‘The ruthlessness of the Holocaust and the dignity of Jewish resistance’ - Alex Ryvchin A moving service commemorating the Holocaust, the systematic genocide of European Jews by the Nazis during World War II, was held on Sunday evening 16 April in Maroochydore on the...
As Christians for Israel, we have a large team of staff and dedicated volunteers in Ukraine. We are ready to help people evacuate from the area affected by the disaster and we informed the Jewish communities about this.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has again been very unsettled. Especially in big cities like Odessa, Nicolaev, Kherson, Zaporozhe, Nikopol, Kharkiv, Dnepr and, of course, the capital Kiev.
In this and the next two issues of Israel & Christians Today I will be sharing some thoughts from the Torah portion, or parsha, named Ekev—Deuteronomy 7:12 – 11:25.
As an evangelical Christian closely involved in building bridges between Christians and Jews, there is a subject I try studiously to ignore, and that is the “problem” of Messianic Jews. It is indeed the “elephant in the room.”
I had an amazing experience last week—I participated in an event that represented the culmination of months of hard work and a dream that is about to come true. In February, we all watched as Putin attacked Ukraine, forcing hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to...
While tens of thousands of Jewish people have left Ukraine since the outbreak of the war and found a new home in Israel, most seniors have stayed where they were. The ailments of age have kept many from leaving their apartments. The fact that there are Christians...
This most recent Israeli election, the fifth in the current cycle, proved to be quite different from the previous four, not only in producing a definitive result, but with the campaign itself. It began the same, however along the way expanded into not only a ‘for or...
September 2018 marks twenty-five years since Oslo and that famous handshake on the White House lawn by Prime Minister Rabin and Chairman Arafat under the patronage of President Bill Clinton. And a lot will be written about this anniversary. The one undeniable truth over this period has been the disenchantment of those who supported Oslo and who had believed that finally the Palestinians were going to reverse their original mantra as expressed in 1921 by the Palestine Arab Executive Committee when they said: “Either us or the Zionists. There is no room for both.” Those in Israel who still support the principles of Oslo and yearn for a Two State solution, understand where the fault lies for it not yet occurring. AB Yehoshua who was at one time on the Meretz list running for the Knesset, said in an interview in Ha’artez that: “Yasser Arafat first misled the world when he said he wanted a secular, pluralistic and democratic state and then trampled the Oslo Accords with terror attacks.” Yehoshua also blamed Arafat’s successor, Mahmoud Abbas, for “rejecting Israel’s land-for-peace offer in 2008”. Einat Wilf a former Labour MK, in a recently published book says that her party’s assumption in […]
Last July 19 the Israel Knesset passed the Nation-State Law 62-55. Opinion, argument and comments came quickly. Frankly, the wording of the Bill simply summed up values known for 70 years. The founding fathers proclaimed ‘the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz Israel May 14, 1948. It was to be known “as the state of Israel”’. Everyone who has become residents of the land since 1948 has clearly known the Jewish status and cultural significance of the Jewish national tradition. The Basic Principles are listed in the Law first. A) The land of Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish people, in which the State of Israel was established. B) The State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, in which it fulfils its natural, cultural, religious and historical right to self-determination. C) The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people. No surprise there! It is also hard to argue with the ‘Symbols “ the Law lists next. 1). The name of the state is “Israel.” 2). The state flag is white with two blue stripes near the edges and a blue Star of David in […]
In early July I was invited to join the Victorian chapter of the Liberal Friends of Israel. I learnt about this initiative over a morning coffee with Noa Bloch and Lexi Kowal, the Political Affairs Director and former board member of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) respectively. Founded by Senator James Paterson, David Southwick MP and Tim Wilson MP, the network is already working with its NSW counterpart to build greater appreciation of the Australia-Israel friendship within the Liberal Party, attracting a large membership base in Victoria. Spokesperson David Van told I&CT, “we’ve been thrilled by the launch: the response has been extraordinary.” The Liberal Party will always be a Zionist Party The launch on 26 August drew more than 300 local supporters including 16 state Liberal MPs. The current Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg demonstrated his solid understanding of Israel’s history and spoke with great conviction in support of the bilateral friendship. Stalwart ambassador for the Christian Zionist community Jill Curry was well received. Curry gave a lucid summary of Christians’ rationale for supporting Israel before introducing Dave Sharma, former Australian Ambassador to Israel. On September 13, Sharma was preselected as the Liberal candidate for Turnbull’s former seat […]
In Part 01 of our series about Jerusalem and Christians visits, we learned that the ‘river of pilgrimage’ has been flowing from the very beginning of the church age. Christians constitute the highest amount of sacred visitors to a holy city which is also sacred to Judaism and Islam, too. This growing phenomena in Christian visits is even more remarkable considering that neither Christ nor the apostles command it, and there is more of a spiritual, rather than geographic, emphasis in Christian worship. We also learned why Christians visit Jerusalem. They can be summarised in two key words: Devotion: From the very beginning, Christians have been motivated to visit Jerusalem so that they can ‘walk where Jesus walked.’ Following in the footsteps of the Master is a strong sign of devotion. Education: Pious believers visit Jerusalem because they want to learn more about the Bible. Considering that Jerusalem is mentioned over 811 times in the KJV, it is indisputably the premier city of Scripture. What is remarkable is that these twin pillars of devotion and education can be applied across the board, to pilgrims from every denomination and every century of the church age. The Tourism Factor To the ancient […]