Help for First Responders

On June 2, I walked in the Old City of Jerusalem, taking winding streets with steps up and down. I recalled the news two days earlier, on May 31, when two Jews had been attacked in the same area. One of the victims, a 16-year old boy, was stabbed in his back. He managed to run to safety in the nearby Hurva Synagogue. The other victim was a middle-age man at the Damascus Gate who had critical neck and head stabbing wounds. They both needed immediate medical care.

As I walked the crowded and narrow streets, I knew that the first responders must have come on medical motorcycles to assist them. Ambulances had taken a long time to navigate the Old City streets. We appeal again to your support for the medical motorcycles as they are necessary vehicles for the first responders. This is a practical way for you to help save lives in the Holy Land. Thank you. ─ HP

Forty years of peace with Egypt

In June 2019, President Reuven Rivlin hosted Egypt’s envoy to Israel at an event marking 40 years since the peace treaty between the two countries. In his speech, President Rivlin recalled that the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt was signed only six years after the challenging Yom Kippur War in 1973. “We could never have imagined that only a few years later our leaders would hug and shake hands. This should serve as an inspiration for our efforts to achieve peace with all of our neighbors, especially our Palestinian neighbors” said Rivlin. He expressed an appreciation to Egypt’s current leader, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, stating that “President el-Sissi’s commitment to peace, stability, and cooperation has ensured that our relationship stays strong.”

President Sadat, President Carter and Prime Minister Begin at the Peace Treaty signing in the White House in 1979

In 1977, Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat made a historic visit to Israel. After months of intense negotiations, the Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel was signed in March 1979 in the White House. Peace was restored, relations normalized and Israel withdrew from the entire Sinai Peninsula. The agreement made Egypt the first Arab state to officially recognize Israel, and also, caused an enormous controversy across the Arab world. The sense of outrage was particularly strong in the Palestinian camp. Their leader Yasser Arafat declared that “false peace will not last.” The past forty years of peace with Egypt has proved that peace treaties can last. Since the signing of the treaty, Egypt has become an important strategic partner of Israel, and furthermore, Egypt began receiving economic and military aid from the United States.

News from Bahrain

Members of the U.S. delegation in Bahrain, June 2019

The Bahrain Economic Conference took place in June 26−27, 2019, in Manama, the Kingdom of Bahrain. A large number of Arab state and prominent world leaders gathered for the event which concentrated mainly in the U.S. Administration’s efforts to bring peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Given the decades of failures to achieve peace, the U.S. has taken a different approach with this conference, one that aims to aid the Palestinian economy before focusing on the political aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Ahead of the event, the U.S. Administration released a 10-year investment plan for Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority. The total value of the economic package is $50 billion from which about $27 billion is allocated to the development of the Palestinian economy. It is estimated that the financial plan would create about one million new jobs and improve in other ways the mostly poor Palestinian Arabs’ lives. Since 1950s, the Palestinians have received total of $11 billion of international financial aid, which is more than Japan or all Europe received for rebuilding after WW2.

As expected, the Palestinian leadership boycotted the conference. By refusing such a generous economic opportunity which is endorsed by its major Arab allies, the Palestinian Authority demonstrated that it does not have an interest in the wellbeing or peace of its own poeples. For the conference days the PA sent rioters with flaming balloons to the Gaza border. It appears that the Palestinians have missed the deal of the century to continue embracing poverty and their conflict with Israel. (References: Online news posts of Jerusalem News Syndicate and the Times of Israel)

Remembering Teddy Kollek, the Mayor of the Eternal City

Condolence calls

Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin paid respects to the families who lost loved ones during the recent rocket attacks from Gaza. “I know that we say ‘Blessed is the True Judge,’ but we all know that there is no comfort in the face of such a terrible tragedy,” said President Rivlin as he visited one of the grieving families. These families love the communities where they live and feel that they have a role in keeping the country safe. (Online news posts)

Attacks such as this bring emergencies for the families and the area’s schools and businesses. Life will never be the same, but with immediate assistance and care, recovery is possible. At CFI, we work to be ready to help when a new emergency arises. We count on your prayers and support and send you blessings.

For the love of the Scriptures

Yonatan Weissman (18) from Jerusalem was the winner of the 2019 International Bible Quiz held on Israel’s Independence Day. Benjamin Colchamiro (15) from New Jersey came in second. The 56th annual event featured Jewish youths from around the world, including countries such as Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Canada, Mexico, Panama, South Africa, and the United States. Notable Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Education Minister Naftali Bennet, and the Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog, were present.

“You shall teach them [the Word] diligently to your sons, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:7 NASB).

Hebrew prayer books in the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem

Praying for His will be done

Pray and thank for the nation

As Israel celebrates 71 years of independence, the population stands at 9,021,000 people. The data shows that 6.7 million are Jews, 1.9 million Arabs and the rest are other ethnic groups. Since the last Independence Day, 31,000 immigrants arrived in the country. Today, 45% of the world’s Jews live in Israel (Psalm 121:4−8).

Intercede for the borders

Most of the attacks into Israel have come over the southern border with Gaza. However, do keep the northern border with Lebanon in your prayers as well. The heavily armed Hezbollah terrorists have an arsenal of some 150,000 rockets that can reach all over Israel.

Israel has paid a high price for the nation’s security with 24,741 fallen soldiers since 1948. Intercede daily for Israel’s young soldiers
(Psalm 125:1−5).

New Peace Plan

For the past 28 years, all the peace plans, accords, and other agreements have failed to bring the Palestinians into a true peace arrangement with the Israeli government. The Arab leaders have broken each of their promises. Please pray for the Trump Peace Plan to change the climate and hold also the Palestinians responsible for keeping their part of the deal. Leaders of some Arab nations are urging the Palestinians to agree to adopt the Trump Plan (Proverbs 3:5─6).

“People of the Book” under attack

“Europe is burning, just as Notre-Dame was” (Dennis Prager, April 17). The Ministry of Interior in France recorded 541 anti-Semitic and 1063 anti-Christian acts in 2018. According to the statistics, an average of two churches per day was destroyed by fire in France.

Only a few of these incidents made the news headlines. In general, the church leaders and authorities were silent so as not to alarm their congregations and cause anti-migrant (Muslim) sentiments. One may wonder about the fear the European Jews have as they see Christianity’s holy sites burning. The world Jewry lost their artifacts, holy books, worship places and lives of millions of Jews in the previous wave of fires in the 1930s and 1940s.

The “Israel Apartheid Week” saw demonstrations against Israel, as well as counter-demonstrations by Israel’s supporters in South Africa in April 2019. The annual event is organized on behalf of the Palestinians. At the same time period, numbers of Jewish gravestones were destroyed in Romania. Knife and other attacks against Jews reached new heights globally in 2018. May we Christians do all we can to support our brothers and sisters of the Jewish faith as Jews and Christians are the People of the Book.