During the week covered by this review, we received 10 articles on the following subjects:
Political Issues
Anti-Missionary Activity
Israel
Zionism
Archaeology
Political Issues
Israel Hayom, August 7, 2016
The aftermath of the arrest of Muhammad al-Halabi, Gaza branch director of World Vision, has revealed that “most of the donations from the United States, Europe, and Australia have gone to the military arm of Hamas, and were used for the purchase of arms in the Sinai, the digging of attack tunnels, and payment of salaries to terrorists and their families.” According to the article, the representatives of World Vision and many other humanitarian organizations have “taken advantage of every platform to present Israel as the one responsible for the suffering of Palestinian children,” and despite Hamas’ use of civilians as human shields and storing of arms in schools, they “have never had a word of condemnation for them.”
In 2012, the president of World Vision US condemned Israel for not allowing Christians from Judea, Samaria, and Gaza to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem, when in fact Israel had given 20,000 such entry permits that year. Additionally, World Vision is a main donor to the “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference, which states, “The Jews abused the Son of God, and now they are abusing other poor people.” The article closes by stating that many donors to World Vision, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty are in fact unaware of the uses to which their donations are being put, and that “the good-heartedness and innocence of these donors is daily being taken advantage of in a most cynical way.”
Anti-Missionary Activity
HaMevaser, August 10, 2016
Ms. Fenton, a former Jerusalem council member and an activist against missionary activity, has submitted a request to the Movement for Jerusalem and Its Residents, calling for the prevention of the International Christian Embassy march during Succot week, saying that although “it is possible that the conference’s organizers are friends of Israel,” the conference itself is “a spiritual danger,” as “one of the ICEJ’s goals is conversion of Jews.”
Rabbi Chaim Miller, head of the movement, “hopes that he can meet with the relevant authorities in the municipality” and “bring positive results.”
Israel
Yediot HaEmek-Nazareth, August 5, 2016
The sixth international Nazareth conference for archaeology, history, and social heritage has recently taken place, with 38 researchers presenting their findings on the history of Nazareth from the Second Temple period to the present day. The audience comprised researchers from universities in the US, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority, as well as from the Hebrew, Haifa, Tel-Aviv, Bar-Ilan, and Beer-Sheva universities. “The goal is to turn Nazareth into a central issue for research,” said Prof. Mahmoud Yazbek, the conference’s organizer, who mentioned that a request to include Nazareth in the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites was turned down when there were insufficient academic studies “to prove why the city is important.”
Israel Hayom, August 9; HaMevaser, August 12, 2016
The Israeli government has recently decided “to form an inter-ministry committee to locate tourists who enter Israel in order to advance the BDS campaign and other forms of delegitimization.” In describing the phenomenon of political tourism, the article particularly cites the example of the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), which sends volunteers to Israel for three months “to experience life under the occupation and change the international communities’ involvement in the conflict” by “one-sided documentation of [human rights] violations by Israel.” Another example cited is that of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which “opposes Israel’s existence and supports violent resistance,” and whose volunteers accordingly “enter as tourists and participate in anti-Israel provocations.” NGO Monitor has even found that “some anti-Israel organizations have humanitarian visas from the government,” and it cites the example of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), which “is among the leaders of the BDS campaign in the US.” The article ends by stating that “each sovereign country has the right to decide who can enter its borders”; that “it is absurd that those who wish to injure Israel should enjoy her hospitality”; that “this will be a clear sign to the activists that there will be a price for their actions”; and that “striking the core of these organizations’ activity will decrease their influence abroad.”
The Jerusalem Post, August 9, 2016
Grace Njapau of Zambia is currently campaigning as an independent to be elected to the country’s national assembly. Njapau, herself a Christian, is married to Yitzhak Efrati, an Israeli Jew from Beit Hilkiah in central Israel. She also serves as president of the Magen David Israel–Zambia organization, the purpose of which is “to enhance business and cultural ties between the two countries.” The organization has also been working with Chabad to ensure the establishment of a Jewish community center in Lusaka.
Haaretz, August 10, 2016
Eliraz Fein, a resident of Yitzhar, was indicted yesterday by the central region division of the State Attorney’s office in Petach Tikva. The indictment, which accuses Fein of incitement to violence, cites such statements made by Fein as one concerning the Dawabsheh family murder, “to frighten them and make them understand that Jewish blood isn’t something ownerless. … I see it as a right, a worthy deed”; and in response to the IDF destroying illegal buildings in Yitzhar in 2014, that “she would support stone throwers against any outside body, even in situations where it wasn’t necessary.”
Fein rejected the indictment on Facebook, and added that the central region office is needlessly concentrating on her statement which was “taken out of context and corrupted.” She is sure that this is an attempt to frame settlers “and prepare the ground for another expulsion.” In response to Fein’s statement that she had not been notified of her right to a hearing, the central region office stated that a letter had been sent both to Fein’s address and to her defending attorney, who had acknowledged receipt, and that also the state office had spoken with him twice more than necessary on the subject.
Zionism
Haaretz, August 12, 2016
This article is a letter to the editor responding to two articles that appeared in the Haaretz supplement for August 5, one objecting strongly to Zionism and the other praising Judaism. The article states that the premise of the objection to Zionism is baseless at its foundation, since every movement contains both good and bad elements, and that the individual is the one responsible for his actions, rather than a movement. The article also objects to the article in praise of Judaism, saying that while it recognizes what Judaism has contributed to humanity, it was Christianity that made Judaism universal, and that “just as good-hearted Zionists should not be blamed for the wrongs of Elor Azaria” [currently facing manslaughter charges for his part in a shooting incident in Hebron in March 2016], so also “individual Jews cannot take credit together with Abraham, Moses, or Einstein.”
Archaeology
Maariv Mekomonim, August 5, 2016
A project called “Jerusalem of Mosaics” has recently opened in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. Focusing on the history of the quarter and displayed in the covered Cardo, the mosaics depict a variety of different shops, the depictions being inspired by archaeological finds; however, of particular note is a new copy of the Madaba map. Visitors are also invited to participate in “the social mosaic” and place stones in a mosaic model of Jerusalem, to be presented to Jerusalem’s mayor during the jubilee celebrations of Jerusalem’s unification.
The mosaics were made by the Elon Mosaics company in Kibbutz Elon, and the execution was overseen by Dr. Eyal Meiron.
The Jerusalem Post, August 7, 2016
The fate of the 2,700-year-old tomb and synagogue of the prophet Nahum in Al-Qosh, near Mosul, remains undetermined, as “it has become a football between Iraq, Kurdistan, UNESCO, IS and the Chaldean Christians.” The Jewish representative of the Kurdish Regional Government’s Ministry of Religious Affairs has appealed to UNESCO for support for the tomb’s preservation, as “it could completely fall apart in a few months,” as well as being a certain target for IS, but UNESCO responded that “the KRG is not a state” and that Nahum’s Tomb did not have World Heritage status. Some three years ago, a group of New York donors raised half a million dollars to restore the tomb, but “the money reportedly got lost in the transfer to a Mosul bank account.” Unless “a credible national or international authorization guarantees safe access,” the tomb’s fate appears extremely uncertain.