Christian Zionists Gain Israel's Inner Sanctum

[ProgressiveMuslim]

By Bill Berkowitz*

OAKLAND, California, Jan 3 (IPS) - After raising more than two hundred million dollars for various projects in Israel, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), the organisation he founded and is president of, has hit pay-dirt.

In late December, the Jewish Agency for Israel, which helped found the State of Israel, announced that the IFCJ "will be declared a funding partner of the Jewish Agency... Eckstein will ... receive new voting powers that will include spots on the committees that oversee the agency's budget and that meet with the prime minister and his Cabinet," the Jewish Daily Forward reported.

The announcement indicates a major shift in agency policy. Nearly 10 years ago, the head of the Jewish Agency "refused to be photographed taking a check" from Eckstein. "Now, it has publicly, and apparently proudly, acknowledged that the IFCJ would be donating 45 million dollars to the agency over the next three years, almost all of it raised from evangelical Christians in North America," according to The Forward.

Eckstein told the news service JTA that "This elevates" the fellowship and "thereby Christians around the world to strategic partner with the worldwide agency..."

"Appointing Eckstein on the basis of how much money he can bring raises wider questions about who should be making policy for the agency -- which is supposed to be the bridge between Diaspora Jewry and Israel, not simply a philanthropy -- and how the Jewish community is represented," Gershom Gorenberg told IPS.

Gorenberg, the author of "The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount" and "The Accidental Empire", pointed out that "If money is the sole criterion, if this is simply a philanthropy, then there is no reason for the institutionalised relationship with the government."

"The Jewish Agency is essentially saying that pro-Israel Christians are joining with the Jewish community worldwide in helping aliyah and in strengthening the security and welfare of the State of Israel. That has never happened before," Eckstein added.

The Forward reported that the agreement, which is pending approval by the agency's board, states that the IFCJ will donate 15 million dollars a year to its "core budget for immigration and resettlement, historically IFCJ priorities".

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40670

[madrchsod]

1. got to get them jews back to the land

cause jesus is a com`n and we`ll all go to heaven,,,well those who sign up- everyone else goes to hell.

dam i can remember when these guys hated the jews...i guess they have them islamists to hate now..you know sometimes it`s hard to be a christian with these nutballs running around sullying His name.

[azurnoir]

2. Make no mistake they still hate Jews

remember if the Jews do not "convert" they will be "left behind"

[Lurking Dem]

3. And we'll FINALLY

get some peace and quiet!

Anybody besides me eagerly anticipating being "left behind"??

[Vegasaurus]

4. LD, the fundies are leaving all Jews

(except the 144 or whatever it is that they are taking with them to Jesus) to go to hell.

That's the plan, according to the rapturists.

Now it will probably be a little quieter in hell, but there should be lots of company there, so that isn't a guarantee.

[Lurking Dem]

5. So they claim.

I happen to think they will be lifted up to some kind of eternal Vogon poetry reading and the rest of us will finally get a nap in.

[azurnoir]

6. Every time I hear

the term "left behind" I think of an episode of the Twilight Zone" called "To Serve Man" maybe just wishful thinking.:evilgrin:

[Lurking Dem]

7. Heh.

Blast from the past! Too funny!

[Tom Joad]

9. It's a cookbook! It's a cookbook!

[Tom Joad]

10. but they hate Arabs more, and that is what counts, doesn't it?

what does it matter what they think about some fictional future?
in the here and now, they support Israel's militarism and US support thereof.

[Tom Joad]

8. So no matter how whacky your outfit, you are welcomed into the Jewish Agency for Israel.

as long as you oppose basic human rights for Palestinians.
that makes sense.

[Shaktimaan]

11. Not true at all Tom.

Neither Hamas nor the PLO are welcome there. Lord knows the Lebanese, Syrians and Egyptians don't participate, and they're far and away the worst abusers of the Palestinian's human rights. Have even Iraq or Kuwait gotten involved yet?

Maybe they have a different motive after all, they don't seem interested in attracting any of the heavy hitters for that category.