Word from Jerusalem - March 2022 - USA Edition

WORD

INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM // MARCH 2022 // USA EDITION

FROM JERUSALEM

AMNESTY AND THE MODERN-DAY INQUISITION AGAINST ISRAEL

FROM THE

PRESIDENT'S DESK Dear Friends,ess you richly in this new year!

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem was established in1980 in recognition of the biblical significance of all of Jerusalem and its unique connection to the Jewish people. Today the ICEJ represents millions of Christians, churches, and denominations to the nation and people of Israel. We recognize in the restoration of Israel the faithfulness of God to keep His ancient covenant with the Jewish people. Our main objectives are: • To stand with Israel in support and friendship; • To equip and teach the worldwide church regarding God’s purposes with Israel and the nations of the Middle East; • To be an active voice of reconciliation between Jews, Christians, and Arabs, and to support the churches and congregations in the Holy Land.

From its head offices in Jerusalem, the ICEJ reaches out into more than 170 countries worldwide, with branch offices in over 90 nations.

Our vision is: • To reach every segment of Israel’s society with a Christian testimony of comfort and love, and • To reach and actively represent to Israel the support of denominations, churches, and believers from every nation on earth.

The Christian Embassy is a non-denominational faith-based ministry supported by the voluntary contributions of our partners and friends across the globe. We invite you to join with us as we minister to Israel and the Jewish people worldwide by donating to the ongoing work and witness of the ICEJ.

This famous opening line from Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities perfectly summarizes the days we live in here in the Middle East. On the one hand, we are witnessing the scourge of antisemitism continue to raise its ugly head worldwide.

This was evident in the recent Amnesty International report, which accuses Israel of the crime of “apartheid,” even though this is the most liberal, democratic, and diverse nation in the entire region (see David Parson’s commentary article on p. 4).

Yet at the same time, there is ample reason to view this as the “best of times.” The Abrahamic Accords are a true game-changer for the region that few saw coming. This is not just a peace of convenience—the three to four daily flights between Tel Aviv and Dubai speak volumes about the new dynamic in the Middle East.

For more insight into this new dynamic, I encourage you to follow Susan Michael’s Out of Zion podcast. Her new series Israel Answers will address common questions about Israel, the Bible, and related issues. The first few episodes will connect the Bible to modern Israel and lay a foundation for the upcoming topics so be sure and subscribe.

I pray you will enjoy this issue of the Word From Jerusalem. Please prayerfully consider standing with us in the various AID projects outlined in this magazine and consider hosting a Passover Seder this year with your church group, small group, friends, and family (see p. 20 for details). And I strongly encourage you to support our unique partnership with Yad Vashem as we prepare together for Israel’s upcoming Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah, on April 27–28. I can assure you it will have a great impact in Israel!

Many blessings from Jerusalem!

WORD

Yours in Christ,

FROM JERUSALEM

CREDITS ICEJ President Dr. Jürgen Bühler USA Director Susan Michael VP International Affairs Dr. Mojmir Kallus VP Finance David van der Walt VP Operations Barry R. Denison VP International Spokesman David Parsons VP AID & Aliyah Nicole Yoder Managing Editor/Publications Director Laurina Driesse USA Managing Editor Julaine Stark Copy Editor Karen Engle Staff Writer Anastasiya Gooding Graphic Design/Illustrators Ryan Tsuen, Peter Ecenroad, Nancy Schimp Photography Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, JAFI, AP, Reuters,

Joshua Bartholamew, ICEJ Staff and Branches, Getty Images, Dreamstime, Patrick Perkins, Joshua Skukoff, Robert Bye, and Ehimeta Unuabona on Unsplash

Dr. Jürgen Bühler President International Christian Embassy Jerusalem

WORD

INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM // MARCH 2022 // USA EDITION

COVER PHOTO: Palestinian protest. Photo by Patrick Perkins on Unsplash

FROM JERUSALEM

FOR MAGAZINE ARCHIVES visit www.icejusa.org/wfj

The New King James Bible is used for all Bible references unless otherwise noted.

Word From Jerusalem is published by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Word From Jerusalem has no subscription price and is supported through contributions worldwide. The ICEJ USA Branch is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with offices in Tennessee, Florida, and Washington, DC. All gifts to this ministry are tax-deductible according to United States law.

INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN EMBASSY JERUSALEM - USA

Support our ministry online at: www.icejusa.org

AMNESTY

AND THE MODERN-DAY INQUISITION AGAINST ISRAEL

CONTENTS

MARCH 2022 USA EDITION

4 AND THE MODERN-DAY INQUISTION OF ISRAEL

9

HAIFA HOME UPDATE

ALYAH LAST YEAR IN REVIEW

Photo by: Joshua Sukoff on Unsplash

12

THE GROWING THREAT TO NORTHERN ISRAEL

10 BLESSING OF A LITTLE 14 THE SHABBAT SHALOM

Photo by: Ehimetalor akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

AMNESTY

ICEJ IN 2022

Photo by Patrick Perkins on Unsplash

4 | MARCH 2022

ICEJ COMMENTARY

Amnesty and the Modern-Day Inquisition against Israel

BY DAV I D R . PA R S O N S , I C E J V I C E P R E S I D E N T A N D S E N I O R S P O K E S M A N

I

n early January, Israel’s Foreign Ministry circulated a report warning that 2022 will likely be the year Israel is officially saddled with the label of “apartheid state.”

Unfortunately, their forecast is looking prescient, as Amnesty International published a study this week that concludes Israel indeed maintains an apartheid system to rule over and suppress “Palestinians” on both sides of the pre-1967 Green Line. The Amnesty report has set off a firestorm of valid criticisms from Israel and its allies worldwide. But the selfappointed grand judges of the human rights movement, the feckless mainstream media, and the corrupt United Nations are all doing their part to unfairly single out the lone Jewish state for unprecedented scrutiny and unjust condemnation as an “apartheid regime” in what collectively amounts to a modern-day inquisition against Israel.

amounts to an institutionalized regime of oppression and domination defined as apartheid under international law.”

What has made the charge of “apartheid” much more serious is that the international community redefined it four years ago as a crime—meaning it should be treated the same as a war crime or crime against humanity.

PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN LUE ON UNSPLASH

When that legal change came, Amnesty immediately assigned a research team to start investigating Israel for the crime of apartheid.

The result is the newly released 278-page report entitled Israel’s Apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity, which claims to “show that Israeli authorities impose a system of domination and oppression against the Palestinian people in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and against Palestinian refugees. Laws, policies, and institutional practices all work to expel, fragment, and dispossess Palestinians of their land and property and deprive them of their human rights. We conclude this treatment

WHERE TO START with responding to this sanctimonious drivel?

Among the most egregious flaws are that Amnesty identifies all Arabs in Israel and Palestinianruled areas as “Palestinians” and then claims Israel practices apartheid against them all. That alone exposes the political biases of those behind this report.

Amnesty also alleges that Israel was born in sin because it was created in 1948 to be a “Jewish state” and has imposed measures ever since to maintain that Jewish majority. This totally ignores the fact that the United Nations itself approved a partition plan for creating a Jewish-majority and an Arab-majority state side by side in the area of Mandate Palestine, which was being vacated by the British at the time.

Many critics of the report have charged Am-

5 | WORD FROM JERUSALEM

nesty with “antisemitism” by effectively denying the Jews’ their right to a state of their own.

Amnesty has responded that it supports that right in theory, but it then seeks to criminalize any attempt by Israel to maintain its Jewish majority—something many other states do to maintain their native-ethnic national identity.

One vigorous response to the Amnesty report came from Yoseph Haddad, an Israeli Arab Christian from Nazareth who volunteered to serve in the Israeli army, was wounded during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and today is an i24 News reporter and an advocate for Jewish/Arab coexistence. Writing in The Jerusalem Post, Haddad questioned why Amnesty would rob him and other Israeli Arabs of their Israeli identity by defining them all as “Palestinians.” He cited several recent public opinion surveys that show that the vast majority of Israeli Arabs are content and even well satisfied with their status as equal citizens in Israel’s democracy and would rather live here than any other country.

“I was born an Israeli, and I will remain an Israeli,” insisted Haddad. “I am entitled to all the same rights as any citizen of Israel. I was a soldier in Israel’s Defense Forces protecting the north of Israel—where most of the IsraeliArab community lives—from terrorist rockets attacks by Hezbollah. . . . Not only that, I was also a commander of dozens of Jewish soldiers.

What kind of an ‘apartheid’ would let Arabs give orders to Jews? The nonexistent kind.”

Haddad added, “As for the Palestinians, the status-quo of occupation is problematic, but still, it’s not based on racial discrimination but rather on national conflict—a conflict that Israel has proven it would like to end on several occasions when it offered generous solutions for peace, before the Palestinians rejected them. If Israel has a racial issue with Arabs, why did we

ICEJ COMMENTARY then make peace with Morocco, UAE, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain? Why then are there so many Arabs who are part of Israel’s government, making decisions that impact every Israeli? Why are there Arab judges deciding on the fate of Israeli citizens in court?”

Other assessments of the Amnesty study have determined that it:

enterprise that needs to be dismantled!

The mainstream media has done little so far to scrutinize Amnesty—its motives, methods, and researchers. But kudos to the Times of Israel for confronting the Amnesty leaders who showed up in Jerusalem for a press conference recently to unveil their report on Israel. In a separate interview afterward,

1) Distorts or ignores the historic context surrounding Israel’s founding, including not just UN Resolution 181 (the Partition Plan) but also the ensuing Arab invasion of the fledgling state of Israel, the Arab world’s expulsion of over 800,000 Jews from their midst, and the dire plight of 250,000 Holocaust refugees stuck in displacement camps around Europe at the time

Keep in mind that this report also comes as no less than three United Nations forums are currently pursuing their own investigations to charge Israel with “apartheid” and other possible war crimes. This includes: 1) The International Criminal Court in Den Haag, which under former chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda opened a formal criminal probe into Israel’s actions during and after the 2014 Gaza conflict 2) The UN Human Rights Council, which has launched a permanent Commission of Inquiry against Israel after the Gaza rocket war last May that has an open-ended mandate to probe any Israeli human rights violations against the Palestinians 3) The Office of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’s (CERD) review of a complaint against Israel filed by the Palestinian Authority in 2018, which includes charges of “apartheid”

Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director Philip Luther and Secretary General of Amnesty International Agnès Callamard at a press conference in Jerusalem on February 1, 2022 (Flash90)

2) Distorts or ignores the equal rights enjoyed by Arab citizens of Israel

3) Cites Israel’s demographic concerns over losing its Jewish majority but ignores Israel’s legitimate security concerns, especially in relation to its measures to defend against the constant threat of Palestinian terrorism 4) Involved biased researchers employed by Amnesty to conduct the study, many of whom had exhibited prior prejudices against Jews and Israel, such as serving as “human shields” against the IDF, supporting BDS, or voicing their hopes for Israel to disappear It is also hard to dismiss the thought that there might be a pecuniary angle to this report. The focus of most human rights groups has increasingly turned to criticizing Western democracies because they are “soft targets,” and it resonates with their donor bases. And Amnesty is clearly guilty of this—when visiting their online report “Israel=Apartheid,” a donation box pops up. I find that shocking when you are laying the serious charge that an entire nation is a criminal

the Amnesty team floundered in trying to explain why they chose to investigate Israel first once apartheid was declared an international war crime back in 2017. Sure, they are also investigating Myanmar for its blatant discrimination and suppression of the Rohingya peoples. But what about China and its harsh treatment of the Uighurs or Tibetans? Or Turkey and the Kurds? These are open-and-shut cases.

Their answer was that they gave priority to countries where they had easier access to information and the greater possibility of effecting change. In other words, China and Turkey are closed-off authoritarian regimes that get a pass, while Israel is an open society. And Amnesty already had contacts with hundreds of local anti-Israel human rights activists and groups who are well funded by European governments and other outside sources. Once the report was done, it would be another log to fuel the already raging fire encircling Israel, trying to raze its very reasons for existence.

6 | MARCH 2022

Taken altogether, the leftist machinery of the human rights movement, the hopelessly ineffective and biased media, the mindless “Flat Earth Society” at the United Nations, and so many others have joined to launch a modern-day Inquisition against the world’s lone Jewish state, and the crime of “apartheid” is the trendy new way to accomplish their goal of eliminating Israel. Undoubtedly, Israel’s diplomatic breakthrough with the Arab world through the Abraham Accords unnerved the Palestinian Authority and their global network of supporters. They are now working double-time to ratchet up the apartheid campaign against Israel. The selfrighteous Amnesty officials who showed up in Jerusalem recently to lay out their bill of charges against the Jewish state and people may not have been wearing scarlet robes and tall miters, but they should have!

ENVISION REVIEW

ABRAHAM ACCORDS VS. APARTHEID A N I N T E RV I E W W I T H YO S E P H H A D D A D

I

srael has seen a breakthrough in relations with the Arab world through the Abraham Accords but also is under increasing assault by the BDS campaign for the false charge of apartheid. During a livestreamed visit to Nazareth at the ICEJ’s recent Envision conference, ICEJ Vice President and Senior Spokesman David Parsons discussed these topics with Yoseph Haddad, an Israeli Arab Christian and reporter for i24 News who has emerged as a strong defender of Israel. Here are excerpts: PARSONS: Can you give us a little more on your background?

HADDAD: I was born in Haifa, the biggest mixed Arab/Jewish city in Israel. At age three, my parents moved us to Nazareth. I am a Catholic … and I grew up with Jewish, Arab, Christian, and Muslim friends, some secular, some religious, the full tapestry of Israel.… We were all feeling equal, that there is no difference between Jews and Arabs, just human beings and Israelis. When you grow up like this, you eventually see the vision of how Israeli society really should be. And today, I'm trying to put that in front of extremists on both sides.

PARSONS: And then you volunteered to serve in the Israeli army?

HADDAD: Yes! Many ask why I decided to join the army, and I ask them: What does the IDF stand for? It is the Israel Defense Forces, not the Jewish Defense Forces. The IDF protects all Israeli citizens, not just Jews. And when Hamas and Hezbollah attack Israel, their missiles don’t discriminate between Arabs and Jews—they attack all Israelis.… I participated in the Second Lebanon War. Four days before the ceasefire, I was injured very badly by a Hezbollah anti-tank missile.… My foot was cut off. In the hospital, the best doctors in the world—Arab and Jewish —took care of me. And a year later my foot was

reattached, and today I play football and run a lot. Every day, I praise the Lord!

PARSONS: We're now in this time when the charge of apartheid against Israel is gaining momentum. Yet Arab countries also are reconciling with Israel via the Abraham Accords. With these two competing trends, how is it for you?

HADDAD: First, the motive of these organizations—from B’tselem to Breaking the Silence to Amnesty International—all of them are very far from being human rights organizations. In fact, they’re doing the opposite. They are hurting Israeli society, the Arabs who live in Israel, and mostly the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

When Amnesty refers to Israel as an apartheid state, it shows how little they know.… Only 7 percent of the Israeli Arab population define themselves as “Palestinians.” As an Israeli Arab, I can go wherever I want, I can work in any job I want. I became a commander in the IDF over Jewish soldiers who must obey my command.... So there are problems we need to address in Israeli society. But when you categorize Israel as an apartheid state or as a state that does ethnic cleansing or genocide? In the Holocaust, the Jews went from 9 million to 3 million. That is ethnic cleansing. That is genocide. But since Israel’s independence in 1948, in every village and city, whether it’s in Gaza, the West Bank, or here in Israel, the Arab population has only increased.

PARSONS: How were the Abraham Accords received among the Israeli Arab community?

HADDAD: The only Knesset members who voted against the Abraham Accords were Arab members. Yet if you fly from Israel to Dubai, you see that 60 to 70 percent of the passengers are Israeli Arabs.

7 |WORD FROM JERUSALEM

PARSONS: Have you been yet?

HADDAD: Of course! I've been three times and I’m going back in two weeks. I have such amazing friends there. They are more than welcoming, and they love Israeli Arabs.… This is an opportunity for me to reveal the truth about us and also for me to learn more about their Arabic traditions. We love that! And this is just another case of Arab leaders acting entirely the opposite from society. They're behind the times.

PARSONS: I understand you also traveled to South Africa and did your own study of apartheid?

HADDAD: Yes! I visited Johannesburg and was actually confronted on live TV by the head of the BDS movement there, Muhammed Desai, and it was very hard for him to confront an Israeli Arab. In fact, I called him out for lying more than one time, and our debate went viral.…

And when I spoke to the black community in South Africa, I said that comparing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the apartheid in South Africa is actually doing injustice to the Africans who suffered from real apartheid. And everybody just nodded their heads.

PARSONS: Okay, if people want to hear more from you, they can follow you on i24 News and YouTube?

HADDAD: Not only that, but I am doing a new show with my fiancée called “Headlines with the Haddads.” They can find it on the internet.

ICEJ HAIFA HOME FOR HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS

A DAY TO ‘NEVER FORGET!’

HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR FROM ICEJ HOME FOR HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS TELLS ISRAEL HER STORY

BY L AU R I N A D R I E S S E

A

s the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, the ICEJ held a ceremony at our Home for Holocaust Survivors in Haifa, with several Knesset members and local dignitaries present.

Judith Hershkovitz, a 93-year-old Holocaust Survivor and current Haifa Home resident, shared her story with MK Inbar Bezek of the Yesh Atid party. Judith first showed a video of her story, which plays in the museum at the Haifa Home. Pointing to a family photo on the wall, Judith also sadly noted that her entire family perished during the war.

Judith’s story was one of several videotaped testimonies from Holocaust Survivors beamed on the massive walls of the Old City in Jerusalem and other landmark buildings in Tel Aviv, Beersheba, Herzliya, and Haifa as part of Israel’s official program to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day. With the number of Holocaust Survivors shrinking each year, a social nonprofit called “Live Forever” is working with the ICEJ and other charitable partners to preserve the Holocaust Survivors’ memories for future generations. As one of

the featured Survivors this year, Judith was also interviewed by several Israeli newspapers and TV channels.

Judith grew up in a family of seven in Hungary.

When she was 11, her childhood was snatched away when the Germans invaded in 1944.

“Until 1944, somehow our life was tolerable,” recalled Judith. “Then our tragedy started. All the Jews were forced to gather in the synagogue.

We were allowed to take one suitcase with us.

We were put in a ghetto. We lost our home, our store—everything. When the Germans came into our home, we were forced to give them our jewelry and everything we had.”

“After about two weeks, we were taken to the train station destined for Auschwitz. The trip was terrible. I cannot bring myself to describe it. After three days we arrived at Auschwitz and were separated into two groups, men and women. My sister was 12 years old, and she was taken away with my grandmother, and I never saw them alive again,” recounted Judith. “I was taken to Germany to work in a factory. It was also a terrible trip. No food, no air, no water."

Judith worked hard during this time—from six in the morning to six at night—and was constantly hungry as there was no food to eat.

She also had nothing warm to wear to protect her from the bitterly cold winters. During her time in Germany, she heard the news her whole family had perished.

“I was the only person who remained alive from my family. I have a number on my hand,” said Judith.

As the war ended, Judith was forced into an arduous three-week march on foot, after which the Russians released her. She was taken to a German hospital and remained there for almost one year.

away, while her son now lives abroad.

Being alone in Israel, Judith greatly appreciates the love and support she receives at the Haifa Home, where she has lived since 2013.

Holocaust Survivor Shalom Stamberg’s story was also beamed onto the walls of Jerusalem and other Israeli cities. Shalom and his wife, Zelda, had been visiting the Haifa Home almost daily, and although they were not yet residents, they were treated and cared for like residents.

Shalom and Zelda planned on moving into the Haifa Home, but sadly, Shalom passed away just before the move was possible. Zelda moved into the Home 30 days after his death.

Shalom was one of the last remaining Survivors of the Warsaw ghetto and survived five concentration camps.

According to an Israeli government report released in January, most Holocaust Survivors left in the world now live in Israel, numbering some 165,800. Over 90 percent of these Holocaust Survivors are 80 years and older. The average age is 85, and 950 Survivors are more than 100 years old. A full 25 percent live in poverty, and 30 percent live alone.

“There was a very nice German nurse there.

Thanks to her, I managed to heal. She treated me like her own daughter,” Judith remembered.

The ICEJ’s Haifa Home for Holocaust Survivors is a warm environment where residents can live out their remaining years in dignity and comfort, with all their needs cared for by loving staff, including our dedicated team of Christian volunteers.

In December 1946, Judith immigrated to Israel and blended in. She served in the army, met her husband, married, and had two children.

Her husband and daughter have since passed

To give, please go to: www.icejusa.org/haifa

8 | MARCH 2022

ICEJ HAIFA HOME FOR HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS

HAIFA HOME UPDATE

BY Y U D I T S E T Z

MORE LOCKDOWNS During the omicron spike, our Haifa Home residents recently had to start eating their meals in their rooms once again. Two residents and several staff also tested positive. Fortunately, everyone has completely recovered!

Haifa Home volunteers packing lunches

For many Holocaust Survivors at our Haifa Home, the fear of becoming ill with coronavirus is even worse than the sickness itself. Many of their friends and family are getting COVID, and they are terrified of getting it too. The isolation they have experienced is equally hard to bear, as they are mostly stuck at home again.

“I only speak to my caregiver and almost forget how to even speak. Can you please visit me more often?” Rivka pleaded.

Our team of Christian volunteers has been doing everything possible to help them during these difficult times. We visited their apartments, helped them make doctor and dentist appointments, and took them out for walks. With Israel experiencing a very cold, wet winter, they are hesitant to venture outside for a stroll. But Birgit, our physiotherapist, tries to get the Survivors moving as much as she can. Some residents enjoy doing gymnastics in small groups, while Will Setz pops in with his guitar to bring a little music and joy!

ADAPTING OUR BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS Instead of celebrating birthdays together in the dining hall, we now bring residents a cake and celebrate them with music. Yaacov, a long-time resident, just turned 98, while Lydia turned 84.

Haifa Home residents out on a walk

YEHUDA MOVES IN Yehuda, an elderly Moroccan Jewish Survivor, recently was referred to our Home by people who knew about our caring community for Holocaust Survivors.

Yehuda’s life has not been easy after he became deaf due to sickness as a youth.

He has lived mostly on the streets for many years, his few possessions stuffed in plastic bags inside a shopping cart.

We have housed Yehuda temporarily to see if the Home is a suitable place for him. Our social worker, Fadi, is trying to collect more details about Yehuda before we decide where is best for him.

Meantime, our ICEJ volunteer team helped Yehuda decorate his room and turn it into a home. Several times Yehuda broke down, emotionally overwhelmed by the love and care showered upon him.

To support the ICEJ’s Haifa Home for Holocaust Survivors, go to: www.icejusa.org/haifa 9 |WORD FROM JERUSALEM

ICEJ ALIYAH

ALIYAH

LAST YEAR IN REVIEW

The ICEJ assisted 3,784 Olim (immigrants) to make Aliyah in 2021. This statistic includes 1,559 ICEJ-sponsored rescue flights, as well as 2,225 Olim who were assisted in their Aliyah preparations by our ICEJ ground operations. See chart on page 11.

2021 was our second biggest year for Aliyah, bringing our official grand total for Olim assisted to 163,841 since 1980.

Worldwide Aliyah reached 27,982, which was remarkable in this the second COVID virus year. Aliyah statistics: Year 2019 2020 2021

ICEJ 3,844 3,141 3,784

Worldwide 35,312 21,352 27,982

Percentage 11% 15% 14%

Nothing can stop God’s plan to bring His people home!

10 |MARCH MARCH 2022 1010 | |MARCH 2022 2022

Many thanks to all of our supporters and of our wonderful Aliyah and Integration Team members for making this possible. To give to Aliyah, please go to: www.icejusa.org/aliyah

ICEJ ALIYAH

!

!

ICEJ Aliyah Report January – December 2021 Flights and Ground Operations* St Petersburg Petrozavodsk Murmansk Pskov Novgorod Syktyvkar Arkhangelsk Kaliningrad NW Sub total

Belarus Baltic States Germany Ethiopia India South Africa Americas W. Europe FSU other

Total

Jan Feb 23

1 1

25 37 1 8 100 5

10 5 302

Mar Apr May 56 55 24 4

5

6

2

9 75 131

6 68 102 5 6

14

2

9 35 80 5 21 99

10 14

176

50 100 467

226 446

75 102 368

27 281

Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total 78 52 89 83 232 93 94 879 1 3 2 6 3 1 15 1 2 4 1 1 8 2 25 3 4 7 1 1 13 3 4 10 8 6 68 95 58 97 85 257 106 102 1003 111 77 152 32 144 91 68 1035 3 5 9 8 25 9 3 73 12 10 27 12 8 18 17 158 402 32 76 212 87 65 162 30 44 32 157 83 538 253 267 317 137 593 224 255 3,784

*Sponsored flights and assisted ground operations including youth aliyah

11 | WORD FROM JERUSALEM

ENVISION REVIEW

IDF Major (Res.) Elliot Chodoff

The Growing Threat to Northern Israel An Interview with IDF Major (Res.) Elliot Chodoff

D

uring our recent Envision conference, the ICEJ visited kibbutz Misgav Am on Israel’s northern border, and livestreamed an interview with IDF Major (Res.) Elliot Chodoff, one of Israel’s leading military analysts, about the growing threat of Iran and Hezbolloh. Here are excerpts: DAVID PARSONS: We’re in this stunning location where you can see majestic, snow-capped Mount Hermon, the lovely Hula Valley, and the hills of Lebanon, and yet we need to talk about a serious subject: the threat to Northern Israel emanating from Lebanon and Syria. . . . Major Chodoff, the Israeli government recently did a study that concluded the threat on the northern border is likely to heat up, and there’s a huge lack of secure civilian defense shelters. What’s the situation up here?

MAJ. CHODOFF: The situation is that Israel has not been able to keep up with the changing threat. When the state was established, we constructed community bomb shelters for the possibility of enemy air attacks that would be over in minutes. . . . With the shift toward the Hezbolloh rocket threat today, we’re suddenly facing a reality that we will have to stay in a sheltered situation possibly for weeks—like in 2006. And many residences in the North, including my home, don't have safe rooms, and that’s the gap we face.

PARSONS: In Gaza, Hamas has learned to make their own rockets, which can now reach Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—and they may have 20,000 rockets. But the threat from Hezbolloh in

the North has been allowed to build up much more. Can you fill us in on that?

MAJ. CHODOFF: My estimate is that Hezbolloh has around 250,000 rockets. . . . Their plan is to fire some 2,000 rockets a day toward Israel to saturate the region and overwhelm Iron Dome . . . which is semi-miraculous technology, but it’s not going to work up here . . . . The civil defense issue now becomes that much more critical. In addition, Hezbolloh today has rockets that can reach every city in Israel, except Eilat. They can cover the entire country, including Tel Aviv and Beersheba. . . .

And with that longer range, they can go further north to fire them and still reach further south than they did in 2006.

PARSONS: Which means 95 percent of Israel’s population is now under threat from Hezbolloh. And a lot of those rockets are now guided?

MAJ. CHODOFF: Part of what we’ve been dealing with over recent years in Syria is preventing the delivery of guidance systems from Iran to Hezbolloh. . . . The electronics for these guidance systems is elementary by our modern standards. . . . Nonetheless, many more rockets will now go into populated areas . . . and put millions of Israelis under perpetual threat for possibly weeks on end.

PARSONS: Hezbolloh has been preoccupied in recent years with the civil war in Syria, helping to keep the Assad regime in place. They’ve lost a lot of troops but also gained combat experience. Overall, what is your assessment

of the current strength of Hezbolloh?

MAJ. CHODOFF: Certainly, they came out stronger. They gained an enormous amount of combat experience, operational experience, [and] command-and-control experience.

They’ve gone from a guerrilla force to an army . . . and they’ve come out way ahead.

PARSONS: Iran has been investing in Hezbolloh for years with billions of dollars and recruiting and training, given them thousands of missiles, and they’re currently bleeding Lebanon dry. Why is Iran so interested in destroying Israel?

MAJ. CHODOFF: You have to go back to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who also established Hezbolloh. Khomeini stated from the outset of the 1979 Revolution that the eradication of Israel is a primary objective of Iran. He spoke of an extermination, like the Nazis. . . . And he imposed that ideology on Iran, and by extension Hezbolloh. . . . It’s at the core of their existence.

PARSONS: These Hezbolloh rockets have also built up a deterrence—to keep Israel from attacking Iran’s nuclear program, correct?

MAJ. CHODOFF: There’s certainly an element of deterrence in that, but it’s going to wear thin. The Iranian nuclear program is an existential threat to Israel . . . we’re stringing out the rocket threat as much as possible, but there’s going to be a point where those curves cross, and we’re just going to have to deal with the consequences.

Help provide bomb shelters to Northern Israel: Give to: www.icejusa.org/bomb-shelters 12 | MARCH 2022

ICEJ PODCAST: OUT OF ZION ICEJ AID

THE BLESSING OF A LITTLE SHABBAT SHALOM

BY DR. SUSAN MICHAEL

O

ne of my favorite memories of living in Israel was experiencing Shabbat.

Fridays were hectic as everyone finished their shopping, cleaning, and cooking in preparation for family gatherings and a day of rest. The stores would close by 4:00 p.m. so that shoppers and workers could catch that last bus home. And just as the sun was setting—as the roads emptied of cars and buses and synagogues filled up for prayer—you could hear off in the distance the Shabbat whistle, alerting the whole city that Shabbat had begun.

Because Jerusalem’s population includes such a high percentage of religious Jews, the entire city would shut down—so much so that in many neighborhoods, you could walk down the middle of the road on Shabbat because you knew there would be no cars driving by. I loved waking up on Saturday morning to silence—no cars, no horns, just the sounds of children playing and maybe neighbors gathering for a meal. I also loved greeting my friends and neighbors with “Shabbat Shalom”—wishing them a peaceful and restful Sabbath.

If you long for a little peace in your life too, a weekly time of rest and quiet might help bring that about.

WHAT DOES ‘SHABBAT’ MEAN? The whole concept of a weekly rest goes back to creation when God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh.

Shabbat is the Hebrew word for “Sabbath,” which comes from the root word sheva, meaning “seven.” Shabbat is thus the “seventh day,” but it also means the “day of rest.” The Bible says that when God rested on the seventh day, He blessed it (made it holy), so it’s considered a holy day on the Jewish calendar each week.

Because God rested on the seventh day, He expected His people to do the same. Not only is honoring the Sabbath one of the Ten Commandments, but it became the sign of the Mosaic covenant. The Israelite people were the only people on earth who observed a day of rest every week. It made them different because they reflected the God to whom they belonged—the Creator, who rested on the seventh day.

Even though you and I may not be obligated to the Mosaic covenant, if a Sabbath rest is so important to God that He made it a sign of His covenant with His people, maybe there’s something there that we need to learn and apply to our lives. Could it be that a pattern of regular rest and reflection could bring us all closer to Him and fill our lives with greater peace?

WHAT DOES ‘SHALOM’ MEAN? The Hebrew word for “peace” is shalom, which means a peace that comes from a payment being made or a lack being fulfilled. In other words, it means being made whole. This makes sense—people who don’t have peace are usually worried about something they are lacking or haven’t done or are striving to obtain. Peace is the opposite of that.

We all lacked peace at one point because we owed a debt we could not pay—and the wages for our sin was death. But out of His grace and mercy, Jesus paid the price on the cross for our sins, making us whole through Him so we can live in peace. If He took care of that ultimate debt caused by our sin, He can take care of anything we bring to him.

Only He can fill that void in our hearts, make us whole, and give us peace.

As the busy week comes to an end, ponder the blessing of spending time with the Lord, resting in His presence, and becoming more like Him. Take time to reflect on all He has done for you and learn to walk in that peace.

I wish for you Shabbat Shalom!

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Your Israel Answer

Why Does Antisemitism Still Exist?

ANTISEMITISM’S MODERN FORMS

By Dr. Susan Michael, ICEJ USA Director

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The evil pursuit of the Jewish people has continued for millennia, which is why historian Robert Wistrich called antisemitism “the longest hatred.”

Every time this irrational vitriol seems to be dying out, it reinvents itself with a different look and a different name. But the goal is always the same: to rid the world of the Jewish people.

In the ancient world, antisemitism began as a clash between pagan rulers, who demanded obedient homage, and their Jewish subjects, who could only worship and obey the God of Israel. The Jewish people could not bow down to any other god and were bound by the Sinaitic Law to certain behaviors and observances that set them apart and incurred the wrath of tyrants.

This was the situation described in the book of Esther where the king’s consort, Haman, demanded the Jews bow to him, and when they would not, turned the might of the Persian Empire against them.

The Hanukkah story takes place under the rule of the Seleucid Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who attempted to make the Jews into Hellenistic pagans by banning their religious practices and desecrating their temple.

RELIGIOUS ANTISEMITISM One would think that once Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire, this problem would go away.

Instead, antisemitism took hold in the heart of Christian Europe, and among those who persecuted and hated the Jewish

people were professing Christians. Space does not permit a full treatment of this sad story, but centuries of state and churchbacked denigration, persecution, forced conversions, and expulsions paved the way for the Holocaust.

Proof of this is found in Martin Luther’s antisemitic writings that were published and distributed by the Nazis to justify their anti-Jewish laws and, eventually, their extermination program. Hitler admitted as much when he told two Catholic bishops who questioned his policy that he was only putting into effect what Christianity had preached and practiced for 2,000 years.

RACIAL ANTISEMITISM The form of antisemitism found in Nazi ideology was not based on religion, however, but on racial theories promoting the superiority of the Aryan race. Whereas Christianity had sought the conversion of the Jews, and state leaders had sought their expulsion, the Nazis sought the “final solution” to the Jewish problem—the murder of all Jews and their eradication from the human race.

POLITICAL ANTISEMITISM The modern form of antisemitism that has found a stronghold and large-scale acceptance today is political. It is against the Jewish state and is called anti-Zionism.

Not all criticism of Israel can be considered anti-Semitic.

However, criticism of Israel becomes anti-Semitic when it: 1) delegitimizes the state and questions its right to exist; 2) uses anti-Jewish rhetoric

and stereotypes or compares Israelis to Nazis; 3) judges Israel by a different standard than any other nation; or 4) becomes an excuse to attack local Jewish individuals and institutions.

During the 2014 war in Gaza, a defensive war on Israel’s part to prevent further missile launches from Hamas, there were attacks on synagogues and Jewish citizens in France, refrains such as “Jews to the gas” in Germany, the use of swastikas at anti-Israel demonstrations, and antisemitism caricatures in newspapers and social media.

THE FACE OF EVIL While anti-Zionism is the new “socially accepted” expression of antisemitism, it is important to note that racism and religious bigotry do still exist. Widespread religious antisemitism is found throughout the Muslim world. Interestingly, the secular globalists in the West will not condemn it because of their own anti-Semitic biases.

Antisemitism is likened to a virus that never entirely dies but mutates and begins growing again as a new strain needing new treatments.

There is no explanation for this but a biblical one. Antisemitism is at its root spiritual—the ugly face of evil.

Psalm 83 describes it as a war against God Himself in which the Jews are the target.

Revelation 12 describes it as war by spiritual forces depicted as a dragon.

It is, therefore, imperative that Christians stand up against this evil influence vocally, politically, and aggressively—but also with much prayer.

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