Free Republic

The Jewish Agency for Israel and the International Fellowship for Christians and Jews, led by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, have signed an agreement expanding cooperation between the two organizations. According to the agreement, the IFCJ, which raises funds among Christian supporters of Israel and the Jewish world, will donate approximately $45 million over the next three years, mainly for immigration and absorption needs. Under the new agreement, Christian supporters of Israel will for the first time sit on the Jewish Agency board. The Jewish Agency has been cooperating with the IFCJ since the latter was established a decade ago. The new...

The Chicago-based International Fellowship of Christians and Jews pledged Tuesday to contribute $9 million to hard-hit residents of northern Israel. The funds will provide monetary assistance to 1,500 families whose homes were damaged by the 3,000 Katyusha rockets Hizbullah has rained on northern Israel during the month-old war, and will include, among other things, the renovation and reconstruction of a damaged school, and the distribution of clothing. Half of the money will be earmarked for various reconstruction projects in the north in the future based on need, and in coordination with local authorities, the group said in a press release....

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Former Presidential Candidate Gary L. Bauer noted Monday that with at least three presidential hopefuls meeting with pro-Israel attendees of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Washington Briefing this week "we will have all the makings of a great debate on one of the key, strategic friendships that the United States has ... our long term relationship with Israel. That alone will make the event worth attending." The program of note: The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews annual Washington Briefing on Tuesday and Wednesday culminating in the "Friends of Israel" Banquet Wednesday...

I have a longstanding personal policy: Never eat in a restaurant where the kosher certificate in the window is bigger than the menu. I broke that rule on Monday in a dairy restaurant on the upper West Side. Yechiel Eckstein was in town, and talking to him over lunch is worth a little postprandial indigestion. Especially when the subject is Bible Belt politics. Eckstein is an unorthodox Orthodox rabbi from Chicago who recently moved to Israel. He wears a baseball hat for a skull cap, and he looks more like an ex-jock than a practicing clergyman. His congregation isn't what...

I have a longstanding personal policy: Never eat in a restaurant where the kosher certificate in the window is bigger than the menu. I broke that rule on Monday in a dairy restaurant on the upper West Side. Yechiel Eckstein was in town, and talking to him over lunch is worth a little postprandial indigestion. Especially when the subject is Bible Belt politics. Eckstein is an unorthodox Orthodox rabbi from Chicago who recently moved to Israel. He wears a baseball hat for a skull cap, and he looks more like an ex-jock than a practicing clergyman. His congregation isn't what...

One of the few “movements” that the mainstream media have yet to praise and promote is the evangelical movement in America. Despite the dramatic growth in the number of people who consider themselves evangelicals, commentators and critics have routinely disparaged the theology and practices that are the heart of evangelicalism. Instead, criticism has become increasingly harsh, as some take aim at the perceived social, political and diplomatic consequences of the growing influence of the movement. Many opponents of Israel have found fault with evangelicals’ strong support of Israel, and believe that President Bush has been too supportive of Israel because...

Conservative Episcopalian bishops and church leaders are organizing a network of socially conservative parishes in order to stem the tide of liberalism within the Episcopal Church USA. Frank Griswold, the leader of the movement, emphasizes that the members of the new network will remain Episcopalian and that their mission is both religious and political. The new group, The Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, joins the diverse group of religious conservatives commonly known as "The Religious Right." In "The Orthodox Alliance" (November/December 1995), Fred Barnes discusses how theological conservatives of Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant churches, who now have more...

Less than 70 years ago, a madman named Adolf Hitler set out to convince the world that people with any amount of Jewish blood posed a threat to the human race and had to be exterminated for the sake of all mankind. His twisted vision set into motion a chain of events that even today leaves us breathless in consideration of its viciousness and scope. On Nov. 9, we commemorated the first of these pre-World War II pogroms, Kristallnacht, which marked the beginning of the end for European Jews. Last week, a survey released by the European Union reported that...

<p>Hundreds of Christian and Jewish leaders gathered here yesterday to strengthen and renew their alliance in support of Israel and the Bush administration's war to dismantle Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.</p> <p>The purpose of the daylong meeting at the Mayflower Hotel was to show solidarity with the Stand for Israel campaign. The campaign is a project of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, whose co-chairmen are Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and campaign strategist Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition leader who often provides political advice to the Bush administration.</p>