ISRAEL - JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANS

David's Comment: Will the God of Israel Intervene Soon ? SEPT 9,07

Modern Israel's worst Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert is hanging on to his position with all of the means he can muster. Accused of a miserable performance as the nations leader during last year's Lebanon war, and facing charges of serious financial and political corruption, even many of his own Kadima party members of government are losing patience with him. Popularity polls have him with an embarrassing 1% of public approval, that in itself enough reason for any decent leader to resign. But Olmert, the dangling puppet dancing on the strings of the Bush administration, wont let go.

It is my opinion that this man is totally unfit to lead the nation of Israel, for the following reasons.

1/ his total lack of experience as evidenced by the failure to attain the goals in last years Lebanon War
2/ his apparent willingness to give away the entire West Bank and allow a Palestinian State in God's Land
3/ his refusal to protect Israeli citizens living under constant Hamas rocket attack in Sderot and the Western Negev
4/ his failure to rehouse the Israeli citizens violently evicted from their homes in Gaza
5/ the various and very serious charges of corruption that are pending against him
6/ his wife is a peace activist who must be influencing his decisions concerning the nations defense
7/ his son left the country to evade serving in the army
8/ his daughter is also a peace activist who has protested outside the home of the IDF Chief of Staff calling for him to resign over something the IDF was innocent of

As if all the above is not enough, the Olmert government tricked all of the citizens of Israel into trading in our present gas masks, in exchange for improved versions. The government is now refusing to issue the new masks, while Syria stocks up on chemical and biological warheads. Even if Israel had a few days warning of a Syrian strike, that would not be enough time to distribute the new masks to every resident of the larger Israeli cites which would be the target of any Syrian attack. What sort of prime minister leaves his people is such a precarious situation ?

Its time for a massive change in Israeli leadership. Please join with us as we beseech the Lord to make those changes. Let us petition the Lord of Hosts to either change Olmert's heart or to change the prime minister. We believe that the best candidate for the post is the former PM Benjamin Netanyahu. He wasnt so great last time he was Israel's leader, but we believe he will do better given another chance. One thing is for sure, he couldnt be any worse ! The situation is urgent and needs an urgent response............. in prayer and intercession.

Will the God of Israel Intervene Soon ? I surely hope so for all our sake !!!

The Lord bless you as you bless Israel by standing in defense of her right to exist on the land given to the Jewish people by the God of Israel . Lets pray that Israel will turn back to their God. Do not be silent, but share this with your fellow Christians, share it with your pastors, and with anyone you have a chance to speak to. Lets also pray for that breakthrough to the Muslims, and please remember to pray for our son Jordan, and all of his fellow soldiers in the IDF.

Shabbat Shalom ... David & Josie

This Week with Rabbi Eckstein
September 7 , 2007
Dear Friend of The Fellowship,

I’ve spoken before about the terrible plight of the city of Sderot, located in Israel’s Negev Desert just a few miles from the Gaza Strip. For the last seven years, terrorists operating out of Gaza have fired thousands of rockets at Sderot and surrounding communities.Over this time, eleven civilians have been killed in the attacks and more than 4,000 injured. Thousands more have suffered severe trauma requiring extensive counseling. By some estimates, 20 percent of Sderot’s population has fled, wreaking havoc on the city’s economy. The cost of these attacks, in both human and economic terms, has been staggering.Rocket attacks in the region have become so routine that the press barely pays attention to them anymore. But Sderot was again in the news this week when a rocket fell next to a kindergarten where children were attending their second day of school. Miraculously, no one was killed, but the incident illustrates the terrible danger and fear Israelis in this area live with every day. Recognizing this, Israeli Defense Minster Ehud Barak declared a state of emergency in the areas of Israel bordering Gaza.

Few cities are in greater need of protection than Sderot. That is why earlier this year, at the request of Sderot’s mayor, The Fellowship made a commitment to help protect citizens by providing desperately needed funds to refurbish 42 of the 56 public bomb shelters in this beleaguered, shell-shocked city.I am happy to report that at this critical time of need work on the shelters is well underway. Many renovations will be completed in the near future. As the work on the shelters is finished, they will be dedicated with plaques acknowledging the contributions of The Fellowship’s partners, whose generosity is providing life-saving protection for the people of Sderot. If and when, God forbid, the shelters ever need to be used, the residents will undoubtedly be praying for safety from the deadly rockets as well as for our friends, who helped provide that shelter and safety.

The total cost of this project is approximately $1.2 million. Today, I ask you to make a contribution to The Fellowship’s Guardians of Israel program to help us complete this urgent project in a timely fashion. It could truly mean the difference between life and death for the people of Sderot and the surrounding region, who have suffered so greatly for so long.May God bless you for your generosity. Please join me in prayer for the continued protection of the citizens of Sderot, and for peace in Jerusalem, Israel, and the Middle East.

With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS.

WHAT'S AHEAD THIS FALL?
Dobson interviews on radical Islam to re-air Sept 10-11.
By Joel C. Rosenberg

(WASHINGTON, D.C., September 6, 2007) -- Rumors are that Osama bin Laden is planning to release a new video next week....Syria says it's ready for war after firing on an Israeli plane overnight....Tehran's ambassador to Damascus says violation of Syrian airspace by Israeli aircraft is intolerable attempt to create tension in the region, and adds that 'Israel must act reasonably and not cause another war.....but Israel says it didn't attack....so, how was your summer? It's been very full for Lynn, the boys and me....we've done a lot of traveling to speak at churches and conferences on the rising tensions in the Middle East and how Christians should respond....we had the privilege of meeting with many dear Joshua Fund supporters, and speaking on a lot of radio and TV shows....we've gotten a little r&r....and this morning I finally finished writing DEAD HEAT, the fifth and final political thriller in THE LAST JIHAD series....Lord willing, it will be released nationwide on March 18, 2008....that said, here's a quick snapshot of what's coming up this fall.

FALL SCHEDULE

* Sunday, September 9th: Pastor Raul Ries has invited me to be speak on Israel, Iran and The Joshua Fund at Calvary Chapel Golden Springs, California, a congregation of about 14,000. (Services are at 8am, 10am, 11:45am, and 6pm)

* Mon/Tues, September 10th and 11th: Focus on the Family will re-air the radio interview Dr. Dobson did with me on the threat of radical Islam to the U.S. and Israel and how evangelical Christians should respond in light of this serious threat. (Please check local listings for station and time in your area)

* Thursday, September 13th: Janet Parschall has invited me to be on her radio program from 2:15pm to 3:00pm eastern to discuss the Epicenter DVD and The Joshua Fund.

* Sat/Sun, September 15th and 16th: Pastor Ray Bentley has invited me to speak on Israel, Iran and The Joshua Fund at Marantha Chapel in San Diego, California, a congregation of about 8,000. (Services are at 6pm Saturday, and 8:30am, 10:30am and 6pm on Sunday)

* Tuesday, September 18th: Pastor Chuck Smith has asked me to speak on the latest developments in the Middle East and The Joshua Fund's new "Operation Epicenter" as part of the 2007 Calvary Chapel Prophecy Conference. (Event begins at 7:30pm pacific)

* Sat/Sun, September 22nd and 23rd in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
-- 9am (Sat): Businessman's breakfast at Abiding Savior Free Lutheran
-- 7pm (Sat): Public forum at Elmen Center, Augustana College
-- 9am, 10am (Sun): Central Baptist Church

* Mon/Tues, September 24th and 25: Taping 100 Huntley Street in Toronto, Canada (for airing in October)

* Tuesday, October 17th: Speak at the Pentagon (7am)

* Fri/Sat, October 19th and 20th: Address the Olive Tree Ministries prophecy conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota

* Sunday, October 21st: California

-- 8:15am/10:45am: Speak at Bakersfield First Assembly (Pastor Steven Hunt)
-- 7pm: Speak at Calvary Chapel Downey in Downey, CA (Pastor Jeff Johnson, 8,000 people)

* Friday, October 26th: Speak at fund-raiser for Ministry Architecture, Inc., Denver, Colorado

* Sunday, October 28th: Speak at Greenwood Community Church, Denver, Colorado

* Sat/Sun, November 3rd and 4th: Speak at McLean Bible Church (Pastor Lon Solomon, 9,000 people)

* November: Research in the Middle East for a new non-fiction book I'm writing called Revolution

* Thursday, November 29th: Speak at fund-raiser for E3 Partners, Dallas, Texas

* Sunday, December 2nd: Speak at Calvary Chapel Tucson (8,000 people)

WEBLOG with the latest on events in the Middle East and Russia, including articles mentioned in this Flash Traffic and the latest on Syria's plans to retake the Golan Heights. www.joelrosenberg.com (with link to Epicenter DVD, which includes an exclusive interview with former Prime Minister Netanyahu on the serious threats facing Israel, particularly from a nuclear Iran) www.joshuafund.net

Last update - 19:14 06/09/2007
TIMELINE: A chronology of Israel-Syria relations since 1947 By Reuters

Syria said Thursday that it had fired on an Israel Air Force jet that violated its territory and warned it retained the right to respond. The two countries are formally at war, but a cease-fire has held on the Golan Heights since 1974, a year after Syria launched a war that failed to regain the plateau captured by Israel seven years earlier. Here is a short timeline on Israel-Syrian relations since 1947:

November 1947: Syria opposes United Nations General Assembly partition plan envisaging Jewish and Arab states side by side.

May 1948: When British mandate ends, Jews proclaim State of Israel. Syria and other Arab armies invade.

July 1949: Israel and Syria sign armistice agreement but on-and-off hostilities continue.

June 1967: Israel captures Golan Heights in the Six-Day War.

October 1973: Syria joins Egypt in a surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar in an attempt to regain the Golan Heights. Despite sustaining heavy losses, Israel thwarts the assault.

1974: Following postwar clashes on the Golan Heights, Syria and Israel sign an disengagement of forces agreement.

1981: Israel annexes the Golan Heights, a move condemned internationally, and gives its Druze Muslim occupants the option of Israeli citizenship. Most reject the offer.

June 1982: Israel sends forces into Lebanon and eventually drives out Yasser Arafat and his Palestine Liberation Organization. Syria, the main foreign power broker in Lebanon, loses dozens of aircraft in dogfights with Israel Air Force warplanes in eastern Lebanon.

December 1999: Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shara meet for the highest-level talks between the two countries.

January 2000: Israeli-Syrian talks on the return of most of the Golan Heights to Syria collapse over the fate of a few hundred square metres of land by the Sea of Galilee.

August 2003: IAF warplanes fly over the holiday residence of President Bashar Assad as a message to Syria to rein in the Hezbollah guerrilla group.

October 2003: Israel Defense Forces troops attack a training camp for Palestinian militants near Damascus.

January 2004: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he is ready for peace talks with Syria, but only if Damascus halts support for terrorist agents.

June 2006: IAF warplanes again fly low over one of Assad's palaces to warn Syria against supporting Palestinian militants who captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

June 2007: Israel says it is willing to trade land for peace withg Syria, and is waiting to hear whether Assad would cut ties with Iran and terrorist groups in return.

August 2007: Syrian Vice President Farouk Shara says that it has no intention of waging war against Israel to regain the Golan Heights.

ANALYSIS: The question is, how will Damascus respond?

FUTURE FOR SYRIA - ISAIAH 17:1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

Why Is The Temple Mount So Important ?
Posted by The Editors on Friday, September 7, 2007 at 7:00 AM

One Jerusalem proudly brings you an important bloggers interview with one of the world's leading Biblical Archaeologists Dr. Gabriel Barkay and Yigal Caspi of the Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount.Dr. Barkay succinctly articulates the meaning of the Temple Mount to Jews and Christians as he calls for the world to stop the destruction being carried out by the Waqf.Listening to Dr. Barkay explain the Jewish and Christian connections to the Temple Mount you further understand why it is vital to stop the destruction of Jewish antiquities on the Temple Mount:

The Temple Mount is the heart, soul, and spirit of the Jewish people. It is the only holy place that Jews have and it is the place that is identified with the place chosen by the almighty which is mentioned in Deutoronomy. This is the place which is believed to be the place of the binding of Isaac, this is the place where David built the altar on the threshing floor of Aravna the Jebusite to stop the plague, this is the place where the first temple was built and the second followed it built by the returnees to Zion from the Babylonian captivity. This is also the place of the third edifice built on the site by King Herod the Great – that is the building which is so frequently mentioned in the New Testament.The temple Mount occupies about 1/6th of the total area of the old city of Jerusalem and this is one of the most important cornerstones of Western Civilization. It is at the moment the focus of a political battle and it is embodies within it the crux of the Near-Eastern conflict as both parties claim to have historical linkage to the site.

The Temple Mount represents the Near Eastern conflict in a nutshell and whatever happens to the Temple Mount will happen to the rest of the country. If the Temple Mount is under Palestinian rule and there is no accessibility to Jews to the Temple Mount and no control upon the antiquities discovered there that means that the legitimacy of Jews in the entire country is questioned.The gigantic stones of the Temple Mount are mentioned in the New Testament; Jesus was presented upon the Temple Mount as an infant, and later in his career he chased away the money changers from the Temple Mount; there are approximately twenty references to the Temple Mount in the New Testament and beyond any doubt the Temple Mount is an integral part of the Christian Heritage… it should be sacred and important to any civilized person all around the world.I am amazed that there was a world outcry concerning the blowing up of the statues of Buddha in the Bamiyan Valley by the Taliban Authorities in Afghanistan while the destruction on the Temple Mount didn’t hit the media and there was no outrage expressed.

In this session, Mr. Caspi recounts his frustrating experiences with the Prime Minister's Office and calls on people to contact the Prime Minister and American elected officials on behalf of preserving the Temple Mount.Dr. Barkay makes his motivation clear when he says that he would support independent archaeologists carrying our excavations on the Temple Mount if that would save the irreplaceable antiquities that are now in harms way.

Source: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Date: September 5, 2007
First Beehives In Ancient Near East Discovered

Science Daily — Archaeological proof of the Biblical description of Israel really as the land of milk and honey (or at least the latter) has been uncovered by researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Institute of Archaeology.Close-up of one of the ancient beehives found at Tel Rehov in Israel. (Credit: Hebrew University photo by Amihai Mazar).

Amihai Mazar, Eleazar L. Sukenik Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, revealed that the first apiary (beehive colony) dating from the Biblical period has been found in excavations he directed this summer at Tel Rehov in Israel's Beth Shean Valley. This is the earliest apiary to be revealed to date in an archaeological excavation anywhere in the ancient Near East, said Prof. Mazar. It dates from the 10th to early 9th centuries B.C.E. Tel Rehov is believed to have been one of the most important cities of Israel during the Israelite monarchy. The beehives there were found in the center of a built-up area there that has been excavated since 1997 by Dr. Nava Panitz-Cohen of the Hebrew University. Three rows of beehives were found in the apiary, containing more than 30 hives. It is estimated, however, based on excavations to date, that in all the total area would have contained some 100 beehives. Each row contained at least three tiers of hives, each of which is a cylinder composed of unbaked clay and dry straw, around 80 centimeters long and 40 centimeters in diameter.

One end of the cylinder was closed and had a small hole in it, which allowed for the entry and exit of the bees. The opposite end was covered with a clay lid that could be removed when the beekeeper extracted the honeycombs. Experienced beekeepers and scholars who visited the site estimated that as much as half a ton of honey could be culled each year from these hives. Prof. Mazar emphasizes the uniqueness of this latest find by pointing out that actual beehives have never been discovered at any site in the ancient Near East. While fired ceramic vessels that served as beehives are known in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, none were found in situ, and beekeeping on an industrial level such as the apiary at Tel Rehov is hitherto unknown in the archaeological record. Pictorial depictions of apiaries are known from Pharaonic Egypt, showing extraction of honey from stacked cylinders which are very similar to those found at Tel Rehov. Cylindrical clay beehives placed in horizontal rows, similar to those found at Tel Rehov, are well-known in numerous contemporary traditional cultures in Arab villages in Israel, as well as throughout the Mediterranean. The various products of beehives are put to diverse use: the honey is, of course, a delicacy, but is also known for its medicinal and cultic value. Beeswax was also utilized in the metal and leather industries, as well as for writing material when coated on wooden tablets.

The term honey appears 55 times in the Bible, 16 of which as part of the image of Israel as the land of milk and honey. It is commonly believed that the term refers to honey produced from fruits such as dates and figs. Bees' honey, on the other hand, is mentioned explicitly only twice, both related to wild bees. The first instance is how Samson culled bees' honey from inside the corpse of the lion in the Soreq Valley (Judges 14: 8-9). The second case is the story of Jonathan, King Saul's son, who dipped his hand into a honeycomb during the battle of Mikhmash (Samuel I 14:27). While the Bible tells us nothing about beekeeping in Israel at that time, the discovery of the apiary at Tel Rehov indicates that beekeeping and the extraction of bees' honey and honeycomb was a highly developed industry as early as the First Temple period. Thus, it is possible that the term honey in the Bible indeed pertains to bees' honey. Cultic objects were also found in the apiary, including a four-horned altar adorned with figures of naked fertility goddesses, as well as an elaborately painted chalice. This could be evidence of deviant cultic practices by the ancient Israelites related to the production of honey and beeswax.

Study of the beehives found at Tel Rehov is being conducted with the participation of various researchers. Dr. Guy Bloch of the Silberman Institute of Life Sciences of the Hebrew University is studying the biological aspects of the finds; he already discovered parts of bees' bodies in the remains of honeycomb extracted from inside the hives. Dr. Dvori Namdar of the Weizmann Institute of Science succeeded in identifying beeswax molecules from the walls of the beehives, and Prof. Mina Evron from Haifa University is analyzing the pollen remains in the hives. Dating of the beehives was done by measuring the decaying of the 14C isotope in organic materials, using grains of wheat found next to the beehives. This grain was dated at the laboratory of Groningen University in Holland to the period between the mid-10th century B.C.E. until the early 9th century B.C.E. This is the time period attributed to the reign of King Solomon and the first kings of the northern Kingdom of Israel following the division of the monarchy. The city of Rehov is indeed mentioned in an Egyptian inscription dating to the time of the Pharaoh Shoshenq I (Biblical Shishak), whom the Bible notes as the contemporary of King Solomon and who invaded Israel following that monarch's death.

A particularly fascinating find at the site is an inscription on a ceramic storage jar found near the beehives that reads To nmsh. This name was also found inscribed on another storage jar from a slightly later occupation level at Tel Rehov, dated to the time of the Omride Dynasty in the 9th century BCE. Moreover, this same name was found on a contemporary jar from nearby Tel Amal, situated in the Gan HaShelosha National Park (Sachne). The name Nimshi is known in the Bible as the name of the father and in several verses the grandfather of Israelite King Jehu, the founder of the dynasty that usurped power from the Omrides (II Kings: 9-12). It is possible that the discovery of three inscriptions bearing this name in the same region and dating to the same period indicates that Jehu's family originated from the Beth Shean Valley and possibly even from the large city located at Tel Rehov. The large apiary discovered at the site might have belonged to this illustrious local clan.

The excavations at Tel Rehov were supported by John Camp from Minneapolis in the U.S. with the participation of archaeological students from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and numerous volunteers.

Fast-track treaty talks start in Portugal
07.09.2007 - 09:20 CET | By Honor Mahony

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The first test of whether the fast-track timetable for the new EU treaty has a chance of succeeding will take place today (7 September) when foreign ministers discuss the contentious points in the document.EU presidency Portugal, in charge of the talks, wants the treaty wrapped up and signed off by EU leaders in six weeks time. The new treaty – known as the Reform Treaty – overhauls the EU's creaking institutions and was pasted together from the remains of the more ambitiously named EU constitution that was rejected in 2005.But despite Lisbon's best efforts to keep a lid on the discussions, Friday's meeting is set to throw up a number of controversial points that have been slowly simmering since the treaty outline was agreed before the summer.

Among the most difficult issues are the British opt-outs on the Charter of Fundamental Rights and on justice and home affairs.Several questions have been raised about their scope and how they will affect other member states in practice.
Poland is also anxious that its hard-won concession on the voting system - in the shape of a legislation blocking mechanism - will not be downgraded to a protocol rather than being written into the treaty.The exact scope of the EU's common foreign and security policy is also set to be discussed as is the exact shape and power structures of the proposed EU diplomatic service. Another issue is the statute of the European Central Bank. Its chief Jean-Claude Trichet wrote to the Portuguese presidency expressing concern that the bank's independence may be undermined by new wording in the proposed treaty. Meanwhile there are a whole host of other problems that have cropped up with member states using the everything-on--the-table atmosphere of treaty talks to raise national bugbears – a time honoured strategy in EU negotiations.Falling into this category are concerns raised by Austria on foreign student access to its universities and by Poland on the European Investment Bank. Warsaw wants a change in the bank's statute to make voting unanimous – Polish paper Rzeczpospolita reports that it wants to be able to block possible EIB investment into Russian monopoly Gazprom.

Two external factors

While all power-sharing discussions that take place within the EU are politically charged, these treaty talks have two important external factors weighing into the mix - elections in Poland and the pressure for a referendum on the EU treaty in the UK.These two factors – the Poles go to the ballot box on 21 October - are set to make the countries negotiate even more toughly during the summit.Even with no election in sight in June, it was Poland that kept fellow summiteers debating into the wee hours of the morning on the merits of a different voting system for the bloc. And now prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski is in political trouble at home.
Meanwhile, the UK's Gordon Brown is fighting calls to have a referendum by arguing that the secured red lines means one is not needed, indicating he will not be in a position to make concessions. EU leaders are aiming to get the treaty done and dusted by the end of the year and ratified throughout the 27 member states before the 2009 elections – hoping to banish the political ghost of the rejected EU constitution that was spurned by French and Dutch voters just over two years ago.

6 September 2007
Religion can strengthen European values, says EU president
Stephen Brown

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. Photo: Stephen Brown/ENI.

Sibiu, Romania (ENI). European Commission president José Manuel Barroso has praised the role of Christianity in promoting European unification, and has appealed to religions to strengthen the values on which the unity of the continent is based. A union that is reduced to its economic and geographic dimensions alone would lack unity, Barroso, who heads the executive arm of the 27-nation EU, told the Third European Ecumenical Assembly meeting in Sibiu, Romania, on 6 September. Your churches and confessional communities can contribute, and make a real contribution, to a better understanding between people through promoting mutual respect in a context of shared values, said Barroso in front of more than 2000 participants from all of Europe's main Christian traditions. Asked at a media conference, however, whether the new EU treaty should contain a specific reference to the continent's Christian heritage, as some church leaders have demanded, Barroso said his grouping had to respect all citizens equally, whatever their religion.

Christianity is obviously part of our great heritage in Europe. This is a historical fact, said the EC president. But it is also true that Europe is made up of diversity. We have many Muslims and we also have many people who have no religion at all.He added, What would be wrong is to pretend that religion does not exist in our society. That would be a big mistake.In his assembly speech, Barroso described Christianity as having been a force for unity in Europe throughout the centuries. At the same time, he added, Europe was now increasingly becoming a continent of many peoples, many cultures and many religions. Respect for diversity, openness to others and tolerance is firmly rooted in European culture. It is our trade mark, said Barroso. But this respect for diversity is based on the respect of deeper values that Europe must never be allowed to betray: freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of creative values.

Barroso praised the assembly organizers for holding the meeting in Romania, which with its neighbour Bulgaria became part of the EU on 1 January, and had, he said, a long history as a meeting place of different peoples and cultures. He also praised the initiative that led to the first European Ecumenical Assembly in Basel, Switzerland in 1989, which brought together Christians from eastern and Western Europe at a time when the Iron Curtain still divided the continent. The Sibiu assembly runs until 9 September and is an initiative of the Conference of European Churches and the Council of European (Roman Catholic) Bishops' Conferences. The two groupings account for most of Europe's Roman Catholic, Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches. In addition to the Basel gathering, an assembly also took place in Graz, Austria in 1997.

ENI featured articles are taken from the full ENI Daily News Service. Subscribe online to the Daily News Service and receive around 1000 full-text articles a year. ENI featured articles may be re-printed, re-posted, re-produced or placed on Web sites if ENI is noted as the source and there is a link to the ENI Web site www.eni.ch - 1994 - 2007 Ecumenical News International.

Europeans want the EU to take more global responsibility
07.09.2007 - 09:29 CET | By Helena Spongenberg

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The vast majority of Europeans want the European Union to take greater responsibility on the world stage - according to a new poll by the US German Marshall Fund - especially in aid development, trade and peacekeeping missions.Almost 90% of Europeans want the EU to play a bigger role globally while slightly more than half (53%) feel that the EU should cooperate with the US in dealing with global threats, compared with 43% who feel the EU should address threats independently from Washington.France was the only country where a majority (58%) feels the EU would do better to address global threats alone.Of those Europeans who feel the EU should take greater responsibility, top support was for more money on aid for development (84%), the use of trade to influence other countries (74%), and committing troops for peacekeeping missions (68%).

There was little support (20%) for committing troops for combat missions. Few Europeans support combat operations in Afghanistan now or against Iran in the future, the annual Transatlantic Trend survey published on Thursday (6 September) showed.The survey polled about 13,000 people in 12 European countries - Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey and the UK – as well as in the US.

Europeans Blame Bush and Turkey feels isolated

US president George Bush's foreign policy attracted disapproval ratings of 77 percent of Europeans and 60 percent of Americans. Some 34 percent of Europeans blamed Mr Bush himself and 38 percent blamed the US management of the Iraq war for a deterioration in transatlantic relations.Only 4 percent named the treatment of terrorism suspects at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba a reason.Turkish respondents expressed a decline in positive feelings toward both the EU and the US since similar polls in previous years. Forty percent of Turks said they viewed EU membership as a good thing, a drop of 14 percentage points since last year's survey.
When asked how likely it is that Turkey will join the EU, 56% of EU citizens asked felt it is likely that Turkey will join, compared with only 26% of Turkish respondents who agreed.The margin of error for the survey, which conducted interviews by telephone and in person during June, was plus or minus three percentage points.

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, August 2007, pages 50-51
Israel and Judaism. Concern Growing About Jewish Groups’ Liaison With Evangelical Israel Supporters - By Allan C. Brownfeld

The growing alliance between Evangelical Christian supporters of Israel and groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is stirring a growing debate.At AIPAC’s national conference in March, Pastor John Hagee, the evangelical minister from San Antonio, Texas who in 2006 founded Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the first Christian pro-Israel lobbying group, addressed the delegates and received a standing ovation.Hagee is a proponent of the theology known as dispensational premillennialism (see The Dangerous Potent Elixir of Christian Zionism by Pat Morrison, April 2007 Washington Report, p. 58). The author of several books setting forth his end days theology, Hagee’s latest volume, Jerusalem Countdown, depicts a scenario in which Iran and a coalition of Islamic countries, led by Russia, will unleash a nuclear attack on Israel, leading to the ultimate battle of Armageddon. According to Hagee, this battle between what he terms the Islamo-fascists and the Christians and Jews already is upon us.

Evangelical supporters of Israel vigorously oppose all peace efforts which involve territorial adjustments with the Palestinians. At the April 2002 Israel solidarity rally in Washington, DC, evangelical radio host Janet Parshall declared, We will not give back the Golan. When Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called for disengagement from Gaza, Christian Zionists opposed the government of Israel. The Rev. Pat Robertson even suggested that Sharon’s subsequent stroke was God’s punishment for abandoning land the Bible declared to be God’s patrimony to the Jews.Today, however, more and more Jewish voices are being heard expressing concern about the growing liaison between Jewish and evangelical groups.Writing in the May 2007 issue of Sh’ma, Gershon Gorenberg, author of The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements l967-l977 and The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for The Temple Mount, described Israel’s Evangelical supporters as follows: This is the kind of friend your mother should have warned you about when you were young: the one you accept when you are feeling unpopular, who is loud, dares you to do dangerous things, gives you a bad name, drives other people away.

Evangelical Christians are antagonistic to any territorial division of the Holy Land.

The existence of Israel, Gorenberg noted, proves that prophecy is coming true. For that the Jews are loved, he wrote. Yet the Jews—says the same theology—live in obstinate error as deniers of Jesus and will pay the price. Radio evangelist Chuck Missler, for instance, has asserted that Auschwitz was just a little prelude to what will happen to Jews in the approaching Last Days…This kind of cheering squad poses two practical risks. The first is that Israeli politicians will be tempted to believe that they can count on support for intransigence—indeed, that American political support will be most firm when they are most unbending. Christian Zionists are encouraging Israel to live dangerously.Jews who welcome Christian Zionist support, Gorenberg noted, dismiss the Evangelical theology. Since they don’t believe in the apocalypse or Second Coming, he noted, they regard such predictions as irrelevant. What matters [to them] is here-and-now support. This attitude shows spectacular disrespect for allies who base their lives on theology…The believers look forward to war. Mike Evans, who has built an evangelical ministry on supporting Israel, writes in his book Jerusalem Betrayed that an apocalypse is coming in Israel and urges readers to pray for that to happen.I don’t like that they would not like to see Israel trade land for peace, said Rabbi Jonathan Biatch of Temple Beth El in Madison, Wisconsin, because in my view that’s a very important formula. The real bottom line is the fact that this organization [CUFI] would like to exacerbate tensions in the Middle East so it will lead to Armageddon.

In Sacramento, California, the city’s largest Reform synagogue, Congregation B’nai Israel, declined to participate in the local Christians United for Israel event. Elsewhere, however, Jewish groups have joined with Hagee’s organization. A recent Night To Honor Israel held outside Minneapolis raised $l00,000.David Elcott, executive director of the Israel Policy Forum and former director of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee, said this of the Jewish-Evangelical alliance in the May 2007 Sh’ma:Christian Zionists, Evangelicals who know God’s will from their biblical insights and offer a literal reading of Scriptures, concern me…In fact, their support may endanger Israel’s future more than our fickle mainline Protestant friends…The last five governments of Israel have called for a Palestinian state living next to a secure, demographically viable Israel. Christian Zionists unequivocally condemn that solution.Elcott pointed out that Israelis support a two-state solution by a two-to-one margin. The last Hebrew University Truman Center study showed that 58 per cent of Israelis would negotiate with Hamas right now. A clear majority of American Jews polled in the latest American Jewish Committee survey also seek a Palestinian state as part of a negotiated settlement. Meanwhile, Evangelical Christians are antagonistic to any territorial division of the Holy Land, even if such an agreement could bring peace.Concluded Elcott: We should embrace in friendship and in dialogue all our Christian brothers and sisters, seek common cause where we can while engaging in respectful dialogue when we disagree…But it is time to unequivocally reframe the Middle East debate and make clear that the greatest defenders of the State of Israel…are those of us who advocate for an end to the conflict and peace for all those who reside in the land that all call holy.

In May, a typical Night To Honor Israel took place in Alexandria, Virginia. It was sponsored by The Jerusalem Connection International (JCI), under the auspices of CUFI. The Rev. Jim Hutchens, president of JCI and regional director of CUFI, was emphatic in his belief that Israel should not make any kind of territorial compromise with her neighbors. One of the speakers, the Rev. Jan Willem van der Hoeven, director of the International Christian Zionist Center in Jeru­salem, received a standing ovation after urging President George W. Bush: Do not divide the land and give the terrorists a base.Another speaker, WorldNetDaily.com founder and writer Joseph Farah, called the 2005 Gaza disengagement ethnic cleansing by the Israeli government that was an invitation to another genocide. Republican presidential candidate Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) said that it was on a trip to Israel a number of years ago that he decided he would never…support the giving up of one inch of the state of Israel. That will always be my position.Jewish participants in this meeting included Rabbi Marvin Bash, rabbi emeritus of Congregation Etz Hayim in Arlington, Virginia and chaplain at Fort Belvoir Jewish Military Congregation, and Rabbi Jack Moline of Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria. Rabbi Bash acknowledged that Jews who are more liberal about territorial compromise might have been uncomfortable with the program, but said he himself took a hard-line position and was not bothered by the opposition to giving back West Bank territory. Rabbi Moline thanked the group in his invocation for its love of the Jewish people and enduring love for the land of Israel and the state of Israel.

Also attending the meeting was Martin Peled-Flax, minister-counselor for domestic affairs at the Embassy of Israel. Thanking those in attendance for their past support for Israel, the Israeli diplomat urged them to continue to speak up and not be silent.Challenging those rabbis who agreed to participate in this Night To Honor Israel, Rabbi Gerald Serotta of Temple Shalom in Chevy Chase, Maryland, declared that, Most of us believe that Israel as a Jewish and democratic state cannot survive while controlling the entire Land of Israel. This is the most pressing reason not to give support to Christians United For Israel, and in fact to oppose their political impact. Serotta suggested that the rabbis should have told the audience that Kedushat Haam [survival of the Jewish people] is more important than Kedushat Haaretz [sanctity of the land].There is, of course, a certain irony in Jewish groups, which call for strict separation of church and state within the American political arena and sharply challenge the political role played by evangelical groups, to embrace—together with those very groups—a policy toward Israel based on an interpretation of biblical law. Philip Weiss, writing in the June 4, 2007 issue of The American Conservative, noted that, “Many Jews with strong feelings about Israel—many of whom…have never been there—are helping to shape public perceptions. Almost all these opinion-makers are self-described secular Jews who get worked up about separating church and state when it’s evangelical Christians trying to change laws on stem-cell research, abortion and gay marriage. Yet these seculars are often invested themselves, without being aware of it, in a religious ideology—a Jewish nationalist claim on the Holy Land inscribed in the Old Testament.

Jerry Falwell’s Role

The role of the late Jerry Falwell in forging the alliance between Christian fundamentalism and right-wing Zionism cannot be overestimated. In 1978, Falwell traveled to Israel on a trip sponsored for and by the Israeli government. In 1979, when Prime Minister Menachem Begin was building Jewish settlements throughout the West Bank, the Israelis extended another free trip. Falwell traveled the road toward the Palestinian town of Nablus, turned off the highway and stood at a cluster of prefabricated houses built by Jewish settlers. At the time, Falwell declared that God was kind to America only because America has been kind to the Jews. At a gala dinner in New York in 1980, Prime Minister Begin bestowed upon Falwell a medal named for Vladimir Jabotinsky, the right-wing Zionist leader. In 1981, when Israel bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor, Begin immediately called Jerry Falwell for support.

Expressing this mindset in Congress, Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-OK) stated on March 4, 2002 on the Senate floor, I believe very strongly that we ought to support Israel…because God said so…Look it up in the Book of Genesis…This is not a political battle at all. It is a contest over whether or not the word of God is true.Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, believes that inviting John Hagee to address AIPAC, and the growing alliance between Jewish and evangelical groups, may be alienating Jewish young people. As he wrote in the May 18 Forward: We have learned from extensive research that these young people are more socially liberal than their baby-boomer parents. They are pluralistic in their thinking and they are tolerant of difference…They respond negatively to those who disparage other religious traditions and who make exclusivist religious claims. They are inherently centrist in their political views on the Middle East. And they are suspicious of a Jewish establishment that they see as too focused on money and insufficiently focused on values. And so whom do we offer to these young people as a spokesman for Israel? John Hagee, who is contemptuous of Muslims, dismissive of gays, possesses a triumphalist theology and opposes a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. If our intention was to distance our young adults from the Jewish state, we could not have made a better choice.Beyond this, Yoffie wrote, Even worse, a primary motive here seems to be that we see Hagee and his Christians United for Israel as a source of dollars for federation coffers. The pattern has been that in return for federation sponsorship of dinners hosted by the lobbying group, contributions are made by Christians United for Israel to our federation fund-raising campaigns. The conclusion that our young people are most likely to draw from this arrangement is that we are simply selling our souls.

Allan C. Brownfeld is a syndicated columnist and associate editor of the Lincoln Review, a journal published by the Lincoln Institute for Research and Education, and editor of Issues, the quarterly journal of the American Council for Judaism.