Outrageous: 'Jews for Jesus' makes promotional video that puts Jesus in Auschwitz
A video that is bound to offend every practicing Jew has been posted by 'Jews for Jesus' (an oxymoronic title if there has ever been one - it's a contradiction to be a Jew and believe that Jesus was the son of God) that places none other than Jesus himself in Auschwitz.
Let's go to the videotape.
Find more videos like this on Jewish Israel
Jewish Israel
summed it up well:
No words for this desecration of our people created as a promotional clip for Jews for Jesus.
JPost adds:
If messianic Jews were seeking to court controversy, they certainly
found the most provocative way of doing that – releasing a video
depicting Jesus bearing the cross just as he is about to be sent to the
gas chambers at Auschwitz.
Nauseating. Simply nauseating.
Labels: Holocaust, Messianics
Indyk orchestrating campaign of former generals to 'convince' Israel it can give up Jordan Valley
It's no coincidence that we've been seeing stories all week that one former IDF general after another is suddenly claiming that we can give up the Jordan Valley. Former US ambassador to Israel and 'peace process' babysitter
Martin Indyk is orchestrating an organized campaign using former IDF generals to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu to give the Jordan Valley to the 'Palestinians.'
A report in Maariv Thursday said the the State
Department had drafted many military officials who have worked with IDF
officers, at various levels, in an orchestrated campaign to pressure the
Israelis that there is no danger in surrendering the region in order to
sign a deal with the Palestinian Authority.
The report said that the effort was being orchestrated by
former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk. The plan is to build a
lobby among Israeli security officials to support a major American push
for Israel to agree to surrender the Jordan Valley. Between external
pressure from the U.S. and internal pressure from the Israeli lobby and
the media, Kerry hopes to be able to push Israel into making the
decision, without which the Palestinian Authority will not agree to the
peace framework he is pushing.
That pressure campaign was allegedly behind Defense Minister Moshe 'Boogie' Yaalon calling US Secretary of State John FN Kerry an 'obsessive messianic' on Tuesday. Yaalon made his comments in a private setting and apparently did not expect them to be quoted in the media. Yedioth Aharonoth, which broke the story, is the second most Leftist newspaper in Israel after the Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily Haaretz.
Meanwhile, military historian Aryeh Yitzhcaki argues that substantively,
Indyk's generals are wrong.
“A storm of Arab unrest is raging to the east,” said Yitzchaki,
as just one look at the situation in Iraq shows. Muslim radicals have
made great advances there, and the country is on the verge of being
turned into a terrorist state. In the past, Israel was concerned that a
strong Iraqi army could join with Jordan and Syria in attacking Israel.
That danger still exists – as does the danger that Iraq could export its
radical revolution to those countries as well, he added.
Rebels in Syria are working with their comrades in Iraq, with
the aim to build a united Arab nation, called “A-Sham.” If they succeed,
there is little chance Jordan could survive in its current form, and
Israel will be facing on its eastern border a huge, and very hostile,
Arab terror state, he said.
“We are headed for a very 'hot summer' on our eastern border,”
Yitzchaki said. “Those in charge of our defense must look at the
situation from all angles, and understand that without a presence in the
gateway to the Land of Israel, the Jordan Valley, Israel's security
will be compromised. Immediately to the east things look calm, but 100
kilometers beyond a monster is being built.”
And perhaps this is the place to deal with the substance of Yaalon's comments on Tuesday. After a detailed explanation of how the media work in Israel, why Yedioth published the story and how it got out of hand, JPost's Herb Keinon writes that
there are an awful lot of Israelis who agree with Yaalon (including yours truly).
Through it all, what was lost was what Ya’alon said: that Kerry is
obsessed with the Israeli-Palestinian issue; that he approaches it like
someone on a messianic mission; that the negotiations are being
conducted not between Israel and the Palestinians, but by each side
with the Americans, not a healthy way to negotiate; and that the
security arrangements the US is recommending are simply not acceptable.
Save
the characterization of Kerry as being motivated by a messianic
sentiment, and that he should just “take his Nobel Prize and leave us
alone,” Ya’alon’s sentiments are neither illegitimate nor crazy. Nor are
they his alone.
Many have asked why Kerry seems to be focusing
like a laser beam on the Israel-Palestinian situation, when there are
so many other, even more pressing issues, in the region. As Fouad Ajami
wrote last week in The Wall Street Journal: “The ground burns in Iraq,
Syria and Lebanon. Borders are being contested, and militant Islamists
have all but overwhelmed secular authorities.
Yet America’s
chief diplomat, Secretary of State John Kerry, was in the neighborhood
this week, for the 10th time, on an expedition to Israel and the
Palestinian territories.”
Ya’alon’s comment that it was unwise to
run the negotiations through the Americans, rather than directly
between the sides, is not outlandish, nor is his claim that Israel
seems to have made all the concessions up until this point. Is a pledge
not to wage diplomatic war with Israel in diplomatic forums around the
world – what the Palestinians “gave” to enter the talks – equal to
Israel’s release of 104 convicted terrorists? And as to Ya’alon’s
remark about the unacceptability of a US security plan for the day
after an agreement is signed, is it not his job, as defense minister, to
voice his reservations? His problem is that he voiced them in the
wrong way, and in the wrong forum.
But no one should be mistaken:
What Ya’alon said rather inelegantly, many other Israelis – both
inside and outside the corridors of power – are thinking.
Read the whole thing. We all know why this is happening (which Keinon does not discuss): The Obama administration needs an 'achievement,' Israel is the Middle Eastern country most susceptible to American pressure, and if the parties negotiated directly they would never reach an agreement. And you thought an international conference was a bad idea?
Over the last few weeks, my daily Talmud class has been learning about the scapegoat, the goat that was pushed off a cliff each year on Yom Kippur to atone for the Jewish people's sins. I'm identifying more and more with the scapegoat these days.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, John Kerry, Jordan Valley, Martin Indyk, Messianics, Moshe Yaalon, Obama's obsession with Israel, Obama's obsession with Palestinians, State Department obsession with Israel
Say it ain't so: GW Bush raising money for Messianic 'Jews'
This may yet convince a whole new generation of Jews to keep voting Democrat. There is nothing that scares Jews - particularly Jews whose connection to religious Judaism is weak in the first place - more than seeing that Republicans really do want to convert them.
Former President George W. Bush is
speaking at a fundraiser for Messianic 'Jews.'
Former US President George W. Bush will deliver the keynote address
at a fund raising event for the Messianic Jewish Bible Institute (MJBI),
which trains people in the U.S., Israel, and elsewhere “to work towards
convincing Jews to accept Jesus as the Messiah,” according to Canada's ShalomLife.
Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center of Reform
Judaism said in reaction, "It's disappointing that he would give his
stamp of approval to a group whose program is an express effort to
convert Jews and not to accept the validity of the Jewish covenant."
In 2012, the president of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, told Politico
that then presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s appearance at an event
organized by another messianic Jewish organization, the Messianic
Jewish Alliance of America, was “insensitive and offensive.”
Rabbi David Wolpe tweeted about Bush’s appearance, saying “This is infuriating.”
ShalomLife reports that the messianic group’s website has a
weekly Torah portion,” and hosts links to purchase Judaica and books
like Christ in the Old Testament.
Sorry guys but trying to convince us to accept Yoshke as the Messiah is simply beyond the pail for Orthodox Jews (although I won't blame all Republicans for Bush's poor judgment). The fact that I put 'Jews' in scare quotes three times in this post ought to be all you need to tell you how I feel about this.
Comments shut off for now, although I'm sure I'll hear them by email and on Twitter.
Labels: George W. Bush, Messianics
Twisting the law of return: Messianic 'rabbi' establishes law firm to help Messianics immigrate to Israel
The former 'spiritual leader' of the largest messianic congregation in the United States has immigrated to Israel and opened a law firm (as a 'foreign lawyer,' which means he doesn't have to be admitted to the bar here) in Petach Tikva to
help Messianic 'Jews' to immigrate to Israel under the law of return.
Infamous
U.S. Christian leader "rabbi "Jamie Cowen, who managed to make aliyah
in 2011, has changed his name to Cohen and established the messianic law
firm Cohen, Pex and Brosh, with its main branch in Petach Tikvah.
As mentioned, as of this writing, none of Cowen's "messianic" background information appears on attorney Jamie Cohen's profile, as seen on his firm's website (although there is mention of his studies at a Catholic University and school of theology).
What is featured prominently in the law firm's section under Areas of Practice is "Immigration to Israel":
"All issues of immigration to Israel: Aliyah according to the Law of Return – 1950. Permanent residency. Temporary Residency. Work Visas. Student visas. Tourist visas. Volunteer visas. Clergy visas. International Refugee Law according to the UN convention (Asylum seekers)."
This is of major concern to Jews worldwide but especially in Israel. A number of evangelical/messianic lawyers in Israel have put interpreting the Law of Return to favor messianic Christian aliyah at the top of their agenda, and they are making inroads. In fact, another Israeli messianic law office, the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ), has recently issued pro-bono advice, which is being widely disseminated online and in email, geared for the throngs of believing Christians who want to make Aliyah. This will be the subject of JewishIsrael’s next report.
Read the whole thing.
A few comments: First, I have nothing against Christians. I have nothing against Christians supporting Israel. I have written dozens of posts defending Christians from persecution. I have a lot against Christians who try to proselytize Jews.
Second, the law of return is meant to facilitate
Jewish immigration to Israel - not anyone else's. After all, this is (supposed to be) the only Jewish state in the world. 40 years ago, in what might have been the last chance to enact a specific definition in the law of return of 'Who is a Jew,' the National Religious Party (forerunner of today's 'Jewish Home') asked Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt"l (may the memory of the righteous be a blessing) whether they should insist on adding the word '
k'halacha' to the law of return as a condition to their entering Yitzchak Rabin's first government. He told them that they should not enter the government without that condition. They ignored him (as a teenager growing up in Boston, the story got around quite quickly...). As a result, the law is ambiguous about who is allowed to immigrate to Israel under the law of return, and we are now paying the price (isn't it ironic that even an Orthodox convert to Judaism has to jump through hoops to immigrate here, but Messianic Christians are allowed to immigrate under the law of return?). This is an illustration of why the Haredim argue that you have to listen to your rabbis....
Third, as to my comment about the 'foreign lawyer' designation: For years, lawyers have been pressing the organized bar to allow us to partner with foreign lawyers. Within the last year, the bar, in its infinite wisdom, has allowed foreign lawyers who are not admitted to the bar here to hold themselves out as lawyers. Just like Cowen is doing. Israeli lawyers, on the other hand, are still forbidden to share their fees with 'non-lawyers,' with term lawyer being defined as - you guessed it - anyone who is admitted to the Israeli bar.
What could go wrong?
Labels: aliya, Christians, Israel Bar Association, Jewish Home party, Jewish immigration, Law of Return, Messianics, National Religious, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveichik
