A New Year’s Message from Jewish Israel

[Jewish Israel]

Jewish Israel would like to end this year by dispelling rumors which were, unfortunately, circulated on a Jewish blog and ended up on a “messianic” site. These rumors are slanderous, erroneous and counterproductive.

Jewish Israel was founded to create public awareness within the Jewish community as to the severity of the missionary problem in Israel, and to warn about an escalation of fundamentalist Christian influence in the political, economic and public spheres of the Jewish state.

We place an emphasis on networking, cooperating, and sharing information with counter -missionary organizations and activists in Israel. We make a point of properly crediting and linking to those sources unless they specifically request to remain anonymous. We expect the same courtesy in return.

The staff at Jewish Israel is fully aware and respectful of the various approaches to countering missionary activity and investigating the phenomenon of growing Christian influence in Israel. Jewish Israel is particularly focused on establishing a sense of awareness and accountability within the Jewish community; encouraging rabbinic leadership in Israel to institute halachic and ethical guidelines; and in assisting Israel’s law-makers in establishing effective counter-missionary legislation. We hold regular meetings with rabbis, legislators and community leaders. We also provide research materials and reports to the aforementioned parties.

Mina Fenton was working with Avraham Leibler, Shulamit Leibler, Ellen Horowitz and other members of the Jewish Israel project from its inception. Like the rest of the team she was anxious to create an organization and web presence to expose and monitor the problem. Mina and the Jewish Israel team parted ways over differences of opinion concerning organizational direction, policy, presentation, and responsibilities.

Penina Taylor of Shomrei Emet is not, nor has she ever been, on staff at Jewish Israel. She is a welcome and active member of our online community. Her work and comments have been cited by Jewish Israel, as have the works of Tovia Singer, Yad L’achim, Jews for Judaism and others. We look forward to the contributions of Penina and other activists in the field.

Ellen Horowitz is an author, columnist and researcher. Her writings have been widely published in both Israel and America. She does not work for Arutz 7 or receive any recompense from them. Over the last few years she has been researching and writing about the Israel-evangelical relationship. She, like Avraham and Shulamit Leibler, is a founding member of the Jewish Israel project.

We hope this dispels any rumors and misinformation.

Below is a listing of those members of the Jewish Israel team currently serving as board members [note: there are other active members of the board who have, at this time, chosen to remain anonymous].

Administrative Director: Avraham Leibler
Public Relations Director: Shulamit Leibler
Content and Research Director: Ellen W. Horowitz

Rabbinic Advisor: Rabbi Dr. Sholom Gold
Academic Advisor: Professor Richard A. Landes
Community Affairs Advisor: Anita Tucker

Due to the upcoming Holidays, Jewish Israel will be working on an emergency footing only. We remind those living in Israel that there are large numbers of organized Christian tours, pilgrimages and religious events taking place in Israel during this time. While we recognize that most Gentile visitors to Israel are highly respectful and sensitive to the Jewish character of the state, and conduct themselves accordingly; others have an agenda and will take advantage. There is likely to be an increase in missionary activity over the next several weeks. We encourage members of Jewish Israel to keep cameras with them and if they see evidence of public proselytizing or other disturbing activities, they should send it to us at [e-mail] for posting; register a complaint with the local municipality; and contact:
Yadl’achim
The Ministry of Interior
The Ministry of Religious Affairs

The entire staff at Jewish Israel hopes and prays that this upcoming year will be a good, sweet, peaceful, successful and productive year for Klal Yisrael and the world at large.

Shana Tova and G’mar Chatima Tova.

[Jewish Israel]

Thanks, as always, for your continued encouragement and support, Jason. You have certainly been an active and very valuable member of Jewish Israel, and we look forward to your input and a productive year ahead.
G'mar Chatima Tova!

[Jason Levinson]

G'mar Chatima Tova! Jewish Israel is one of the best new sites on the internet that takes a serious look at how Christianity treats the Jewish people.
As for the false claims against you, keep in mind that it is just part of the being in this field.