Here is another article that gives similar info. Allan Rabbis express unprecedented criticism of American evangelical support for > Israel > > Monday May 10, 2004 > By JOSEF FEDERMAN > Associated Press Writer > > > JERUSALEM (AP) Prominent Israeli rabbis are for the first time speaking > out against Israel's profitable alliance with evangelical Christians in > the United States who have funneled tens of millions of dollars to the > Jewish state. > > The rabbis fear the Christians' real intent is to convert Jews, their > aides said Monday. Others are concerned about the evangelicals' support > for Israel's extreme right-wing, opposing any compromise with the > Palestinians. > > The dispute touches on an increasingly sensitive issue in Israel: the > country's dependence, both economically and politically, on conservative > American Christians. > > Besides contributing tidy sums to projects in Israel, some evangelical > Christians have lobbied in support of the Israeli government in Washington. > > Troubling to Israelis is the fact that one influential group of > evangelicals believes in a final, apocalyptic battle between good and evil > in which Jesus returns and Jews either accept him or perish a vision that > causes obvious discomfort among Jews. > > ``I'm worried as a Jew,'' said Mina Fenton, a Jerusalem City Council > member from an Orthodox Jewish party, who has led opposition to the > evangelical groups. ``I don't want my people to be assassinated, > sacrificed, killed or slaughtered because of their beliefs.'' > > Concern has been bubbling under the surface for some time, and although > leading rabbis had stayed in the background, their worries emerged Monday > in the Israeli media. > > The focus of the latest criticism has been the International Fellowship of > Christians and Jews, a Chicago-based group that has raised tens of > millions of dollars from Christian supporters of Israel. > > Two former chief rabbis of Israel, Avraham Shapira and Mordechai Eliahu, > recently approved a religious ruling urging followers not to accept money > from the group. > > The ruling, issued by Shapira in March and later signed by Eliahu, accused > the fellowship of accepting money from groups involved in ``missionary > activity.'' > > ``I don't see any permission to receive funds that aid in the infiltration > of the work of strangers under the false impression of aid to the needy,'' > the letter said. > > Rabbi Simcha Hacohen Kook, another critic of the fellowship, said he fears > the donors are trying to exploit Israel's most vulnerable people. ``Those > who don't have money don't ask questions,'' he said. > > ``They are spending millions of dollars to make people closer to > Christianity,'' said Kook, chief rabbi of the city of Rehovot and member > of a rabbinical dynasty. ``The situation is very serious.'' > > Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president of the International Fellowship of > Christians and Jews, brushed off the criticism as complaints by a tiny > minority. > > He said the group has raised $100 million, including $20 million last year > alone, to assist Israel's poor, elderly and new immigrants, as well as > impoverished Jewish communities in the former Soviet Union. The group > sponsors projects in 85 Israeli towns and cities, he said. > > Eckstein, an Orthodox rabbi, also noted that he has served as an adviser > to Israeli prime ministers and sits on the boards of the Jewish Agency and > Joint Distribution Committee, influential groups that serve Jewish > communities abroad. > > Although many of the thousands of donors to his group may hope to convert > Jews, Eckstein said, ``we just don't allow any kind of missionary > activity.'' > > He said his donors are motivated by other factors, including the Jews' > connection to the biblical Land of Israel and feelings of guilt over > anti-Semitism. > > ``Judaism does not focus so much on motivations as much as deeds,'' he > said. ``In Judaism, the actions speak louder than words, and certainly > louder than motivations.'' > > He also claimed that Eliahu has received funding from the fellowship in > the past and has signaled in recent days that he would continue to allow > his supporters to accept the funds. > > People close to Eliahu said the rabbi remains opposed to the group. > Eliahu's spokesman did not return repeated messages left Monday. > > Maintaining good relations with American evangelicals is important to > Israel's government. Evangelicals make up a powerful base of support for > President Bush and enjoy close ties with the White House. > > But many evangelical groups have shown a growing interest in Israeli > politics, adopting views considered extreme in Israel. > > The groups opposed the U.S.-backed ``road map'' peace plan when it was > launched last year, because it would lead to Israeli concessions, and they > opposed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's attempts to uproot Jewish > settlements in the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. > > Hundreds of evangelical churches offer regular donations to Jewish > settlements for school equipment, playgrounds, medical supplies and > bulletproof buses. > > Rabbi David Rosen, international director of inter-religious affairs in > the American Jewish Committee's Jerusalem office, said this political > activity is a larger concern than charitable work. > > ``There's support for some of the most extreme political positions in > Israeli society,'' Rosen said. ``That I find far more disturbing than any > suggestion that there could be missionary activity.'' > > (Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter R. Ellis & family" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 3:59 PM Subject: FW: Palestinian Christians - persecuted, tormented, abandoned and alone > Dear all, > > This email has come to my direct attention. > > Dr Abe Ata checks out at the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Arts, and various seaches reveal a well published commentator of the Palestinian Christian cause and various other issues related to that region. > > For consideration. > > Peter > > -- > Peter R. Ellis > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Dr Abe Ata [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, 12 May 2004 14:50 > Subject: Palestinian Christians - persecuted, tormented, abandoned and alone > > > > > Exodus of the > Palestinian Christians > > Dear Sir > The Palestinian Christian is an endangered species. When the modern state of Israel was established there were about 400000 of us. Two years ago the number was down to 80000. Now it's down to 60000. At that rate, in a few years there will be none of us left. > Palestinian Christians within Israel fare little better. On the face of it, their number has grown by 20000 since 1991. But this is misleading, for the census classification 'Christian' includes some 20000 recent non-Arab migrants from the former Soviet Union. > So why are Palestinian Christians abandoning their homeland? > We have lost hope, that's why. We are treated as non-people. Few outside the Middle East even know we exist, and those who do, conveniently forget. > I refer, of course, to the American Religious Right. They see the modern Israel as a harbinger of the Second Coming, at which time Christians will go to Paradise, and all others (presumably including Jews) to Hell. To this end they lend military and moral support to Israel. > Even by the double-dealing standards of international diplomacy this is a breathtakingly cynical bargain. It is hard to know who is using whom more: the Christian Right for offering secular power in the expectation that the Jewish state will be destroyed by a greater spiritual one; or the Israeli Right for accepting their offer. What we do know is that both sides are abusing the Palestinians. Apparently we don't enter into anyone's calculations. > The views of the Israeli Right are well known: they want us gone. > Less well known are the views of the American Religious Right. Strangely, they find the liberation Iraqis from a vile dictator just, but do not find it unjust for us to be under military occupation for 38 long years. Said Senator James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma): 'God Appeared to Abraham and said: "I am giving you this land,"the West Bank. This is not a political battle at all. It is a contest over whether or not the word of God is true.' > House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) was even more forthright: 'I'm content to have Israel grab the entire West Bank. I happen to believe that the Palestinians should leave.' > There is a phrase for this. Ethnic cleansing. > So why do American Christians stand by while their leaders advocate the expulsion of fellow Christians? Could it be that they do not know that the Holy Land has been a home to Christians since, well. since Christ? > Do not think I am asking for special treatment for Christians. Ethnic cleansing is evil whoever does it and to whomever it is done. Palestinian Christians: Anglican, Maronite Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Armenians, Baptists, Copts and Assyrians have been rubbing shoulders with each other and with other religions: Muslims, Jews, Druze and (most recently) Baha'is for centuries. We want to do so for centuries more. But we can't if we are driven out by despair. > What we seek is support: material, moral, political and spiritual. As Palestinians we grieve for what we have lost, and few people (the Ashkenazi Jews are one) have lost more than us. But grief can be assuaged by the fellowship of friends. > > (Signed Prof. Abe W. Ata is a 9th generation Christian Palestinian born in Bethlehem. > > ------------------------------------------------------ > - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] > - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) > See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm > ------------------------------------------------------ > ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
