Welcome Christian friends

THE JERUSALEM POST ^ | Sep. 23, 2007

[Caleb1411]

This is the 27th year in which the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem has been organizing its march of support for Israel. The ICEJ's annual Feast of Tabernacles series of events is slated to open on Thursday, but this year is different from all preceding years. This year the increasingly haredi-oriented Chief Rabbinate has seen fit to issue a ban forbidding Jews from joining the street celebrations in Jerusalem due to suspicions of "missionary activity" by the participating evangelicals.

The ICEJ will be bringing more than 7,000 Christian pilgrims from some 100 countries this holiday. This has grown into Israel's largest single tourist event each year, with thousands of well-wishing Christians congregating in Jerusalem and revitalizing its economy.

These boosts of economic and moral support came even in Israel's bleakest years of violence and in the face of danger, when others shunned Jerusalem. The march, moreover, has become a regular attraction for many thousands of Israelis.

It's gratifying to note that Jerusalem's municipality has paid no heed to dire assertions by the Rabbinate's Committee for the Prevention of the Spread of Missionary Activity in Israel. The Committee asserts that "according to information reaching us," some of the Feast's organizers are active missionaries, and hence "those who fear for their souls should distance themselves."

If any further proof were required of the Chief Rabbinate's shedding of its erstwhile religious-Zionist ethos and of its disconcertingly changing character, then this wholly undeserved, indeed unjust, edict furnishes it - in addition to a too-long list of hard-line and uncompromising positions on a great variety of issues affecting the daily lives of Israelis, both observant and not. Once again, the Chief Rabbinate is steadily undermining its own raison d'etre.

[Caleb1411]

But precisely because of both the painful past and ongoing present travails, we must learn to distinguish between friend and foe - in this case between those with dangerous ulterior motives, and genuine proven allies. Precisely because the Jewish people continues to be beset by foes, it should gladly embrace the sincere friends willing to proclaim their devotion to the people and land of Zion. We must recognize that it is the religious convictions of millions of Christians that lead them to sincerely support the Jewish state.

The ICEJ has sided faithfully - through thick and thin - with embattled Israel since 1980. It was set up in response to international condemnation that year of the Knesset's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's indivisible capital. Censorious world opinion pulled 13 embassies out of Jerusalem. It was then that Christians resident here, when celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, decided to counter the global tide and inaugurate their embassy in Jerusalem.

[hlmencken3]

More information:

http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Politics/12114.htm

Latest developments

A high level meeting took place Tuesday between officials of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and members of the The Chief Rabbinate Council’s Committee for the Prevention of Missionary Work in the Holy Land. Jerusalem Councilwoman Mina Fenton was also present at the meeting.

The meeting was called by the Foreign Ministry in reaction to the complaints by the ICEJ and Christian Evangelical organizations abroad, distressed by the Chief Rabbinate’s decision to proscribe Jewish participation in the week-long Christian Pilgrimage Feast of the Tabernacles.

Representatives of the Chief Rabbinate’s committee, along with Councilwoman Fenton, and a representative for the counter-missionary group Lev L’achim, presented significant amounts of evidence in a lengthy meeting at the Foreign Ministry

The Chief Rabbinate issued a statement at the conclusion of the meeting which once again welcomed Gentile tourists, and expressed appreciation to those who wish Israel well, but the committee reiterated its ruling proscribing Jewish participation in Feast events in the strongest of terms.

[Uri’el-2012]

NAsbU Romans 11:15
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

shalom b'shem Yah'shua

[Kevmo]

This article seems pertinent to your ping list.

[Salem]

"This article seems pertinent to your ping list.

Thank-you. It is. I have had some questions about this in the last couple days through my regular mail off site.

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There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had
spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)
Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
'Final Solution,' Phase 2 ~
Warnings ~
The Nature Of Bruce ~

"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets...."—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Holocaust Chronicle ~



" ... It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world."—FReeper Retief
"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."

[Brad’s Gramma]

Thank you...

[GOPPachyderm]

Thank you for posting. I participated in the Feast of Tabernacles back in 1983 and it was a wonderful experience. However, we were picketed by some Jews who resented our presence there.

God bless the nation and people of Israel.

[Convert from ECUSA]

By this Virginia Catholic, all I can say is that regardless of what the Rabbinate ruling is, I support Israel for the same reason LBJ told Kosygin just after the 1967 war - “because it is right”. LBJ at least got that much right.