03/19/2021
WASHINGTON – Christians United for Israel (CUFI) published a full-page ad in six West Virginia newspapers this week asking state residents to urge Senator Joe Manchin to oppose the nomination of Colin Kahl to serve as undersecretary of defense for policy.
“Kahl’s hostility towards Israel is beyond unconventional,” the ad reads, in an op-ed from CUFI’s West Virginia State Director Pastor Doug Joseph. “It’s outlandish. While serving in the Obama administration, he led an effort to strip recognition of Israel’s true capital of Jerusalem from the Democratic Party’s platform. Around the same time, Kahl argued in The Washington Post that Israel’s daring 1981 operation to destroy Saddam Hussein’s Osirak nuclear reactor was a failure, despite its actual real-world success, and came dangerously close to pinning Saddam’s subsequent behavior on Israel.”
A centrist Democrat, Manchin is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has yet to schedule a vote on Kahl’s confirmation.
Pastor John Hagee, founder and chairman of CUFI, told The Jerusalem Post that the original action alert concerning the Kahl nomination focused on all members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“However, in looking at the foreign policy approach of the members of the committee, it is clear to us that Senator Manchin is the most likely swing vote,” he said. “Manchin opposed the Iran nuclear accord and hails from a state where support for Israel is extremely strong. We believe that Senator Manchin’s approach to the Middle East has reflected his constituents’ values, and therefore we wanted to ensure he heard from his constituents on the Kahl nomination.”
Read More: Jerusalem Post
09/15/2020
As I watch the trailer for the forthcoming documentary Never Again?, it’s strange to hear myself talking about how I hated America and believed the Jews were responsible for all the evil in the world. But that was the reality of the person I was—a person I would be forced to confront during the making of this film. As I traveled to places of once-great significance in my life, especially after a long day of shooting, I became, in some ways, a spectator to my own life. I would remember the moments and details that led me into that darkest corner of the human mind, where one sheds any pretense of basic humanity in pursuit of an unjust and evil cause.
Thankfully, that person no longer exists. And in the 13 years since I changed my views, I’ve seen the world around me change—and the same ideology that once poisoned my mind grow, mutate and continue to poison the minds of young people all over the world.
It’s important to note that my radicalization did not take place in a madrasa in Pakistan or a university in Damascus; I was born and raised in England. I was raised to hate in a country that should largely be proud of its ambition to be truly tolerant.
Read More: Newsweek
09/15/2020
WASHINGTON—Jewish and pro-Israel groups applauded the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for signing historic agreements at the White House on Tuesday to normalize relations with Israel, the first Persian Gulf nations to normalize ties with the Jewish state.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee called the ceremony “a historic event in the advancement of peace and reconciliation in the Middle East.”
“Today’s ceremony sends a clear message that it’s a new era for Israeli-Arab relations. Peace in the region is possible through diplomacy, mutual recognition and negotiation,” said AIPAC. “We hope other nations in the Middle East and the Palestinian leadership will follow this inspiring example to bring conflicts in the region to an end and promote prosperity and cooperation.”
“The historic agreements signed today show that peace is on the march and the so-called Arab-Israeli conflict is increasingly an anachronism. Israel is strong and flourishing, and the Arab world is coming to see the Jewish state not as a foe, but as an ally against Iran and a partner for peace and prosperity,” said Christians United for Israel (CUFI) chairman Pastor John Hagee in a statement. “It is my sincere hope and prayer that other Arab nations will follow the UAE and Bahrain’s lead, and that the Palestinian leadership, in particular, will accept that peace with Israel is the only path forward.”
Read More: JNS
09/09/2020
This week’s Torah portion is Deuteronomy 29:20-30:9, which calls upon Israel to be faithful to the covenant in the land God has given them. God promises that even if Israel is scattered among the nations and the land lies desolate, He will restore Israel from captivity, gathering the Jewish people even from the ends of the earth back to their land.
In the 72 years since Israel’s rebirth as a modern nation, we have seen this promise fulfilled. The haftarah portion accompanying this week’s Torah portion is Isaiah 61:10-63:9, an exuberant declaration of the glorious future awaiting God’s Chosen People.
In these verses, Isaiah proclaims a message of hope and restoration over an exiled and oppressed people. He makes a solemn vow, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning.”
In Isaiah’s day, Israel was called “forsaken” and Eretz Israel “desolate” (62:4). Today, the verbiage may be different, but its essence remains the same: As the world’s oldest hatred rises in our midst, anti-Semites of every shade and shape declare the Jewish people “evil” (read: “forsaken”) and seek to lay waste to the Land of Israel (read: to render it “desolate”).
Read More: JNS
10/09/2020
Ninety-one-year old Holocaust survivor Irving Roth and 36-year-old former radical Islamist Kasim Hafeez are now close friends. After Hafeez noticed the concentration camp number on Roth’s forearm, he had it imprinted on his own arm as a sign of solidarity.
The story of the two men, told against a background of historical and current global anti-Semitism, is the focus of the documentary “Never Again?” It was produced and financed by Christians United for Israel (CUFI), which counts 9 million adherents and bills itself as the largest pro-Israel organization in the United States.
At first blush, the opening storyline strains credulity. However, after speaking with Hafeez and writer-producer Rick Eldrige, the story holds up.
Roth was born in small Slovakian town. He witnessed Hitler’s invading army and at 14 he was transported to the Buchenwald concentration camp. Toward the end of World War II, weighing 75 pounds, he survived a death march during which his brother died.
Hafeez was born in Nottingham in England’s East Midlands, home to a large population of Muslim immigrants, including his father, who emigrated from Pakistan. As a youngster, Hafeez was formally taught the Quran and informally instructed that Jews, especially Israeli Jews, were evil and his permanent enemies.
Read More: JJ
