Evangelizing the Jews: The New Techniques
by Rabbi Tovia Singer

To bring about the Second Coming, fundamentalist Christians believe they must convert the Jews. Having failed in the past, they are now armed with a new arsenal of deceptive techniques.

No Sunday services take place here; this congregation meets only on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. You will never see a cross or an altar; there is an Aaron Hakodesh (holy ark) with a star of David adorning its velvet cover, and a Bimah (stage for prayer services) in the center of the sanctuary.

The majority of the men who worship here wear kipot, and their tzitzit hang down the sides of their pants. This congregation's rabbi, among many other functions, reads from the Torah and makes Kiddush every Shabbat. Most of the women are modestly dressed. Joyous shouts of "Shabbat Shalom" and "Baruch Hashem" can be heard as young couples greet each other. The sanctuary pulsates to a modern Israeli musical beat.If this sounds like a description of a traditional Jewish house of worship, think again.

The above is actually a description of any one of the hundreds of Messianic "synagogues" which flourish throughout the world.Confused? Many are.Such congregations are designed to appear Jewish, but they are actually fundamentalist Christian churches which use traditional Jewish symbols to lure the most vulnerable of our Jewish people into their ranks.

Messianic "rabbis," many of whom are Jewish by birth, are committed to bringing the Jewish people to know Jesus. Their agenda is to make Christianity more palatable to the uneducated Jew, and to the astonishment and horror of the Jewish community, their marketing ploys are proving to be successful.Twenty-two years ago, twelve Messianic congregations existed in the United States. Today, more than 300 actively attract and recruit Jews who, because they lack a sound Jewish education and support system, are buying the manipulative rhetoric and persuasive techniques of the Hebrew-Christian missionary movement.

Additionally, there are over 600 Christian missions dedicated to converting the Jewish people. It is estimated that there are more than 200,000 Hebrew-Christians in North America and Israel. As an exit-counselor who works with families to reclaim their Jewish family members from these churches, I can testify that the cost in terms of Jewish souls is dear.WHO ARE THESE MISSIONARIES?In order to understand the dynamics of the missionary problem, we must first understand who exactly these missionaries are.

To the Jewish community, the word "missionary" is a charged word, with a multitude of misconceptions attached to it. Typically, the word "missionary" is associated with those people who stand on street corners, annoyingly and ubiquitously distributing literature that tries to persuade individuals to believe in Jesus.When we think of missionaries we might think of an organization with members, mailing lists, secretaries, and buildings to which we can point and say, "You see that building on 31st street, between Lexington and Park (New York headquarters of Jews For Jesus)? They are the missionaries."This is merely one of a variety of misconceptions we have about missionaries and how they operate.

A number of years ago I lectured at a large university campus in Ohio. In my conversation with a dean we began to discuss the work I do. He immediately reassured me that at his university, they did not have a missionary problem. He recalled how years earlier there were indeed missionaries on his campus who distributed pamphlets and misused traditional Jewish symbols for the purpose of evangelizing. "But we don't have that here anymore," he insisted. "Tell me, are there any fundamentalist born-again Christians on your campus?" I asked.He quickly snapped, "What? Are you kidding? This is the Midwest! We're packed with them!"

I then told him that indeed he had a serious missionary problem on his campus because, in reality, fundamentalist, born-again Christians are dedicated to the idea of bringing every Jew to a belief in Jesus.Our second mistake is that we tend to view the Christian world as a monolithic group of gentiles who all essentially believe the same thing. In fact, the Christian world -- with hundreds of variant denominations that differ on numerous fundamental theological issues -- is far more diverse than the Jewish world. At a baseball game, it is sometimes difficult to know who the players are without a scorecard. Let's break down the Christian world for a moment so that we know precisely to whom we are referring.

THE COMPLEX CHRISTIAN WORLD

The Roman Catholic Church is by far the largest denomination in Christendom. Yet despite its past often-bitter relationship with the Jewish people, today Catholics are for the most part not interested in converting Jews. I need not worry that a Catholic priest is going to evangelize any of my patients at a hospital. If anything, he is one of the people who will show me where I can secure a kosher meal.

Another significant segment of the Christian world, especially in North America, is the Protestant community. For our purposes, we will over generalize and divide the Protestant world into two groups. One group, the mainline or liberal Protestants (Methodist, Unitarian, etc.), is not at all interested in converting Jews. Liberal leaning Protestant denominations tend to shy away from any form of Jewish evangelism. It is, however, the other highly motivated and vocal segment within the Protestant community -- the fundamentalist, born-again Christians -- who are unyielding in their staunch commitment to convert the Jews.

There are two rules about Jewish evangelism that must always be kept in mind.

The first rule is that the Christian who makes the very first critical and successful contact with the Jew is never a professional missionary. It will not be a paid staff member of Jews for Jesus or Chosen People Ministries. Rather, it is almost always a layperson -- perhaps a secretary at the office, a roommate in college or someone on the same swim team -- who makes that initial connection. Only after the lay evangelical Christian has made this preliminary contact will the professional missionaries step in to the conversion process.

Secondly, the Christian layperson who makes that all-important first contact with the Jew is invariably a gentile. It is extremely rare for a "Hebrew-Christian" to successfully make that initial contact with a Jew. The perceived betrayal of the Jewish people by the Hebrew-Christian's apostasy sullies his message in the mind of a Jew. Only after the lay gentile born-again Christian has made that first crucial and successful encounter with a Jew will the Hebrew-Christian missionaries step in to finalize the conversion.

In essence, the central role that Christian missions like Jews for Jesus plays is to act as a clearinghouse and support system for evangelical churches around the world. As a result, these "Jewish missions" spend much of their resources and manpower teaching lay missionaries in gentile churches.How serious a problem are these Protestant fundamentalist Christians? How many born-again Christians are there in the United States?Their numbers are not small. According to most estimates, there are well over 50 million Americans who identify themselves as born-again Christians. That is, approximately one in five Americans is part of this army of lay people dedicated to "share" their faith with a Jew.

When I spoke in Nashville a number of years ago, an Assemblies of God minister bluntly told me that he would rather convert one Jew than 50,000 gentiles.

WHY THE JEWS?

A question that naturally comes to mind is: Why the Jews? Why are these fundamentalist Christians so consumed with bringing the Jewish people to "know Jesus?" Why has the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, the Southern Baptist Convention, passed numerous resolutions encouraging more than 15 million American members to target and evangelize the Jewish people? There are several reasons.

Firstly, the New Testament specifically prioritizes Jews for conversion. In the book of Matthew (10:5), when Jesus is instructing his apostles, he warns them, "Go not into the way of the gentiles ... but only go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

The Apostle Paul echoes the identical sentiment in the first chapter of the book of Romans when he declares, "Go to the Jew first, then to the Greek (i.e. gentile)." We find a recurrent and unique emphasis on reaching the Jews in the New Testament, especially in the Gospels, almost to the exclusion of the gentiles.

A second reason for this obsession relates to the Church's fascination with eschatology, the study of the End of Times. Fundamentalist Christians are consumed by the prophecies surrounding the end of days. They want to know when the Messiah will come/return. How will this take place? To which nations did the prophet Ezekiel refer when he described how apocalyptic nations would wage war against Jerusalem before the final hour leading to the messianic age (Ezekiel 38-39)? Christian bookstores typically set aside an entire section dedicated to eschatological inquiry. How does all this apocalyptic speculation and discussion relate to our subject?

At the end of the book of Matthew (23:39), Jesus is quoted making a very important statement. He says, "I will not return until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" Because Jesus was speaking to a Jewish audience at the time he made this statement, Christians have always understood this statement to have one meaning: Jesus will not make his second coming until the Jews are converted.

The Jews, therefore, are holding up the show.Fundamentalist Christians also believe that Jesus is going to make his second coming in or about the year 2000 (counting from Jesus' birth); therefore, the Jews must be converted by then, en masse, in order to enable Jesus to return.(Bear in mind that there remains considerable controversy among Christians as to the year of Jesus' birth. Many Christians -- largely based on Luke's narrative -- place the 2,000th year from Jesus' birth in the year 2007).Finally, the most significant reason for the church's preoccupation with the Jews stems from the credibility problem that the faith of a Jew presents to Christendom.

THE MESSIAH COMPLEX

Jesus was a Jew and Christians claim that he is the promised Messiah about whom the prophets spoke. The idea of the Messiah -- who will come at the end of days to usher in a utopian society of love, peace, and the universal knowledge of God -- is exclusively Jewish. Fundamentalist Christians insist that if the Jews would only look in their own Hebrew scriptures they would find Jesus literally bouncing off every page. It, therefore, stands to reason that the Jews should have been the first to embrace Jesus and his teachings, if in fact Jesus was the prophesied Messiah.

Yet, the Jews were the very people who did not accept Jesus.This has always been a troubling reality to the Christian Church since its inception. It is for this reason that only the conversion of a Jew to Christianity can lend credibility -- never the conversion of the gentile.Peering back into world history, it would probably be quite difficult for any of us to think of another program that has been a more miserable failure than the church's persistent effort to convert the Jews to Christianity.

Bear in mind that Christianity swept through Europe almost overnight. The same is true for Latin America. Yet the Jews, with all their problems of persecution and forced exile, still would not convert.With the approach of the end of the second millennium, evangelicals were faced with a serious dilemma: How were they to finally bring the Jewish people to accept Jesus? This quandary was no small theological challenge to the church.

With the year 2000 in sight, two critical conferences were convened a little more than a quarter of a century ago. The first was held in Switzerland and the other in Thailand. The main questions that were asked at those two symposiums was: Why has the Church been so unsuccessful in their past efforts to convert the Jews, and what new techniques can be employed to attract masses of new Jewish converts to the church by the turn of the century? It was at these two unlikely locations that devout evangelists placed the Jewish people under a microscope. Indeed, it was at these symposiums that those Christians understood that the church had a number of serious challenges with respect to converting the Jews.

PUBLIC RELATIONS PROBLEM

The first problem they discovered was that the church had a significant public relations problem. They concluded that Jewish people historically tend to equate Christianity with persecution. Jewish people often feel somewhat uncomfortable just hearing the words "Jesus Christ," and when they see a cross or a church icon, it rarely conjures up warm, affectionate feelings. On the contrary, whereas Christians tend to feel quite comfortable in synagogues, or observing Jewish ceremonies, Jewish people tend to feel alienated by churches and their icons.

Taking this public relations problem head on, these evangelists initiated a unique approach. It goes something like this, "You're Jewish? We Christians just love the Jewish people! Persecution? Oh, no! Any Christian who persecuted a Jew in the name of Jesus couldn't be a real Christian. A real Christian only loves the Jewish people!"This novel technique enables Christians to freely evangelize Jews by distancing themselves from their Christian forbears. In this way, potential Jewish converts will not feel alienated by Christendom.These evangelists realized, however, that simply smothering us with love could not in itself be totally effective. Jews would not simply start converting to Christianity en masse because evangelicals loudly condemned anti-Semitism. They understood that the essential reason why Jews do not convert is because they do not want to stop being Jewish, and Jews view Christianity as antithetical to Judaism.

With this realization, these highly motivated missionaries developed an entirely new and remarkably simple approach to Jewish evangelism. It goes like this, "When you're becoming a believer in Jesus, you are not converting to another religion. On the contrary, you're becoming a 'fulfilled Jew' or a 'completed Jew.' After all, Jesus was a Jew and his followers were Jewish; therefore, believing in Jesus must be the most Jewish thing you can do."Messianic "synagogues" do not observe Christian holidays. You will never find a Christmas tree or blinking colored lights around December in a Messianic congregation. Instead, these missionaries celebrate Jewish holidays with a "Christological" spin. Throughout the world, Messianic congregations hold elaborate and well-publicized Passover Seders.

A MESSIANIC "SEDER"

At first glance, a Messianic Seder table appears quite traditional, with all of the customary essentials: Seder plate, matzah, and wine. Once the ceremony begins to unfold, however, even the most uninitiated will immediately realize that something is askew. Participants are told that the wine at the Seder table represents the blood of Yeshua/Jesus, and the matzah represents his body. Do you know the real reason why Jews have three matzoth at the Seder table? To represent the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Do you know why the matzahs are perforated? Because Jesus was pierced through when he was crucified. Why does the matzah have stripes? Because Jesus had stripes across his back as a result of the beating he endured during his trial. Why is the middle matzah broken? Because Jesus was brutally broken on the cross. Why is the matzah wrapped in a white towel? Because Jesus was wrapped in a white burial shroud. Why is this middle matzah hidden? Because Jesus was hidden away in the tomb following his crucifixion. Why is the matzah brought back at the end of the meal? Because Jesus will return in the Second Coming at the End of Days.

Messianic congregations will never be listed in the Yellow Pages under churches. They are always listed with the synagogues. Additionally, the Messianic movement has created a remarkable tool for Jewish evangelism called a "communications card." This card carefully guides evangelicals on how to talk to a Jew in a manner that will not alienate them as potential converts. A two-column card which is usually wallet-sized for easy transport and access reads:

• "Don't say Jesus Christ; Do say Messiah Yeshua," "Don't say convert; do say "Messianic, completed, fulfilled Jew."
• Don't say "Christian; do say Bible believer," etc.

In essence, the Messianic movement's fundamental approach seeks to blur the distinctions between Judaism and Christianity in order to lure Jews who would otherwise resist a straightforward Christian message. To the horror of the Jewish world, it is a tactic that has achieved remarkable success with the most vulnerable segments of our community -- the very young, the very old, and our Russian brethren.

Why are these at-risk Jews so desperately susceptible to this current missionary assault? Why do evangelicals cull our Jewish youth with relative ease? The answers to these questions will be discussed in Part 2 of this article.

Author Biography:

Rabbi Tovia Singer is the national director of Outreach Judaism, an international organization dedicated to countering the efforts of Christian groups and cults who specifically target Jews for conversion. He is the author of the "Let's Get Biblical" tape series and Study Guide, numerous articles, and is a frequent guest on television and radio shows. For further information, please contact: Outreach Judaism, P.O. Box 789, Monsey, New York 10952; (914) 356-1915; or www.outreachjudaism.org

by Marnie Winston-Macauley

Outrageous, odd, fascinating Jewish facts and figures.

AND IS THE MOON CREAM CHEESE?

The King of Jewish food, the bagel, has become universal. But who knew how universal? While many scientists believe that the universe is expanding spherically, some are starting to wonder if the universe is bagel-shaped, according to Tony Rothman, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, which he discusses in detail in his book, Doubt and Certainty. Oy. If it becomes a "certainty," the Talmudic debate over whether the universe is poppy seed or onion alone, will take another 3,000 years!

TEFILLIN WINS WORLD SERIES?
Can a brilliant Jewish athlete and a pair of tefillin affect the World Series? Just ask Rabbi Moshe Feller, director of the Upper Midwest Merkos-Lubavitch House. What Jew didn't kvell when, Sandy Koufax, the Dodger's ace pitcher, refused to play on Yom Kippur during the 1965 World Series. (The Dodgers lost that opening game to the Minnesota Twins.) Ah ... but there's more. Rabbi Feller, an avid baseball fan, met Koufax at his hotel, saying: "... Because of you, more Jews knew about when Yom Kippur was going to be this year than they do with a calendar. ..." And, he presented Koufax with a set of tefillin. The Dodgers won the series, and Koufax became the Most Valuable Player. Since then, Rabbi Feller started the first "tefillin mission," putting them on baseballers like Mike Epstein and Ken Holtzman. So for you future athletes: you better eat your Wheaties...and put on your tefillin.

For you future athletes: you better eat your Wheaties...and put on your tefillin.

HITLER'S JEWISH PSYCHIC
During the 1930s, Germans -including Hitler -- were into the occult. Erik Jan Hanussen, the European Houdini, was a Jew, a fact Hitler didn't know when he made Hanussen his psychic advisor. In 1933, in despair over his political future, Hitler recalled Hanussen's prophecy that he would become Fuhrer within a year and the two had over a dozen meetings. More disturbingly, Hanussen loaned large sums to Nazi leaders. After the burning of the Reichstag in February, 1933, German communists were blamed, but speculation "leaked" of Hanussen's involvement. Top Nazis hated the Jew who held their IOU's, and knew ugly secrets about them - and Hitler. On March 1933, Hanussen was executed. His heinous role in Hitler's ascent has been largely unknown to this day.

HOLOCAUST AND HIP HOP
Can it be? It can, and is. Grammy award-winning Israeli violinist Miri Ben-Ari and Israeli rapper Kobi "Subliminal" Shimoni, co-produced a hip-hop music video that expresses their feelings about the Holocaust, titled "God Almighty When Will It End?" in English, and "Adon Olam Ad Matai?" in Hebrew. Oy? True, some rebbes and cantors feel "hipping" and "hopping" is a long way from the hora. But many others feel this "unorthodox" music by young Israelis, part of the Gedenk (Remember) Movement, are inspiring and informing youth about anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. Who knows? Maybe Madness is one method to teach ... madness.

LOIN OF GIRAFFE, KOSHER?
You bet. The long-necked animal chews its cud and has cloven hooves. So why aren't we buying happy meals from Giraffe King? Well for some reason, Giraffe burgers just never really caught on in Ancient Israel, which means we don't have a continuous tradition for eating giraffe, and you know how we Jews feel about tradition (see: Tevye). But even if Bubbies around the world somehow banded together to bring giraffe back, to produce a deli sandwich would cost over $100 a pound! Now that can't be kosher!

YIDDISHE "STRIPS"
As kids, American Joomers (Jewish Boomers) chuckled over the adventures of goyishe comic characters such as Little Lulu and Dagwood. Even if many of comic strip writers were Jewish, actual Jewish comics were underground or not specifically Jewish. Things have changed. In 1986, Art Spiegelman's adult comic-book history of the Holocaust, "Maus" was not only a best-seller but won a Pulitzer Prize. And, our kinder can now identify and root for comic Jewish superheroes, such as Sabra, Seraph, Rambam, and Ragman.

But for those of us who missed the boat on those new Jewish comics, we can take solace in the fact that many of the superheroes of yesteryear had Jewish roots. For example, if Superman were created today, his creators, tribesmen Joe Schuster and Jerry Siegel, might have given a Hebrew name on his home planet of Krypton - Kal-El ben Jor-El!

Interestingly, some goyim have been swept up by the Jewish-inspired toon craze. Witness: Kal-El Coppola Cage, born in 2005 to Nicolas Cage (Coppola) and wife, Kim who saddled their son with Superman's Kryptonian name. True, Cage had been up for the lead in a Superman flick. But to paraphrase another comic character, "Holy Chutzpah, Batman!"

TWO IS BETTER THAN ONE?
Everyone knows that Chanukah occurs but once a year, right? Wrong. Over a thousand years from now, in the year 3031 of the Gregorian calendar, there will be no Chanukah! Ah, but the following year, 3032, there will be two -- one in January, and the other in December. That's, count 'em 16 gifts per! (And don't forget the latkes.) Tip: Leave a time capsule to be opened in 3000, with instructions to your loved ones to start saving their shekels - and potatoes.

Author Biography:

Marnie is author of the advice column, "Ask Sadie." She has written over 20 books and calendars, including, "Yiddishe Mamas: The Truth About the Jewish Mother" and "A Little Joy, A Little Oy." She wrote for "As the World Turns," (Emmy and Writers Guild nomination). She starred in her own radio show and a Discovery pilot. Marnie is in "Who's Who in America," 2007.

Issue of 7/8/2008

Syria Sees No Peace with Bush in Office

By Reuters

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has told a French newspaper his country is unlikely to enter direct peace talks with Israel while President George W. Bush remains in office.

However, in an interview published on the website of Le Figaro on Monday, Assad said he was betting that the next US leader would get more involved in the peace process. Assad said Syria and Israel were looking for common ground to start face-to-face negotiations, adding that it was vital to find the right country to mediate such talks. (

Iran Launches Military Exercises

By YnetNews.com & Israel Faxx News Services

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard has launched a ground and naval military exercise, the Iranian news agency Fars reported Monday.

According to the report, the drill – dubbed "Prophet 3" – was meant to "up the level of readiness by the Guard's missile carriers and units." Earlier Monday, the US announced it had completed a military drill in the Persian Gulf.

Western diplomats said, according to intelligence reports, that Iran has resumed work on constructing highly sophisticated equipment that nuclear experts say is primarily used for building atomic weapons.

Tehran announced that it has no intention of halting its uranium enrichment program. The work is aimed at developing the blueprint provided by Dr AQ Khan, the "father" of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, who sold Iran details of how to build atom bombs in the early 1990s.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which has overall responsibility for the country's nuclear program, has set up several civilian companies to work on the program whose activities are being deliberately concealed from the United Nations nuclear inspection teams.

The companies, based on the outskirts of Tehran, are working on constructing components for the advanced P2 gas centrifuge, which can enrich uranium to weapons grade two to three times faster than conventional P1 centrifuges.

Iran's controversial nuclear enrichment program at Natanz, which Tehran insists is designed to produce fuel for nuclear power, runs on P1 centrifuges. But Iranian nuclear scientists recently conducted successful tests on a prototype P2 centrifuge at Natanz, and the Revolutionary Guard has now set up a network of companies to build components for the advanced centrifuges.

This has raised concerns among Western experts that Iran is continuing work on its nuclear weapons program, despite Tehran’s protestations that its intentions are peaceful. “If Iran’s nuclear intentions were peaceful there would be no need for it to undertake this work in secret,” said an official familiar with the intelligence reports.

Reports that Iran has resumed work on sophisticated uranium enrichment technology follow Tehran’s announcement at the weekend that it has no intention of halting its uranium enrichment program at Natanz.

According to recent intelligence reports, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, personally ordered the Revolutionary Guard to set up companies for the secret manufacture of components for P2 centrifuges this year.

One of the companies is in a residential building in Amir Abad, western Tehran, where its work is unlikely to be detected by UN nuclear inspectors. One of the facilities is said to be run by a company owned by the Revolutionary Guard.

The operation is a direct copy of the Revolutionary Guard’s previous attempt to develop P2 centrifuges, when research work was undertaken by the Kalaye Electric Company, which claimed it was manufacturing watches.

When its true activity was revealed to UN nuclear inspectors in 2004, they found the company had succeeded in building the centrifuges and enriching small quantities of uranium to weapons grade.

Senior officials from Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency are supervising the current clandestine program, which is based on the atomic weapons blueprint sold to Iran by Dr. Khan in 1994. Reports that Iran is actively working on Khan’s blueprint will deepen suspicions that Tehran has resumed work on its nuclear weapons program.

Israeli Arab Terrorists Threaten 'Unprecedented Attacks'

By IsraelNationalNews.com

An Israeli Arab terrorist group calling itself the "Galilee Liberation Brigades" (GLB) claimed responsibility for the deadly bulldozer attack in Jerusalem last week.

In an interview with a London-based Arabic daily this weekend, a purported leader of the group claimed that GLB committed several other terrorist murders, he threatened more attacks to come and added that they are holding a female IDF soldier hostage. 

In an interview conducted by way of third-party email, a journalist for the London-based Arabic daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi posed a series of questions to someone claiming to be the commander of the GLB. In his replies, the

The GLB spokesperson hinted that they are holding Dana Bennet, 17, who was reported missing in August 2003. The group made a similar announcement in 2005. Asked why Israel has thus far refused to acknowledge the GLB's claims that they are holding a hostage, the spokesperson said, "Because it is causing considerable embarrassment to them."

The GLB's ransom demands, according to the Al-Quds Al-Arabi interview, include the release of six Israeli Arabs imprisoned on terrorist-related offenses. The objective of GLB, according to the spokesperson, is "to sow terror in the hearts of Zionists" and to "pursue the enemy wherever he is to be found."

'Obama will Immediately Birth Palestinian State'

By WorldNetDaily.com

The Palestinian Authority is hoping Sen. Barack Obama wins the presidential election in November and expects the Illinois Democrat to immediately set out to create a Palestinian state once he takes office, a top PA official said.

"We would like to see Obama elected. If he is elected, an agreement about the foundation of a Palestinian state (would be) reached," PA Planning Minister Samir Abdullah told reporters in Tokyo this weekend.

Abdullah, who is the former head of the Palestinian Communist Party, said the PA expects Obama to win in November. He said once Obama takes office, "He will immediately study the Palestinian cause and will try to push it forward."

"Obama promised he will not wait until the last period of his office to relaunch negotiations ... he will begin doing this since his first day in office unlike President Bush, who waited until his last period of power."

Abdullah's remarks were published Sunday in the Firas Press Network, a Palestinian news website identified with PA President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization.

Abdullah is not the only Palestinian official to recently express support for Obama. In a headline-making interview, Ahmed Yousuf, Hamas' chief political adviser in the Gaza Strip, told WND and WABC Radio in April he "hopes" Obama becomes president. “We like Mr. Obama, and we hope that he will win the elections.”

Obama has repeatedly condemned Hamas as a terrorist organization that should be isolated until it renounces violence and recognizes Israel.

Iranian 'Spy' Reveals Mossad’s Methods

By YnetNews.com

In interview with Iranian television, a man convicted of spying for Israel exposed tactics and technology used by his Mossad handlers

The Islamic republic's news agencies quoted Ali Ashtari as stating that he met with three Mossad agents abroad who he said took advantage of his occupation as a computer broker whose clientele included top Iranian military officials.

"I was given a laptop computer so I could communicate with him and write to him by encoded and ciphered email, and he gave me two encrypted communication devices that I was to give to my clients, to test them out," said Ashtari, adding that he was told by his handlers to plant bugging equipment in the electronics he sold to his customers.

Ashtari said that among his clients were military acquisition officers from the Iranian defense ministry; and his handlers were apparently expecting to obtain information regarding Iran's missile program.

"As for the three military acquisition experts who were in contact with me, they (the handlers) asked me to bring them abroad under any possible pretext: tourism, special seminars or exhibitions," said Ashtari.

In a staged interview in the grand tradition of Iran's state-owned media, the spy was asked "if a senior military official asks to trade in an appliance or have it fixed, what do you do with it and how do you switch it?"

In response Ashtari said: "I take it to the company and it agrees to exchange or fix the appliance for him. The senior official who gave me the appliance becomes an intelligence source without his knowledge and I pass that information on, and tell them he has given me his equipment."

Ashtari went on to explain that by bugging GPS (Global Positioning System) units, Mossad agents were able to "see where that person was, know what he has and where he can be found."

Throughout the interview Ashtari appeared calm and composed – though one might expect someone convicted of an offense as grievous as spying for Israel to undergo physical or psychological torture, and that some sign of this would be apparent in his demeanor.

Israel has so far declined to respond to the affair save for a laconic statement from the Foreign Affairs Ministry saying it was unaware of the case.

By putting a convicted spy sentenced to death on display at the present time is undoubtedly an attempt by Iran to deter other Iranian citizens from aiding foreign operations in exchange for money.

Secondly, Iran is also interested in showing that in the ongoing espionage war between Tehran and the West, it has the upper hand and can thwart attempts by foreign spy agencies to infiltrate Iran and obtain intelligence regarding its military or nuclear programs.

Biting the Hand That Feeds You

By YnetNews.com (Commentary by Gilad Sharon)

The repeated terror attacks carried out by Arab terrorists possessing Israeli ID cards highlight the need for a frank and open discussion regarding relations between Arabs and Jews in Israel and the future of these ties.

Several weeks ago, around Independence Day, I saw at the entrance to Tel Aviv University a protest tent erected by Arab students to mark what they refer to as “Nakba Day” – their disaster. Yet there can be no greater contradiction or hypocrisy.

At the gates of the place that more than any other symbolizes Israel’s success and achievements, an institution that is open to all citizens of the country, both Arabs and Jews, these Arab students chose to accept wholeheartedly what the State gives them, while at the same time protest its establishment.

After all, the collapse among Israel’s Arabs did not happen on the day the State was established. Any other date in the course of the War of Independence could have been chosen to mark the fact these people turned into refugees. Yet the Arabs chose our Independence Day specifically. They view our revival as their disaster.

I have yet to see a protest by Arab Israelis where the Israeli flag was being held up, yet many Palestinian flags can always be seen there. This is the stage where we hear the cries about transfer and racism. Well, there is no transfer, everyone is staying at home, although territorial tradeoffs are possible – areas populated by Jews in Judea and Samaria will be annexed to Israel, while areas populated by Arabs will switch sovereignty. The border may be moved West of these communities, and as to racism, even the United Nations recognized the fact that the Jews deserve a state.

Arab leaders in Israel are making false pretenses whereby should Israel withdraw to the 1967 borders, their hostility to the State will disappear and their dual loyalty problem will be resolved. Would we see in such case Arab Israelis proudly waving the Israeli flag? Would they call on their youngsters to join the army and enlist for national service? Of course not.

Military service can serve as a good indication for identifying those who chose to tie their destiny to that’s of the people of Israel. Those who choose to serve will maintain the status quo. Those who do not serve will only enjoy residency rights. Their right to elect and be elected can be realized in a parliament that reflects their national identity, the way they define it.

This pretention must stop: You shall stop pretending that you are loyal to the State the way it is, and the State will stop pretending that it does not discriminates against you, because it does. It has no choice, as you come out against its essence as a Jewish state and are working to turn it into something else. For example, how can we not discriminate against an elected representative such as Azmi Bishara or Ahmad Tibi, who served as an advisor for Arafat the terrorist, when it comes to sharing sensitive security information?

This juggling act, whereby on the one hand Arab Israelis enjoy the State’s health and welfare services and freedom of expression unlike anywhere else in our region, while on the other hand their representatives condemn and attack Israel at every opportunity, and particularly in enemy states, must end.

You need to choose and be honest with yourselves: Do you wish to enjoy all the good Israel bestows upon you? Then be completely loyal to it. If you cannot do it, be prepared to pay the price. The current situation, whereby you bite the hand that feeds you, is devoid of both pride and honor.

Issue of 7/7/2008

‘Muslim Clerics Told Tractor Killer to Act’

By Israel News Faxx.com

Muslim clerics visited the home of the tractor terrorist in the weeks before the attack and convinced him to carry out a "heroic act," according to Yechiel Leiter, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Policy Studies.

In an exclusive interview with Israel National News, Leiter said that he learned from "very reliable sources" that the Muslim clerics visited the terrorist's home in the weeks before the attack "on a daily basis," spoke to him "for hours on end" and convinced that him he needed to carry out "a heroic act to atone for all of his sins."

Iran Threatens to Close Strait of Hormuz

By AFP/Reuters/Ha’aretz

Iran’s army chief warned that his country would shut the Strait of Hormuz if its interests were threatened, the Fars news agency reported. “All the countries should know that if Iran’s interests in the region are ignored, it is natural that we will not allow others to use it [the strait],” Gen Hassan Firouzabadi was quoted as saying.

The strait between Iran and Oman's Musandam peninsula is a vital conduit for energy supplies, with as much as 40 percent of the world’s crude passing through the waterway.

However, Iran’s armed forces joint chief of staff stressed his country’s priority remains that “the Strait of Hormuz be open.” His threat repeats comments made by the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammed Ali Jafari, more than a week ago, when he said Iran would definitely act to impose control on the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz if attacked.

Speculation has been on the rise that Israel could be planning a military strike against Iranian nuclear sites, using force to halt Tehran’s controversial atomic activities.

The commander of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, Vice Admiral Kevin J Cosgriff, said last week that his forces would not allow Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz. President Bush has not ruled out using force in the nuclear standoff between Iran and the West, but emphasized that he preferred a diplomatic solution.

Iran insists its atomic drive is peaceful, but Western powers fear Tehran is using the program to develop nuclear weapons.

The country’s oil minister said today that any military attack aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear work would push crude prices to “unpredictable” highs.

In a statement on the Oil Ministry’s website, Gholamhossein Nozari said: “When oil prices change by $10 to $15 by official comments [about the market], oil prices will be pushed to unpredictable highs if some take an unwise decision to attack Iran.” Nozari likened talks on attacking Iran to a “joke.

Senior U.S. defense officials fear that a much-anticipated Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear facilities would fail to destroy them due to lack of intelligence about their location, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

The British newspaper stated that evidence of the CIA and Mossad espionage agency's dearth of knowledge on the matter emerged during recent Israel-U.S. talks.

Citing an official familiar with the discussions who has briefed Iran experts in Washington and London, the Sunday Telegraph stated that the talks were between Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Israeli generals.

Despite the gaps in intelligence, the Pentagon chiefs worry that Israel will feel compelled to act within the next 12 months, despite no guarantee that it can do more than slow Iran's development of a nuclear weapon, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

IDF Prepares to Exhume Terrorists Bodies

By YnetNews.com & IsraelNationalNews.com

The Military Rabbinate has received orders to report to Israel's cemetery for enemy combatants ahead of an imminent exchange with Hizbullah, which Palestinian media reports is scheduled to take place on Thursday

Military officials believe the exhumation process will begin Monday, or Tuesday at the latest – when a command center will be established to handle the transfer of the caskets. To this end, several reservists from the Military Rabbinate have been summoned for duty.

The identification procedure will be conducted by the rabbinate. Meanwhile, all in Israel will be closely monitoring reports from the other side and the fates of kidnapped soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

Throughout the day Sunday, the army pressed on with preparing the ground at the cemetery, clearing brush from around the graves before the bodies are exhumed. The security measures surrounding the site, namely fences, have been reinforced to prevent civilians or journalists from accessing the cemetery.

Israel's negotiator for the release of captives has returned to Israel with a Hizbullah report stating that Ron Arad died two years after he was captured.

The Hizbullah terrorist organization, based in southern Lebanon, prepared the report on its investigation of Ron Arad's disappearance, as part of its obligations in the recently approved "humanitarian agreement" with Israel. 

The agreement stipulates that Israel would release murderous terrorist Samir Kuntar and four other terrorists, as well as the remains of dozens of Lebanese infiltrators and others, and would provide information on four missing Iranian diplomats, and will provide maps of mines in southern Lebanon.  In exchange, Hizbullah is to free captured IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser - assumed by Israeli intelligence to be dead - and provide a detailed report on Ron Arad.

It is this report that Dekel received on Thursday from German mediators, and has now given to Israeli government officials for their review.

Ron Arad was an IDF navigator who was shot down over Lebanon in late 1986. His pilot was dramatically rescued by Israeli forces, but Arad was captured and transferred from one terrorist group to another until his tracks were lost.  Three letters from him were received in 1987.  The Israeli government negotiated for his release, but talks failed in 1988.  Arad was then apparently "sold" to Iran, though this is not certain.

In 1989 and 1994, Israel captured two leading Lebanese terrorists involved in Arad's capture and incarceration, as a means of gaining information on Arad.  This attempt ultimately proved to be a dead end, and they were released in 2004 as part of the exchange for Elchanan Tenenbaum and the bodies of three captured IDF soldiers.

Various Israeli intelligence reports say Arad died sometime in the 1990s.  There is no concrete proof that he is dead, however, and his wife Tami has remained an agunah - not permitted to remarry - since his disappearance.

This week, the Israeli Cabinet approved, in principle, the exchange deal for Goldwasser and Regev.  Dekel spent Wednesday and Thursday in Germany ironing out final details, and was given the Hizbullah report in which the terrorist organization states it knows for certain that Arad died shortly after he was taken to a southern Lebanon village in May 1988. 

Before the report was handed to Dekel, German mediator Gerhard Konrad reviewed it and ascertained that it met the standards of detail required by the agreement with Israel.

Though this report marks an important milestone in the long search for Ron Arad, the saga will end only once Arad either returns home, or is ruled to be dead by the IDF Rabbinate.

Hebrew Tablet Tells of Resurrection Before Jesus

By WorldNetDaily.com

A stone tablet written in Hebrew is generating debate as some scholars are saying its words point to a suffering messiah who was killed and rose again three days later decades before Jesus of Nazareth.

Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmudic culture at the University of California at Berkeley told The International Herald Tribune, "Some Christians will find it shocking – a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology – while others will be comforted by the idea of it being a traditional part of Judaism."

The tablet itself, about three feet tall and containing 87 lines of Hebrew in two neat columns, is a rare find because its words are written in ink, rather than engraved. Experts who have analyzed the writing date the stone from the late first century BCE, and a chemical examination conducted by a professor at Tel Aviv University showed no reason to doubt the date.

The content of the writing, however, remains much in doubt, as evidenced by a handful of articles on the stone and several due to be published in coming months.

The tablet was discovered roughly 10 years ago, purchased from a Jordanian antiquities dealer and stored until recently in a private collection in Zurich. According to the Tribune, news of the tablet excited scholars last year when Ada Yardeni, an Israeli scholar of Hebrew scripts, published a long analysis of the stone in Cathedra, a Hebrew-language history and archaeology quarterly.

David Jeselsohn, the tablet's owner, told the Tribune, "I didn't realize how significant it was until I showed it to Ada Yardeni, who specializes in Hebrew writing, a few years ago. She was overwhelmed. 'You have got a Dead Sea Scroll on stone,' she told me."

The tablet, called "Gabriel's Revelation," is broken and faded, making much of its content debatable. The words tell of a vision, supposedly given by the angel Gabriel, of the apocalypse.

Lines 19 through 21 of the tablet contain words, which translated read: "In three days you will know that evil will be defeated by justice."

Line 80 of the tablet begins with the words "L'shloshet yamin," meaning "in three days," but then fades. Some scholars see the next word as illegible, but Israel Knohl, a professor of Bible studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, says the word is Hebrew for "live," followed by even more difficult-to-read words that he claims complete a command meaning, "I three days you shall live, I, Gabriel, command you."

Knohl told the Tribune that he interprets the tablet to tell of a messianic figure named Simon, whose death was recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus. The tablet, Knohl contends, was likely written by Simon's followers and demonstrates that messianic followers even before Jesus looked to their leaders rising again, thus nullifying the frequent claim that Jesus' resurrection was a uniquely developed story.

If Knohl's interpretation of "Gabriel's Revelation" is correct, it would lend evidence to his previous theories, published in his 2002 book, "The Messiah before Jesus." Knohl is one of several scholars who suggest Jesus may not have been unique in his claim to face suffering, death and resurrection, but that sources, like this tablet, suggest a common messianic story that New Testament writers may have merely been copying.

"This should shake our basic view of Christianity," Knohl told the Tribune. "Resurrection after three days becomes a motif developed before Jesus, which runs contrary to nearly all scholarship. What happens in the New Testament was adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an earlier messiah story."

Moshe Bar-Asher, president of the Israeli Academy of Hebrew Language and emeritus professor of Hebrew and Aramaic at the Hebrew University, however, remains skeptical of Knohl's interpretation of the tablet.

"There is one problem," he told the Tribune. "In crucial places of the text there is a lack of text. I understand Knohl's tendency to find there keys to the pre-Christian period, but in two to three crucial lines of the text there are a lot of missing words." Bar-Asher plans to publish his own paper on the tablet in coming months.

If the stone tablet does represent a "Dead Sea Scroll on stone," the debate over its meaning will likely continue for many years. The Dead Sea Scrolls, originally discovered in 1947 in caves near the Dead Sea, contain pre Christian-era copies of the Hebrew Scriptures, the oldest known copies at the time.

The Scrolls continue to be studied and debated, and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Scrolls' discovery, begins a three-day "The Dead Sea Scrolls and Contemporary Culture" conference today. Israel Knohl is scheduled to speak at the conference about the "Gabriel's Revelation" stone.

Will the Real Zohan Please Stand Up? 

By Ha’aretz

Brig. Gen. Zohar Dvir, commander of the Israel Police Valleys District, likes to keep a low profile. He talks to the media sporadically, and stubbornly refuses to divulge details of his past as an IDF and police commando fighter.

Millions of cinemagoers worldwide have already acquainted themselves with the outlandish character of the unrelenting Israeli commando fighter Zohan Dvir, played by Adam Sandler in Dennis Dugan's multi-million blockbuster comedy You Don't Mess With the Zohan.

As unlikely as the analogy might be, some people staunchly argue the character is based on the famed police officer, who is the former commander of the Special Police Unit (SPU), Israel Police's flagship counterterrorism unit.

"I haven't seen the film yet," Dvir told Ha’aretz in a telephone interview last week. "I don't know whether it's based on me or not, it's open to speculation."

In this wacky parody of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Zohan, a fearless hit man who brushes his teeth with hummus and has a license to kill as well as a penchant for pretty women, is fed up with killing after years of serving his country. He fakes his own death and flees to New York to pursue a slightly different line of work - hairstyling. Having specialized in killing Arabs, Zohan finds, to his amazement, Jews and Arabs living side by side in relative peace.

Dvir led the SPU through one of its most ominous periods - the years of the second Intifada, during the course of which it killed 129 militants. In 2003, he was critically injured in a car crash, but soon recovered and returned to the unit's helm until his promotion in January 2007. Unlike his Manhattan-based counterpart, Zohar Dvir was relocated to the Valleys District headquarters.

He told Ha’aretz that he intends to see the film soon to find out, among other things, whether taking up his current job was a grave mistake in judgment. "I have no ambition to become a hairstylist," he said, "but I want to see the film and see whether it pays off."