Zvi Oct/Nov 1998
This year we are celebrating 50 years since our Declaration of Independence in 1948, which created the modern State of Israel. It seems like only yesterday. But, with the Declaration of Independence came a declaration of…
ISRAELI LIFE
Eye On The Middle East Aug/Sep 1998
The idea of Israel’s making a complete withdrawal of its troops from southern Lebanon should cause a rousing celebration in Beirut and the Arab world. After all, withdrawal from south Lebanon has been the stated objective of…
Israel in the News Aug/Sep 1998
The government intends to lodge a protest with the Palestinian Authority over an interview PA Chairman Yasser Arafat gave…in which he compared the Oslo Accords to a temporary truce, saying he envied Palestinian suicide “martyrs”…
Zvi Aug/Sep 1998
Once every two months, I must take my wife to the hospital for a checkup on her eye following her cornea transplant surgery. Every time we go, there is a long line of people, and we must wait patiently for her turn. People are always looking at…
Are Christian Zionists Bad News for Jewry?
Jewish people are being warned to watch out for Christian Zionists by “Bracing for the Apocalypse.” In an article published by Forward newspaper (February 6, 1998), Jonathan Mahler produced a classic exercise in manipulative…
Israel’s Right to Peace And Security
It is increasingly clear that the major roadblock to peace between Israel and the Palestinians is not Israel’s alleged refusal to make concessions to Arab demands. In fact, the more land Israel concedes, the more strident the Palestinian…
Israel in the News Jun/Jul 1998
By 2003, Israel will finally have fulfilled the dreams of its founders when it overtakes the United States to become home to the largest number of Jews in the world. This according to the Institute of the World Jewish Congress, which is…
Zvi Jun/Jul 1998
I am sure that many people who experienced World War II remember well the great “peace agreement” between Hitler and Britain’s Neville Chamberlain, reached in Munich in 1938. This was nothing more than a theatrical performance and…
The Peril of Pressuring Israel
Flying in the face of the contention that Israel must make unilateral concessions to Arab demands to relinquish land and make sweeping withdrawals from the territories are realities that, if not reckoned with decisively today, will certainly come back in…
Israel in the News Apr/May 1998
The Absorption Ministry announced…that immigration was up more than 20% in the last six months of 1997, compared to the first six months of the year, with the majority of newcomers arriving from Ukraine and Ethiopia. Some 36,000 immigrants arrived…
Zvi Apr/May 1998
In Israel there is a very large Ultra-Orthodox population, and many of them belong to a group known as Habad. Their high rabbi was Menachem Schneerson from New York. This group is very active all around the world, and they are especially powerful…
Eggs Over Easy
It was a bad year for the Jewish people in Israel—suicide bombings, more deaths in Lebanon, murders of innocent civilians, and the peace talks at a standstill. To make matters worse, at year’s end the United States was pressing Prime Minister Netanyahu…
Israel in the News Feb/Mar 1998
The threat of missiles aimed at Israel is the most significant since the War of Independence, Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai warned recently.
“They can hit our most vital asset, the civilian population we are supposed to be defending,” he told…
Zvi Feb/Mar 1998
Near many synagogues in Israel you can see people standing around like merchants outside a market shouting to sell their merchandise. Newcomers to the country do not know what they want, but I have been here for 50 years and I know exactly what…
Eye on the Middle East Dec/Jan 1997/1998
After the tragic suicide bombing on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem last September, Yasser Arafat was adamant. The bombers, he insisted, came from abroad; thus, he had no control over the invaders. As a matter of fact, the problem, he claimed, was with…
Israel in the News Dec/Jan 1997/1998
Hundreds of urns filled with human ashes that were discovered at the former Buchenwald concentration camp were buried [recently] at a mountain cemetery.
The 701 metal urns were found May 7 by carpenters working on the roof of…
Zvi Dec/Jan 1997/1998
For a long time, the debate in Israel about “Who is a proper Jew?” was quiet. Now, in recent months, it has begun to rage again. Every religious group is trying to make proselytes to their form of Judaism and have people follow their…
Bombs in the Marketplace: “How Long, Oh Lord?”
On July 30, two young Arab men embarked on a suicide mission with the intent to kill and maim more innocent Israelis. Their target was Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market, an open-air shopping strip jammed tightly…
Israel in the News Oct/Nov 1997
The Senate passed a major foreign relations bill [recently] that authorizes $100 million for construction of a new US embassy in Jerusalem. The bill has three other Jerusalem components.
Eye on the Middle East Oct/Nov 1997
According to a recent news report, the Palestinian Authority has drafted a plan creating a belt of Palestinian communities circling Israeli neighborhoods in Jerusalem. The announcement was made by Faisal Husseini, who is in charge…
Zvi Oct/Nov 1997
I have some of my best conversations with people at the bus stop or on the bus. One recent day I was waiting for the bus to go into Jerusalem…
The Anti-Missionary Bill: Giving Israel A Bad Name
The State of Israel…will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens without distinction of race, creed or sex; will guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education and culture…
Israel in the News Aug/Sep 1997
The Palestinian Authority is smuggling Katyusha rockets, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, all in preparation for a future conflict with Israel, a senior Israeli security source said recently.
Zvi Aug/Sep 1997
In Psalm 105:3 it is written, “Glory ye in his holy name; let the heart of them rejoice who seek the Lᴏʀᴅ.” The trouble is, many people in Israel have nothing in which to glory.
National Unity Conference
An overflow crowd of approximately 1,500 evangelical Christians and Jewish people greeted Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a breakfast held at the J. W. Marriott Hotel in Washington, DC, in April.
Eye on the Middle East Jun/Jul 1997
The debate that has raged over the Israeli building project at Har Homa, an area in southeast Jerusalem, has raised a fundamental question—one that reflects the central issue in Israel’s sputtering peace process…
Israel in the News Jun/Jul 1997
Two radical Islamic groups praised the killing of seven Israeli schoolgirls by a Jordanian soldier, and called on Moslems to wage a “holy war” to regain Jerusalem. Jordan’s parliamentary opposition also came out in the…
Zvi Jun/Jul 1997
It is obvious from observing the international scene that most of the world is against the Chosen People of God, Israel. This nation occupies a very small piece of real estate…
Eye on the Middle East Apr/May 1997
The explosion was deafening and lit the skies over a small village in northern Israel like a giant burst of lightning. Those who rushed to the scene on a fog-shrouded winter night found the shattered…
Israel in the News Apr/May 1997
The cabinet overwhelmingly voted [recently] to reinstate financial subsidies to all settlers by conferring “top national priority” status on the territories, amid warnings by security officials that a settlement drive could lead to confrontation…
Zvi Apr/May 1997
The Bible teaches that God wants us to have joy and happiness, but if you take a good look around the little country of Israel you will discover that most of the people…
You Get One Mistake
I have a good friend who served in Israel’s fledgling army during the 1948 War of Independence. He was fresh from Europe, after having successfully run the Nazi gauntlet in Poland as a disenfranchised Jewish war waif.
Zvi Feb/Mar 1997
There is a saying here in Israel, “What for me is allowed, for you is forbidden.” It can apply to anyone, but it particularly applies to the rabbis, who may do things that the rest…
Light From The Tunnel
The infamous tunnel incident in Jerusalem, which saw more than 70 people killed and scores of others wounded, shook the Middle East peace process to its very foundations. Predictably, the Western media lurched into action…
Zvi Dec/Jan 1996/1997
It is now the time of year when we Christians celebrate the Lord’s birth and gladly sing, “Joy to the world! The Lord is come.” In Israel, the people are also celebrating a holiday.
The Election Results and the Peace Process
On May 29, 1996, an election took place in Israel that brought about a complete reversal of policy in our nation. The left-wing government of Shimon Peres, which had been in power for four years…
Israel’s New Reality
This statement, made by former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Perez, may have paved the way for his failure in May to be officially elected to that position.
Israel in the News Oct/Nov 1996
In a dramatic reversal, Swiss bankers have agreed to set up an independent commission with Jewish participation to determine what assets still in their banks belong to Holocaust victims.
Zvi Oct/Nov 1996
Over the years, the Lord has taught my wife and me to have an open-door policy in our home. People are coming and going all of the time, and some even sleep here…
Now More Than Ever
The ascent of Benjamin Netanyahu to the position of Prime Minister in Israel gave rise to a considerable amount of hand-wringing among international politicians, as well as liberal and anti-Israel elements in the news media.
The Last Word
America has once again witnessed the stomach-wrenching emotion of flag-draped coffins being carried from large Air Force cargo planes. Grieving widows and their children are told by grim-faced leaders that their loved ones did not…
Women in Modern Israel
Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
Israel in the News Aug/Sep 1996
The Likud-led government voted into power will continue the peace process, honor Israel’s international commitments, and strive to heal rifts in the country, Prime Minister-elect Binyamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Zvi Aug/Sep 1996
In Isaiah 2:5 it is clearly written, “O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lᴏʀᴅ.” The problem is that people with their eyes wide open are walking…
Israel in the News Jun/Jul 1996
Hamas, the Muslim group responsible for 62 deaths in four recent suicide bombings, said recently it would rekindle its terror campaign against Israel. “We will resume the wonderful martyrdom operations and light a fire again…
Zvi Jun/Jul 1996
Many times I go to the Ultra-Orthodox yeshivas and engage the people in long discussions, trying to bring them back to their roots, back to the Bible.
Will There Be Room in the Inn?
Two thousand years ago a young Jewish woman and her husband came to the town of Bethlehem, in Jewish Judea, to be registered for taxation. Their permanent residence was Nazareth.
Israel in the News Apr/May 1996
Despite calls for a boycott by fundamentalists, Palestinian voters turned out in record numbers to give long-time Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat a victory and a mandate for continuing the peace process with Israel.
Life After Death
A few years ago, I read an account in the newspaper of a lady who was celebrating her one hundredth birthday. From her picture and the interview, she seemed to be a nice person.
Israel in the News Feb/Mar 1996
Some 57% of the population trusts that … Prime Minister Shimon Peres will be able to lead the country and continue the peace process, according to a survey of 500 Jewish adults…
Zvi Feb/Mar 1996
I was recently waiting at the bus stop to go into town, and a very old man was standing in line with me. When the bus came along…
Israel’s Darkest Day
Israel’s era of innocence died with the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Theirs was not an innocence bred by naiveté. At its core it was tough—much like the exterior of the Sabra cactus after…
Israel in the News Dec/Jan 1995/1996
Slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was buried (November 6), with President Clinton among world leaders who gathered amid extraordinary security. Rabin, 73, was shot (November 4) at a peace rally in Tel Aviv;
Zvi Dec/Jan 1995/1996
In these days, we are seeing more and more Jews coming home to Israel, and there is much talk of the Jewish people being united in their land again. But, in this country…
Jerusalem: Showing the Right Stuff
When Captain Scott O’Grady emerged from the Bosnian underbrush and gave a relieved America the “thumbs up” sign, Newsweek magazine hailed the young pilot as a gutsy American kid who had “the Right Stuff.”
Messianic Trends in Israel
In his essay, “The Messianic Idea in Israel,” the renowned scholar, Gershom Scholem, contrasted the Jewish and Christian concepts of the Messianic redemption. While Christianity conceives of redemption as an event in the spiritual…
The State of the State
The subject of politics can be volatile and is often avoided in polite conversation. Still, jokes about politicians, parties, and their performance permeate our society. Who among us is not interested in the various national…
Terrorism Has Taken a New Twist
Until recent years, every organization, group, or institute in Israel, along with geographic regions where there was a concentration of people, planned their defense according to the well known ways of terror attacks…
Israel in the News Oct/Nov 1995
For the second straight year, Israel has been named “The Most Preferred Destination in the Middle East” by the magazine Travel Trade Gazette. The award was presented to the Government Tourist Office in North America…
Zvi Oct/Nov 1995
Often I go out among people in public places. You can usually tell a little something about them by looking at their faces, but only the people themselves know what is in their hearts and minds.
Israel in the News Aug/Sep 1995
The satellite transmits video signals sharp enough to “make out license plates in Baghdad,” an official at Israel Aircraft Industries told AP. The possible military missions of such a device include high-resolution photography, electronic surveillance, and measuring the electromagnetic levels of various objects.
Zvi Aug/Sep 1995
In these times of great uncertainty in Israel, the leaders of the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) rabbis have taken it upon themselves to compose a new prayer—a nice poem that will comfort the people.
American Troops on the Golan: Another Bad Idea
In a world awash with bad ideas and catastrophic consequences, it is not out of line to counsel caution and offer a bit of good sense to those who make the decisions that affect us…
Israel in the News Jun/Jul 1995
News photos of Palestinian policemen raising a Nazi-style salute increase anxiety among Holocaust survivors, according to a Bikur Holim Hospital psychiatrist who researched survivors’ ability to cope with the present.
Zvi Jun/Jul 1995
Many new immigrants from Russia live in my neighborhood. Most of them know me because I have made repairs in their homes, which gives me opportunities to speak with them about many things…
The Specter of the Holocaust
“We still have the option of Jihad.” These were the words of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat after three Palestinians were killed when Israeli soldiers returned fire leveled at them in the Gaza Strip.
Israel in the News Apr/May 1995
The US has received signals from 18 Arab states that they will make peace with Israel once it and Syria have struck an accord, sources in the Clinton administration and outside it have told the…
Two Faces of the Middle East
The trees look a bit better along Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv these days. New leaves have sprouted on limbs that were denuded of foliage when a mad bomber from Hamas triggered an explosive device…
Israel in the News Feb/Mar 1995
Fifty-seven percent of Israelis would oppose a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights even in exchange for full peace with Syria, according to a Gallup poll conducted for The Jerusalem Post and the Independent Media…
Zvi Feb/Mar 1995
I often go to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, and invariably I meet people who think that just by going there they will be saved, because the Halacha (the body of Jewish law supplementing…
A Clear and Present Danger
Life in the Middle East is often fraught with danger for citizens who hope only to live in peace. It goes without saying that the current peace process is a risk-taking venture that reflects…
Israel in the News Dec/Jan 1994/1995
A Roman Catholic Church document acknowledging the “co-responsibility” for the Holocaust has been drafted, it was revealed recently. The document goes far beyond any previous official Catholic pronouncement regarding the Christian roots of anti-Semitism…
Zvi Dec/Jan 1994/1995
While waiting at a bus station recently, I met some people who were more traditional than religious in their beliefs. Because they have known me for some time, they immediately began to attack me.
Jerusalem: Occupied Territory?
“We want a piece of the action!” This seems to be the prevailing attitude when the international community talks about Jerusalem. Until the Jewish people began to wind their way back toward the Holy City…
The Palestinians
“And Isaac entreated the Lᴏʀᴅ for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lᴏʀᴅ was entreated by him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. And the children struggled together within her;
The Jewish Presence in Hebron
This February, a lone Jewish man walked into a mosque inside of a shrine built over the cave of Machpelah in Hebron. Dressed in Israeli military garb, he gunned down 29 Muslim Arabs…
Living With the Peace Process
On September 13, 1993, Israel signed a peace treaty with the PLO, an organization then known as one of our worst enemies. You would expect that after such an historic step…
Israel in the News Oct/Nov 1994
Jerusalem will remain the capital of the Jewish people forever, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin told the conference of Jewish National Fund leaders recently. He was responding to a statement by PLO leader Yasser Arafat that…
Zvi Oct/Nov 1994
In Jeremiah 13:16 it is written, “Give glory to the Lᴏʀᴅ, your God, before he cause darkness.” This is so true. Many people go into the sea but want to come out dry…
Israel in the News Aug/Sep 1994
The reason is the source of the request—the United Nations, which has asked Israel to assist in its peacekeeping efforts in Angola by supplying an Israeli-staffed field hospital…
Zvi Aug/Sep 1994
I recently was in Eilat, in the south of Israel, visiting my daughter and her family. Because it is located on the Dead Sea, Eilat is a popular resort area, and many people from Europe…
Israel in the News Jun/Jul 1994
As Yasser Arafat’s administrative style comes under increasing fire, some Palestinians in the territories think the PLO Chairman could learn a lesson or two from Israeli democracy, the New York Times recently reported.
Zvi Jun/Jul 1994
My wife and I recently visited her mother in the hospital. Now past 90 years old, she is like most of the other people in that particular hospital.
Israel in the News Apr/May 1994
Arabs rioted both within and across the Green Line in response to the massacre at the Machpela Cave (Tomb of the Patriarchs) in Hebron. The IDF said 54 Palestinians were killed in the shooting…
Hebron—Aftermath
Fanatics always turn out to be their own worst enemies. The tragedy is that in the process they often do irreparable damage to their own cause and to those people they are ostensibly…
Zvi Apr/May 1994
I often go to Mea Shearim, the ultra-Orthodox section of Jerusalem, because I know how deeply into sin these people have fallen, and the Word of God has charged me to warn them to come to God before it is too late.
Israel in the News Feb/Mar 1994
In an October 16 speech, Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi called on Arabs to “liquidate Israel” in the same way that “the Westerners liquidate Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina.” In his remarks …
Reading the Handwriting on the Wall
A pop philosopher once said, “If you want to know how things really are, read the graffiti.” Strange as it may seem, there is some biblical basis for such a statement.
Zvi Feb/Mar 1994
It goes without saying that, as is true in America and many other countries, many people here in Israel are far away from God. In spite of this, there seems to be something inside…
Israel in the News Dec/Jan 1993/1994
“I appeal to everyone to tone down the public debate … and not to say that following one course of action will lead to a holocaust, while following another will not,” President Ezer Weizman said…
Zvi Dec/Jan 1993/1994
My watch stopped running recently and had to be repaired. I took it to a watchmaker in the Ultra-Orthodox section of Jerusalem because they are very good at this trade.
We Will Hope
In what may be called a conservative expression of what has taken place between the Israelis and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, a “historic breakthrough” was announced on August 31, 1993.
Israel’s Political Patchwork
There is a saying in Israel that if you really want to learn about the political situation in the country, the person to ask is a taxi driver.
Homeward Bound
The United States of America was built by immigrants. In the earliest days, they came from England, Holland, and Spain, often seeking freedom from religious persecution.
What It’s Like to Live in Israel
Israel is a modern country, much like many Western countries. It has a modern economy and offers many of the comforts of the world’s most progressive societies.
Israel in the News Oct/Nov 1993
Akrameh Sabri, senior imam of Al-Aksa Mosque, last week called for the “liberation of Jerusalem,” attacking Mayor Teddy Kolleck and “Israelis on both the right and left, who claim the city is united.
Zvi Oct/Nov 1993
Many times I am called by people who are having difficulties and I do what I can to help them. Recently a man who was in a state of deep depression called and asked me…
Level Heads, Warm Hearts
A considerable amount of heat has been generated in the Christian community by the refusal of—Israel’s high court to overturn a lower court ruling that refused citizenship under the Law of Return to three Jewish…
Jewish Believers Test the Law of Return
On February 21, 1993, three Jewish families in Israel were ordered out of what they had hoped would be their adopted country. Gary and Shirley Beresford came to Israel from their native Zimbabwe in 1987…