes of the past, we have actually become tone deaf to spiritually distinguish between threats and protection.

We are to be watchful, not just to have our guard up about how Hitler and the SS operated, but to be spiritually discerning what twists and turns the enemy will apply to the rising anti-christs of our generation. If there is anything you need to take away from this commentary it is that the devil is not so stupid as to come at us in exactly the same way he did through Hitler in Germany. There are many important patterns to be aware of in what happened in Nazi Germany, but in the specifics we must be spiritually discerning and expect the unexpected.

I know that there are some who are predicting that our real danger lies in the far right backlash that will take place after we rise up and put down this current overstepping of the Liberal Left revolutionaries. That is a pattern that occurred in the Nazi rise to power, and is prudent for us to keep an eye on. But before we get there, let's face the situation we are currently in.

We must squarely come to grips with the frightening depth of the unholy alliance between the American Left and the radical political Islamists.

This is the battle of the hour and we have to wise up and fight this one squarely before we start worrying about a potential backlash from the Right leading us down the same nationalistic path Hitler led the Germans. Let's first fight the Liberal Totalitarians and Political Islam before we turn our shields toward any overly-conservative backlash.

Israeli TV | Second Look presents “The Jewish Big Brother”

2011-04-06T10:13:00.003-05:00

This week we begin with a breakthrough news program report on the illegal alignment against believers in Yeshua/Jesus in Israel. The alliance, reported by the Israeli equivalent of 60 Minutes, is between anti-missionary activists, Yad L’Achim, and the Interior Ministry which has jurisdiction over citizenship issues as well as visas for those who work for church organizations in the country.

Second Look news anchor Karen Newbach, “The Jewish Big Brother” with Noga Eitan Berenstein, the report producer
and segment research by Shuli Shvartz.

So grateful for the hard work of Maoz Ministries staff who provided the translation and added English sub-titles in Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

The following is a recap of the groundbreaking news program – not an exhaustive one but highlights – and includes some follow up comments by Israeli ministries. I am so glad the reporters saw the truth of how ominous the activities of Yad L'Achim are so the public will also have the opportunity to see if they agree with these self-appointed 'defenders' of 'purity' of the Jewish State.

Eddie Santoro, of Zion’s Glory ministry and Ahavat Yeshua congregation which is featured in the Part 2 segment, wrote: “Please pray for Noga, the woman who produced it. She told us she is expecting a backlash from this story. Also pray that those Israelis who heard the program will understand who we are and who are those who are against us, and that there would be a voice raised for justice in the land of Israel.” AMEN!

Please SHARE these important Israeli news videos on the anti-messianic campaign of persecution of the Body of Messiah in Israel. There has never been a more hard-hitting news report as this one that has been shown to the Israeli public. - Donna Diorio

"Opening the program, the Channel One anchor noted that at a recent Yad L’Achim rally, Messianic Jews were declared as dangerous to the Jewish nation as Hitler," Ryan Jones at Israel Today wrote. "Average Israelis may be indifferent at best toward their Jesus-following Jewish brethren, but their distaste for the domineering attitude and behavior of many in the Orthodox Jewish community has resulted in a new phenomenon of average “secular” Israelis coming to the defense of Messianic Jews."

Part 1 The first person featured in this news program as a Yad L’Achim target is not a believer, but an unidentified Israeli musician who sought out a church where she could go to practice on the organ. Yad L’Achim accused the pastor of the Ratisbonne Church in Jerusalem of trying to convert her, which “A” denies as a total fabrication. Because the church personnel in Israel are fearful of losing their visa status from Yad L’Achim accusing them to the Interior Ministry, they withdrew their previous open door policy for her to practice on the organ at the church. “A” received a letter telling her she was being investigated, received threatening phone calls and her parents also received a letter accusing her. She said she felt like she was being watched continually.

“They made me very paranoid. I felt like I was in a thriller-movie or science fiction. I never imagined that someone would follow me. I never imagined that they would prevent me from playing. I can’t believe that I can’t talk with a pastor or that I can’t meet with certain people…I tried to continue on with my life but it was difficult to not to always imagine that someone is watching me.” – “A,” young female musician in Jerusalem

The pastor of Ratisbonne Church was also followed and watched, with someone taking pictures of him. In January he was summoned for a hearing to discuss his possible deportation. He refused to be interviewed for the program out of fear of repercussions.

“Yad Lachim say they don’t give up on any Jewish person and act in a variety of ways to combat what they define as spiritual and demographic threats on the Jewish people,” the news program reports.

Voice of Rabbi Naria of Yad L’Achim: “We get information about people, sometimes through the internet, about ‘missionary’ work and we make sure that this information gets to the Ministry of Interior.”

The news voiceover says, "as a reminder, according to the law in Israel, missionary work is only prohibited when money or a bribe are offered"

Interviewed Ilan Gilon, MKnesset New Movement-Meretz says, “For the past ten days we’ve been trying to find information regarding this man’s case (the Ratisbonne pastor) and we can’t. Myself as a Knesset member can’t get a proper explanation from the Ministry of Interior.”

An administrator of the Interior Ministry is seen on-camera admitting they receive the accusations from Yad L’Achim which they act on.

MK Ilan Gilon comments, “I believe that Yad L’Achim is heavily integrated into the Interior Ministry.”

But Yad L’Achim head, Rabbi Shalom Dov Lipshitz counters, "The government is using democracy in order to not do what it is supposed to do. They need to decide if this is a Jewish country or a democracy. But they don't always go together....they are not friends. Democracy which contradicts the Torah is not a good match."

Jerusalem Institute of Justice attorney Calev Myers, "This whole system of spying and gathering information and bringing it to administrators at the Interior Ministry. They then interrogate people in odd ways and in dark rooms – these are methods which are reminiscent of dark governments. This should not happen in a democratic country."

News Journalist Voice Over: "We are told at the Jerusalem Institute of Justice which represents persecuted religious minorities in Israel due to the connections between Yad L'Achim and the Interior Ministry, they have requested an investigation to find out what is not so Kosher in the connection between these two organizations.

Contacted by Israelprayer today (4/5/11), Calev Myers confirmed that the news report was referring to a February 2010 filing with the Israeli Attorney-General, Yehuda Weinstein, Request to Dismantle the Yad L'Achim Organization. Myers added that the Jerusalem Institute of Justice would be submitting another initiative soon.

Part 2 News anchor Karen Newbach remarks of the musician “A’s” experience, “That story could have been a minor case, a private case, if there wasn’t the link between the Ministry of Interior and Yad L’Achim which gives the information and takes steps against Israeli civilians.”

Asher Intrater of Revive-Israel and Ahavat Yeshua congregation wrote in a follow this week, "While the purpose of the program was certainly not evangelistic, it did contain some clips of the ministry team at Revive Israel, of worship at Ahavat Yeshua congregation, and of Asher teaching about the New Covenant from Jeremiah 31." (B’rit Hadashah: the Torah written on our hearts)

"The main debate,” Intrater rightly notes was the focus for the news journalists, “centered around the issue of democratic rights in Israel versus Jewish religious identity.“

“The program was a major victory concerning religious freedom, but was not able to handle the more complex issues of religious identity. That spiritual battle still awaits us in the future," Intrater wrote in his Revive-Israel prayer letter this week.

Part 2 opened with chilling footage shot by a Maoz Israel photographer at the Yad L’Achim protest in Ashod against the Messianic congregation in Ashdod in February 2011. Giving speeches against Messianic believers, the leaders of the protest made many extreme false accusations against the congregation of 150, equating them with Hitler and Nazis.

In juxtaposition, there were segments of actual Messianic congregational worship services.

Avner and Rachel Boski were featured touching on the religious identity issue, as the news voice over noted of the Boski’s, they “believe that the Messiah has already been here, and that his name is Yeshua. They believe there is no problem believing in him and remaining Jews.”

Also prominently featured in part 2 was the story of a young Messianic Jew, Yarden Eliashiv, who was born blind and of whom the report says, “is in the category of the ‘pure souls’ to whom Yad L’Achim tries to show ‘the way.’

Yad L’Achim picked up Yarden telling her they were taking her on a trip, but not telling her where. She was taken to the Yad L’Achim office in Bnei Brak for someone to talk to her. Yarden said, “I didn’t want to talk, but I was there already, and I was unable to go anywhere by myself.“

Yarden said, “He kept telling me that I was not a Jew. He told me that I was in a cult, that I was doomed, and that God doesn’t like that. That I would be doomed if I continue to be there. God would punish me. It was really difficult for me. I remember that I cried because I didn’t know what to do.”

“I had books of the New Testament in braille, which are very hard to find,” she said. “There aren’t books like those in Israel. You have to bring them from the USA. They came into my room in the place where I used to live then, and without my knowledge they simply took them.”

The anchor of the program says, "This is a large phenomenon and touches on the privacy rights and safety of those who's faith may be different.

Other Israeli Messianics featured in part 2 included Asher Intrater, head of the Revive Israel ministry, and the Jerusalem-area Messianic congregation Ahavat Yeshua. Intrater said it is not right to refer to Messianic Jews as missionaries, at least not without applying the same label to Orthodox groups like Yad L’Achim.

“We are not ashamed of our faith, and will share it with anyone who asks,” said Intrater. “But we don’t pressure or coerce anyone.”

“The truth,” Intrater pointed out, “is that the Orthodox Jews proselytize a hundred times more than we do.”

Pnina Conforti, whose popular Ashdod bakery has been repeatedly targeted by Yad L’Achim was featured. Pnina’s bakery was stripped of its Kashrut certification, even though the Supreme Court ruled in her favor that there is no link between her Messianic faith and the Kosher status of her business.

Pnina says of Rabbi Sheinin, whose vile accusations are heard in segments of the Asdod protest footage, “He said that he’d rather be hang on a tree than give me back my certificate!”

The guest house Yad Hashmonah has been under attack by Yad L’Achim for many years,” the report noted.

Efrat Touboul, Yad Hashmona Guest House reports that Yad L’Achim puts pressure on the Rabbinate that gives the Kosher certificate so that they’ll do as Rabbi Sheinin did, denying the certificate to Yad Hashmonah.

Itai Meiron, Yad Hashmona Guest House, “They try to muddy our name, saying that we are missionaries, that we are dangerous. Actually we are in a continuous state of war, defending ourselves. This is what is happening. Instead of managing a business, in an ongoing way, as any other business, we are in constant conflicts with them.”

The report also covers the fact of the admission to police of confessed murderer Jack Teitel that he worked with Yad L’Achim.

Teitel is the man who attempted to murder of the Ortiz family by planting a bomb at their doorstep near the Purim 2008 holiday. Their 15-year old son Ami, who opened the package, was miraculously spared death by God and continues to marvel all who understood the extent of damage done by the bomb blast.

Rabbi Shalom Dov Lipshitz, Yad L’Achim head: “Some people come from abroad, who are missionaries and they register themselves as Jews. Later on we discover that they aren’t Jews, but they are Messianic Jews. He is not a Jew! He came here and told lies.

The reporter asks, “How do you know?” Lipshitz answers, “We know. We have connections in Israel and abroad.”

JIJ Attorney Calev Myers, “What does it mean to label people as “suspicious of being missionaries?”

"If someone really does something against the law," Calev Myers says, "breaking existing laws concerning 'missionary work,' then this is a case for the police. But a clerk in the Interior Ministry cannot tag citizens denying them their rights based on dubious information."

"There is a very specific procedure," Myers said, "instituted by Mr. Ophir Pines, when he was Minister of Interior. The Interior Ministry is forbidden to receive information from non-governmental, non-formal institutions, and then make decisions base on this information.

Knesset Member Ilan Gilon referring to the Yad L’Achim accusations against the Messianics, "We are talking about fighting sects? He himself (referring to accusations made by the Yad L'Achim head) is a kind of sect, a very dangerous one and we are very concerned and worried that groups like that are the ones operating the formal institutions that govern the State of Israel."

Scene switches to the speech of the Chief Rabbi of Ashdod, Yosef Sheinin in a recent demonstration against the Messianic congregation in Ashdod.

Part 3

Part 3 opens with officials statements from both the Interior Ministy and Yad L’Achim, Rabbi Lipshitz taking the opportunity to say of Messianic Jews: “Hitler’s end goal was to destroy the Jews physically. The Messianic Jews are trying to do the same thing only spiritually. The goal of both of these groups is the same.

Despite the highly inflammatory speeches against Messianic Jews in this report alone, Rabbi Lipshitz disavows they are stirring up violence against Messianics, as the anchor reports Sheinin says that there is no subversion towards violence. This is well known political tactic called Plausible Deniability. (wink, wink; nod, nod)

Anchor Karen Newbach turns immediately then to a revealing debate conducted by between Knesset Members Michael Ben Ari, National Union Party and Nitzan Horowitx, New Movement-Mertz Party.

Right off the bat, Newbach asks religious MK Ben Ari, “Do you think it is acceptable that Yad L’Achim is acting like a private militia?”

“This activity does not exist in a vacuum,” Ben Ari responds. "It comes in response to a world of Christianity. Christianity has set itself a goal to erase Judaism from the world. They cannot survive with Judaism."

Nitzan Horowitz, of the New Movement-Meretz Party said, “I think this needs to be investigated. There is a suspicion of illegal activity and the police need to check these. The problem is that we have a terrible intermingling between the state and religion."

“I get many complaints about harassment all over the country in all places,” Horowitz admitted. “Unfortunately most of the complaints I get are about Jewish orthodox groups. But this is considered acceptable. But these other people who are chased and harassed - I’m not talking about actual missionary work – I’m talking about people that have protests outside their house, and have their property vandalized and graffiti. Their life is simply turned into hell.”

“In Israel,” Horowitz says, “we are supposed to have freedom of religion, but this is not what happens.”

“We are not being threatened by Christianity. If we are to discuss religious persecution in Israel, it’s coming out of our own people. They sit in this government. And this is the problem when mixing religion with government."

One has to see the debate for themselves. It will not translate without viewing it yourself.

As Ryan Jones at Israel Today noted, “Horovitz and the anchor were openly agitated by the Ben-Ari’s defense of Yad L’Achim’s actions and his insistence that believers in Yeshua pose a threat to the Jewish state by simple virtue of their faith.”

“I receive far more complaints of missionary activity by Orthodox Jewish organizations!” MK Horovitz exclaimed. “They are constantly looking for enemies.”

Donna Diorio for Israelprayer: I would just add that as I viewed the videos again today preparing this recap, once again I was struck at the similar arguments that are presented in the U.S. and Israel debates between the ‘Religious Right” and the “Seculars.” It never ceases to amaze me how the arguments are the same, but the dynamics behind the arguments are totally different.

In Israel, the Religious Right position actually opposes the will of God – which is that every man has the freedom to choose to believe or disbelieve. Most Israel-supporting Christians do not seem to understand how great a difference there is between the religious right concerns in the USA, and those in Israel.

It struck me today that Israel is not only the proverbial “canary in coal mine” regarding radical Islam’s dominion aspirations, but Israel is also the “canary in the coal mine” regarding spiritual issues.

Specifically I mean the line we can cross between honoring freedom of individual choice and forcing our convictions on others. When the Religious Right decides it has the right to force what it considers the will of God upon every man, then the march toward Totalitarianism has begun in earnest.

There is a line we can cross between seeking godly representatives in our governments and godly laws governing our nations, that can tip over into a demonic suppression of God-given freedom of choice. This is the line that Israel is debating in this news report. It is the line that the Nazi Party crossed and it is also the line that Americans could be deceived into crossing in backlash to the ungodly Liberalism we are battling in our current political tug of war of the last 50 years or so.

The Two "Messianic" Movements in Israel

2011-03-04T12:40:00.005-06:00

Here is an enlightening view of how secular Israelis think: Decline and fall of Israel’s Messianic politics by Carlo Strenger in his Haaretz column March 4, 2011.

First thing you need to know is that he is not talking about Israeli believers in Yeshua when he speaks of "messianic" Israelis. He is referring to the religious right zealots who are not only persecuting our spiritual family, Israeli believers in Israel, but also leading the rebellion against the Israeli government in nationalistic settler movements.

This is why, when I wrote the article about the attempted murder of the Ortiz family by a religious-nationalist settler, Jack Teitel, I was critical of Mike Huckabee going on junkets into Israel paid for by the far right religious settlers. Huckabee didn't know there was a problem, and frankly that is a problem.

(See Huckabee Hobnobs with Hilltop Youth at Moskowitz’ Shepherd Hotel, scroll down in Part 3 of the Expose' article.)

John Hagee also. Hagee gives to organizations that are doing good works among Israelis, but the problem is that some of those organizations are also actively waging against the Israeli Body of Messiah.

For instance, in 2011 Hagee gave to a synagogue in northern Israel whose chief rabbi personally looked the local Messianic pastor in the eye and "told me clearly that he will do all he can to persecute me at every opportunity."

John Hagee should not be funding any rabbi or Israeli organization that says such things to the believers, and the ONLY way he can avoid doing so is to QUIT IGNORING the believers in Israel and start relying on them to help him navigate unknown waters. Will his pride of relationship with Israel let him do that? I have seen many big names go the same route - connecting with unsaved Israel while ignoring the existence of saved Israel - and each time they eventually fell, and fell hard.

We cannot dishonor the House of the Lord in a nation - even if it is Israel - and think that God will not correct the situation. The phrase, "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread" comes to mind. There is a spiritual protocol that some seem to think is exempted when it comes to Israel. Not so.

In Decline and fall of Israel’s Messianic politics, Strenger conveys how secular Israelis see the harm that is being done to Israel by the religious-nationalists:

There is not much difference in the radicalism of the extreme religious-nationalists Israelis and the Taliban. They both think they have a right to force their version of God on everyone else, and that everyone else is just a heathen/infidel whose life and opinion don't really matter. God offers every human being a choice, but extreme religious sects believe they have a right to force their beliefs.

Both extremes of Judaism and of Islam also manipulate Christian supporters - and this is so ironic. At the polar ends of belief about Israel among Christians there is a vulnerability to being manipulated by extremist sects of Judaism and extremists sects of Islam.

The Islamists manipulate Christians who do not have a revelation of God's continued purposes with Israel by portraying Israel as Goliath and the Palestinians as little David.

The extreme religious-nationalist Jews exploit the lack of understanding among Israel-supporting Christians about how His purposes in Israel are being fulfilled by His Body within Israel. The connection between the Church and Israel is supposed to be taking place between saved Christians and saved Jews. The stream of donations (and all forms of support) flowing from the U.S. and other nations into Israel is almost completely by-passing the BODY of the LORD in Israel.

Find your way back to balance Christians!

You need to understand that when the rabbis and anti-missionary group, Yad L'Achim met last week surrounding the Messianic congregation in Ashdod, the things they said amounted to declaring "Hunting Season Open" on Israel's Jewish believers in Yeshua.

Quoting an eye witness report: "The chief rabbi of Ashdod said that the Messianic Jews are like Hitler (no less) as a crowd of one thousand (the paper said) ultra-orthodox religious zealots flocked around the facility of a local Messianic congregation, yelling accusations of missionary activities there."

Newspapers reported: Chief Rabbi of Ashdod compares the Messianic Jews to Hitler The Messianic Jews are often accused of being worse than Hamas, a terrorist group sworn to Israel's demise.

A flier distributed in Ashdod to call people to the demonstrations read: "the goal of the Messianics is clear, they want to convert all of us Jews to Christianity and not leave any trace of the Jewish people. The Arabs want our Land, and they want our souls."

In the demonstration the Rabbi said, "The missionaries want a final solution to the Jews, in the name of the same cursed name that created Christianity (he meant Jesus). That is what Hitler wanted. We are sending out the cry: "Who is for God, come to me (he was quoting Exodus 32:26)."

Just to refresh your memory, verse 36 is Moses calling for people to come to his side and away from the worship of the golden calves, and then verse 37 is Moses telling them to take out their swords and begin to slay all the ones who did not respond to that call.

You can say you are non-violent all you want to, but if you say things like that you are inciting violence against the Messianic believers!

Let's get serious. If you are citing this verse, you are just calling for your followers to carry out the next verse in a way that doesn't come back to you and in a way where you don't get caught. This wink-wink-nod-nod game has been going on for a long time. It even was the defense that overturned the lawsuit brought by the Beer Sheva Messianic congregation when Yad L'Achim and Rabbi Deri sent a mob to disrupt the services several years ago.

This is also exactly what the case is with Jack Teitel, who has admitted that he worked with and took orders from Yad L'Achim. This is why they would rather say he is mentally unfit to stand trial, so the truth will never enter the public realm.

There is a growing Talibanesque religious zealotry growing in Israel. The secular writer of the article that prompted these posts from me only gets a fraction of how this will develop out. But there is no reason for Christians not to see these things clearly and begin to do the right thing - and to refrain from aiding and abetting those who target our spiritual brothers - Messianic Jews who follow Jesus - in Israel. This really has to stop.

In Israel there are two ways of understanding "Messianics". The first way is speaking of these extreme religious-nationalists who believe that no matter how many nations come against Israel, they are going to be the last men standing and then the Messianic age of Israel will begin. That is why they have no regard for how many Israelis might lose their lives if they are ever successful in blowing up the al-aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount. They regard the sinful Israelis as no more valuable than the Arabs they are fighting to remove from Israel.

If you read the book of Acts, you see exactly the roots of the anti-missionary persecution of Israel believers.

The second understanding of "Messianic" in Israel are the believers in Yeshua/Jesus. Galatians 4:29 says it all, "But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now."

Now we believe that MANY of those who are now enemies of the gospel in Israel are going to be saved - just exactly like the apostle Paul was. He referred to himself as a premature birth - one born out of due time. He came early. I believe he knew by the Spirit that those who held views like him - those who "breathed out threats" against the believers as he did - were also going to be knocked off their high horse and see the blinding light of Yeshua when it happened.

Mostly the Israeli Messianic community does not talk clearly their religious persecutors. They do not share the extent of what goes on in because they are not sure the Christian community is able to hear the truth yet without losing a heart for the salvation of those same religious persecutors. They are afraid that we will not have the same heart for their brethren of the flesh that they do. It is a position that only mature, Christlike believers can honestly adopt because it taxes us greatly to love our enemies. To pray for and bless those that persecute us.

Are we spiritually mature enough? I know I have my challenges with it because I am straddling between trying to make known the true situation our believing brothers in Israel face, which means not pulling any punches about the serious threats against them, and making sure I convey at the same time that our hope is for the salvation of the persecutors.

But if we're still in the grips of denial about how the religious Jews are treating our spiritual family in Israel, and we seem to want to remain there, then I don't think we really are spiritually mature enough.

My prayer is that we want to hear the truth of the matter and to prove we are ready to stand in defense of our spiritual brothers, without hardening into hatred of their persecutors.

The day will come.

Egyptian Christian Disputes What the News Media is Portraying

2011-02-08T11:01:00.002-06:00

On February 3rd, I received an email prayer blast from a well known and well respected Christian prayer leader in Jerusalem, a man I have met personally and received from his ministry many years. He was passing along an perspective on events in Egypt written by a Christian Egyptian that he received from a former Egyptian Prayer Movement leader.

Since then I have contacted him for authentication all the way back to original author of the perspective, and we can report this is an authentic brother writing about his own observations in the Egyptian uprising. I am detailing this to remove doubts that this is one of those viral Christian hoax emails. This is not that, there are only two widely known prayer leaders with solid reputations for integrity between the man who wrote this email and me.

I am passing it along here just as I received it, completely unedited. We need to hear from the spiritual, the believers within their own countries to get a solid understanding of what is truly going on. I believe this in relation to the Body in Israel, as well as the Body in Egypt. None are hearing from God as these are for their own nations.

Names withheld to to protect all those involved whose personal safety could be threatened by those in the Middle East that wish Christians harmed. - Donna Diorio

I am writing this to you as a witness to what is going on from the streets of Cairo over the last few days. We have been following the developments since January 25th, which started with a large group of Egyptian youth taking to Tahrir square in an anti-government protest with specific demands. I know some of these people who were in that group and I talked with them. What is happening now has nothing to do with this original protest! What is happening right now is a conspiracy to topple Mubarak from outside the country!! I am not a conspiracy theorist, but let me tell you what I have personnally witnessed on the streets of Cairo.

I want to share first what the LORD told me on Friday morning.

I went to the LORD in prayer on Thursday evening, praying like many others for protection and for the restoration of peace and security in my land. I told the LORD: "Father, answer my prayers with rain", which He has several times before. I went to sleep. I woke up on Friday morning and went directly to prayer. Immediately, I sensed a strong urgency from the LORD saying: "As the people of Egypt presented their requests to Mubarak, I am calling on My people to rise up before me and present their requests to me for their nation". I went on to hear the LORD: "Let the Holy Council assemble". I didn't understand who this Coucil was, but I knew in my heart that the LORD meant that there are people in my land that are called by the LORD to stand before him as His Holy Council with authority to make declaration over the land, to establish the Kingdom in the land. My demands to the LORD were not political ny nature. I prayed for "good news to the poor, freedom for the oppressed, healing for the brokenhearted, and the acceptable year of the LORD" as the Holy Spirit gave guidance. The LORD spoke to me the words "JUSTICE" and "TRUTH". As I went to talk with Rania afterwards, she told me that she had been awake all through the night, and that IT RAINED around 12:45 am. It was very strong, but not for a very long time (a few minutes). I knew then that it was the LORD. The LORD spoke Psalm 97:1-2:

The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.
Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

Indeed, there had been unusual clouds and very thick fog in December over Cairo, unprecedented in frequency and intensity. Again, the words TRUTH (or righteousness in the English translation) and JUSTICE resounded.

As we followed the unfolding of events including the announced change in government and president Mubarak's speech, we wondered why the international news media is focusing only on the thousands in Tahrir square who are escalating their demands and refusing dialogue. The news media is reporting this as "the people of Egypt" wanting Mubarak to leave immediately. Did they ask the "people of Egypt?". For one, they did not ask me! Where are those, like myself, that want change and reform, but accept the changes that Mubarak is proposing, and want a peaceful transition through elections in September?

We decided to take to the streets to voice our opinion. On Tuesday February 1st we went to Mustafa Mahmoud square in Mohandessin. There were about one thousand people there around 3:30 pm. (yes, we broke the curfew). the crowd grew to about 2500 by 5:00 pm. People were calling their friends over the phone telling them to come. We left at about 6:30 pm and returned yesterday, Wednesday, starting at 11:00 am. The small group had swelled to TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE standing together with banners saying things like:

- yes to stability, yes to Mubarak

- give change a chance

- we are sorry Mr. president

- we accept dialogue, we trust you

- no to ElBaradei, no to the muslim brotherhood (many like this one)

- we are the Egyptians, where is Al-Jazeera, let them come and see

- no to corruption, no to vandalism

- we got what we asked the president for, so why are people still in Tahrir? Who are they? What do they want?

etc., etc., etc.

By 2:00 pm, the crowd had grown to SEVERAL HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE, maybe up to a million, stretching from Sphinx square to Sudan street. We had a great sense of unity and victory. We met with people who were in the original protest in Tahrir square who decided to join us saying: we got what we asked for, and now we accept Mubarak's changes and proposals".

We left around 4:15 pm. The numbers had grown even more, POSSIBLY OVER A MILLION. As we drove home we saw the same slogans on banners all over the city, on cars, on walls, on shop windows. We learned that similar demonstrations are taking place ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, IN MAY DIFFERENT CITIES. THIS IS THE CRY OF THE PEOPLE OF EGYPT THAT IS BEING TOTALLY IGNORED BY THE INTERNATIONAL NEWS MEDIA. Is this on purpose??!!! I am perplexed!!! I am wondering: How come CNN, the BBC, and others are reporting ONLY the anti-government protests as the voice of the people? This is not JUSTICE, this is not TRUTH. There have been reports that these people are being paid by the government. NOT TRUE! I was there with many many others. I SAW THE STREETS.

Now to the situation in Tahrir square. Only a few people (hundreds?) are still there from the original protesters. They have been slowly replaced by other HIGHLY ORGANIZED GROUPS. They all have the same model of cell phones. They all have the same blankets (eye witnesses). THESE ARE NOT THE PEOPLE OF EGYPT. Some witnesses claim that they don't look Egyptians, and don't sound Egyptians (different accent, different dialect). THIS IS A BIG ORGANIZED COUP TO TRY TO CONVINCE THE WORLD THROUGH THE MEDIA THAT EGYPT WANTS MUBARAK TO GO, AND THE MEDIA IS PART OF THE DECEPTION. People in Tahrir square are escalating the situation on prupose to topple President Mubarak FOR THEIR OWN HIDDEN AGENDAS. This is TYPICAL OF THE MUSLIM BROTHERS, AND EVERYBODY IN THE STREETS OF CAIRO KNOWS THIS. We heard people on the streets saying that the plot to take over the country is now clear. THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW THIS. The escalation of violence in Tahrir square is because of this. Egyptians who love Egypt, the millions that took to the streets yesterday, want this to end. They fully understand that president Mubarak is between a rock and a hard place, that he cannot quench the unrest in Tahrir through the army, so the people want to go to Tahrir to disperse the crowds there by themselves. People in Tahrir are vastly outnumbered. If Egyptians go the Tahrir square to take control of the situation, more chaos will erupt, giving a chance to the international media to blame the President even more.

If Egypt falls, then neighbouring countries are going to fall one after the other. WE NEED PRAYER, WE ASK FOR TRUTH, WE ASK FOR JUSTICE, and above all LORD, in wrath, REMEMBER MERCY. Stand with us. The Lord calls Egypt "My people". He is calling on His HOLY COUNCIL in the land of Egypt to stand before Him, to make declarations in the heavenlies to establish a new 'constitution' in the land based on the principles of the Word of God, to establish a 'new foundation' for His kingdom to come. Pray for the schemes of the enemy to be annulled and voided. Pray for deception to be exposed. We humble ourselves and pray. We seek the Face of the LORD. We turn from our wicked ways. LISTEN TO US LORD, FORGIVE US, HEAL OUR LAND. In the Name of Jesus.

In Him, standing for God's purposes in Egypt.

What is going on in Egypt?

2011-02-07T15:57:00.001-06:00

What is the reality behind the two weeks of turmoil that has rocked that nation?

by Eddie Santoro,
Zion's Glory in Jerusalem http://www.tikkunministries.org/zg-donations.php

The most simplistic although incorrect answer is that Egypt is passing through a radical transformation from an autocratic dictatorship into a democracy. Inherent in this explanation is the belief that we are witnessing a spontaneous people's movement whose primary goal is the establishment of a society where personal freedom will be guaranteed. Unfortunately, this ignores a long history that has already been played out in numerous other Middle Eastern nations. The cost of substituting illusion for reality can be very high. Before World War II, Europe chose to placate the evil that was in front of them and as a result nearly eighty million people were killed!

Although the situation in Egypt is confusing at best, it is obvious that there are many different groups that are vying for power and each is committed to achieving its own end. The short list of some of these forces are the Mubarak government, the National Democratic Party, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian military, the Iranian Government and the governments of Europe and the United States. The United States and Europe desire to see a new Egypt with a viable democracy. The military desires to see an Egypt where they are still controlling the government and the economy. The National Democratic Party has been a force in opposition to military control. The Mubarak government seeks to continue to rule and control the nation as it has done for the past 30 yrs. Iran would like to bring Egypt under its sphere of influence, as it has with Syria and Lebanon.

The Muslim Brotherhood opposes democracy and religious freedom and is committed to the destruction of Israel. Their passionate desire is to see Egypt join the brotherhood of radical Islamic states that are both nondemocratic and the primary exporters of terror in today's world. The willingness of the United States to commend the inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood in the current round of negotiations with the emerging Egyptian government is a blatant example of ignoring reality for the sake of "democracy". Yesterday's reports by the Western press of an ecumenical service between Christians and Muslims belies the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood has been the primary force behind the recent series of terror attacks on Christian churches in Egypt.

The stark reality is that the goals of these factions do not mix! There is no way that a government that embraces the Islamic, fundamentalist world view can also endorse freedom of religion or democracy. An Egypt that has the Muslim Brotherhood in its government can not maintain a policy of peace with Israel.

A new Egypt will emerge from this turmoil. The only question is what will it look like. What seems clear is that the United States and Europe are not dealing with the reality of the situation. And in the end, it could be these errors (if they are not corrected) that will give some of the other players in this complex drama the advantage they need to achieve their very negative goals.

Democracy
Europe and the United States represent the highest level of democratic expression that the world has every known. Free expression along with the belief in God given human rights and the existence of secular as opposed to theocratic governments have allowed the citizens of these countries to flourish on every level. And yet as good as democracy has been for these nations, it is a serious error to believe that all human beings ultimately desire this form of government.

The fact is that many people do not share in the Western world's love of democracy. The Islamic world looks upon America's great experiment in freedom as a total failure that has allowed the development of "the Great Satan"; the United States and "the Small Satan"; Israel. They perceive these great democracies as expressions that have opened humanity to unbelievable levels of sin, immorality and evil. Ultimately, they view these societies as "dangerous" and to be exploited in their quest to destroy them and achieve world domination.

Historical Evidence
The ability of these Islamic groups to exploit past governmental upheavals and to use them to achieve their own goals is clearly portrayed throughout recent history. In 1979, secular forces were instrumental in the overthrow of the ruling autocratic government of the Shah in Iran. Although "democracy" was the battle cry of this uprising, the fundamentalist Islamic forces quickly overtook the government. In a few short years, what had been a marginal force in Iran, successfully established a ruthless Islamic theocracy. Today Iran is the primary exporter of fundamentalist Islamic jihad and terror on the earth.

In 2006, the United States and Europe, in the name of "democracy", forced the Palestinian Authority to hold "free and fair" elections. Israel understood the dangers of this ill conceived policy, but the lofty goals of democracy prevailed. The Islamic terrorist group Hamas gained a majority in the Gaza Strip in that election and used its majority in the following year to violently seize control of the government. America and Europe's idealism, along with its inability to evaluate the reality in Gaza helped to create a theocracy that today ruthlessly oppresses religious freedom, social expression, any form of woman's rights and exports Jihad terror into Israel and other nations of the earth.

In 1976 in Lebanon, Hezbollah was established as a Islamic resistance force against Israel. At that time, there was religious freedom in Lebanon with a large Christian population living at peace with their Islamic neighbors. Beirut was considered to be the "Paris" of the Middle East. America pushed for the establishment of a true democracy and believed that Lebanon would serve as an example for a "New Middle East". America achieved its goal; elections were held and Hezbollah gained a foothold in the Lebanese government.

Over the years, Hezbollah used a campaign of murder, terror, assassination and alliances with other Islamic nations to gain power in that country. Christians fled the growing Islamic domination and Lebanon suffered a long and deadly civil war. The final chapter of this great experiment in a "new and democratic Middle East" was written last month. Hezbollah, gained control of the government through the democratic parliamentary process. Now that this Islamic fundamentalist, Jihad force is in control, there is little doubt that the days of democracy are numbered in Lebanon. This nation will soon take its place along with Iran and Hamas in exporting fundamentalist Islam and Jihad in its quest for world domination.

Turkey is a nation that was very similar to Egypt. It was committed to a secular government and was even a friend to Israel. Over the years, the Islamic party gained a foothold in that nation's democracy and today, the government is being ruled by an Islamic party. Although outwardly Turkey still tries to express itself as a friend of the West and a nation that is dedicated to democracy, the reality is that it is quickly moving its center to the fundamentalist Islamic world. Its secular court system and army are being filled with Islamists and Its probable future is as another fundamentalist Islamic nation, which ultimately will devote itself to the overthrow of Western, democratic values.

The Future
The above historical examples should serve as a very powerful wake up call and reality check for Europe and the United States. The unrest that was originally started as a secular freedom movement in Egypt is already being co-opted by the Muslim Brotherhood. Over the past two weeks, they have become an increasing presence in the current unrest. They do not share in the dream of a democratic Egypt but their goal is to create another oppressive, theocratic government that will take its place as a part of the growing radical, Islamic world coalition.

History teaches that it is imperative to not allow non-democratic forces to participate in a democracy. They do not share its values but use those values to gain their ends. Through illegal means of terror, murder and fear, they will gain a majority in that democracy. Their final democratic action will be to abolish that democracy for the theocratic, oppressive government that they really believe in. To ignore this basic truth will doom to failure every democratization effort. Whether it be the Nazi rise to power, the tragic history of Iran or the recent ascent of Hezbollah to its place of dominance in Lebanon, the same lesson is evident and cannot be ignored.

Throughout the earth, the forces of good and evil are locked in an end time battle for world domination. We know that our struggle is not against natural forces, but against wickedness and evil in high places. This is a critical hour! The future of Egypt is still undecided. Let us not grow weary in the battle. Let us be people who recognize evil and stand as a force against it. Let us pray and intercede that the governments of the West will recognize the reality of what is happening. Pray that we will see victory in our day. Our prayers do make a difference.

Newly de-Classified Report by U.S. Embassy Israel to State Dept on Yad L'Achim Activities against believers

2010-10-31T17:09:00.000-05:00

This document was to remain classified until 2013, but was released after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents related to Yad L'Achim activities against believers in Israel. We can confirm the veracity of the statements made in this report, as this has been our beat for the past 10 years and it is according to weekly reports we receive from the indigenous believers in Israel.
- Donna Diorio, www.israelprayer.com

P 301043Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6911
INFO ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY VATICAN
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
USMISSION GENEVA RELEASED IN PART
B6, B1, 1.4(D)
C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 001147

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/27/2013
TAGS: KIRF, PGOV, IS
SUBJECT: BIBLE BURNING HIGHLIGHTS GROWING ANTI-MISSIONARY
SENTIMENT IN ISRAEL

Classified By: DCM Luis G. Moreno for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The May 15 mass public burning of New Testaments in the Tel Aviv suburb of Or Yehuda highlights a growing trend toward anit-missionary incitement in Jewish neighborhoods throughout Israel. Other notable incidents include the October firebombing of a Jerusalem church shared by Baptists and Messianic Jews (i.e. Jews who believe Jesus was the Messiah) and the March 20 bombing of a Messianic Jewish home in the West Bank settlement of Ariel, in which a 15-year old boy was gravely wounded. Contacts in Messianic and Evangelical Christian congregations throughout Israel describe a worsening situation and allege complicity or complacency on the part of police, local government and the Interior Ministry. For their part, anti-missionary groups such as the ultra-Orthodox Yad l’Achim appear more determined than ever to escalate their campaign against Christian and Messianic congregations that they see as “cults” determined to “steal Jewish sould.” END SUMMARY
----------------
Background

United States Department of State
Review Authority: Sharon E. Ahmad
Date/Case ID: 28 JUL 2010 200906086 UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
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2. (SBU) While anti-missionary groups such as the ultra-Orthodox Yad l’Achim (“Hand to Brothers have long sought to uproot Messianic Jewish and Evangelical Christian congregations in Israel, their activities have gone largely unnoticed by mainstream Israeli society. Targeted congregations have suffered harassment and occasionally even vandalism or violence at the hands of Yad l/Achim activists, but such incidents rarely made the national press. Despite the harassment, the number of Messianic Jews and Evangelical Christians has grown in recent years through both immigration and conversion. In recent months, however, increased press reporting and complaints from religious freedom activists have indicated an increase in Yad l’Achim activism and a growing, wider backlash against the presence of Evangelical or Messianic Congregations and missionaries living in Jewish communities. Contacts describe a mounting sense of fear among Messianic and Evangelical communities, and allege a situation of near impunity where police fail to adequately investigate hate crimes against them. They also claim that the Interior Ministry arbitrarily denies benefits to people it identifies as Messianic Jews or Evangelical Christians. For their part, Yad l’Achim and allied activists appear increasingly determined to head off what they see as the “stealing of Jewish souls” by proselytizing “cults” that use deception and manipulation to prey on the weaker sectors of Israeli Jewish society. (Note: Proselytizing is legal in Israel, as long as people are not materially induced into conversion. Proselytizing of less-Orthodox Jews by ultra-Orthodox Jewish sects, such as Chabad, is done openly and without the constraints imposed on non-Jewish groups. End Note.)

--------------------------------------------------------------
Recent Incidents Underscore Rising Tensions
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3. (SBU) While an undercurrent of anti-missionary sentiment has long existed in Israel, several recent incidents describe a dramatic worsening of the situation. As reported in the press, residents of the Tel Aviv suburb of Or Yehuda publicly burned hundreds of Christian Bibles distributed in the community by missionaries in recent months. The May 15 incident was reportedly organized by the Deputy Mayor of Or Yehuda, Attorney Uzi Aharon of Shas, after he received complaints about the Messianic Jewish presence in the area residents. After the incident, Aharon told the Israeli daily Ma’ariv that he sent a group of students from a

UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED

local ultra-Orthodox school throughout the town to collect the New Testaments, which were subsequently burned in front of a synagogue, while “hundreds” of students danced around the burning books. Aharon told Ma’ariv that the municipality operated a team of activists, available 24-hours a day, devoted entirely to uprooting missionary activity, and that the burning was a fulfillment of the commandment to “burn the evil from your midst.” While Aharon subsequently sought to downplay his comments by expressing regret for any damage done to Jewish-Christian relations, he continued to defend the burning, telling Israel Army Radio that it was necessary in order to “purge the evil among us.” (Note: Israel’s Chief Rabbinate, joined by Christian and Muslim leaders from Israel and the West Bank in the Council of Religious Institutions of the Hold Land, issued a statement May 27 condemning the Or Yehuda New Testament burning, while also condemning all attempts to convert a person from one faith to another.)

4. (SBU) PolOff obtained a flyer distributed by Aharon’s anti-missionary team in the months before the burning, exhorting residents to “Save your families! . . . Say no to missionaries who look for your soul . . . . Be careful! Reject them! Chase them away from the place you live!’ The flyer listed the cell phone numbers of Aharon and other members of the team, and was accompanied by leaflets with the names, photos and addresses alongside flyers with hysterical allegations about “soul stealing” and “brainwashing” is a favorite tactic of Yad l’Achim branches throughout the country.)

5. (SBU) Other recent incidents also highlight the growing threat to Messianic and evangelical congregations. On March 20, 15 year-old Ami Ortiz – a dual American-Israeli citizen and the son of a Messianic Jewish pastor – was seriously wounded when a bomb disguised as a gift basket exploded in his home in the West Bank settlement of Ariel. Earlier this month controversy erupted over the disclosure than an Israeli finalist in the International Jewish Bible Quiz was a Messianic Jew, prompting two Chief Rabbis to call for the cancellation of the quiz on the grounds that selecting the 15 year-old “cult member” represented a “transgression of Jewish law.” In October, arsonists fire-bombed a church in Jewish West Jerusalem shared by Baptists and Messianic Jews, while more recently, residents of the secular, upscale Jerusalem neighborhood of Rehavia threatened violence – an “all-out-war,” in the word of one

UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED

resident -- over plans by a Messianic Jewish organization to open an information center there.

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Bureaucratic Complicity and Police Complacency
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6. (C) -----------------------------------------4 ½ lines of redacted material -------------------------------------------
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--------------------------------------------------- Contacts in Messianic and Christian congregations in ----redacted ------- have long complained that police in those cities fail to take seriously hate crims against their members. Following the Ortiz incident, several member of other congregations throughout the country complained to the press of similar problems in their communities. In a recent meeting with PolOff -----------------------2 lines of redacted material ------------------------------------------------------------------
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noted a dramatic increase in violent assaults and other crimes against their members in the past year (up from 1-2 a month in early 2007 to 8-10 now), and complained of an almost complete refusal by police to investigate of apprehend the perpetrators.

7. © Messianic Jews and evangelical Christians also regularly complain of discrimination in the workplace and by officials in the Interior Ministry and local governments. -------------------------------------
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UNCLASSIFIED

2nd Feast of Trumpets Alarm on the Teitel Trial

2010-09-10T13:17:00.002-05:00

Part two of the previously posted Rosh HaShana 5771 feast of trumpets alarm comes to us from David and Leah Ortiz in Ariel, Israel.

David writes:

As you know, our case is a precedent setting case in Israel. It is the first time in Israel's history that a Jew put a bomb in another Jewish person's home because of ideological differences. It is called a hate crime.

We as a family have forgiven Jack Teitel, but just as the Lord fully forgave King David of his sin with Bathsheba, restitution and the law of reaping and sowing still followed. As was prophesied to him - the sword shall never leave your house. (2Samuel 12; Gal. 6:7)

It's been two and a half years since the incident, and the Lord has given us total victory and continues to do so in the lifting up of the name of Yeshua in the Israeli and international Jewish media where it really counts. However, there are three points why we continue to pursue a trial and jail sentence;

1. For the sake of Justice;

2. That others who might have been behind the bombing besides Teitel will be captured and stopped in order to avoid more bloodshed. At this time, just as Paul the Apostle claimed his rights under Roman Law in several instances (Acts 16:35-39, 22:25-29 , 23:25-26, Romans 13:1-7) we also want to take advantage of our legal rights to protect others against such people.

3. So that those who hate Israel will not be able to use this case for their advantage.

A law enforcement officer explained to me from the beginning after the bombing, "Sir, you have three problems; criminal, religious and political".

On September 4, we were hoping to receive a decision on whether Jack Teitel is mentally competent to stand trial, however the decision was postponed until December 2nd. I, as an ordinary non-legally trained person, came to the same conclusion as others who were present. The prosecutor was intimidated and lacked experience and skill before the judges and the Defense team.

If Teitel is deemed mentally unfit to stand trial and is deemed not responsible for his past actions, and is sentenced only to do time in a psychiatric institution, as of yet uncovered facts as to how he plotted his crimes and who helped him will not be revealed and as such, will endanger all Messianic believers in Israel and will embolden others to follow in his footsteps with no fear of due process of law.

REQUEST FOR ACTION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today we are urging you once again to use the power of the pen, and to send emails and faxes to Government Ministries in Israel, since this is a political problem also. We need a mass mailing to these Government offices and to newspapers in Israel to ensure that Teitel stands trial and goes to prison. If you would consider forwarding this email to your mailing lists, or contacts, we would greatly appreciate it.

Also, please view the latest CBN interview taken on Sept. 4

We appreciate any effort and help on this important matter, and of course, please continue to pray.

Yours in Yeshua,

David Ortiz

Contact:

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman
2nd address is to the ministry of foreign affairs
aliberman@knesset.gov.il and/or sar@mfa.gov.il

Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu bnetanyahu@knesset.gov.il

Editor of the Jerusalem Post feedback@jpost.com

Write to the Editor of the HaAretz newspaper from this website: http://www.haaretz.com/contact-us

Editor of Ynet, online newspaper of Y'diot Ahronot, most widely read Hebrew newspaper in Israel, but is in English on the internet as well news@ynetnews.com or editor-in-chief@y-i.co.il

Ministry of Justice Attorney General Menachem Mazuz
29 Salah a-Din Street, P.O.B 49029, Jerusalem 91490
Telephone: 011-972-2-6466332 011-972-2-646-6648
Fax: 011-972-2-646-7023

Rosh HaShana 5771 Sounding an Alarm for an Anti-Missionary Conference in Jerusalem Sept 14th

2010-09-08T13:05:00.002-05:00

Rosh HaShana 5771 – is actually one of the prophetic feasts, the Feast of Trumpets. Throughout the Old and New Covenants, trumpets are a symbol of prophetic warning.

In the Arrows from Zion & Weekly Summary of Prayer Requests from Israeli Ministries list this week our Priority Prayer Focus is an actual sounding of the alarm. We are issuing a shofar blast, a trumpet to rally in intercessory prayer for the believers of Israel as next Tuesday, Sept 14th an anti-missionary conference is being held calling all activists against Messianic believers to meet together with the leaders.

This is a grave threat and ominous gathering which leaders in the Weekly Summary are asking us to join in prayer about.

The anti-Messianic leaders have called for activists throughout Israel to come to conference in Jerusalem next Tuesday 9/14. Pray for a spirit of division in their ranks and that what the enemy means for evil, the LORD will use for good!

In the late 1990’s when Netanyahu was Prime Minister, there was a mean drive to legislate against the gospel and the Messianic believers in Israel to outlaw all sharing of faith. This will be one element of the strategy in the upcoming conference, plus a release to persecute more strenuously. Pray for the threat to be made known to the Israeli public – for a blind eye to cease among government, legal and law enforcement authorities.

In the late 1990’s as activists were trying to legislate against the gospel and Messianic believers, a young ultra-Orthodox stood up and said, “I am only waiting for the Rabbis’ Approval to Kill Them” (source: Haaretz coverage of a meeting held by Rabbi Deri against the Beer Sheva Messianic congregation). That approval has been recently given by West Bank rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yitzhak Ginsberg.

Anti-Messianic believer activism is heating up in Israel, even as rabbis with superb relationships with Christians encourage Christians to reject any Jewish believers who share their faith in Jesus with fellow Jews. This is the valley of decision for many Christians: will we compromise our faith by rejecting the Jewish members of the Body of Messiah/Christ. Pray many will find the courage to stand united as one body.

Anti-Missionary Conference
The following is being reprinted here by permission of the author, Messianic pastor in Jerusalem, Eddie Santoro of Zion's Glory Ministry and Ahavat Yeshua (Love of Yeshua) Congregation.

Unity and division are powerful spiritual realities which can impact situations for the good or for the bad. In Luke 11:17, Yeshua declared that "Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall". In Genesis 11:9, when speaking of the Tower of Babel, God declares the power of unity when he says; "if as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them." And Paul exhorts in Ephesians 4:13 that "unity of the faith" is one of the prerequisites to "becoming mature, and attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Messiah."

In every situation, unity brings about great power and division will cause a house to fall. As I have pondered recent events in Israel, I have been impressed with the need for us to pray either for unity or division, depending on the different events.

Anti Missionary Conference
Next week in Israel's largest national conference center in Jerusalem, the enemies of the Gospel will be gathering in unity to address the growing problem of "Missionaries" in Israel. Their translation of the word "missionaries" is "Messianic Jews".

The problem the religious community is addressing has arisen because the Messianic Jews are succeeding in bringing Israelis to faith and are ever more visible to the Israeli public. Recently, there have been major outreach events in the towns and cities of Israel, articles written about us in major Israeli newspapers and several television interviews.

This past week in synagogues throughout Israel, leaflets were handed out advertising the coming "anti missionary" conference and encouraging people to come. No doubt those interested will be bused in from throughout the country. Many of Israel's leading anti-messianic organizations along with important area rabbis will be taking the opportunity to "educate" the people on the "impossibility" of being Jewish and believing in Yeshua, as well as informing them of the great danger Messianic Jews are to traditional Judaism.

This is the first time that there has been (such) a concerted effort by numerous anti messianic organizations against us and this new unity could increase the intensity of the daily persecution that we face.

Please pray that a spirit of division would be on this gathering of religious Jews. Pray that their house would be divided and that no effective strategies would be achieved in their intensifying battle against those of us who believe. Also, please pray that we would know the right strategy in response to this event. Pray that in God's mercy, even as they speak against Yeshua, that some hearts would be touched by his great mercy and love.

Israelprayer also got this information update in from Yeshua's Inheritance pastor Howard Bass in Beer Sheva.

Howard writes, "Two of the main speakers at the big 'The Missionary Enemy' in Jerusalem next Tuesday, the 14th, are the eminent Beer Sheva Chief Rabbi Yehuda Deri, and the director of Yad L'Achim, Rabbi Lifshitz.

This is not actually the first time such a conference has been held, but it may be the first time at such a large venue in Jerusalem. After the 1998 demonstration against us, they had one at the hotel in Beer Sheva, which is where the comment was made about 'waiting for them to tell us to kill them'.

"Another time they had one in a synagogue in Beer Sheva, where I went to try to listen from outside. Another time they did it in Arad, and using Beer Sheva as an example of their effectiveness.

"In every case, only their own religious community came, despite inviting 'the public'. At one, they claimed to have proof of their accusations against us, but produced absolutely nothing, not even the parents of the children which we supposedly had kidnapped to baptize. It was all a 'show' to get support. The 'public' for them does not include gentiles, nor any recognized Jewish believer in Yeshua."

This input also from Asher Intrater, of the Love of Yeshua Jerusalem congregation and Revive-Israel Ministry

Asher writes: The conference most likely has three primary aims.

The first is to raise money for the anti-"missionary" missionaries.

The second is to convince Jewish organizations not to receive money from Christian Zionists (a goal that we are not necessarily opposed to).

The third is to stop all efforts of evangelism to our people. This third goal is what brings them into conflict with us.

Please pray with us that

1. the forces of Satan would be divided (Luke 11:17),
2. what was intended for evil will be turned to good (Genesis 50:20),
3. the grace of salvation would be poured out on religious Jews (Romans 10:1; Zechariah 12:10),
4. the local body of Messiah would be more united than ever in the face of the growing attacks against us (Acts 1:14; 2:1; 4:32),
5. we would have wisdom on how to react to "anti-Messianic" groups (Matthew 10:16-25; Acts 4:29).

In relation to this growing opposition of religious forces against the Messianic believers in Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin who has been under great pressure lately from the anti-messianic activists for his relationships with Christians wrote an Op-Ed for the Jerusalem Post encourging Christians to distrust the Messianics who share their faith. Messianic Asher Intrater Answers Rabbi Riskin's Jerusalem Post article "Dialogue: The Messianic movement"

On August 31st the Jerusalem Post ran an Op-Ed by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin title "Dialogue: The Messianic movement". The sub-head to the title read, "There is a minority who use deceptive proselytizing practices to win Jewish converts."

It is easy to say the Messianic community is a monolith and all wish to bring the Gospel to every Jew. The truth is that many just want to practice their faith in private and have no active agenda in missionizing other Jews.

However, there is a minority who use deceptive proselytizing practices to win Jewish converts.

This is spiritually offensive and says those who practice Judaism in its current state are not living a salvific expression of the covenant.

Riskin also denied that any persecution against believers is taking place in Israel. This was an article meant for the consumption of Israel-supporting Christians, so the Messianic believers in Israel would be discounted.

Here is an answer to Rabbi Riskin's JPost Op-Ed by Messianic Jewish minister, Asher Intrater, as it was submitted to the newspaper last week. So far, the editors have chosen not to publish Intrater's response article.

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin's recently published article ("Dialogue: The Messianic Movement," Jerusalem Post, 8-27-2010) describing his assessment of Messianic Judaism demands a thoughtful response by someone who is part of this community.

Rabbi Riskin is well-respected in both Christian and Jewish circles. He is dynamic, intelligent, spiritual, and has great leadership abilities. We respect him as well for those qualities.

Furthermore, there are many issues in which we are in total agreement. - He promotes dialogue between Christians and Jews. - We should emphasize common ground in interfaith dialogue. - Cooperation between Israel and the Church is a national duty. - Pioneers of reconciliation face a barrage of criticism. - We are under attack from Islamic Jihad and secular materialism. We Messianic Jews are not asking anyone in either Orthodox Judaism or Christian Zionism to agree with us. We believe our position is correct, just as they do. We ask others to examine our beliefs with the same respect that we give to theirs.

Having said that, there are certain points in which we would disagree with Rabbi Riskin's statements. While he says that he does not believe our community has been persecuted, we know otherwise. Our community is not persecuted by the State of Israel. However, it cannot be ignored that a fringe minority of Ultra-Orthodox Jews do execute pre-meditated attacks against us.

Please consider:

1. The Ortiz family whose son Amiel miraculously survived an attempt of murder upon his life.
2. Mrs. Conforti, whose bakery business in which she has worked from pre-dawn to post-dusk for years was deliberately destroyed.
3. The Beer Sheva Messianic congregation was ransacked by a mob (an attack recorded on film).
4. The smaller Messianic congregation in Arad has been physically attacked repeatedly.
5. Dozens of new immigrants have been denied citizenship simply because of their faith (all of whom are Jewish enough to have been slaughtered in the Holocaust, and have relatives who were).
6. Numerous Messianic Jews have been beaten, attacked, kidnapped, spit upon, cut off from families, and so on.

The list could go on, but this should be enough to make the point that one should not be "astonished" (in Rabbi Riskin's words) when asked about persecution against Messianic Jews. These attacks were perpetrated by extremist elements of the Ultra-Orthodox (who do not represent mainstream Judaism in our eyes). The ONLY reason these attacks took place was because the victims were Messianic Jews.

Rabbi Riskin compared us with the Mormon Church in America, which is not received by most of the Evangelical Christian community. The example, however, is not relevant for two reasons: First, Judaism is not solely a religion; it is also a people group. Secondly, Orthodox Judaism has religious monopoly in Israel, which Evangelicals do not have in the United States.

While many Evangelical Christians would not agree with the tenets of the Mormon faith, they would not deny their right to be Americans, nor their right to be part of the religious spectrum that exists in the United States. Mormons have full legal rights to conduct all religious and social duties, from birth to burial. Riskin has denied our God-given right to be Jews. We are denied legal rights to perform religious duties necessary within our community. Therefore, the comparison to the Mormons is not at all parallel.

We are also accused of "proselytizing" (a claim we deny by our very insistence to remain Jewish and live a Jewish lifestyle). Disseminating our beliefs is a basic right of freedom of expression, thought, religion, and the press. In fact, we do not disseminate our faith as many Ultra-Orthodox missionaries do, who approach cars in the middle of traffic, ask people to lay tefillin in shopping centers, and drive mission-mobiles around the city with loudspeakers in their "proselytizing" efforts.

Rabbi Riskin accused us of being "deceptive." Yet our beliefs are openly stated to anyone who asks. There is no hiding or pretending. It is virtually impossible to join our gatherings for more than a few moments and not understand who we are. Expressions of Jewish practice, from circumcision to Shabbat to Feasts of the Torah to Bar Mizvah to Chuppa, are an essential part of our faith. There are differing levels of expression of those customs within our communities. However, each person's religious expression is inherent to his or her faith. We have stood with integrity for those values despite criticism from both Christian and Rabbinic circles.

Finally, if our view of the Messiah is said to put us out of the realm of Judaism, then what about the Chabad movement which has invested millions of dollars in advertising campaigns to proclaim that their Rebbe is the Messiah? (Their "Meshichist" stream even believes that he was raised from the dead and answers prayers of his followers from heaven.) Are Lubavitchers not Jews? What about the Tel Aviv "Messiah?" What about those who proclaim that reciting the name of Nachman brings world redemption? What about professors of Tanakh in Israeli universities who do not believe in God? What about Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism, New Kabbalah and New Age? All of those above differ from Orthodox Judaism "mainstream." Are they also “out of the realm of Judaism?”

My point here is not to try to convince anyone to believe what we believe. We simply wish to stop the "de-legitimizing" of our community. We are Jewish by birth and Jewish by choice. We pay taxes, serve in the army, believe in the God of Israel, the Torah of Israel, and the Messiah of Israel.

Sincerely,
Asher Intrater Congregational Leader – Ahavat Yeshua, Jerusalem
Love of Yeshua Messianic Congregation

We ask you to pray over these things, even as the entire focus of many are upon how anti-Israeli forces in the nations are heating up. We agree the latter needs prayer intercession – but first, our prayers must be for the household of faith who are expanding the Lord’s kingdom in Israel & the Middle East.

Jack Teitel: Psyched Out? or just Psyched Up by Radical Ideology?

2010-07-16T09:06:00.004-05:00

SPECIAL NOTICE July 15 2010
FOR PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
May be copied for use in Prayer Gatherings

There have been several developments over the past 24 hours that will impact the case against Jack Teitel. Teitel, who confessed to Israeli law enforcement worked with the anti-missionary group Yad L'Achim, is the Jewish terrorist who attempted to murder Messianic pastor David Ortiz in Ariel. Instead of the gift basket bomb killing Pastor David, it was open by their teenage son, Ami, who miraculously lived through the blast but was severely injured. Ami has just completed his 14th surgery to repair his damaged body as a result of the blast that nearly killed him on Purim in 2008.

First Development to Report: The hearing in the trial against Jack Teitel that had been scheduled to take place on Wednesday July 14th was postponed until September. The hearing was set for the court psychiatrist to report on whether Teitel was mentally fit to stand trial. Leah Ortiz wrote in an update on 7/13:

We were informed today by our lawyer that the hearing scheduled for tomorrow to determine Yakov Teitel's ability to stand trial has been postponed again by the psychiatrists until the beginning of September! There could be many reasons for this, but at any rate it is clear that the court psychiatrist is continuing to re-evaluate. Our lawyer said that the term - "psychotic state" which is what the psychiatrist has determined that Teitel is in, is like the flu in psychiatric terms - something that comes and goes, easily. All we can do is wait - since God is always working, we will give Him the glory and assume that it is all in His hands, and that no matter what the plan or scheme of the enemy of our souls, all things will work together for good. We continue to pray for Teitel and his family's salvation, for our lawyer, the judges, the families of the other victims, and all concerned with this case. We pray that what needs to be brought out into the light will be revealed, because we believe that the Lord wants to do something bigger than what we can see at this time.

Second Development to Report: There is breaking news in Israel on 7/15 that the Israeli security service Shin Bet has arrested another Jewish terrorist from the extreme right-wing settlers for a series of shooting attack murders of Palestinians on West Bank Roads. As a media report in an Israeli newspaper put it,

"A Jewish suspect is brought to the Shin Bet for questioning while he enjoys significant backing from the right: there is an organized group of activists, defense attorneys, and media handlers, all making an effort to extricate him from the hands of the law unscathed." Source: Ha'aretz

There are several similarities involved in this most recent arrest and the arrest of Jack (Yakov) Teitel and this latest arrest should make it even more difficult to get the Israeli public to buy into the notion that Teitel's murderous actions were caused by mentally instability rather than an extremist right wing ideology.

Third Development to Report: There is a lengthy new profile article on Jack Teitel published Wednesday in a Jewish online magazine, Tablet - A New Read on Jewish Life. "V" is for Victory is a fair article, with interviews by the Ortiz family included written by a non-Jewish Polish reporter in his 30's. Tablet Magazine was going to publish the story in installments, but instead published the full profile in one article.

Please read this article - it is important because it is going out before a wide Jewish readership and the article is not steeped in denial of the truth of Teitel's radicalism.

Now that another radical settler has been arrested in almost the exact same circumstances as Teitel - except that he is not charged with the attempted murder of a Messianic or a Leftist - it shows that Teitel is radical, not mentally defective in the psychiatric sense, but radicalized to extremist violence.

Donna Diorio
Arrows from Zion - A Ministry of Israelprayer.com
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Slippery Slope

2010-06-26T14:28:00.009-05:00

As someone well versed in how Islamic terrorists are making such gains globally by presenting themselves as victims fighting oppressors, I can't tell you how it grieves me to watch the same dynamics occurring in religious persecution against Jewish believers in Jesus. Like the Peacenik Left sides with Hamas & Friends, many Christians can't face up to the truth in their alliances.

Religious persecution of believing Jews doesn't just happen in Israel. I know of a young man - a virtuoso pianist - who was targeted after participating in the Dallas COUNTER-protest of the "Free Gaza" Flotilla supporters.

It wasn't the Hamas supporters that targeted him, but the guy who is supposed to be the voice of the anti-defamation of Jews. Word has it this Jewish leader took it upon himself to go after the young man's Jewish connections at college - 'reporting' him for not being a 'real' Jew because he was Messianic. So much for anti-defamation.

This kind of stuff happens all the time. The same man, whenever there is an anti-Semitic hate crime against the Messianic synagogues, invests his efforts in making a point to the press that the persecutors made a big mistake, because Messianic Jews are not "real" Jews.

When a crowd was whipped up in Beer Sheva to invade, disrupt, damage property, cause harm to several individuals and generally intimidate the Messianic congregation, the courts refused to hold the rabble rousers accountable.

In Israel, of course, the persecution intensity is much worse because law enforcement and the courts do not enforce the protections afforded to every other group. When there is not legal accountability, persecution increasingly spirals out of control.

As someone well versed in how Islamic terrorists are making such gains globally by presenting themselves as victims fighting oppressors, I can't tell you how it grieves me to watch the same dynamics occurring in religious persecution against Jewish believers in Jesus. Like the Peacenik Left sides with Hamas & Friends, many Christians can't face up to the truth in their alliances.

Many of my Messianic friends don't like the story told, but I consider it enabling the persecutors not to speak out. After a decade of speaking out it is personally frustrating, even disillusioning, to try to tell the truth about these things to Christians who just are unwilling to accept it...or even hear it.

Those Jewish believers who don't want the story told are afraid it will cause Christians to turn on Israel. They also worry it will create a rise in anti-Semitism. So they steel themselves to take it on the chin while the majority of Israel-supporting Christians remain in a fantasy world about the persecution Jewish believers are enduring.

I have two major focuses: the Israeli Body of Messiah and Islamist terrorism. It is really a sad revelation to me how often the persecution of the believers in Israel parallels with the same dynamics surrounding Islamist persecution.

For example, how the strangest bedfellows are formed between the persecutors and their supporters.

In Islamist terrorism, their supporters are peaceniks and other Leftist radicals who are anti-war, big on freedom of speech trumping national security, anti-immigration controls or securing our borders. These folks never saw an Islamist terrorist they didn't think was innocent.

In religious persecution of Jews who believe in Jesus, this is more the reluctance of Christians to understand that the same spirit that opposed Jesus and His disciples in the first century, are still in full operation today. Instead of listening to ANYONE that tries to tell them the truth, they cling to a fantasy view - 'Persecution may be happening, but NOT from the Jews I'm dealing with." Yeah right.

In terrorist circles, the public image is everything. That is why at the "Free Gaza" rally in Dallas the Hamas supporters were shouting slogans like, "Stop the Hate" or "One, two, three, four! We don't want your bloody war!" or "Free Palestine!"

It is all about making the aggressors look like the victims. That message plays well with people who are willing to stay on the surface emotional response level.

I could say the same about Christians who refuse to listen, year after year and approach after approach from different leaders in the Messianic community attempting to educate Israel-supporting Christian leaders about what is really happening to Messianic Jews. These Christians believe that what they are doing in Israel is so 'valuable' to the Lord they will not listen to the Jews the Lord has already saved!

What that speaks to unsaved Jews is that we Christians don't really value Jews, even when they are our spiritual brothers and sisters. This is NEVER going to make unsaved Israel jealous, fellow Christians. Not ever. How we treat the Jews who believe speaks more loudly than how we treat unsaved Israel. You better believe it!

I know of countless Messianic leaders who have been shunned, ignored, accused of just being jealous or even publicly and ferociously attacked by Christian leaders who did not want to hear the truth about who they were supporting in the traditional Jewish community.

It would be easy to name names. But the Lord rebuke them. There is such a thing as WILLFUL ignorance.

If those in the Israel-supporting community don't think it is a test how long The Church staves off coming to grips with the truth and throwing our support behind our spiritual brothers and sisters in Israel, I believe you are mistaken. It is a test we have been failing miserably.

One of the favorite quotes of Israel-supporting Christians is how God is going to judge the nations by how they treated Israel. So what do you think that means for Christians who supported the Israelis who persecuted the Body of the LORD? Think God doesn't care about that?

Okay one already-public example (only one of several I'm aware of) David Brickner of Jews for Jesus put out a letter to JFJ supporters around 2004/5, about how many top Christian leaders were supporting Rabbi Eckstein's Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Rabbi Eckstein who opposes Jewish evangelism.

In a Washington Times article:

"There are those who have worked both overtly and subtly to demonize Jewish believers in Jesus and to make the work of Jewish evangelism seem unacceptable," David Brickner, president of Jews for Jesus, wrote in a six-page letter titled "The War on Jewish Evangelism" sent to 110,000 donors.

"If you press [certain evangelicals], they will say, 'We believe everyone needs Jesus to be saved, but we don't want to be offending people,' " Mr. Brickner said in an interview.

FOR HIS TROUBLE, Brickner was accused at the end of the article by Rabbi Eckstein of only being envious of the money involved. Brickner was also ferociously attacked at the time by Jerry Falwall and Gary Bauer.

They are by far not the only Christian leaders to respond to Messianic concerns in this way, nor was David Brickner the only believing Jew to be harshly dismissed for relating our concerns. Many have been accused of jealousy and worse when raising the legitimate concerns about Christians circumventing the Jewish vision for Jewish salvation.

Rabbi Eckstein is not the only person to accuse Messianic Jews or Jews for Jesus of "just being jealous". Far from it. The same accusation has been leveled against any believing Jew who tries to educate the major Israel-supporting Christian leaders about groups that are in hostile to Jews bringing the Good News to other Jews. Leaders of mega-ministries, heads of Christian TV. Many of these leaders court some of the most gospel-hostile Israeli religious crowd on their TV sets while calling our spiritual Jewish brothers and sisters "just jealous." It is the scandal of our times.

"Some well-known pastors and Christian leaders have either endorsed those who oppose Jewish evangelism or have CAREFULLY AVOIDED endorsing anyone who DOES engage in effective gospel outreach to Jewish people," wrote Jews for Jesus president David Brickner. Because of such endorsements, he added, "the cause of Christ among Jewish people is being hurt." source

It is not just about the money, but let's face it, money is the necessary fuel for almost all spiritual vision.

The $84,281,498 that Rabbi Eckstein collected in 2008 did a lot of good things in Israel. What it did not do is fuel a single vision from God for the salvation of Israel.

The most well-funded believing ministry in Israel, by comparison, was $2,547,354. The majority of Israeli ministries receive far less in donations.

$84,281,498
2,547,354

That is an inkling of how much in dollar terms the Church is ignoring the vision of Jesus for the salvation of Israel.

Wake up Church. If you want to make Israel jealous of our faith, just try blessing the Body of Messiah in Israel with your donations to bless the people of Israel. They do every single outreach ministry that you have ever been prompted to give to do to help Israel - from tree planting, to feeding the hungry, and from helping Jews make aliyah to taking care of Holocaust survivors and terror victims.

There is not a single good project you could donate to help Israel that could not be channeled through the believing ministries of Israel.

Except maybe paying the salaries of anti-missionaries paid to persecute believers...and this is what is happening way more often than you can fathom.

For an example of my PARALLEL activism on the Islamist Terrorism front, here is an example last week of rebuttal to the Dallas Morning News Op-Ed of Mohamed Elibiary "a national security policy analyst and one of three civilian members on the Advisory Board of the Texas Department of Public Safety. He recently testified in Congress on disrupting terror plots before the Homeland Security Committee’s Intelligence subcommittee." Op-Ed

and rebutting comment.Donna Diorio 10:03 AM June 25 2010

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A Soldier's Story

2010-06-19T10:15:00.005-05:00

An Arab pastor, the frequent guest speaker at a Tel Aviv Messianic congregation, is seen here blessing the IDF soldiers from congregation who are about to enter the 2008-09 Gaza War.

Over the past 9 years of receiving the weekly prayer requests from the ministries of Israeli Jewish believers, we have seen countless requests for prayers for the children of ministry leaders and congregants serving in the Israeli army right out of high school.

Sometimes these prayers were expressed with anxiety that only a parent who sees their... See More child going into an extremely dangerous assignment knows. We've had prayer requests for children being sent into some of the most dangerous terror nests in the Palestinian territories, and prayer requests for children sent into combat zones, like Lebanon and Gaza.

One thing I know about all the believing parents who ever requested prayer for their children, they believed with all their hearts that the Israeli military is the most ethical, moral fighting force in the world. I believe that as well.

Much of the world believes the myth of Israeli Defense Forces as dirty, rotten b%st#rds killing everything that moves. Those are lies from the accuser of the brethren, and if you believe the terrorist propaganda over what the Body of Messiah in Israel testifies to be the truth, then you need to do some serious soul and fact searching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuCzHQB1sks&feature=player_embedded

Please watch this video which corresponds with the testimony we have received from the believers of Israel for many years concerning the military their children serve in.

Also, we recommend you read the book by Mosab Hassan Yosef, "Son of Hamas".

The son of a founder and spiritual leader of the Hamas terror group, Mosab became a counter-terrorism spy for the Israelis after witnessing for himself the difference between Hamas and the Israeli military. His story is one that Christians who sympathize with Hamas need to read. FACEBOOK: Son of Hamas

Serious Ramifications in the Beer Sheva Verdict Extend to the Messianic Jewish Community throughout Israel

2010-06-01T08:51:00.007-05:00

The mob scene outside the Beer Sheva congregation on Dec 24, 2005

There are serious ramifications to the verdict handed down in the case of the Beer Sheva Messianic congregation that was overrun by an angry religious mob in 2005. The mob was stirred up by the anti-missionary group Yad L'Achim with the cooperation of the chief rabbi of Beer Sheva Yehuda Deri. The crowd was under the false understanding that the congregation was about to commit an illegal act by baptizing 10 busloads of Jewish children under the age of 18.

Judge Iddo Ruzin did not think this was grounds to hold Rabbi Deri and Yad L'Achim responsible for what happened that day, December 24, 2005. When justice is not upheld crimes increase. It is that simple. Judge Ruzin has in effect declared 'Open Season' on people who were already targets of widespread and often violent religious persecution. What this will mean for the Jewish believers in Jesus in Israel is EVEN MORE acts and attacks of persecution by religious opponents who know they are not going to be held accountable for their crimes.

Police Speaking to Agitators in the Mob

This is the same judicial issue involved in the case against Jack Teitel who attempted to murder the Ortiz family and who did murder at least two Palestinians. When Israeli judges balk at prosecuting the religious criminals brought before them, it only emboldens the religious to increase the 'quality' and quantity of their crimes.

Ami Ortiz was blown to bits opening a package bomb delivered by a man who has confessed to police that he was with Yad L'Achim and was trying to kill Ami's father for his faith in Yeshua/Jesus.

THE AMERICAN CHRISTIAN SUPPORTERS OF ISRAEL MUST NOT REMAIN SILENT IN THE FACE OF THIS TRAVESTY OF INJUSTICE AGAINST OUR ISRAELI SPIRITUAL BROTHERS & SISTERS. You may think you are doing enough by defending Israel against her enemies in the world, but you are doing NOTHING if you will not rise up and defend the Body of the Lord in Israel against legally unhindered religious persecution. If you think it is okay with the Lord to shut your eyes to this injustice and do nothing, say nothing, then you are about as deceived as you could possibly be.

We hope that an appeal will be filed and that the Israeli Believers will not just accept this unjust verdict. Whatever the community in Israel decides, the Christian community must pull its head out of the sand and rise to the defense of the Body in Israel. That much is clear. Like Mordechai told Esther, Don't even think you can just go on enjoying your sweet life in the palace while your family is destroyed by the order of the palace! If the American Church does not arise on to demand justice and safety for the believers of Israel, then God will raise up deliverers elsehwere and the American Church will just have to bear the disgrace of being salt that has lost all savor.

The mob scene inside the Beer Sheva congregation on Dec 24, 2005

Here is the notice sent by the pastor of the Beer Sheva congregation of the verdict rendered by Judge Ruzin.

A verdict has been handed down by Judge Iddo Ruzin in our lawsuit filed against the Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yehuda Deri, and against the anti-Messianic organization, Yad L'Achim. The judge did exactly what we have been praying and hoping . . . that he would not do! Judge Ruzin has determined that the two defendants are innocent of any wrong-doing concerning the events before, during, and after 24 Dec 2005, and that we did not produce sufficient evidence to prove any personal liability on their part in our civil suit against them.

Judge Ruzin has ordered that we pay 1000 ILS to each of the defendants, and that we pay the legal fees of each of their advocates, which will come to tens of thousands of shekels. (We have not yet been notified of this amount.)

We express our sincere and heartfelt thanks to all of you for your encouragements, prayers, praises to God, and financial contributions throughout this lawsuit to date. We believe, with many of you, that we were led by the Lord to enter into this lawsuit, and we have sought to honor the name of Yeshua. We believe that, at least in this latter regard, we were successful: even the judge in his decision referred to the Lord as "Yeshua", and not by the acronym commonly used by many in this land. We understood from the outset that there was a risk involved in taking these particular defendants to court for what we still know they are liable.

We would greatly appreciate you prayerfully considering assisting us with further donations to help us with the large financial burden we are now obligated to pay. If we decide to file an appeal of this decision, we will do so only after consultation with other Messianic leaders from around Israel, just as we did before going to trial.

Glory to the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel,

Howard Bass - Pastor - Kehilat Nachalat Yeshua (under amutat Nichalim BaNegev)
Olavi Syvanto - Elder, and Board Member

Adv. Marvin Kramer
Adv. Kevork Nalbandian
We always believed, and still believe and accept, that the verdict is the Lord's, and it is for us to discern what He is saying to us through it.

The Gaza Flotilla and the Maritime Blockade of Gaza

2010-05-31T13:37:00.002-05:00

The following was emailed to me by Eddie and Jackie Santoro of Zion's Glory a couple who minister in the Jerusalem area associated with Tikkun Ministries. They thought it was important to pass along and so do I. The email reads:

I woke up this morning to the horrible news of the tragic loss of life as Israel stopped the "humanitarian aid flotilla" as it attempted to break Israel's blockade on Gaza. The entire operation was a deliberate provocation against Israel and its primary goal was to cause the very events that occurred. The Israeli soldiers boarded the boats peacefully and acted in self defense when the "peaceful activists" attacked the soldiers as they came aboard.

Attached is the official Israeli Government justification, based on international law for this morning's action against the flotilla. We felt it is very important for those who love and support Israel to be aware of this legal justification as the resulting international attack and condemnation will be very strong. Please pass it on to as many as possible as there will be few voices supporting Israel at this time.

Although Israel was legally and morally justified in exercising its right of self defense against both the flotilla and against the precedent that allowing it would have established, this whole situation is at best a public relations nightmare for our nation and could be far worse. Please be in prayer that righteousness and justice would prevail.

We are living in a day in which we see the prophetic word of the Lord being fulfilled. The nations are turning against Israel and bad is being exalted as good and wrong as right.

Following is the official diplomatic release by the government of Israel giving the legal justification for this morning's action.

We send you our love from Zion,
Eddie and Jackie

The Gaza Flotilla and the Maritime Blockade of Gaza
Legal Background – 31 May 2010

1. A maritime blockade is in effect off the coast of Gaza. Such blockade has been imposed, as Israel is currently in a state of armed conflict with the Hamas regime that controls Gaza, which has repeatedly bombed civilian targets in Israel with weapons that have been smuggled into Gaza via the sea.

2. Maritime blockades are a legitimate and recognized measure under international law that may be implemented as part of an armed conflict at sea.

3. A blockade may be imposed at sea, including in international waters, so long as it does not bar access to the ports and coasts of neutral States.

4. The naval manuals of several western countries, including the US and England recognize the maritime blockade as an effective naval measure and set forth the various criteria that make a blockade valid, including the requirement of give due notice of the existence of the blockade.

5. In this vein, it should be noted that Israel publicized the existence of the blockade and the precise coordinates of such by means of the accepted international professional maritime channels. Israel also provided appropriate notification to the affected governments and to the organizers of the Gaza protest flotilla. Moreover, in real time, the ships participating in the protest flotilla were warned repeatedly that a maritime blockade is in effect.

6. Here, it should be noted that under customary law, knowledge of the blockade may be presumed once a blockade has been declared and appropriate notification has been granted, as above.

7. Under international maritime law, when a maritime blockade is in effect, no boats can enter the blockaded area. That includes both civilian and enemy vessels.

8. A State may take action to enforce a blockade. Any vessel that violates or attempts to violate a maritime blockade may be captured or even attacked under international law. The US Commander's Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations sets forth that a vessel is considered to be in attempt to breach a blockade from the time the vessel leaves its port with the intention of evading the blockade.

9. Here we should note that the protesters indicated their clear intention to violate the blockade by means of written and oral statements. Moreover, the route of these vessels indicated their clear intention to violate the blockade in violation of international law.

10. Given the protesters explicit intention to violate the naval blockade, Israel exercised its right under international law to enforce the blockade. It should be noted that prior to undertaking enforcement measures, explicit warnings were relayed directly to the captains of the vessels, expressing Israel's intent to exercise its right to enforce the blockade.

11. Israel had attempted to take control of the vessels participating in the flotilla by peaceful means and in an orderly fashion in order to enforce the blockade. Given the large number of vessels participating in the flotilla, an operational decision was made to undertake measures to enforce the blockade a certain distance from the area of the blockade.

12. Israeli personnel attempting to enforce the blockade were met with violence by the protesters and acted in self defense to fend off such attacks.

ACTION ALERT: A Purim Letter Writing Plea

2010-02-26T18:27:00.002-06:00

A few days ago I received this informative bulletin and letter-writing action request from David and Leah Ortiz from Ariel. I would encourage you all to read the briefing on how the religious Jewish terrorist that almost took the life of their son on Purim 2008, has confessed to police that he was associated with the anti-missionary group Yad L'Achim. The Jerusalem Institute of Justice which defends the Messianic Jewish community in Israel has filed a request with the Israeli Attorney General to outlaw the Yad L'Achim group as an officially designated "terrorist organization." It sure is.

At the end of this brief, the Ortiz family asks for Messianics and Christians to join in the effort to make Israeli and government officials of other nations aware that we support the request for official acknowledgment that Yad L'Achim is conducting itself as a dangerous stalking and terrorist organization against believers in Yeshua/Jesus who just want the freedom to practice their faith without persecution.

You will find information on how you can be involved in letter writing to Israeli officials as well as other government agencies in several nations. This appeal was not timed to coincide with Purim - unless it is Divine timing we are witnessing - but in response to breaking developments in the Ami Ortiz bombing case. Like the story of Esther upon which the Purim holiday is based, we are challenged to rise up and take action with the government authorities to turn back the threat against our brothers and sisters in Israel. "...and who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

Please read, pray and act now on behalf of all the Jewish believers in Israel, and for those who are also being spied on in nations as anti-missionaries seek to block Messianic believers from Israeli citizenship.

Thank you and God bless you as you stir yourself like queen Esther to "Open your mouth for the speechless, In the cause of all who are appointed to destruction. Open your mouth, judge righteously, And plead the cause of the poor and needy." Proverbs 31:8-9

Donna Diorio,
Israelprayer.com

Romans 8
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Messiah who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Messiah? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:

" For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Messiah Yeshua our Lord.

Shalom to all! We are grateful to God who gives victory in the midst of every battle! We haven't written in a while, because we weren't at liberty to reveal some important information concerning our case until now.

YAKOV TEITEL - YAD L'ACHIM

Recently it has been revealed that in one of his interrogations, Yakov "Jack" Teitel, the perpetrator of the crime carried out in our home on March 20, 2008, worked for the anti freedom of religion organization called Yad L'Achim. This organization has a department which it calls itself the "counter-missionary" or "anti-missionary" department. They refer to Gentile Christians and Jews who believe that Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah, as "missionary cults", and admit on their website that they are committed to rescuing Jews who fall into our "net". Here are some quotes from their website:

"COUNTER MISSIONARY DEPARTMENT

“Ironically, Jews who live in Israel are the most vulnerable to missionaries. That's because missionary groups see making inroads in the Jewish homeland as a special achievement and therefore invest tremendous energy and resources there. The missionary infrastructure in Israel is based mainly on a few large Christian cults and dozens of smaller ones.

“In our battle against the missionaries we are even more motivated. We see the saving of each and every Jewish soul from Christian cults as a sacred mission. This is what drives Yad L'Achim's relentless efforts against the mission and its members.

“HOW DOES THE DEPARTMENT WORK?

“We fight the missionaries in a variety of ways, some of which, due to their sensitive nature, can't be described in detail.

“One of our most important functions is to track the activities of missionaries and respond to them in appropriate ways. We are updated every time the missionaries schedule a conference, open a new center or schedule a baptism for Jews in the Kinneret and have a variety of means - all of them legal - to foil them. When we receive a report of a family that has gotten caught up in a cult we intervene with tried and tested methods.

“SCOPE OF MISSIONARY ACTIVITY IN ISRAEL

“There are more than 100 missionary congregations operating in Israel. Indeed, every city has a missionary congregation that runs programs and activities aimed at luring Jews.

“The annual budget of the missionaries in Israel is in the millions of dollars, often funded from foreign sources.

“Under the guise of assisting the public, they open community centers, as well as drug-treatment facilities, that serve to advance their cause.

“The missionaries have at their disposal kibbutzim, convention centers, youth hostels, coffee houses, publishing houses and much more to spread their poisonous message."

The head of the anti-missionary department of Yad L'Achim is a Chabad Rabbi, Alex Artovsky, Soviet Union born, who has been questioned by the police many times on charges of harassing and intimidating Messianic Jews. You can read about him on the Roshpina website - he is an example of the type of people who work for the organization.

RESPONSE AND MORE FACTS

With the revelation of the admission of Jack Teitel that he was active in Yad L'achim for five years, carrying out various missions for them, it became incumbent on us as a community to respond as there had been no mention of this in the newspapers or publicly by the police.

The information was given to a reporter from the Ha'aretz Newspaper, and an article was written that was scheduled to appear in Hebrew on the front page of the paper. The article appeared in English in the English edition of Haaretz, but the editors of the Hebrew edition kept on postponing the Hebrew article for a week, every day with a different reasonable sounding excuse, until they declared that the article was old news and had already been published in English anyway.

It was very suspicious - perhaps they received threats from Yad L'achim that they would sue if the article appeared in Hebrew? Could someone have been paid off, or was someone pulling strings? Was the paper afraid of being blacklisted or of backlash? For sure, it was not business as usual when it came to this news item.

When Teitel confessed to working for Yad L'achim, there were no further attempts to gain more detailed information by the police, and according to Yad L'achim's own statement, they weren't questioned by the police in connection with Teitel either.

At the same time, Caleb Myers of the Jerusalem Institute for Justice has drafted a petition to the Israeli Attorney General, requesting that Y'ad L'achim be dismantled, based on concrete proof of their illegal activities in connection with the harassment and persecution of Messianic Jews, and their connection with Jack Teitel. The petition can be viewed on his website.

We advise strongly that you read Caleb Myer's document. The research is extensive and he's been able to detail the organization's activities in a very detailed way.
Note: The incidents cited in this report are just a partial report of the activities of Yad L'achim against believers, because many of their attacks on the Messianic community go unreported as the believers are often afraid, or don't take the time and effort to notify the authorities. Unfortunately, they know that nothing will be done as a result which has been the case time and again.

Here is a link to an Israeli internet news service report about Caleb's petition.

Yad L'achim was founded in 1950 and at first it's purpose was to help Jews who were streaming into the re-established State to "find a suitable religious framework", according to their website. However, very quickly it turned into an organization that focuses on destroying Jews who believe in Yeshua, and to dismantle mixed marriages of Arabs and Jews.

Caleb Myers states in his petition to the Attorney General,

"According to the Organization's own publications, both on its website
http://yadleachim.co.il and on the Chabad site http://www.chabad.info/, it is
involved, among other things, openly and directly, in tracking, supervising and
collecting information about members of various religions and faiths, including
Messianic Jews, tourists, residents and citizens alike, who are perceived by its
activists as "dangerous missionaries".

"Yad L'achim are active world-wide to the point that they were invited by the Chinese government to participate in a conference on "how to help fight cults" - read the head and founder of Yad L'achim, Rabbi Dov Lipschitz shocking comments.

From 1999-2009 the State Department has been reporting on the undemocratic and often violent actions of Yad L'achim's activities in Israel.

Another shocking thing about Yad L'achim and it's associates, is that it receives tax-deductable status from democratic countries like the United States, that stand on the pillars of personal freedoms, one of which is the freedom of religion.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

So once again we are turning to you, for prayer and to exercise the power of the pen for this petition to succeed.

It is reasonable to assume that Yakov Teitel found out about our family through records in Yad L'achim's office during the five years that he worked for them. We don't want more Teitel's to harm believers in Israel, which will surely happen if we don't take action based on the facts that have been revealed to us.

As you pray for these matters, would you consider these following actions: (Isaiah 1:17; Prov. 31:8&9)

1. Write to the Israeli Attorney General, Yehuda Weinstein, to consider Caleb Myer's report and the request to disband Yad L'achim in Israel with the utmost seriousness. You can state that you are supporters of Israel and that you are seeking it's welfare and benefit. For example, "As people that support and believe in the State of Israel, in seeking it's benefit, we urge the attorney General to disband this organization so Israel can continue to be a light to the nations by it's example of freedom and democracy in the Middle East, which includes, especially, the freedom of religion."

In reality, especially for those of us who live in Israel, organizations like Yad L'achim and their associates dedicate themselves full-time to be predators, seeking every opportunity to hinder, harass, persecute and murder the Body of Messiah, as in the confession of one of their foot soldiers, Yakov Teitel. These predators shouldn't be allowed any longer to carry out their illegal activities without any fear of due process of law.

Letters can be sent only by fax - the number is- 011-972-2-6467001, or by post:
Mr. Yehuda Weinstein
Attorney General
Ministry of Legal Affairs
29 Salah A-Din St.
Jerusalem
Israel

2. Write to Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu with the same message, and to urge him to not let Teitel's connection with Yad L'achim to be swept under the rug, so that justice can truly prevail in Israel. bnetanyahu@knesset.gov.il

3. Write to your Senators, Congressmen, or government officialsin light of Caleb Myers petition to the Israeli Attorney General, and the harassment and intimidation of Yad L'Achim, and their connection with Yakov "Jack Teitel"who was responsible for the bombing and attempted murder of Ami Ortiz, to take away the tax deductable status of Yad L'achim in the U.S. and wherever they have chapters.

4. Write to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, to ask for Yad L'achim's offices to be closed in the U.S. and/or their tax deductible status taken away.
800 North Capitol Street NW
Suite 790
Washington, DC 20002

5. For those living outside of the United States, you could write to your Parliament members and representatives, and a possibility is to write to the World Evangelical Alliance to come on board to write to the Israeli government to stop the activities of these types of organizations that infringe on the freedom of religion of Messianic believers in Israel.

Caleb Myer's report can be sent to them as well.

Your letters don't have to be long, anything that you can manage will help.

Also to be noted - Yad L'Achim are not representative of the Orthodox Jews in Israel who are mostly law-abiding citizens.

Thank you for walking with us in rank, heart to heart, towards the mark. (1Chron. 12:33; Phil. 3:14)

Yours in the Messiah
Leah

PS. Please pray for Howard Bass' trial on March 9th - the head of the counter-missionary department of Yad L'Achim, Alex Artovsky, will be questioned on the stand as to his alleged involvement in the riot that took place in the congregation in Beer Sheva in 2005. Closing statements will also be given, please pray for Howards lawyers, Marvin Kramer and Kevork Nalbandian.

See the video of the attack here.

ex po se' Part 2 Threats Precede Violence

2010-01-07T09:32:00.002-06:00

Week 2, Part II of my lengthy article, ex po se' The Terror Bombing of Israeli Messianic Teen Ami Ortiz was emailed to my Arrows from Zion mailing list. It is also online at my israelprayer.com website where the full version can be downloaded in a PDF or a partial version (less many pictures) is published on the web....

If you have contacts with other Christian and Messianic LEADERS outside of Israel - please send it to them.

Part 2 Threats Precede Violence

Threats to the Ortiz family had begun months before the bombing as fliers were distributed in the streets of Ariel with photographs of David Ortiz and other Messianic believers warning:

“Citizens of Ariel, Beware!
These people are Christian Missionaries
that masquerade as Jews
and belong to a cult called Messianic Judaism."

Like other Messianic Jews throughout Israel, the Ortiz family was used to being targeted by hate speech and also used to exercising prudent caution for the sake of personal security. Several congregation facilities and other properties of believers have been fire bombed over the past decade and threatening speech has almost always preceded the violence.

...continued at the website Israelprayer.com

Expose: The Terror Bombing of Israeli Messianic Teen Ami Ortiz

2010-01-01T08:46:00.005-06:00

I have a new 5-part article posted on my web site, Israelprayer.com. Here is the introduction:

ex⋅po⋅sé

The Terror Bombing of
Israeli Messianic
Teen Ami Ortiz

by Donna Diorio
December 31, 2009 - January 1, 2010

Across Israel – for those who have heard the reports – there is shock and disbelief that a terror attack on a 15-year old Jewish boy in Ariel in March 2008 may have been a case of Jewish terrorism. It is a hard concept for Jews to accept – a horrific act of Jew-on-Jew terrorism.

Having been the victims of such acts throughout the annals of history, to believe that Jews could become exactly like their persecuting enemies is almost unthinkable to most Jews. The unthinkable is not softened by the cold insistence from some that the targeted family is “not really Jewish” because of their faith in Yeshua (Jesus).

Yaakov Teitel, an ultra-Orthodox settler, appeared for the first time in open court December 10th to stand trial for multiple murder and attempted murder charges including the Purim 2008 attack on a Messianic Jewish family which seriously wounded David and Leah Ortiz’ youngest child, Amiel.

The case places several sensitive and controversial issues in public view from the troubling rise of a new Jewish extremism within the settlements to the appalling state of civil and religious freedom protection for Messianic Jews in Israel. It is a case that Israeli authorities might be anxious to see quietly brought to a swift end with the conviction of a deranged “lone wolf” with no greater implications unpacked.

But that is not the truth of this case, as we have learned from 21 months of following the case via weekly input from the Ortiz family.

This article seeks to shed light on why the police theory that Teitel acted without accomplices cannot be correct. It contains details recorded in the real time of the unfolding of events from March 20, 2008 to the present. If the whole story is not told, the trial could actually circumvent justice bringing only one perpetrator to accountability. That would leave his compatriots free to continue their misguided religious mission to exact ‘God’s vengeance’ on those whom they consider detestable enemies.

Donna Diorio
December 9, 2009
the day Jack Teitel went on trial for the attempted murder of Ami Ortiz.

ex⋅po⋅sé noun
1. A public exposure or a revelation,
2. A formal exposition of facts.

Index: Full PDF version

Part I –Purim 2008: Haman Visits Ariel An act of religious extremism targets Israeli Jewish believers in Jesus on Purim. ‘Wicked Haman’ is finally busted in October 2009.
Part II – Threats Precede Violence Hate speech, harassment and violence lay the buildup to attempted murder against targets with the Messianic community of Israel who are stalked and spied on.
Part III – The Family Grapples with the Unthinkable That is, the Ortiz family, the family of indigenous believers in Israel, and the greater family of Israeli Jews – citizens and officials.
Part IV – Meanwhile in the Real World What must we do to safeguard innocent people from those willing to commit religious terrorism? Counter terrorism experts are telling, but is anyone listening?
Part V – Israeli Justice on Trial What is at stake in the trial of Yaakov Teitel is a hidden spiritual truth. It is one of those trials of God that we often don’t recognize as from Him until after our choices are made and the test is over. In this trial, Israel is also choosing in measure her own future – “For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged.”

Gag Order Lifted: Ami’s Assailant Arrested

2009-11-01T15:23:00.003-06:00

The gag order has finally been lifted and the arrest of the American born ultra-Orthodox man who placed the bomb-laden Purim package at the doorstep of the Ortiz home has also confessed to multiple terroristic murders and attempted murders.

Here are the news reports in the top three online English edition newspapers, with Haaretz giving far more coverage out of the gate than Jpost or Ynet - to the late breaking Sunday edition headlines out of Israel.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu also weighed in to the breaking news.

These first reports are indicating that Yaacov Teitel acted alone without the knowledge of others. I am a little concerned that he has confessed to so many incidents and they are painting him as a lone wolf who had no contacts with other radical elements - especially that he confessed to the Tel Aviv gay attack and the police are saying they have nothing to tie him to it.

Also so many people are painting a picture of him as being mentally ill - which is kind of their classic response, isn't it? That was used on the guy who killed all those Palestinians at a historical/religious site and also of the guy who killed Rabin, if memory serves. Conveniently insane. Time will tell what holds up under more intense scrutiny, but for now we are happy for this matter to have surfaced in the public.

Please continue to pray for the Ortiz family as the media turns an eye to them once again, and for what will become the prosecution of these cases. --Donna Diorio www.israelprayer.com

Linked to the stories online

Alleged Jewish terrorist arrested for murder, series of bomb attacks
By Amos Harel Haaretz Correspondent 11-1-09

ALSO VIDEO: Ortiz family home security video of the Purim-bomb basket being place inside the gated entry way.

Yaakov "Jack" Teitel, 37, is suspected of killing two Palestinians, for rigging the package bomb which left the child of a Messianic Jew seriously wounded, for attempting to kill left-wing professor Ze'ev Sternhell, and for his alleged role in a series of warning attacks against Israel Police at the time of the Gay Pride Parades.

Jewish extremist arrested for alleged series of hate crimes
By Yaakov Katz Jerusalem Post Nov 1, 2009 16:44 | Updated Nov 1, 2009 19:03

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Israel Police have arrested an American-born Jewish settler who is allegedly behind an unprecedented series of deadly terror shootings and bombings spanning over a decade, in which two Palestinians were killed and Israel Prize Laureate Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell was injured. According to the Shin Bet, he also planted a bomb at the entrance to house of a messianic family in Ariel, seriously wounding their son, then-15-year-old Ami Ortiz.

Settler suspected of multiple hate crimes
Ynet reporters 11-1-09

Authorities believe Yaakov Teitel of Shvut Rachel murdered two Arabs, planted pipe bomb which injured Hebrew University's Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell, as well as multiple explosive devices in other incidents. Lawyer: He's mentally unstable

Netanyahu: ‘Minority’ of violent far-rightists must be stopped
By Haaretz Service 11-1-09

Following the arrest of a West Bank settler suspected of multiple murders and bomb attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel must fight the terror posed by violent extreme rightists, whom he termed a "marginal minority."

‘State must make an example of Teitel'
By Ben Hartman and JPost staff Nov 1, 2009 18:31 | Updated Nov 1, 2009 22:01

The Ortiz family of Ariel on Sunday urged authorities to "make an example" of Yaakov Teitel, a right-wing Jewish extremist arrested for allegedly sending the messianic Jewish family a bobby-trapped package in 2007 that left son Ami Ortiz critically wounded.

Who is suspected Jewish terrorist Yaakov Teitel?
By Chaim Levinson, Haaretz Correspondent 01/11/2009

Yaakov Teitel, who was arrested last month for suspected murder and a string of alleged murder attempts, was born in Florida in November 1972, the son of Mordehai (Mark) and Devorah (Dianne), American ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Relatives: Teitel wouldn’t destroy his family’s life
Roee Mandel Ynetnews 11-1-09

Friends, relatives describe Shvut Rachel resident who admitted to killing Palestinians and placing bomb outside Professor Sternhell's home as being reserved, moderate, but say he was deeply affected by injury of brother-in-law in terror attack

Shvut Rachel residents: We are not a community of terrorists
By Chaim Levinson Haaretz Correspondent 11-1-09

Residents of the West Bank outpost Shvut Rachel were shocked to learn that their neighbor Yaakov Teitel had been arrested for allegedly orchestrating a string of violent attacks against targets as disparate as Palestinians, the gay community, Messianic Jews and prominent left-wing figures.

Teitel’s lawyer: He is mentally unstable
By Yaakov Lappin JPost Nov 1, 2009 20:01 | Updated Nov 1, 2009 20:04

From the moment he arrived in Israel, Yaakov Teitel believed he was receiving a series of unmistakable signals and instructions from God to carry out his acts. Teitel told his investigators that he had dreams warning him that if he did not carry out the attacks, he would die. He viewed events like rocket attacks on Sderot as divine punishment for past transgressions by Israel. And he launched bomb attacks on police targets in order to persuade them to refrain from securing gay pride marches in Jerusalem.

More as information becomes available

Jew on Jew Terrorism - Police May Have a Confession in the Ami Ortiz Case

2009-10-25T15:33:00.005-05:00

The following report is gleaned from open U.S. and Israeli news sources and from nationalist-religious settlers blogs – a source I don’t usually look to but these are the only sources leaking information in an arrest that Israeli Security Forces have placed a 21-day gag order on.

Since the right-wing religious activists are ramping up to pressure Israeli officials in this matter, I thought it wise to pass along those details for believers to begin to pray over. The arrest earlier this month of a religious-nationalist has been linked to the 2008 bombing of Ami Ortiz.

Here are the details we have been able to glean from sources readily available on the web – if one knows where to look. - Donna Diorio, October 25, 2009

On Wednesday October 7th, the Israeli Security Services arrested a Jewish American Israeli citizen in an apartment in the religious Har Nof community located on the western-most hill of Jerusalem.

When security forces broke down the barricaded apartment door to arrest “Y.T.” - (whose name we will keep out of this report for the sake of the on-going Israeli investigation) - officers found several explosives which they later detonated according to a report on israeljustice.com.

In his family home apartment in Shvut Rahel, police found 4 M16 rifles which undoubtedly will have undergone ballistics testing to shots fired in the August shooting spree on the Tel Aviv gay youth club attack.

The man who is described by nationalistic-religious sites as a 36-year old former marine with dual U.S. - Israeli citizenship, is a father of 4 who lives in the Shvut Rahel settlement in Samaria/West Bank some 28 miles north of Jerusalem.

The fact of “Y.T.’s” dual citizenship may be the reason the American Consulate in Jerusalem obtained information of the arrest and why they were able to make first notification to the Ortiz family of an arrest linked to their son’s case. The Ortiz family of Ariel also holds dual Israel-U.S. citizenship.

Ami pre-bomb photo

Israeli officials did not notify the Ortiz family of a break in the case, but it is a locked tight conclusion that if both the victim and the perpetrator hold dual citizenship, the American Consulate would be informed at least of the fact of the arrest.

“Y.T.’s” defense attorney Adi Kedar is reported in an Israeljustice.com article dated 10/14/09 as saying, “Everything is classified. I don’t know anything. The case has even been to the Supreme Court. The judges know but I don’t know anything” – apparently in reference to the evidence and charges against his client.

Early Israeli media reports indicated Security Services had a confession from “Y.T.” according to Shmuel Meidad, who is the head of the Honenu Legal Aid Organization which defends the religious nationalist settlers against charges.

According to reports on a Hareidi website, Hadrei Hareidim, (a source we take with a grain of salt), the judge in the first remand hearing in Petah Tikva told defense lawyer Adi Kedar,

“Don’t try to appeal because until now there hasn’t been a case with so much clear evidence that links the suspect to the serious acts that he committed.”

The early press reports that appeared online were redacted when a gag order was swiftly placed by authorities on details of the arrest. However, israeljustice.com reports that news correspondents had linked “Y.T.” to the pipe bomb that lightly wounded Professor Zeev Sternhell in September 2008, and to the shooting attack on a Tel Aviv gay youth bar that left 2 dead and 10 injured in August 2009.

One linkage the religious news sites have not mentioned is the attempted murder of the Ortiz family during the 2008 Purim season when 15-year old Ami Ortiz was gravely wounded by a bomb planted in a gift basket.

Ami lay dying on the family kitchen floor

Honenu head Meidad, however, is claiming, “They have accused him of every murder from Arlosorov (a murder in 1933) to the murder in the gay bar.”

The attempted murder of the Ortiz family is the ‘Most Likely to Be Suppressed’ charge against the religious activist, “Y.T.” This is something that must be monitored carefully as the charges against “Y.T.” and his co-conspirators are made public. The gag order is due to be lifted on Wednesday, October 28th.

One thing is for certain, if “Y.T.” is the person who actually carried out placing the bomb-laden Purim gift basket at the door of the Ortiz family home, Israeli officials have video security surveillance footage that shows the religious-garbed man placing it there. If “Y.T.” has confessed his involvement in these cases, the confession may have rested on the strength of the security tape from the Ortiz home and ministry.

“Y.T.’s” wife was reportedly arrested on October 21st two weeks after her husband’s arrest although it is not clear why she was arrested. The wife was en route to a hearing in Petah Tikvah where her husband was being held. Her temporary arrest is being painted as a political arrest and a “kidnapping” by the religious-nationalist settlers activists including Women in Green spokesperson Nadia Matar.

A Picture Emerging of Religious Right Wing Violence

The investigation of potential co-conspirators in the case is likely related to recent Israeli news reports on several right-wing activists who have been recently barred from reentering the West Bank for six months.

One report noted that the IDF Spokesman’s Office said “in light of information about the two settlers’ involvement in violent and illegal acts” – (Akiva HaCohen and Ariel Groner) – “and in light of the real danger posed by them to security and public order,” the two are banned from the territories for security reasons.

Both HaCohen and Groner, are young family men – aged 25 and 24 respectively. The fathers of four are also well known to security forces and judges as religious activists in the territories.

Fellow right wing advocates are stirring up protests on behalf of the men whose family homes are located in West Bank settlements near the family home of the arrested “Y.T.” Those areas are where the Shin Bet security service have been investigating the distribution of fliers a year ago on how to make bombs and weapons.

Women in Green, Land of Israel Faithful and other advocates of HaCohen and Groner have attempted to accuse authorities of a pre-emptive expulsion of their leaders before eviction and demolition of outposts, but news reports indicate the investigation really revolves around Jew on Jew violence by the activists.

This is an important point for believers outside of Israel to take note of.

Leaflets instructing in explosive and weapons making were found in the Adi Ad outpost near the home of “Y.T” in Shvut Rachel. A similar flier was distributed in 2006 prior to the Gay Pride Parade, according to a report in Haaretz.

The “Death to Sodomites” flier became big news in Israel, as it instructed how to make Molotov cocktails and other improvised weapons that could be used against lesbians and homosexuals. There was particular public outrage over a two-page pamphlet that offered a reward of 20,000 shekels to anyone who caused the death of “one of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Haaretz is asking "Will arrest of key rightist further inflame settler extremism?"

Reporter Chaim Levinson notes that Ariel Gruner - a key activist in Honenu - is a familiar person to the Shin Bet security service agents who deal with suspected right-wing extremists, and to the judges and lawyers involved in their cases:

"Anytime someone is brought to court for right-wing activity, Gruner is there too - to counsel the detainees on their rights, arrange money for bail, or find host families for those put under house arrest."

What do Israeli Jews who believe in Jesus have in common with gays, Leftist professors and the Palestinians? They are all targeted by hate crimes from the religious right wing nationalist zealots.

Some readers may be inclined to overlook right wing settler actions against gays or Palestinians because of empathy for religious Jewish groups or Zionist advocacy of settlement activism groups. Israelprayer hopes our readers will understand that the indigenous Israeli Body of Messiah are also included on the "enemies list" of these groups.

Even Israeli police and security are concerned with the threat of Jew on Jew crime according to this report: "Jewish underground may be emerging".

Officials have repeatedly attempted to dismiss media reports that the bombing of Ami Ortiz was tied to the violent acts against other groups targeted by religious threats. Israeli police officials have been trying to dodge that linkage that had been acknowledged in first reports to coming out of the bombing of Professor Sternhell.

A Jerusalem Post article sought to tamp down an earlier linkage to the bombing of Ami Ortiz at the time of the Sternhell bombing, reporting:

“According to the security officials, the investigation has also explored possibility that those who perpetuated the attack were also responsible for a series of bombings over the past two years, including one against a Messianic Jewish family in Ariel earlier this year, in which a boy was seriously wounded.

“However, Judea and Samaria police spokesman Danny Poleg on Sunday denied reports that a possible link existed between the Sternhell attack and the Ariel bombing. ‘I have no comment about it, except that as far as I know, it's not true,’ Poleg said.”

Professor Sternhell was reported in a Haaretz article to blame the attack on his life to apathy to settler violence. "Society does not respond," he said during the radio interview, adding that when someone does in fact respond it is "positively or with a wink."

I certainly believe it will pan out that these same key figures were intricately involved with the 2008 bomb-laden Purim basket that was left for the Messianic Jewish Ortiz family in Ariel.

But for the grace of God who orchestrated miracles of immediate medical intervention from a skilled medic who happened to be passing the residence, Ami Ortiz would have died on the floor of the ministry family home. His case deserves justice and for the facts to be made public.

Hopefully, believers around the world will not be guilty of the same thing Professor Sternhell accused Israeli society of – apathy, and a willingness to turn a blind eye to evil done by the religious-nationalist settlers.

Please keep these events in prayer. That the attempted murder of Ami Ortiz will not be buried or under-reported in light of the potential that one group has participated in violent acts against not only Jews who believe in Jesus, but also against gays, Peace Now activists and Palestinians. Pray for justice to prevail in the case of Ami Ortiz – as well as justice for all the other victims of religious violence.

This is a case that will try the wisdom of the soul of Israel, as a similar test tried the soul of the church in Nazi Germany. May Israelis remember and take to heart the poem made famous in post-Holocaust Germany by Pastor Niemoller:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out
—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out
—because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out
—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out
—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me
—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Like we didn't see this one coming....

2009-10-23T11:41:00.005-05:00

I'm going to make an educated guess that news stories filed at Haaretz about three right wing settlers - Akiva Hacohen, Ariel Groner and Eliav Eliyahu - are connected to the private news report we got that there was an arrest made in the terror bombing of the Israeli Messianic Jewish Ortiz family home that nearly killed their 15-yr old son, Ami.

The American Consulate in Jerusalem notified the Ortiz family of the arrest two weeks after the fact. The Ortiz' were in the dark due to a gag order that has been placed on the Israeli media. Obviously, the Israeli officials are not excited about making this news public. Understandable considering the strained relations Israel already has with the U.S., but attempting to hide this is not going to make it any better. Christians can be made to understand that the actions of religious extremists do not reflect the policies of the Israeli people or government - but will not understand an attempt to cover up the facts of the case.

These right wing activists have also made threats against gays and Palestinians in the West Bank. This is the problem of religious extremists who become a law unto themselves. Currently the worry is about violent incidents in the settlements during the Palestinian's olive harvest.

This group of right-wing, religious settler extremists seems to have a long "enemies list" they are actively working.

On October 13th, Haaretz reported Shin Bet hunting for Rightists who threatened to bomb gays saying:

The Shin Bet security service is investigating who has distributed leaflets containing instructions on how to make bombs and weapons; the flyers were circulated in various illegal outposts a year ago.

The article noted that a similar was passed our in November 2006 titled "Death to Sodomites" and included instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails. Some readers may remember the deadly attack in August of this year on an Israeli Youth Gay club in Tel Aviv.

Now I don't condone homosexuality, but this is exactly the slippery slope that Germans found themselves on according to the proverbial poem of Pastor Nienoller from post Nazi-Germany:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

There was also the attempt to murder an Israeli Leftist professor Zeev Sternhell at his home with a pipe bomb in September 2008.

Some readers may be inclined to overlook right wing settler actions against gays or Palestinians, but I hope you will understand that the indigenous Body of Messiah are also included on their "enemies list". Police were reported to say that a "Jewish underground may be emerging".

At that time Israeli police officials were trying to dodge the link that had been acknowledged in the first reports to come out of bombing of Professor Sternhell. The Jerusalem Post sought to tamp down the earlier linkage to the bombing of Ami Ortiz writing:

According to the security officials, the investigation has also explored possibility that those who perpetuated the attack were also responsible for a series of bombings over the past two years, including one against a Messianic Jewish family in Ariel earlier this year, in which a boy was seriously wounded.
However, Judea and Samaria police spokesman Danny Poleg on Sunday denied reports that a possible link existed between the Sternhell attack and the Ariel bombing.
"I have no comment about it, except that as far as I know, it's not true," Poleg said.

Professor Sternhell was reported in a Haaretz article to blame the attack on his life to apathy to settler violence. "Society does not respond," he said during the radio interview, adding that when someone does in fact respond it is "positively or with a wink."

Now Haaretz is asking "Will arrest of key rightist further inflame settler extremism?"

Reporter Chaim Levinson notes that Ariel Gruner - a key activist in Honenu - is a familiar person to the Shin Bet security service agents who deal with suspected right-wing extremists, and to the judges and lawyers involved in their cases:

"Anytime someone is brought to court for right-wing activity, Gruner is there too - to counsel the detainees on their rights, arrange money for bail, or find host families for those put under house arrest."

I certainly believe it will pan out that these same key figures were intricately involved with the 2008 bomb-laden Purim basket that was left for the Messianic Jewish Ortiz family in Ariel. But for the grace of God who orchestrated miracles of immediate medical intervention from a skilled medic who happened to be passing the residence, Ami Ortiz would have died on the floor of the ministry family home.

Obviously, because of the government sensitivities of Christian support of Israel, and also the desire to keep a lid on the truth of Israeli Jewish violence against the Israeli Messianic Jewish, the Israeli government has had a gag order placed on the Israeli media.

There may be an attempt to obfuscate the connection of these extremists to the attempted murder of Ami Ortiz, something that would be a tragedy on many levels.

It is not heartening to see that the three right wing, ultra_Orthodox settler extremists appear to have been released from jail already and only "banned" from entering the West Bank for six months.

Haaretz reported two weeks ago that the "IDF Spokesman's Office said the orders were issued 'in light of information about the two settlers' involvement in violent and illegal acts, and in light of the real danger posed by them to security and public order.'

Already the Haredi web sites and blogs are buzzing with indignation at police actions against Gruner and Hacohen.

A Call to the Faithful Who Stand with Israeli Believers

2009-08-25T15:20:00.004-05:00

The following is an appeal that was written by one of the Israeli Messianic leaders in the Land of Israel.

In the midst of the world-shaking events going on around us all, and the normal press of daily life, the situation surrounding the court case in Beer Sheva continues to impress me as something of greater significance than might initially meet the eye. We have spent time with Howard and Randi Bass (Yeshua's Inheritance Congregational leaders in Beer Sheva) and know that we are all in accord concerning what I have written here.

Though many of you are already aware of most of what I am going to share, I sense that putting it all together on one canvas might help us to see better what lies just beneath the surface. God has given us historical markers in the natural realm to help us see and understand those things that are spiritual in nature and invisible.

Many of us believe that this Beer Sheva incident, the situation in Arad, the Ortiz case, and various other “attacks” are not isolated incidents against single communities or individuals but part of the enemy’s strategy against the whole Body. Given the danger we (Israel) pose to the enemy’s very existence, should we not also consider that the powers of darkness amassed against us are national or even international in scope and authority? Friends, it is imperative for the Body in Israel, as well as the Body in the nations, to recognize this fact and respond in a commensurate manner.

It is also important to understand that though this matter involves a legal suit, the essence of the case is not about justice for the Messianic community, nor about the end of persecution, nor about our legal right to worship and gather. It is about a confrontation with a demonic stronghold that has kept multitudes of our people spiritually blind for thousands of years.

It is about preparing the way for the return of the Lord. And while we do not hold that a victory in court is necessary for a victory in the spiritual realm, we believe that God has called the Body of Messiah in Israel to confront this darkness in the public arena of the judicial system within the context of a suit against the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Beer Sheva and the Yad L’Achim organization. Furthermore, the decision to go to court was reached through much prayer with the confirmation and blessing of Messianic leaders throughout Israel.

The background of the case is as follows: In 2005, on Shabbat, December 24th, two young ladies were scheduled to be immersed in water as part of the regular weekly congregational gathering of Congregation Nachalat Yeshua in Beer Sheva. The “anti-missionary” organization Yad L’Achim erroneously informed the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Beer Sheva, Yehuda Deri, that there was to be a mass baptism of Jews and that ten tour buses full of people were coming to participate. Rabbi Deri passed the false information to a number of other rabbis in Beer Sheva.

As a result, about 600 Haredim (ultra-orthodox Jews) descended on the Beer Sheva congregation. They destroyed property, accosted several of the believers, and even fought with a number of the 70 policemen that came to quell the riot. Verbal statements and signed depositions by Rabbi Deri confirm these facts and place him at the site from about 10:30 AM until around 1:00 PM.

The Judge declared in court that there was no question that a terrible thing happened there. Howard Bass, as the plaintiff of record, contends that at the very least Rabbi Deri was negligent in not exercising his authority to stop the riot and was in fact responsible for causing it, and that Yad L’Achim knowingly misrepresented the facts in order to foment a confrontation such as took place.

November 23rd has been set as the third and final day of the court proceedings. The Judge’s decision will be issued on December 23rd.

Friends, on December 25, 1989 the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that if a Jew believes in Yeshua he or she loses his (or her) automatic right to citizenship. The riot in Beer Sheva that gave cause for the current court case happened on December 24th. By law the Judge is required to render his decision by December 23rd. (It could be sooner). Can this really be coincidental? I think God wants to get our attention!

In both ancient and modern history, the fate of nations has come forth from the sands of Beer Sheva. It is the one city associated with all three of our Patriarchs.

In the wilderness of Beer Sheva (Gen.21:15) God opened a well preserving Ishmael’s life, and declared he would be a great nation. There King Abimelech acknowledged that God was with Abraham (Gen.21:22) and with an oath restored to him a well he had dug. Abraham planted there a tamarisk tree, and called on the Everlasting God.

In Beer Sheva Abraham received what was probably the most difficult command ever given to a man…to offer up his son of promise, Isaac. His wrestling with the Lord and decision to obey happened in Beer Sheva. There and then, the foundation was laid for the nation of Israel. I would go so far as to say that the way was opened for the coming of Messiah in Beer Sheva. From there, Abraham journeyed to Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem, where he actualized what had been already established in his heart.

Nearly 4000 years later, at the time appointed for the Israel’s rebirth, the Land was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. The decisive military victory that broke the Islamic stronghold and opened the way for our eventual statehood was the liberation of Beer Sheva on October 31, 1917. The battle was a life-or-death matter. Facing almost certain death from thirst, 800 Australian and New Zealand soldiers on horseback elected to charge across a flat desert plain directly into a line of entrenched Turkish machine guns and cannons for the water in the wells of Beer Sheva. This remarkable victory only claimed 36 lives. From there the British forces went on to Jerusalem…just like Abraham. (It’s interesting that this confrontation with Islam happened where God encountered Ishmael.) How significant is this city!

Today we stand on the precipice of another great breakthrough…the spiritual awakening of the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Driven and empowered by the same spiritual forces that have rejected God’s rule since the days of Mount Sinai, covered in black, as if hiding from the light, a host of blind guides continues to block the path to life for multitudes of true Jewish seekers and lovers of God.

Woven into the spaces between the letters of God’s own words are the tentacles of a man-made religious system that has held our people in bondage for centuries. They curse the Name of Yeshua, openly disdain the law of the land, rebel against civil authority, and exercise political power disproportionate to their numbers.

I was recently with friends in Germany to discuss this matter. As we prayed, Olga Dammer, a respected voice in the Body there, was given a vision. She saw a gathering of many Orthodox Jews. From the heavens, the angel of Israel handed a scroll to the angel of the “church” in Beer Sheva who handed the scroll to Howard. We took from this that the course of action chosen by Howard and Randi was in fact God’s decision. If we believe this to be so we must seriously seek the Lord so that we do not miss an appointed hour of visitation.

Art Banner by Spencer Williams

The questions of if, when, where and why are behind us. Before us remain the what and the how. Our strategy for this spiritual battle is not to confront the enemy but to passionately call on the Name of the Lord in worship, which is the highest and most effectual act of spiritual warfare. If we prepare a place for Him who is the light, what can the darkness do but flee? The shofar has sounded. The clock is running. There is not much time to prepare and respond.

Even though we perhaps cannot say anything for 100% certainty:

- Can we acknowledge the likelihood that this is a defining moment in the life of our people and the nations?
- Will we each acknowledge this battle as being “ours” and not anothers?
- Can we imagine that anything less than an unprecedented response from the Body in Israel and the nations will be enough to achieve the breakthrough we all desire?

We have asked that every congregation in Israel gather a team of worshipers and intercessors to journey to Beer Sheva to worship and pray there in the congregational hall before November 23rd, and are seeking the Lord also about a time for a one-day national gathering there. Actually, there is time to come until December 23rd, when the Judge will give his decision.

All breakthroughs of this dimension, as in the aforementioned instances in Beer Sheva, are costly. When King David stood to offer a sacrifice to the Lord on Mt. Moriah, he refused to offer burnt offerings with that which cost him nothing. (See 1Chron.21:24).

What do you think? What do you believe to be true? Do the words you have read here resonate in your spirit? Will you respond? Can you come? Are you prepared to give a costly offering? Please please, for the sake of the Lord, for the sake of the blind House of Israel, for the sake of your own soul, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Do not be silent. Share this with everyone you know.

See about putting together a group…even three four people. Come in the name of your congregation. Come in the name of your nation. Come for two days. Come for a weekend. Come for a week. The shortest time could well accomplish the most. If you can’t come, sponsor someone that can. If you can’t find someone to sponsor, make a donation to cover the court costs.

Never in our day has there been such a moment.
Never has the Body of Messiah come together in such a way.

In order to protect these leaders, all inquiries about responding to this appeal to come to Beer Sheva to intercede for these proceedings should be directed to donna@israelprayer.com I will not be releasing any information to those who are unable to show proof of who they are - Christian or Messianic believers verifiable in a congregations as faithful believers.

Clash between Two Minority Groups in Israel - Religion and State

2009-08-17T15:59:00.003-05:00

This is a guest column by Senior Legal Advision to the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, Michael Decker. Decker is also a Messianic Jew.

Several months ago, a same-sex couple petitioned the courts in an attempt to sue the religiously affiliated commune Yad Hadmashona for punitive damages. According to the petitioners, the moshav prohibited them from holding their marriage celebration on its premises. Clearly, this subject strikes personal discord for both parties—the couple aims to expunge all forms of supposed discrimination and intolerance, while the institution struggles to function successfully within the parameters of its belief system.

Founded in 1971, Yad Hashmona was presented to the state of Israel as a gesture of solidarity by Finland. Today, the grounds function as a commune and serve the public by running a guesthouse, convention center, and banquet hall, which the couple sought to rent for their celebration. Administrators seek to maintain a specific religious ethos and as a result place limits on the type of events renters wish to host. Now, because Yad Hashmona denied its services for the purpose of a same-sex marriage celebration, the commune faces a moral and legal dilemma. While this decision is not a reflection of the commune's feelings regarding homosexuals as individuals or citizens of the state, it is a direct reference to the institution’s devotion to the sanctity of marriage. Forcing Yad Hashmona to allow such events would defile the community's fundamental beliefs, business would be destroyed and Yad Hashmona may cease to exist.

Vanguard of Israel’s activist judicial system is Supreme Court Justice, Aharon Barak. He presided over several suits that have since set the precedent for the relationship between religion and state. Two cases in particular highlight his position on the Israeli government’s responsibility to protect religious institutions while guarding the freedoms of secular society. Citing these cases, in our opinion, will provide the insight needed to gain legal perspective on the suit filed against Yad Hashmona.

Bar-Illan Street is no longer simply a street, but a conduit for heated debate between the ultra-orthodox and secular communities in Jerusalem. In 1997, petitioners approached the Israeli Supreme Court claiming that the closure of Bar-Illan on Friday evenings during Shabbat was a coercive measure to violate freedom of movement. Justice Aharon Barak presided over the case and was forced to decipher the appropriate degree of state-intervention in religious matters. The suit quickly became a watershed in determining the relationship between religion and state.

A main vessel through which traffic flows into the center of the city, Bar-Illan Street also cuts through the nucleus of surrounding ultra-orthodox neighborhoods. Petitioners claimed that the Friday evening roadblocks impeded the freedom to use the street by non-Sabbath observers, along with emergency vehicles. Any alternative routes, they argued, were inconvenient. This upset the petitioners, who disregarded the injurious effects opening the street would have on the religious community. It was up to the courts to create balance and initiate an environment of tolerance.

Despite the opposition, it was clear that the harm induced by allowing of vehicles on Bar- Illan Street outweighed the inconveniences faced by the petitioners. Barak ruled that because the closure did not block off alternative routes, it was the responsibility of the petitioners to respect their cohabitants by changing the course of travel during hours of prayer. Their freedom of movement was minimally injured. This case became a benchmark in Justice Barak’s secular rulings regarding the cost of limiting human rights to protect religious sentiment.

In 2004, a similar case was brought to the Supreme Court. The subject of debate—the Enabling Laws, created in the 1950s to empower local authorities with control over the sensitive issue of the sale of pork and pig products in Israel. In Solodkin vs. Beit Shemesh, the courts once again were challenged with balancing Jewish national identity with secular democratic standards.

At the time of its induction, the Enabling Laws operated without noted opposition. However, an influx of immigrants in the early 1990s and subsequent societal shifts complicated its enforcement. While some bylaws disabled the sale of pig meat within the entire district, in other places, they were restricted to specific zones. Newly diversified communities compounded with citizens' frustration with the law's ill-administration led to unrest among the secular community.

In the court case, Solodkin vs. Beit Shemesh, petitioners agreed that the sale and consumption of pig in religious communities, where it would harm the feelings of the public, should be prohibited. However, they argued that the enforcement of such laws without due cause (i.e. in secular and mixed secular-religious communities) threatened to violate the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty by instating religious-based legislation that de facto coerces the non-religious community to follow. They also contended that the enabling laws violated the Basic Law: Freedom of Occupation by restricting business and employment opportunities on the basis of religious law.

Once again Justice Barak ruled that the injury caused by the sale of pig and pig products in religious communities takes precedence over the minimal damage to the petitioners, since they can sell pork it alternative areas. The decision was supported by Barak's insistence of the simplicity of purchasing pig outside of restricted zones and reassurance that the prohibition of pig was not a coercive religious tactic. Mixed neighborhoods, he asserted, should be judged with discretion by local authorities.

Justice Barak believes that Israel is obligated to maintain a tolerant and pluralistic society. As such, it is in the interest of the country and its citizens to protect the religious sentiments of all groups. Judging from the precedents set in the aforementioned cases, it seems plausible for the religious sentiment of Yad Hashmona to be declared secure and the charges, null.

As a private institution that does not seek to coerce the surrounding community, Yad Hashmona should be able to create religiously-inspired bylaws that are respected by surrounding communities and the government. However, legally Yad Hashmona is categorized as a 'public place', which is broadly defined as any location 'meant for public use, including a tourist site, hotel…space…used for entertainment…etc.' Therefore, the commune is de facto resolved to following Israeli laws that explicitly prohibits discrimination by sexuality, religion, race, personal views, or disabilities. Additionally, Israeli law includes a segment that addresses sex-based discrimination or sexual harassment, which deems discrimination against someone on the basis of his or her gender or sexuality as unlawful. As a result, Yad Hashmona runs the chance of being charged for discrimination, however if the origins of and reasoning for the bylaws are examined carefully, in our opinion, the institution’s intentions should be clear and charges dropped.

While the couple should have the right to proceed with their marriage celebration, they are free to choose any other available venue. But their decision to challenge and potentially damage the religious sentiment of Yad Hashmona is antithetical to the nature of a tolerant, pluralistic society.

The wild shooting rage that killed three and wounded fifteen in Tel Aviv's homosexual community is tragic and serves to highlight the hatred and intolerance that boils at the surface of Israeli society, oftentimes ending in violence. Israel’s minority religious groups should all stand in solidarity against such hate crimes.

Michael Decker has a B.A. in law and is a licensed attorney in Israel. Michael also serves as Senior Legal Advisor to the Jerusalem Institute of Justice.

For further inquiries regarding the issues mentioned in this article, please do not hesitate to contact Michael Decker at counsel@jij.org.il.

Israeli Roulette on The 9th of Av - Will hundreds join the Temple Mount Faithful Thursday fanning the flames of hell while Christians egg them on?

2009-07-25T17:11:00.009-05:00

The Mughrabi Gate ramp in the foreground, Dome of the Rock in background; overlooking Jewish security gates to the Wall

This week the Jerusalem Post published a report about how the Temple Mount Faithful are planning their annual attempt to ascend the Temple Mount to pray on the 9th of Av. The stated goal of the march (this year) is to be a statement to President Obama, “Get your hands off Jerusalem and the land of Israel.” It’s a message most Israel-supporting Christians agree with 100% - this writer included, however I do not support the march nor the group leading it.

This is an annual Tisha B’Av attempt by the Temple Mount Faithful although historically only dozens are attracted to participate. This year TMF leader Gershon Salomon is hoping for hundreds to join in the march to the mount on the date of the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem. The 9th of Av has become a date of dread in the Jewish community as many calamities for the Jewish people are believed to have occurred on this date throughout history.
The Wall where Jewish prayers are made

Christians need to know what they don’t know about the attempts of several primarily religious groups who seek to establish their unwelcome presence on the mount where the Dome on the Rock sits. The number one thing we need to know is that we have formed an unholy alliance that endangers the real work of the Lord in Israel, if we are funding and encouraging these groups and this article attempts to explain why.

Firstly, the Temple Mount Faithful routinely disregards the welfare of the Israeli public in its annual Tisha B’Av attempt to ascend the Temple Mount. On this and other Jewish holidays they try to make their way onto the Muslim-held Temple Mount and are thwarted by the Israeli police and security services. These attempts are much to the dismay of most Israelis who fear the group will trigger an Islamic ‘Holy War’ that will bring the wrath of Arab states down on the Jewish State in defense of the Dome of the Rock.

Unfortunately, Christians just don’t get it that this mission of Gershon’s is not a good thing for Israel and certainly not something they should be encouraging or funding. As Israeli journalist and Temple Mount expert, Nadav Shragai in a 2008 book review of Motti Inbari’s Jewish Fundamentalism and the Temple Mount wrote:

“Nearly 2,000 years have passed since the fire that the Romans set to the Temple walls died down, and still the embers are glowing. A tiny spark is enough to ignite them. Inbari's research focuses on those who would like to blow on the embers and make them burn again; those to whom the Temple is not just a word mentioned in Jewish prayers, but a reality toward which one must strive."

Inbari, a researcher at Brandeis University explored the various Temple Mount movements from the Haredi to the national-religious believers and also shedding light on how Israel-supporting Christians link into these movements. For the latter, most Christians who support Israel are completely out of their depth in understanding the issues surrounding the current status of the Temple Mount and the dangers a group like the Temple Mount Faithful poses.

There is a crazy, ill-informed devotion to Gershon Salomon’s Temple Mount Faithful among the Israel-supporting Christian community. So even before I hit the “Talkbacks” link on the Jpost article (Hundreds planning Temple Mount ascent), I knew reader comments would reflect the misunderstanding of situation that prevails with most Israel-supporting Christians.

As expected the “talkbacks” overflowed with Christians encouraging and applauding the news. Salomon Gershon, after all, as the head of the Temple Mount Faithful, is one of the most celebrated Israeli guests on many of the largest Christian television networks. The hosts of these networks and Christian prophecy teachers thrill to hear the charismatic Gershon regale with details of the preparations for the rebuilding of the Temple Mount.

The Christian thinking is that prophecy says a third Temple will be rebuilt where the Anti-Christ will seat himself as “God” before the second coming of the Lord. So, anything that points to the rebuilding of the Temple is considered a good sign that Jesus is coming soon. No thought is really given to the impact on Israelis – not even for the believing brothers and sisters in Israel.

Across from the security gate entrance to the Wall

For Israeli citizens, if the Temple Mount Faithful and their followers are ever successful in getting past the Old City police up onto the mount where the Dome of the Rock now sits, the aftermath is going to be very painful for Israelis. Too many Christians – just like the religious who continually try to “ascend” the Mount – do not care one whit about the hell that would be unleashed against Israelis in the aftermath by Islamic outrage.

Is it really such a difficult concept to grasp that the existence of the Dome of the Rock on the place where we know prophetic events will unfold – for bad and then for good – is a situation that is best left to God to resolve?

When God wants the Dome cleared, He will clear it Himself. However the Temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, if it comes because the Temple Mount Faithful have successfully ascended the mount, it will be an extremely costly, bloody victory that will not be to the glory of the Lord Yeshua/Jesus.

Christians need to think through what they are supporting. For one thing, we need to awaken to the fact that the Lord is in the midst of building a living temple in Israel – the indigenous believers who are the Body of Messiah/Christ. Instead of focusing on the rebuilding of the Tribulation Temple, Christians should be focused on the building of the temple that is made without hands – the Living Temple in Israel.

Come on, believers! Wake up and smell the coffee burning on this one!

Can I just say it like it is? All of the focus over the years of the Christian TV network hosts who have doted on Salomon Gershon and the preparations of the Temple Mount Faithful is pure selfishness – it has certainly not been for love for Israel! Real Christian love for Israel expresses itself in a love for the people of Israel – and no, not just the rabbis and the religious legislators, but the average citizens of Israel AND the Body of Messiah/Christ in Israel.

The indigenous Body of Messiah - Arab and Jew - pray together at an annual picnic

If we say we love Israel and then support these groups threatening the national security of the citizens of Israel, then how real is our love? Isn’t it more that we just love our understanding of prophecy – that the Tribulation Temple has to be rebuilt before Jesus returns? And truly it does, but isn’t it true that we don’t really care what the ramifications will be to the people of Israel? Don’t we just want our ears tickled about the preparations for a Temple and the safety of Israelis be damned? That's pretty much the attitude of the religious Jewish groups many of us are misguidedly supporting. They aren't worried about the "sinners" of Israel as Yeshua/Jesus is.

Honestly? One would be hard pressed to find indigenous believers in Israel who back the efforts of the Temple Mount Faithful and similar groups. It is one thing to know that this is the mountain that the Lord has chosen to place His name and be worshipped on, it is another thing to support Jewish religious extremists setting out to tip the fragile Israeli-Arab balance by a purely symbolic attempt to ascend the Temple Mount. If they ever made it, they could not hold it, but many would die or be wounded in the process.

God has never needed any kind of “arm of the flesh” help to fulfill His prophetic will. We can “help” God but when we do it inevitably turns out badly. (Isn’t this how the tug of war with Ishmael originated? Sarah trying to give God a little help fulfilling a prophetic heir to Abraham – a child of promise obtained through the works of the flesh?)

God doesn’t need any help clearing the Dome of the Rock from the Temple Mount when the time for that comes. Human beings don’t even have to be involved – or, at least not purposefully involved. The Dome of the Rock could crumble tomorrow from an earthquake, or it could implode on itself by the foundations having been undermined by the many excavations. According to Sacred-Destinations.com,

“…complaints have been voiced by Israelis about Muslim construction and excavation on and underneath the Temple Mount, and by Muslims about Israeli excavations. Some claim that this will lead to the destabilization of the retaining walls of the Temple Mount, of which the Western Wall is one, and/or the al-Aqsa Mosque, and allege that one side is doing so deliberately to cause the collapse of the sacred sites of the other. Since the Waqf is granted almost full autonomy on the Islamic holy sites, Israeli archaeologists have been prevented from inspecting the area; they have, however, conducted several excavations under and around the Temple Mount."

If the Dome of the Rock is destined for destruction as scripture indicates, let it come naturally – the result of a natural disaster such as an earthquake, or through destabilizing of the competing excavations – an ‘act of God’, not the purposeful act of men.

The Symbolic Attempts are Political Talking Points

In recent past, there was much controversy stirred up as Ariel Sharon paid a visit to the Temple Mount in September 2000 a few months before his election as Israel’s Prime Minister. Sharon’s mission was to declare that the complex would remain under perpetual Israeli control. Palestinian riots broke out the next day as passions were enflamed over the issue of who ultimately rules the Temple Mount.

Then in 2005, a dubious Jerusalem source used by World Net Daily, again stirred emotions when he reported in March 2005 that 10,000 Jews to ascent Temple Mount to “spark Israeli dialogue about reclaiming the holy site from its Muslim custodians.” The leader of this group is a follower of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, a religious extremist whose political party was banned in Israel and likened to a KKK-style hate group. The organizer of this group was associated with Belz Hassid Yosef Elboim, ultra-Orthodox leader of the Movement for the Establishment of the Holy Temple.

In 2005 emotions were also running high during the period due to the impending Gaza pull out known as the Disengagement. Several groups – with Christian support – were getting in on the action hoping to make a statement about Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount.

In May 2005 Israeli police and the Shin Bet security service also arrested five Israeli Jews identified with the Bratslav Hasidic movement on suspicion of a planned attack on the Temple mount. One of the five was reported to say their goal was “to create a third intifada and a war with the Arab countries that would stop disengagement.”

A former Shin Bet Director, writing in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz, May 20, Carmi Gilloon said that an attack on the Temple Mount site “can be a disaster for the existence of the State of Israel, and can bring total war between the Muslim world, Israel, and maybe against Jewish targets abroad.”

It is a tragedy how Christians have been duped into supporting fanatic religious groups in Israel that threaten the safety of every Israeli citizen with ‘messianic’ delusions – even while skipping over the existence of the true Messianic movement in Israel, the indigenous Body of Messiah/Christ. So deep is the deception, however, among Israel-supporting Christians that most will not even listen to the facts that would expose them truth. ‘Don’t tell me about Israeli Jewish believers and don’t tell me the facts about those whose obsessive focus is taking the Temple Mount by force.’
"...because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Pray the scales would fall off the eyes of every Christian whose heart has so far refused the truth of these matters.

While Israel may from time to time play an Israeli form of Russian Roulette with the political statements these groups make, not many Israelis would like to see any of these groups successfully ascend the Mount. The resulting Arab backlash would be far too grave and costly in spilt blood.

The Temple Mount really is dear to the Jewish heart but some things in life are better left in the hands of God to work out. This is one of those. Christians need to understand it and cease from being part of the danger to the State of Israel.

If only Christians had ears to hear and eyes to see through the fog of Jewish complexities at work here. If only Israel-supporting Christians would drop the obsessive thinking that any good will come from supporting Jewish religious extremists in a quest for the Temple Mount. If only Christians really “loved” Israel unconditionally enough to value the life of Israelis over religious domination of the Temple Mount.

The current timing may be good to stir a little Temple Mount controversy in Israel, what with the new diplomatic reality of the Obama presidency. Yet it is not worth playing Israeli Roulette, or letting Christians sit in the darkness of their illusions yet another year about what it would really mean if hundreds of Jews and Christians really did barge their way onto the mount.

Time to wake up, Christian world, and see who and what you are really supporting.

RETRO: The Current U.S. - Israeli Standoff

2009-07-22T15:55:00.003-05:00

In May I posted some comments on this blog as the first face to face meeting between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu was taking place in Washington, D.C. The post was titled A Pharaoh who did not know Joseph.

Here's the recap: "Don't be fooled by the cordial face of the meetings between Netanyahu and Obama earlier this week. The main issues have already been clearly defined: an intent to carve up Jerusalem and an insistence on stopping all Israel building in the disputed areas."

"Above is a photo I took in 2007 of Har Homa, which is a development just on the east entrance to Jerusalem coming from the Dead Sea. The last time Benjamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister, Har Homa was the battle ground, Arafat was the Palestinian head and Clinton was the man who wanted more than anything to deliver a final peace negotiation in the conflict.

"It didn't happen but there was intense international pressure applied to Israel the whole time. Expect more of the same now that there is not a President who understands Israel's rights."

That last comment, of course, was for all the Israel-supporting believers who were non-stop complainers throughout the Bush administration about Bush not doing enough for Israel. Israelis knew Bush was one of the presidents who most favored their situation. It was a no-brainer that the Obama administration was not going to be anywhere near as empathetic to Israel's plight.

Today I ran across this corroborating viewpoint from Makor Rishon editor Amnon Lord in a Jerusalem Post Op-Ed titled Obama's calculations were wrong:

"Instead, Obama chose to embark on a collision course. Among Netanyahu's advisers there are some who believe that those who set Obama on this course are close advisers like Rahm Emanuel who think they understand Israeli society and politics and who have detested Netanyahu from the time they served in the Clinton administration. Whatever the reason, this confrontation apparently started from day one of Netanyahu tenure: when he visited the White House for the first time a month and a half after taking office, he already encountered a chilly reception."

The average American citizen sees only the headlines about how some European leaders or the U.N. head has chimed in with Obama to "demand" Israel stop all construction. What they don't see is the history behind such demands, like those Clinton also made and failed to see any results from.

With Obama slipping mightily in the polls as the American people come to grips with the truth that the emperor has no clothes, the president might consider choosing his battles with Israel a little better than this. Rahm Emanuel is not serving him well if he is advising playing hard ball over the Shepherd Hotel construction project.

Obama administration demands are doomed to failure on this because, guess what? Obama is not the ruler of the world. He cannot demand anything of Israel and it was presumptuous to have assumed that he could. The President is the new kid on the block of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. A little humility, please, Mr. President. A little less style and a lot more substance required at your pay grade.

Is Israel Protecting the Rights of ALL It's Citizens?

2009-07-15T15:19:00.007-05:00

Here’s the Good News & the Bad News

The good news is that over the July 4th weekend the Jerusalem Post ran two honest reports by journalist Larry Derfner about the on-going persecution of believers in the Negev Desert region by the ultra-Orthodox. Praise God for Derfner’s, 'Watch out, missionaries!'

Religion can certainly get ugly and it has been this ugly many times over the past 5 and half years in Arad.

Lura and Eddie Beckford of Arad. Eddie has been under house arrest for over a year - seemingly the court's only 'solution' to the ongoing ultra-Orthodox harassment and persecution against the couple.

The bad news is that while the news article about Eddie and Lura Beckford, Christians in Arad was prominent in the online English JPost weekend magazine, Derfner’s article about the court case against the Chief Rabbi of Beer Sheva and anti-missionary activist organization Yad L’Achim by the Messianic Jewish congregation in Beer Sheva article was buried.

With an obscure title (‘Within the Law’) and Lord knows where they hid this article in the lineup of article choices – both editorial decisions not the decision of the journalist who wrote it – this article probably not seen by many English speakers at all. In fact, I have been informed that there has been NO HEBREW language coverage of this story at all!

The Jerusalem Post editors would like their English speaking Christian readers to see they are reporting on mistreatment of Christians in Israel, but they don’t want you seeing the mistreatment of our spiritual brothers and sisters, the Messianic Jews.

Heaven forbid, they don’t want the story to waft out into the Israeli public who would actually be concerned about things like injustice against Israeli Jews for their religious faith!

Howard Bass sitting outside of hospital room of Purim basket-terror bomb victim, Ami Ortiz, with dad David. The attempted murder of the Ortiz family in Ariel has not even seen an arrest in the case for almost a year and a half, despite surveillance footage of the religious perpetrator placing the shrapnel loaded package at the door. Howard Bass' Beer Sheva Congregation was the target of a religious mob invasion in December 2005. The mob was stirred by false accusations of child baptisms.

I suspect that Howard Bass’ Op-Ed, A nation under law? was also obscured in the Jerusalem Post online edition, based on the unbelievable fact that there are only 14 talkbacks attached to this major story (a trial that brings the Chief Rabbi of Beer Sheva to court for fomenting a riot against the Messianic congregation).

In contrast, talkbacks for the article on the Supreme Court declaring that the kosher certification that was pulled from Pnina Pie based on the owner’s faith in Yeshua/Jesus is not legal is registering a whopping 196 comments. Court declares Jew for Jesus ‘kosher’ There is no way this story is more controversial than the Bass Op-Ed, which means it did not see much light.

One footnote on the Derfner article on the Beer Sheva trial story about the testimony of Yad L’Achim’s Alex Artrovsky – a fact brought to my attention by Howard Bass: “Artrovsky, is not telling the truth when he says he was not at Deri's consultation with Deri the day before the riot. Deri's own affidavit says that he was!”

(Deri is the chief rabbi of Beer Sheva, and brother to Aryeh Deri, a Shas religious party politician who was imprisoned for various corruption charges. Pray that the judge presiding over this case is just and allows the truth to come to light. )

On the morning of Jul 7, as I would begin editing this Weekly Summary down into the key prayer points for Arrows of Zion, a Caspari Media Review has come in with yet another development:

The anti-missionary activists Yad L’Achim have made false accusations against the wife of Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon that Ann Ayalon is a “convert who is actively engaged in preaching Christianity.” This was reported on the popular Hebrew TV news show “Fact” (Uvda) and is further indication of the stepped up level of inflaming the public and criminalizing Jews who believe in Yeshua/Jesus in Israeli public opinion.

Anyone who reads the Israeli newspapers online can see that the ultra-Orthodox are feeling quite 'empowered' lately rioting against many issues like parking lot openings in Jerusalem on Shabbat, or the arrest of an ultra-Orthodox mother for starving her son. The riots have been ugly and covered extensively by the Israeli media and therein lies the problem. It is the same ugliness rioting in the streets that has been rioting against the believers in the Negev Desert, but the media exposure is certainly different!

If the media is not reporting the offenses of the ultra-Orthodox against Messianic Jews in Hebrew, what does that tell you? They don't want the public to know. If the Israeli newspapers are willing to publish stories about this ultra-Orthodox persecution against Christians in Israel - in English - what does that tell you? They want you to believe they are telling you everything...only they aren't because they are not telling you about the persecution of JEWISH believers in Yeshua/Jesus that is ongoing.

Ami before the blast.
When 15-year old Ami Ortiz found the Purim basket the housekeeper had brought into the family apartment and placed on the kitchen table, he was expecting candies and treats. Instead Ami was blown to bits and it is a miracle the boy survived. Doctors did not expect he would.
Bomb blast, Ami's blood on the floor where a medical passer-by saved him from dying at the scene. This healing has been nothing short of miraculous but it is an ugly story that must be told - not only to Christians but also to Israelis. Ami's story is one that Christians must sit up and take notice of and one that Israelis would sit up and take notice of if they knew ultra-Orthodox violence has crossed this line.

The perpetrators of violence against Yeshua's inhertitance in Israel must be held accountable...or their violence will continue to escalate in all Israeli society.

Shame on the Arad, Israel police who stand by as if nothing is going on

2009-07-06T16:18:00.002-05:00

Ultra-orthodox station themselves next door to Eddie and Lura Beckford in Arad as part of a backlash from the honest article written by Jerusalem Post journalist, Larry Derfner about the 5-year persecution of believers in Arad by the religious.

Read up on what this couple and others in Arad have been going through - plus many other videos.

Important Lebanon Win

2009-06-08T18:16:00.006-05:00

The all important vote in the government has gone in a most praiseworthy direction: Lebanon Votes Democracy. The vote of the Lebanese people was NOT with the terror group Hezballah. Praise God!

Hezballah is a terror group, backed by the Shia Muslim leaders of Iran and aided by next door neighbor Syria, which74% Sunni Muslim. (Syria also shelters the exiled top leaders of the Hamas terrorist group, Meshaal and Marzouk.)

When politicians talk about Iraq having upset the "balance of power" in the Middle East they are talking about the Shia Muslim nations versus the Sunni Muslim nations. [See my break down of those nations here.]

Yet Shia Iran and Sunni Syria are invested in the Hezballah terror group because Hezballah's main reason for being is to a northern attack front on Israel. Yes, Hezballah seeks to gain political power in Lebanon and had been making great inroads, but that is not the top priority. The terrorist opposition to Israel is the origin of birth of this terror group and its over ridding mission.

Israel had enough of Hezballah firing rockets for months and months indiscriminately into its northern cities and countryside in July of 2006, when Hezballah crossed its border and killed three Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two others. Prime Minister Olmert moved the Israeli Defense Forces to attack Hezballah inside Lebanon.

My point for the background brief is to say that there was much hand wringing over the action Israel took against Hezballah in Lebanon. Now the citizens of Israel were literally shell-shocked by dealing with the rockets that were coming down on their city streets, in their forests, in the countryside, so they were not hand wringing until AFTER the conflict ended and much damage had been done to the Hezballah infrastructure in Lebanon. That's when all the second-guessing set in.

Everyone said and everyone was worried that Lebanon would become even more radicalized by the Israeli war on Hezballah, that it would only serve to turn the pro-Western citizens into Hezballah supporting terrorist sympathizers.

This election ends that argument.

The proof that Israel did the right thing in the 2006 halting of Hezballah attacks on Israel's northern countryside is proven two-fold:

# 1. Now in the elections of 2006, Nasrallah and the bully terror leaders of Hezballah did not get the vote of citizens to take over the Lebanese government.

# 2. Guess what: the Israeli action halted rocket attacks terrorizing their citizens in the north.

The nay-sayers complained that Hezballah just rebuilt their infrastructure and gained even more popularity, but it sure didn't get them elected and it sure hasn't resulted in the cities of northern Israel being under the constant stress of an unpredictable rain of rocket fire.

Sometimes it just pays to stand up and fight against evil, and not be passive hoping to not make it worse.

Once again, the position that President George Bush took with Israel - that Israel must be allowed to defend itself - has been proven the correct stance.

I have heard a couple of prophets now make mention of how everyone thinks that Obama is chin-up confident, and that is the face he is keeping in public although in private he is very afraid that there will be a terror attack on his watch and he will be blamed. This word has borne witness to me.

This may be why Obama has been making such obeisant moves and statements towards the Muslims - trying to pacify so as to avoid terror attacks he will be blamed for.

Even in the eight or so hours between when I wrote this and when I posted it here, the Saudi King has come out with several demand statement about what Obama must do to tighten the screws on Israel in order to please the Arab nations. Obama thought his charm offensive would work on the Arabs like it did on the Americans. Think again.

This is exactly the wrong strategy for America to take. President Bush did have it right, and will be vindicated in the long run for having taken the courageous moral stand that he did in relation to terror and in the backing he gave our democratic and moral ally, Israel.

Declaring the word of the Lord from the Acco Sea Wall near the Lebanon border

Pray for Barack Obama to awaken to the truth and his need for fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit to lead him in all his decisions. Some people do not believe Obama is a Christian; I do, but I don't believe he is a Christian who has tasted of the heavenly gift, and has become a partaker of the Holy Spirit, and has tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. Pray that he will, and it will burst into his life quickly for the sake of the United States of America.

The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turns it whichever He wills. Pro 21:1

Will be believe with our natural eyes from what we see, or will we believe with the eyes of faith that even at this time, it is possible for God to change the course and direction of Barack Obama like the course of a river?

5 decry jail terms in Holy Land case

2009-05-28T12:27:00.003-05:00

Jason Trahan's initial coverage of the sentencing in the Holy Land Foundation trial was page 1 online yesterday before the court broke for lunch. After that, to find his updates I had to do a key word search of "Holy Land Foundation" on the Dallas Morning News site because editors chose to bury the coverage.

Same with his final report filed, 5 decry jail terms in Holy Land case
By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News 12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, May 28, 2009

Maybe they are burying the story out of fear of being sued again by the supporters of the HLF 5, including fellow named co-conspirators, CAIR - the Council of American Islamic Relations.

As the successful prosecutor in the first World Trade Center bombing, Andrew McCarthy recently wrote, "Radical Islam’s apologists abuse courts to shut down criticism," Combating Libel Lawfare

Fear of lawsuit would make sense. I did a cruise of all the Google news stories covering the sentencing yesterday of the HLF 5 and one thing is for sure: they are counting on doing a hard public relations drive with an eye toward the appeal process to chalk these convictions up to a miscarriage of justice. As one who sat through both trials, I can tell you that the evidence was overwhelming. There is no miscarriage of justice here.

The only problem is that with few exceptions both trials were only attended by Hamas and Holy Land Foundation supporters. The public only knows what they are told, and with the exception of Jason Trahan's coverage and a handful of expert watchdog counter-terrorism sites, most of the commentators on this trial are selling fantasies of innocence to the public.

It was pretty amazing to me that there was more interest shown from overseas news outlets than of U.S. news sources. Even the outlets that conservatives count on are low balling the coverage, not only of the second trial but also the powerful statement sent by federal court Judge Solis yesterday. This should not be. When we have victories in the war on terrorism, we should be shouting it from the roof tops and making sure the public understands the convictions were solid and the sentencing just.

Even a Palestinian news source out of Bethlehem, Ma'an News Net, clearly identified the HLF 5 with Hamas most tip-top leaders, Khalid Mash'al and Musa Abu Marzouk. "Mufid Abdulqader, 49, the half brother of exiled Hamas leader Khalid Mash’al" and "Mohammad El-Mezain, 55, a relative of Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouq."

The Palestinian news agency wrote that Abdulqader was, "sentenced to 20 years in prison for aiding the group that the US deems a 'terrorist' organization." This is also why the five could stand up in court yesterday claiming innocence, because they do not even regard Hamas as a "terrorist" organization. They are pure in their own eyes, although tell that to the little children who have been blasted out of this life by Hamas suicide bombers while their strollers were parked outside of neighborhood Pizza parlors.

US District Judge Jorge Solis nailed it when he told the condemned yesterday, "Your function in life was raising money to support Hamas."

"You stated it was to help people, but the motive was to support Hamas," the judge said. "You state that you are innocent, but the evidence shows the opposite."

The evidence in the courtroom was overwhelming and clear, but that does not mean that lies will not prevail in the court of public opinion. That is why it is so disconcerting that there is barely any discussion of the victory of this trial in the current news cycle.

We are losing a perfect opportunity to educate the public in the facts with this trial victory. We are fools if we let it pass us by.

These five men can stand up with great conviction claiming that they are innocent because for a long time the world legitimized their terrorist acts against Israel as the war tactic of the weak. That is over.

Now that the reality of terrorist acts has been felt and faced in the American mind, the public is not so quick to give a pass to any who try to sell their innocence with the claim that terrorism is a legitimate ‘war’ tactic. Terrorists aren’t “freedom fighters” they are mass murderers.

Any who, like these five, have dedicated their lives to facilitating terrorists have made it possible for horrific terror strikes against men, women and children DESERVE to be recognized and shamed as cogs in the terror network that they are. It is time that public voices like Bob Ray Sanders, the Dallas Peace Center and the ACLU QUIT serving the interests of the terror networks by making so much noise about the “innocence” of Hamas terror network operatives like these five.

It is pure hypocrisy to say enhanced interrogation techniques are "torture," yet legitimatize terrorist acts by Hamas, Hezballah and other terror networks. The U.S. public should quit giving the benefit of the doubt to anyone who claims that terrorist acts are in any way legitimate. Terrorism is mass murder, not just another tactic of war.

Those who facilitate terrorism – including those who speak out for them trying to convince the public they are just victims of political witch hunting – deserve to be shamed and shunned by the good people of this land from shore to shore.

Sentences handed down in Holy Land Foundation 5 Trial

2009-05-27T11:39:00.002-05:00

Holy Land Foundation defendant sentenced to 65 years

Graphic by http://www.heartlight.org

The Judge has rendered the first sentence against the Holy Land Foundation Five this morning. Shukri Abu Bakr got 65 years. The sentencings are expected to take most of the day.

Breaking News on the Cover of the Dallas Morning News online site:
Holy Land Foundation defendant sentenced to 65 years
by Jason Trahan

“I did it because I cared, not at the behest of Hamas,” Shukri Abu Baker, 50, of Garland, told the judge during a long address to the court where he explained why he founded what was once the nation’s largest Muslim charity organization.

U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis, after cutting him off over the objections of his defense attorney, told the convicted man, “You didn’t tell the whole story. Palestinians were in a desperate situation, but that doesn’t justify supporting Hamas.”

Read the full story and updates online

I wrote this at 7:45 AM today: This day marks the end of a particular watch for me that has lasted since 1993 when I learned that our government knew Hamas was fund raising in the U.S. The most intense times for me were in the pre-9/11 summer & after the attacks in Sept of 2001, when we began actively encouraging the local Dallas newspapers not to wither under the protests over their investigations into the Holy Land Foundation.

Finally in 2007 the first trial of the HLF5 began in Dallas. It ended in a mistrial and was retried in federal court here in Dallas in 2008. Guilty verdicts were handed down all five defendants and much evidence of the deep tentacles of the Hamas terror organization were revealed in court evidence. Prayer teams pushed through this outcome.

Today, no matter how Judge Solis sentences each of the five, it is a victory that we had a part in and a day many experts believed in their hearts they were never going to see. Thank God that these men were held to account, may all their appeals before human courts be denied.

Donna Diorio

A Pharaoh who did not know Joseph.

2009-05-21T17:19:00.005-05:00

Israel has a new Prime Minister and the U.S. has a new President - a man who has indicated he will not be as supportive of Israel as his predecessor President Bush was. Beginning in June the arm twisting will likely begin to kick into high gear.
Don't be fooled by the cordial face of the meetings between Netanyahu and Obama earlier this week. The main issues have already been clearly defined: an intent to carve up Jerusalem and an insistence on stopping all Israel building in the disputed areas.

This is a President who does not have a grasp of the depth of American alliance with Israel, just as he is a president who does not have a grasp of the common sense the majority of Americans have regarding terrorism and national security issues. Obama is about to step into a big pile with his intentions in forcing Israel into an unwise position with its Arab neighbors.

Above is a photo I took in 2007 of Har Homa, which is a development just on the east entrance to Jerusalem coming from the Dead Sea. The last time Benjamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister, Har Homa was the battle ground, Arafat was the Palestinian head and Clinton was the man who wanted more than anything to deliver a final peace negotiation in the conflict.

It didn't happen but there was intense international pressure applied to Israel the whole time. Expect more of the same now that there is not a President who understands Israel's rights.

Mr. Netanyahu Goes to Washington

2009-05-17T12:48:00.004-05:00

For praying people who love Israel, it is time to pray for the Israeli Prime Minister who will hold his first meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. tomorrow.

Several high level representatives of the Obama administration have made strong (and unreasonable) comments towards the Israeli leadership in the weeks leading to this meeting.

Pray that Netanyahu will not blink when faced with Chicago-style, strong arm politics. (Israel has had to strand strong against terrorists to survive, will a gangster-political style intimidate Netanyahu? I do not think the approach will yeild expected response.)

To many of my Israel-loving friends who never ceased to complain about George Bush and accused him of being less than a friend to Israel, I have to say, Now you will find out what a real 'less than a friend to Israel' looks like.

That being said, let's stand in faith declaring the promises of God toward Israel. At this point, we are going to have to mine a whole new, far more aggressive set of scriptures to pray over the U.S. relations with Israel than were necessary with President Bush. Here are some:

"The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge,
But He overthrows the decrees of the deceitful." Pr 22:12

"I will wait on the Lord who hides His Face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. Here I AM & the children whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs & wonders in Israel from the LORD of armies who dwells in Mount Zion."
Is 8:17-18

"Therefore says the LORD who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
'Jacob shall not be ashamed,
nor shall his face now grow pale;
But when he sees his children,
the work of My hands in his midst,
they will hallow My name,
And hallow the Holy One of Jacob
and fear of the God of Israel"
Is 29:22-24

In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious....when the LORD has washed away the filth of the daughter of Zion....Then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion and above her assemblies, a cloud and a smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For upon all, the glory shall be a defense.
Is 4:2-5

Ro 11:19-24 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.

For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

Now these first few scriptures are promises of God toward the generation that God restores the natural branches (Israel) through faith in His Messiah, Yeshua Jesus.

They may seem out of context in praying for protection of Israel as it negotiates a new reality with a new U.S. President who does not recognize the right and plight of Israel in the midst of those who would harm her. (Sound like Exodus 1:8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph?)

But these promises of a Remnant of Faith in Israel must be fulfilled - whatever the politics of man than come and go, God still has business in Israel - and that family business is salvation.

Shall the throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law,
Have fellowship with You?
They gather together against the life of the righteous,
And condemn innocent blood.
But the LORD has been my defense,
And my God the rock of my refuge.
He has brought on them their own iniquity,
And shall cut them off in their own wickedness;
Ps 44:20-23

For I, says the LORD, will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst. Ze 2:5

Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around....2 Kings 6:16

“Behold, I have created the blacksmith
Who blows the coals in the fire,
Who brings forth an instrument for his work;
And I have created the spoiler to destroy.
No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the inheritance of the servants of the LORD,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the LORD.
Is 54:16-17

That we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men....the LORD who is faithful, will establish you and guard you from the evil one.
2 Thess3:2-3

So He became their Savior; in all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them.
Is 63:9 (The Angel of His Presence is Jesus.)

I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
Is 45:19

Israeli Religious Newspapers Distorting My Comments

2009-04-22T14:42:00.002-05:00

April 20, 2009
HaModia, Kol Ha'Ir and Dati Dromi and Yeshiva World News website
Israeli Religious Newspapers Continue to Distort the Facts Behind My Comments

Reports that imply that I made claims that PM Benjamin Netanyahu has made promises to the Christian Community in 2009 NOT to back campaign promises he made to the Shas Party - namely that the next government would "examine the claims of an increase in illegal missionary activity in Israel” are a distortion of my actual comments.

For the Record
Here are the comments made by PM Netanyahu in 1997 that I referred to in my comments. Source is CNN website:

Statement from Prime Minister Netanyahu:
July 9, 1997
Web posted at: 2:02 p.m. EDT (1802 GMT)

"It has come to my attention that a bill before the Israeli parliament concerning possession of missionary literature has created a stir among our many Christian friends.

"I would like to assure you that this bill does not have the support of the Israeli Government. It was introduced as a private member bill by Mr. Nissim Zvilli of the Opposition Labor Party and Rabi Moshe Gafni of the Yahadut HaTorah Party. With fewer than thirty Knesset members present at the session, the bill succeeded in passing a preliminary reading in the Knesset. But to become law, it must pass three additional readings. The government strenuously objects to this bill and will act to ensure that it does not pass."

To date, several religious newspapers have carried reports that have mischaracterized my comments including HaModia, Kol Ha'Ir and Dati Dromi and Yeshiva World News website.

These kinds of distortions lay a foundation for stirring the religious to apply more pressure to the Prime Minister when the "examinations" are made into the claims of increased illegal missionary activites in Israel.

Take note of the truth, for the time it will be needed by believers in Israel coming under false accusation and undue persecution.

The following is my first response to the first misreporting of my comments in the HaModia newspaper.

April 1, 2009

Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Newspaper Misrepresents My Comments

On Monday I sent out a Prayer Priority for Arrows of Zion writing, “After my first trip to Israel in 2003 – one of three visits I’ve been able to make – I determined that if it ever came to a choice between me being able to visit Israel OR my continued association with the indigenous believers of Israel that I would not bat an eyelash that the priority was the Israeli Body of Messiah. I figured the time would come and it looks like that day is starting to arrive.”

Uncanny.

On Tuesday reviewing the latest issue of the Caspari Media Review – a sort of clipping service that gleans the Israel Hebrew media for all references regarding the believers of Israel, Christians, anti-missionary activities, views of Christianity, and so forth, I ran across some quotes that almost sounded like my writing…but not quite.

The latest weekly issue summarized an article in the ultra-Orthodox Haredi daily newspaper, HaModia, or “The Informer”, translating quotes from the Hebrew:

HaModia (March 26) reported that that the "missionary" bulletin "Prayer for Israel" stated recently that "'[Binyamin] Netanyahu has promised us that he won't support any attempt on the part of the religious parties to pass a law stopping the activities of Israeli missionaries which is liable to prevent them from sharing their faith.'" Citing the "typical commentary" given by the bulletin, the article further cited it as saying, "'A radical right-wing government is a double-edged sword: while it safeguards Israel's national security, it doesn't protect the missionary organizations within the country. Our priority is naturally the protection of our fellow believers.'"

At first I didn’t recognize the writing as mine because the facts were misrepresented and words were used that I would never use, like referring to the “Israeli Jewish believers” as “missionaries,” a word freighted with evil connotation in the Israeli psyche.

What HaModia, The Informer – or shall we rather say, The Accuser – quoted is a misrepresentation of what I actually wrote in a prayer request forum on the message board of Francis Frangipane Ministries. This is to clarify.

First of all: I am not surprised that opposers of the gospel and of the indigenous Israeli believers have taken note of what I write. Nor am I concerned that ‘my cover is blown’ – that I may never again be able to clear entry to Israel at the Ben Gurion airport.

The thing I am concerned about is the false impression they are proposing to their own faithful readers that newly installed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made promises to Christians that he would not support any attempt of the religious parties to curtail the freedom of Israeli believers to share their faith.

My reference was to promises Netanyahu had made and broken in the past – the last time he was Prime Minister, in 1996-99, as I actually wrote on the Frangipane message board:

“Netanyahu in the past promised Christians worldwide that he would not back the religious parties' efforts to pass legislation that could lock up Israeli Jewish believers for sharing their faith....and then he crumbled when he needed the religious parties support. Soon after he was removed from office before his term was up. I believe it was the intervention of God on behalf of the believers because bills were being introduced relentlessly by religious parties during the Netanyahu administration.”

"Part of the current deal Netanyahu struck with the Haredi party Shas to get them into his coalition government, is that his Likud party guaranteed Shas that the next government would "examine the claims of an increase in illegal missionary activity in Israel.”

"This is the open door agreement Netanyahu struck as he handed control of critical Knesset Ministries over to the direction of the ultra-Orthodox, Shas.

"This is the same party that launched many attempts to criminalize the gospel in Israel during the last Netanyahu administration.

"It is not that Netanyahu himself has no respect for religious liberty, but that his natural allies in the national security issues of Israel – those he needs to hold his government stable – are deeply anti-gospel, anti-Jewish believers in Jesus. Push comes to shove, Netanyahu will sacrifice the believers in his reach for national security. Make no mistake, however, there will be no safety for an Israel that mistreats the Body of the Lord within it. All the peace for Israel is tied up in the ambassadors of the Prince of Peace in Israel."

To What Purpose?

I suspect the purpose of misrepresenting my comments to the religious Haredim (ultra-Orthodox), is to cause them to be more demanding of Netanyahu to fulfill his promises to let Shas pursue and persecute the indigenous believers in Israel, and the Christians who support them.

The misrepresentation is being spread in the Haredi world. I found this entry on the web at another ultra-Orthodox news site (“Tefilat Yisrael missionary site” is a reference to my prayer request here):

Report: Netanyahu Will Not Work to Halt Missionaries
March 25, 2009

Premier-designate Binyamin Netanyahu has promised not to support a bill by religious parties to further limit the activities of missionaries in Eretz Yisrael the Chadrei Chareidim website reports.

The report quotes the Tefilat Yisrael missionary site, which states the incoming prime minister has promised he would not lend support to a move to further limit activities of organizations such as theirs.

The organization praises Netanyahu’s commitment which they view as further distancing chareidi influence in national government. They express the hope the incoming prime minister will be strong enough to stand to his word against the pressures that will face his decision.

Furthermore

In a bold demonstration of the intent of the increased religious muscle in Israel, last week an evangelical family from Hong Kong was arrested at Ben Gurion airport, put in jail and told they would be sent back to Hong Kong on the next available flight. They were told by a Ministry of Interior clerk at the entrance terminal that they were suspected of "illegal missionary activity".

The main “anti-missionary” organization in Israel, Yad L’Achim, which pursues and persecutes the believers in Israel in a multitude of ways, recently was invited by the Chinese authorities to come teach in a conference Yad L’Achims’s anti-missionary techniques for fighting “destructive sects.”

In reports from two Israeli religious newspapers, the Yad L’Achim director is quoted as saying, "'If the Israeli authorities would only learn from the Chinese authorities how to struggle mightily against these dubious and dangerous sects, the missionaries would not dare lift their heads. Unfortunately, the Chinese have understood what people in Israel do not want to understand.'"

Therefore

This is a wake-up call to Christians and Messianic Jews throughout the world to AWAKEN to the dangerous season our spiritual brothers and sisters in Israel have entered into. The Book of Acts never closed, and now that there are 10 to 15,000 indigenous Jewish believers in Jesus in Israel again, Acts is a continuing chapter being written in the pages of biblical history.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be an effective guardian of Israel’s right to exist, but he has failed in the past to protect the Israeli followers of Jesus right to exist. That should be of much greater concern to the Christian community than has ever been in manifest evidence.

Please stand in support of the believers in Israel, for their right to exist in the Jewish State and to worship according to their own conscience and faith.

Israel supporting Christians have turned a blind eye to the believers in Israel long enough – let us throw that compromise and indifference off and stand as we would have stood in the first century by the Israeli Jewish believers, Stephen, James, Peter, John, Philip, Barnabas, Paul and all the other saints of the kingdom of His Son.

Thank you for praying for our brothers and sisters in Israel according to Acts 4: 29-30:

Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants
that with all boldness they may speak Your word,
by stretching out Your hand to heal,
and that signs and wonders may be done
through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”

The time to take a stand with the believers in Israel has come.

The Israel-Hamas War in Gaza

2009-01-13T16:21:00.004-06:00

On the right: One of the storage facilities for thousands of Kassam rockets fired from Gaza into the city of Sderot since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in August of 2005.

Since Israel decided to put a stop to the terrorist rain of missiles on her towns in the south from the terrorism bad lands of Gaza, conflict has been rippling through the Body of Christ – not just between those in Israel and the Palestinian areas, but also in other parts of the world. We need to be cognizant of the spiritual warfare we all have entered into at the same time as the physical conflict is fiercely engaged in Israel and Gaza. This is not the time to hand the enemy of our souls the advantage.

As a Christian who has heavily invested in listening to the voices of the believing indigenous Body of the LORD in Israel, I can tell you that I am always challenged by people who don’t like how I stand on the issues of Israel. It comes with the territory. However in times of war, like in the past couple of weeks, there is such a rise in conflict between brothers over how different ones view the issues.

There are those with no compassion whatsoever for the plight of Palestinian people – a position that grieves the heart of God. There is also a position that is only superficially informed about the history, nature and dynamics that Israel faces day in and day out, year in and year out from Islamist terrorism avowed to eradicate Jews and Israel from the map.

Of the latter, portions of the Church somehow accept the premise that the humanistic secular media is reporting the truth when it casts Israel as a menacing Goliath against a helpless and cowering Palestinian people.

I realize this is because of spiritual deception, but if those in the Church who held this view would just do the due diligence on the facts you would see and know the truth. It is a truth summed up succinctly in a newspaper editorial today, "Hamas is not a mass national liberation movement of the Palestinian people: It is tiny Islamo-Fascist organization that forcibly took control of a disheartened strip of land and turned it into a nightmare of an Islamic state."

Yesterday, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzippe Livni said, "I can understand that sometimes the situation and the pictures that come from Gaza are difficult." But in fighting Hamas in Gaza, she continued, "Israel is doing what the entire free world is doing and needs to do, which is to fight terrorism."

When people magically separate Israel’s need and right to fight terrorism targeting Israeli citizens, from the rest of the world’s right and need to fight the Islamist terrorism targeting our citizens, I call that religious deception and hypocrisy.
I really would like to be more diplomatic about this, but I wonder how that is possible when I see huge demonstrations of anti-Semitism across American cities and the cities of the world churning hatred toward Israel.

Newspapers are not covering the fact that the core makeup of these international demonstrations are organized and fueled by pro-Hamas Arab supporters. Hamas is a terrorist organization for any of you who have been persuaded they are just “Palestinian soldiers” fighting with Israeli soldiers over disputed parcels of land. Hamas is an Islamist terrorist group that says the State of Israel has no right to exist at all.

The fact is that secular humanistic media are making an editorial choice to publish photos that downplay the pro-Hamas makeup of the demonstrators. It is part of the establishing facts on the ground to portray the demonstrations as a mostly non-Middle Eastern protest.

There is longstanding editorial choice behind the broadcast and print media favoring the pictures of Palestinian suffering, but rarely the scenes of Israelis in carnage and suffering.

These pictorial-editorials are not exactly a lie but close enough. If the media does not deliver all the facts then the whole, honest-to-God truth is not revealed. On the contrary, the media has long stacked the deck against public support of Israel. Remember, the press is mostly secular humanistic in its thought processes, ethics and morals. They believe their view is the high ground and the presentation of the conflict between Israel and terrorist groups is the media attempt to set its own agenda in public opinion toward the conflict.

It is not conspiratorial thinking about the evil media. It is simply understanding the power of the humanistic mindset that rules most of the media. Christians have all seen it in operation many times before so why should any Christian accept that the media are conveying the truth about Israel to us?

This is the same Israel that God has said many times over in the Scriptures that He would keep an eternal covenant with. Jeremiah 31:33-36 is not a matter of private interpretation: The promise of God is that the sun and the moon will cease before Israel will cease to be a nation before Him forever.

It is also not a matter of ignoring that the Lord loves the Palestinian people. It surely is the heart of God to bring many Palestinians to salvation, rescuing them from tyranny of abuse they have suffered because of the Islamist agenda of hatred. The opportunity is squelched by the rule of terror groups over the Palestinian people. Even before the war broke out we were getting urgent prayer requests for Christian Arabs threatened with murder in the West Bank and Gaza by terrorists. Thousands of Christian Arabs have fled the country for precisely this persecution by fellow Arabs who are Islamists.

As I pity children brought up in racist enclaves of America, like the Ku Klux Klan or Aryan Nations, so I deeply pity the Palestinian children. This is a people who have been kept living in squalor for decades by their own leaders because their continued suffering suited the cause of Islamist propaganda.

Millions have been given to benefit and raise the quality of life for the Palestinian people, but it was not just greed in the Palestinian Authority leadership that gobbled it up. It was also the propaganda value of Palestinian suffering in the refugee camps – those inside West Bank and Gaza, as well as those over the neighboring borders. No one allowed the Palestinian people to benefit and live any better because their lives are cheap, traded for the propaganda value of blaming their plight on Israel.

Palestinian lives are cheap – they are raised from the cradle to the grave with indoctrination to embrace suicide ‘martyrdom’ as their greatest value in this life. I saw it myself in the much evidence presented in two 12-week trials of a Hamas fund raising group recently convicted in Dallas for material aid to Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank.

Until the terrorist stranglehold is taken off the Palestinian people, they will never be given the opportunity to live a normal, peaceable life. Many people think the gospel only thrives in hardship and persecution, but it is a fact that the Palestinians will never be able to respond to the gospel until the power of Islamist terrorism control is broken off of them.

The desire among Israelis for peace is so strong, but the ability to give peace is impossible when terrorists control the Palestinian population. How can there be peace when Israeli cities around Gaza are being terrorized by thousands of Kassam rockets falling on their schools, their homes, their streets and their playgrounds? This is the cause of the current conflict.

I want to give you the tools to educate yourselves in what is really going on beyond the headlines of CNN or the New York Times, both notoriously unbalanced in presentation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I am asking you to trust that I am a seasoned veteran of the propaganda wars that go on surrounding the conflict and have learned to fact-check and know the reliable sources from the unreliable.
I am asking you to consider the resources that I put in front of you in this weekly Arrows from Zion prayer summary and the special focus issues I do on my IsraelPrayer.com and my blog IsraelWatcher.

I am not a propagandist for Israel but a Christian who knows that God has purpose for the indigenous Body in Israel – the Messianic Jewish and the Palestinian Christian.

This conflict is not about a perverted version of an Israeli Goliath against a little David Palestinian. It is about Islamist hatred of the purposes of God in Yeshua-Jesus in Israel and the whole Middle East. This is where I am putting my stake in the ground. As a person of God, I must rise and stand against that no matter what the eventual and ultimate cost.