During the week covered by this review, we received 9 articles on the following subjects:
Arab Believing Communities
Anti-Missionary Attitudes
Anti-Semitism & Politics
Messianic Jews (Individuals)
Arab Believing Communities
Haaretz, April 20, 2018; Index HaEmek veHaGalil – Afula, April 20, 2018
The first article describes the gathering of “listening circles,” in which Israeli Jews and Palestinians gather together on Israeli Independence Day and Nakba Day, in order to hear each other’s stories and engage in “joint healing.” These gatherings have been taking place annually since 2003, with the number of attendants steadily climbing. This year, 150 people gathered for one of the circles in a church in the town of Eilabun. Bishop Boutros Mualem blessed those who gathered, recounting the story of his own family, which was forced to flee to Lebanon in 1948. Unlike other villages in the area, the residents of Eilabun were given permission to return to their village. Bishop Mualem notes that some take Eilabun as a symbol of vengeance and hatred, but “we in the village remember what happened, pray, and forgive. Forgiveness is a sign of strength.” One of the organizers, Victor Friedman, says that the meetings have been opposed from people on both sides of the conflict, who argue that Jews and Arabs should not mix. But, says Friedman, “We do the impossible: on a day of division, we try to heal.”
The second article reports that dozens of packages containing sweets and letters of support were distributed during Easter to soldiers, civil servants, and police officers hailing from the Christian Aramaic tradition. The packages were sent from a Christian organization in Germany and Austria. Austrian pastor, Johannes Kremer, says of the initiative: “We decided that from now on, we will send presents to Christians annually. We believe that we need to help Arabic speaking Aramaic Christians fit into the military and into Israeli society.”
Anti-Missionary Attitudes
HaModia, April 20, 2018
No fewer than 250 missionaries are reported to have arrived in Israel from Canada, the US, the United Kingdom, South Korea, and Russia. Yad L’Achim claims they received hundreds of calls to their hotline from citizens concerned about the “missionary attack.” Yad L’Achim further states that the missionaries deceived border guards by claiming to be tourists. Yad L’Achim’s Rabbi Lifshitz says, given the threat missionaries pose to the Jewish foundations of the country, “the fight of the Ministry of Interior against them needs to be identical to the determined and successful fight against BDS.”
Anti-Semitism & Politics
HaMevasser, April 22, 2018; Iton Shacharit, April 22, 2018
Chairman of the European Jewish Rabbi Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, states that, “… for the first time since we started a campaign against the miserable legislation to ban circumcision in Iceland, the media in Iceland are calling the government to adopt our suggested model, which proposes medical and ethical regulations that will allow the performance of circumcision according to tradition.” The European Jewish Rabbi Association gathered the support of leaders from many different countries, including both Democratic and Republican American politicians, and representatives from both the Protestant and Catholic traditions. It is argued that by denying Jews and Muslims the right to circumcise, Iceland will be infringing on their religious freedom.
Israel Hayom, April 23, 2018; HaMevasser, April 23, 2018; Maariv, April 24, 2018
In an unprecedented move, more than 250 French public figures – Muslims, Christians and Jews, from the right and from the left – have signed a petition condemning the anti-Semitism of radical Islam in France. The petition was published in Le Parisien, just weeks after Jewish grandmother Mireille Knoll was murdered by a Muslim. The petition states, “Anti-Semitism is not just a Jewish issue, it is everyone’s issue.” Muslim businessman Muhammad Groumi, who is involved in Muslim-Christian dialogue, signed the petition and added, “It is necessary to examine anew the interpretation of the Quran.” However, Tareq Oubrou, the imam of the synagogue in Bordeaux who is considered to be a symbol of liberal Islam, refused to sign. He says, “To spread the idea that the Quran calls for murder is crazy. There are many things from the Quran that cannot be practiced today because of the different time and context. You cannot be anti-Semitic if you are Muslim; two-thirds of the prophets of Islam were Jewish.” However, the highest authority in France, the rector of the Grand Synagogue of Paris, says “Most French Muslims are aware of the problem of Muslim anti-Semitism and will do anything to fight it.”
Messianic Jews (Individuals)
The Jerusalem Post, April 25, 2018
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new social media advisor, Hananya Naftali, posts videos on various issues. More recently, for example, he posted a video of himself defending Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip. In another video, Naftali referred to himself a “Jew who loves Jesus.” In January 2014, when Naftali was a soldier in the military, he wrote a post which claimed that on a weekend in which he had to stay on base, he “read the Bible and shared Jesus.” However, Naftali has denied the charge that he has attempted to convert soldiers. Naftali has responded by saying, “I am not part of any cult. I am not part of the Messianic Judaism denomination. In fact, I am not part of any denomination. I am just a normal guy who made his own decision to follow Jesus.”