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A common argument against Jews believing in Yeshua, is that it’s as absurd as saying Jews can worship Allah.
This kind of argument motivates Yad L’Achim and other opponents to Jews expressing any kind of positive belief in Yeshua.
Another argument against our belief, is that Messianic Jewish belief in Yeshua is the continuation of religious antisemitism and blood libels.
For these reasons, Yad L’Achim oppose Christians sharing their faith with Jews.
In a similar vein, Yad L’Achim oppose Muslims sharing their beliefs with Jews, writing:
Conventional wisdom has it that while Christian cults attack Judaism with missionaries, radical Islam uses Kassem rockets and suicide bombers. Recent findings, however, show that Muslims are becoming increasingly active on the spiritual battlefield as well.
“In the past year, we have seen the establishment of an Islamic organization that seeks to influence Jews to become Muslims,” says Rabbi Moshe Cohen, who heads a special unit at Yad L’Achim, the countermissionary organization. “After several months of intensive field work, we’ve managed to make direct contact with a number of Jews who have gone over to the other side. They’ve been converted in Islamic religious courts, live in Arab villages and carry papers that identify them as Muslims.”
Last month however, Neturei Karta’s leader Meir Hirsch welcomed the Blood Libel Sheikh Raed Salah, a religious antisemite, back to Israel.
In this speech, Hirsch praises Allah:
I wonder, will Yad L’Achim oppose Neturei Karta as vocally, as publicly, and as zealously as they oppose Messianic Jews, Christian missionaries, and Islamic missionaries to Jews?
Due to Neturei Karta’s respected status within Mea Shearim and other haredi communities, I strongly doubt it.
I rather expect that Yad L’Achim will prefer to focus their zeal on the relatively vulnerable Messianic Jewish community.
Very sad news.
The Department of Biblical Studies is adveritising a conference on ‘the Bible, Zionism and Palestine.‘
One of the keynote speakers is Palestinian theologian Naim Ateek, who says things like this at Easter:
In this season of Lent, it seems to many of us that Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around him. It only takes people of insight to see the hundreds of thousands of crosses throughout the land, Palestinian men, women, and children being crucified. Palestine has become one huge golgotha. The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily. Palestine has become the place of the skull.”
And this at Christmas:
“At this Christmas time, when we remember the message of peace and love that came down from God to earth in the birth of Jesus Christ, our celebrations are marred by the destructive powers of the modern day “Herods” who are represented in the Israeli government’.
Professor Ilan Pappé will also speak at this conference. We last saw Professor Pappé (unsuccessfully) defending the blood libel, as uttered by Hamas-backer Raed Salah.
There is also Nur Musalha:
Masalha said “we are not responsible for the Holocaust. We are its indirect victims. We paid for the Holocaust and we are still paying for it. The Jews were its victims but we are also its victims. We are the Jews of the Jews. We have become the Jews of history” and he spoke of “concentration camps in Gaza”.
He claimed the Mufti was not an anti-Semite and that as Jews and Muslims had fought in several wars together this was proof that there was no history of anti-Semitism in the Middle East.
Dr Philip Davies – whose department at Sheffield is hosting this event - has written of Jews:
There is less of a place than ever for the notion of a self-appointed “Chosen People” in our modern pluralistic world, nor is there a place for turning the clock back 2,000 years on any part of the globe.
Dr Davies is unsure that King David or King Solomon existed:
My views about David and Solomon may differ from those of many, but my arguments are traditional enough and the historicity of, at the most, four biblical books hardly represents a major split from the mainstream. Indeed, my impression from reviewing scholarly literature over the last ten years is that the later dating of much biblical literature is gaining slightly in fashion. And the historicity of David is rightly questioned. (Even the anti-“minimalist” Halpern, in true “minimalist” fashion, finds the historical David quite unlike the biblical one, whether or not he would call the biblical David a “fiction” [Halpern 2001]).
Another speaker is Mary Grey of Sabeel, who defends Stephen Sizer’s track record on antisemitism.
It’s interesting that a major player within Christian anti-Zionism has reached this point.
This comes just a couple of months after we heard Stephen Sizer say that non-Jewish Canaanites and Palestinians built Jerusalem, in an effort to combat Zionism – contradicting the Hebrew Bible’s account of Jerusalem’s growth and development as the United Kingdom of Israel’s capital city.
Now consider this keynote session at the conference:
What conclusions do you think they will come to?
Read his obituary in NME.
Here it is:
To read this article fully, subscribe to the Messianic Times.
Here is an excerpt from my article – emphasis mine:
[Christ at the Checkpoint organiser] Sami Awad aligned with the 2010 Gaza flotilla, which carried weapons to Hamas. This is the “nonviolence” of Sami Awad.
[Before the conference began], individual Messianic leaders planning to attend hinted at plans to challenge CATC extremism. This, however, proved difficult once on site. In the end, British scholar Richard Harvey, in his presentation, expressed the possible option of replacing Israel with a state known as “IsraPalestine.”
Somewhat theatrically, Evan Thomas, a prominent leader of Musalaha (an Arab Christian organization with ties to some Messianic leaders), compared himself to Paul of Tarsus, who dared to eat with Gentiles. Thomas likened Messianic critics to Simon Peter, who refused to break bread with them. Thomas told his listeners that internal “community pressure” against CatC required repentance. The only substantial challenge to CatC came from Wayne Hilsden, the Messianic leader of King of Kings congregation in Jerusalem, who handled the controversy on an esoteric and theological level. The opportunity to publicly warn CatC speakers against admiring anti-Semitic Islamist terrorists was largely missed.
What followed was farcical. CatC released a Replacement Theology-driven manifesto mentioning the Messianic speakers by name, implying the conference had agreed to the document. The Messianics saw it for proofreading before its completion, which gave opportunity to dupe them into being seen as in agreement. Sami Awad claimed that Messianic CatC participants had full opportunity to edit and provide input into the declaration.
While at first this appeared unbelievable, in a joint statement those Messianic participants and delegates admitted that “some” of them did see it and suggest grammatical changes. Additionally, they referenced discussions at CatC to assist the administration of Gaza with nonviolent tactics. In layman’s terms, CatC held sessions discussing how they could help Hamas. The Messianic contingent did not challenge this publicly.
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Following Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren’s recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, about Palestinian Islamist persecution of Christians, Sabeel’s Donald Wagner has written this response:
As directors of Christian and Muslim organizations in North America, we are appalled at Mr. Oren’s reckless comments and Islamophobia. We urge readers to listen instead to the voices of Palestinian Christians who testify to the reality of life under Israeli control and their relations with Muslim neighbors.
[...]
Far from fearing their Muslim neighbors, Palestinian Christians engage in dialogue with them and join them in non-violent resistance to the continuing theft of their land and water. The Kairos Palestine Document states openly that “Muslims are neither to be stereotyped as the enemy nor caricatured as terrorists.”
In Hamas-run Gaza, Mr. Oren writes, Christians live under death threats and suppression of their religious rights. But Fr. Manuel Musallam, a Catholic priest who spent 14 years in Gaza, tells a different story. “Christians are not suffering any persecution,” Fr. Manuel told a group of Americans last year. “Christians are well-respected by Hamas as well as by others.”
Fr. Manuel, who left Gaza after Israel’s deadly attacks in 2008-9, described the strip as “a piece of hell floating on the ground.” In saying this, he was not blaming Hamas. He knew many Hamas officials well because some of them sent children to his school. No, he said, Gaza is hell because of Israel, which has turned it into an open-air prison with 1.5 million people sentenced to collective punishment.
It is not only the mainline churches that are speaking out about Israeli oppression. A group of evangelicals recently held a conference in Bethlehem, attracting 600 participants. The event was titled “Christ at the Checkpoint,” and it produced a manifesto that states, “For Palestinian Christians, the occupation is the core issue of the conflict.” The organizers called for Christians “to stand against the injustice of the occupation.”
In order to imply there is no persecution of Christians by Islamists, Donald Wagner has to overlook the murder of Rami Ayyad by Islamists in Hamas-run Gaza. No-one has been arrested, tried or punished for this.
Furthermore, Wagner calls on Christ at the Checkpoint as proof that Oren is wrong. Yet even CATC are aware of persecution of Christians in Gaza.
CATC organiser Munther Isaac recently wrote on his blog:
Since Hamas came to power things have been very difficult for Christians. All that they enjoyed in the times of Arafat and the PNA was taken from them. For example – and even though this is a minor thing – in the Christmas season there is no more a Christmas tree in the middle of Gaza, no scouts are allowed to march in the streets to celebrate Christmas, and stores are not even allowed to sell Christmas decorations. This speaks a lot about the nature of Hamas’s rule in Gaza.
Responding to Oren’s piece, even Isaac admits in Sojourners:
. We are not saying that radical Islam is not a threat. We are not denying that there are some struggles that we face as a minority. We are not denying that there are some incidences in which Christians were attacked by radical Muslims, like in the death of Rami Ayyad in Gaza.
Yet according to Isaac, this is not the real issue:
What we are saying, is that for us, the real issue and the core of our struggles is the Israeli occupation.
For CATC, the Islamist murder of Rami Ayyad appears to be a side issue.
For Sabeel, the Islamist murder of Rami Ayyad is not even worth mentioning.
Will this be the time, when the Western church finally stops taking Sabeel and CATC seriously, when they claim to represent the concerns of Palestinian Christians?
For the scandal surrounding CATC’s approach to Christian rights and the PA, see Harry’s Place and The Christian Post.
Via BHOL:
A week ago, last Monday, when Benyamin Klugger returned from work at Yad L’Achim as he does every day, an unpleasant surprise was waiting for him: three detectives armed with search warrants. Soon, the detectives were looking through his house, without declaring whether Klugger was a suspect, and without saying what they were looking for.
The police led Klugger to the police state in Moriah in Jerusalem – the investigation ended at 5:30 in the morning. In the evening he was released home.Kluger was charged with causing damage to vehicles where missionaries live, price tag on two churches in Jerusalem, damage to vehicles near churches and harassment of missionaries. Klugger comments on the affair:
“The background is first arrest for lack of basic awareness of police on the nature of the organization where I work,” says Kluger. ”The lack of complete knowledge about me, and lack of basic knowledge of cults and the psychotic state of some of these respected authors in sects. Members of many sects in general, and Jewish Christians in particular, suffer from paranoia so they think they are persecuted by demonic powers. So because of this, and also for economic reasons, these cults try to convince their followers that Yad L’Achim is a terrorist organization, by profiling us. In the past, the head of the Messianic community of Rishon Lezion published a prayer that cast Yad L’Achim activists as devils.
“One morning, you wake up to a nation with a well-connected Messianic Jewish sect, dealing with shady sources as drug addicts and others,” not recognized – by the authorities and the criminal system works, while providing benefits to convert others and damage vehicles.
Convinced that the only missionary Yad L’Achim could damage a car that had been destroyed, and who if not Binyamin Kluger could do it, since he did not know anyone else in the organization – it is also clear that far outside the organization “Yad L’Achim,” everyone loves the missionaries.
Kluger adds with a smile “If anything I suspect Messianics of vandalising the vehicle, the Messianic who feels persecuted because of his faith, why am I even associated with the ”price tag” actions of anonymous persons performed the Greek Orthodox monastery in the Valley of the Cross and the Baptist church street?
“There is no doubt that the police cannot link me with these action actions – no DNA, no fingerprints or footprints, not the recording of security cameras or anything. Unlike many missionaries, I am not a criminal element, I am a law abiding citizen, I did not commit the offences attributed to me. The only connection team found being a member is acting against illegal missionary sects in legal ways!.
Those of us who have dedicated our lives to the ministry of reconciliation come under intense pressure at times – we have come to understand from personal experience that you CANNOT be a bridge and NOT EXPECT to be walked on; at times trampled upon.
Among the most challenging pressures, however, is what sociologists refer to as, “inner group pressure” – the subtle or sometimes not-so-subtle pressure to conform to the beliefs and loyalty demands of one’s own community.
We find a strong biblical example of this concerning the Apostle Peter in the Book of Acts…
While enjoying fellowship with his new-found Gentile brethren in Antioch, he suddenly withdrew from them when his Jewish brothers arrived from Jerusalem –Paul rebuked him for this act of hypocrisy.
There is no doubt that there are manifold “obstacles‟ to a rich and healthy fellowship between our communities… Yes, some obstacles like the physical and political barriers we experience in the Holy Land present us with huge challenges, but are not insurmountable. The presence of an Israeli Messianic delegation, albeit small at this conference „speaks volumes‟ – both from the Palestinian Christian efforts to make it possible for us to be here, and the willingness of the IMJ leaders to come. Please know; we have come here to listen and to understand!
There are also obstacles that are endemic to our cultural identities:
There is of course the matter of „the elephant in the room‟ – the „thing‟ we don‟t like to talk about…
As a Jewish man I come from a rich and ancient heritage – a heritage that is strongly acknowledged by the Apostle in his letter to the Romans in Chapter 9: 3(b) – 5: And he says speaking of the Jews: “Theirs is the adoption as sons, theirs is the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the Torah, the Temple worship and the promises. Theirs is the Patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.”
However, this same letter warns us all, over and over again of the dangers of arrogance or elitism: God is no respecter of persons… He shows NO favoritism
Although Scripture clearly indicates that the Jewish people have a unique and ongoing relationship with God, this is NOT dependent on ethnicity alone – as the same chapter states unequivocally. As it was with the Patriarchs, FAITH and OBEDIENCE are essential components in this relationship.
While respecting one‟s heritage and even what it offers us spiritually, we must NOT allow it to cloud our perception of others who may worship differently from us or have a different theological paradigm to us. For example, I choose to acknowledge the rich spiritual heritage of my Palestinian brother‟s community and its presence in the Land from the inception of the New Covenant as a testimony of Messiah‟s death and resurrection.
We must also be careful NOT to place limits on our fellowship or our labor together for the sake of the Gospel with those who understand Scripture differently from us – particularly as it pertains to eschatology or theology of the Land.
I stress this point because in MY community these particular issues are inseparable from who we are.
Aspects of MY identity and MY historical narrative indeed represent a threat to my brother and HIS community. Allow me to briefly explain:
When I came to faith in Jesus as the Messiah in 1978 I literally thought I was the only Jew „crazy enough‟ to believe such a thing. My story is not dissimilar to many of my Messianic colleagues.
From that point I also became acutely aware of my Jewishness and inexplicably found myself drawn to the Land – all this without any exposure to Zionist doctrines or Judaism, per se.
However, MY challenge and that of MY community is to be careful not to compromise our spiritual testimony and calling by confusing it with political nationalism.
As Israeli Messianic Jews I confess we are often guilty of this – especially where our theology and our politics and our sociological realities get all mixed up.
