Jerusalem Dateline

Changing Israel's Image: One Tour at a Time

Chris Mitchell — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:34:41 GMT

What's the image that comes to mind when you hear the word "Israel?" For many people, they think about riots, guns, and violence. They think about an intractable conflict with no end in sight.

But did you know Israel is one of the hi-tech wonders of the world? That most visitors never see any violence? That cafés are packed in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem?

Once people come here for the first time and see for themselves, they get an entirely different perspective of Israel. I've heard numerous testimonies of people who come here, feel safe and discover an amazing country.

One group changing Israel's perception is America's Voices in Israel. Their mission is to "… strengthen American understanding of and support for Israel …"

The way they do that is by inviting American celebrities, television, and film actors and actresses, evangelical Christian leaders, and others to Israel for a comprehensive tour of Israel. From chefs to generals to strategists, they get a perspective they wouldn't on CNN. The results are eye opening.

We met recently with two members of their most recent tour that brought over American Hispanic leaders. Here's two clips from our interviews with two of the most watched Hispanic broadcasters in the United States.

Here's the first with Raul "El Gordo" De Molina. "El Gordo" co-hosts Univision Network's #1 rated entertainment news show, "El Gordo y la Flaca." Believe it or not, it has more viewers in its time slot than ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX combined. He talks about what people need to know about Israel.

We also talked with Mario Kreutzberger, better known as "Don Francisco." He's the host of one of TV’s longest running variety show "Sabado Gigante," one of the most popular shows in the history of Spanish-language television. He's also the son of Holocaust survivors. He talked with us about the uniqueness of Jerusalem and Israel.

Middle East in Turmoil

Chris Mitchell — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:03:07 GMT

The Middle East is in turmoil: a civil war in Syria, civil unrest in Turkey, Iran racing to build a nuclear arsenal and talk of a possible war in Israel this summer. Here's a briefing of what's happening in the Middle East in June 2013.

A Rebound Victory for the Russian/Syrian/Iran Axis

Encouraged by a sizable supply of drones and other weaponry from Tehran and Moscow, and abetted by an infusion of troops from Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria's Bashar Assad won an important victory last Wednesday after two weeks of fighting in the strategic town of Qusair, on the Lebanese border near Homs.

The re-taking of the town by the Syrian army is considered a turning point in the Syrian "civil war," as it evolves into an expanded Sunni-Shia regional conflict. While Hezbollah fighters heeded the calls of their Shia mullahs and swarmed across the border, the disunified Sunni opposition did not benefit from the pleas of Sunni clerics such as Egypt's Sheik Qaradawi, who had called from Qatar for all trained Sunni fighters to gather in Syria. "Why do we stand idle [in the face of Iran]?" Qaradawi asked.

The next move for Assad may be the city of Homs, where a successful ousting of the opposition by government forces would cut the rebels off from southern Syria. The instability in Syria prompted Austria to pull its forces from the international "peacekeeping" contingent on the Golan heights last week. Putin graciously offered to replace them with Russian troops, which the U.N. politely declined.

The death toll in Syria has now topped 70,000. Nearly 1.5 million refugees have fled, and another two million find themselves displaced within the country's borders.

Jonathan Spyer of Israel's Gloria Institute recently wrote the following:

While the Sunni powers certainly have their problems, the Shia bloc is avowedly anti-Western and dedicated to a radical Islamist ideology. The west's inability to form a coherent policy on Syria makes it look weak-and most importantly-vulnerable to defeat in the eyes of its regional enemies. Like it or not, the west has chosen sides in the Syrian conflict, and if it cannot or will not take the measures necessary to ensure the victory of its allies, it could face potential disaster in the future.

According to an Associated Press report Sunday, the White House is strongly considering arming the rebels. But the critical decision will be whether to enforce a no-fly zone, which would be the only truly effective action against Assad.

Until now, the administration has been quite consistent with its policies concerning Iran and Russia. It dithers, kowtows and obfuscates whenever the Russians and Iranians are publicly involved, as part of a larger effort to reduce America's international influence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't announce his "red lines," but he acts to back them up. President Obama generally doesn't.

Now the most pertinent questions are at what point do Netanyahu and his security advisors determine that the dissolving international force on the Golan and the importation of ever more sophisticated missiles and drones on the ground in Syria pose a threat to Israel that must be addressed? And how hard will Putin push to keep Assad in power and will he jump through the opening provided by the American power vacuum to expand Russia's military role in the Middle East?

'Historical Game-Changer'

Meanwhile, Iran is scheduled to hold its eleventh presidential elections this Friday, June 14. Current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- who has made quite a name for himself as a leading anti-Semite -- has served two terms and therefore cannot run again.

But some say any new president won't change things as far as a nuclear Iran is concerned. Israel's Strategic Affairs minister Yuval Steinitz said this week that for 20 years Iranian leaders have made no secret of their desire to change the balance of power between Islam and the West and they intend to use their nuclear program to do so.

The United States, Israel and Europe are underestimating Iran's desire for a nuclear bomb, he said. It's not one bomb they want but a whole arsenal.

For example, Steinitz said, Iran's main enrichment facility in Natanz has 12,000 centrifuges, but the plan is for 54,000 centrifuges that would eventually enable them to produce enough enriched uranium to make 20-30 bombs each year.

He called it an "historical game changer" that would create a "dangerous new world" and have a "terrible, dramatic effect" on Israel, the Middle East, Europe, the U.S. and beyond.

Talking Turkey

Protests over constructing a building on a city park in Istanbul turned violent about a week ago and morphed into a general protest against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his increasing Islamization of the country.

Even though it was a peaceful protest, police used water cannons and tear gas to quench the protest.

But some say this is not to be compared to the so-called Arab Spring and as one analyst told CBN News Turks look down on Arabs and so that was definitely not their inspiration. It's nothing like Tahrir square in Egypt, he said.

Turkey is the most advanced Muslim country in the Middle East, with its own auto industry.

Erdogan has not been particularly friendly to his ally Israel but he is an elected official who has won three terms in office. He's popular, though some say he may have lost a bit of popularity from this episode that left several people dead.

Moribund Peace Process

Secretary of State John Kerry won't be coming to Israel this week after all. He planned to arrive Tuesday for round five of intensive shuttle diplomacy aimed at restarting moribund Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Despite Kerry's enthusiasm and determination, he has yet to convince the Palestinian authority to sit down with Israel without preconditions, most of which Israel can't and won't meet.

Last week, the P.A. swore in a new government under Rami Hamdallah, the former dean of al-Najah university in Nablus. The English professor is seen as a potential pawn in Mahmoud Abbas' hands, unlike former prime minister Salam Fayyad whose popularity among Western leaders reportedly threatened Abbas.

In an op-ed posted Monday, Palestinian affairs analyst Khaled Toameh blamed P.A. leadership for the impasse.

Toameh said by continually inciting against Israel, the "leadership itself bears almost full responsibility for radicalizing Palestinians." According to Toameh, P.A. leaders have made it nearly impossible to talk peace with Israel.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon refused to allow senior Fatah central committee member Jibril Rajoub attend a conference in Israel, citing Rajoub's hateful anti-Israel rhetoric.

Rajoub said on Lebanese television on May 1, "until now, we don't have nuclear weapons. Believe me, if we had nuclear weapons, we would use them tomorrow morning."

Toameh says the defense minister actually did Jibril a favor because his own Fatah faction would have ostracized him for violating the ban on 'normalization' with Israel by attending the Israeli conference.

According to Toameh, Abbas, Rajoub, Erekat and other Palestinian leaders have convinced most of their colleagues not to seek peace with Israel.

Last week, chief negotiator Saeb Erekat pulled a rabbit out of the hat as Israelis marked the 46th anniversary of the Six-Day War.

Erekat, who heads the PLO's Negotiations Affairs Department, invited a group of journalists and diplomats to Latrun to talk about a new campaign they're calling "The Latrun Valley -- an Integral Part of the State of Palestine."

One Israeli official said the P.A.'s latest deal breaker "raises concerns as to their seriousness."

"No Israeli government, no Israeli prime minister, can seriously entertain that this area would be going to the Palestinians," he said.

Not to be left out, former Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti -- serving five consecutive life sentences for masterminding terror attacks against Israelis -- wrote a letter his lawyer forwarded to China's state Xinhua (ITALICS) news agency. In it, the former commander of Fatah's Tanzim militia called on Kerry to pressure Israel to end its "occupation" of Palestinian land.

And last but not least, Gaza-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Sunday the Jewish state has no future on Palestinian land. Haniyeh said the Palestinians were "subjected to the greatest international piracy at the hands of Zionist gangs."

Vroooom!!

Believe it or not Jerusalem is due to host a Formula One race this Thursday and Friday. The course will take participants past the Old City walls and the famous King David Hotel.

The idea behind these kinds of events, says Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat, is to present the Holy City in a positive light. "A picture is worth a thousand words," the mayor said.

Rewriting the Bible

Chris Mitchell — Sun, 26 May 2013 08:25:58 GMT

The Palestinian Media Watch monitors the official media of the Palestinian National Authority (P.A.). Recently it exposed the way they are rewriting history and the Bible.

In the May 6 edition of the P.A.’s official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, columnist Adel Abd al-Rahman presented his version of the biblical narrative.

“Easter ... is not a holiday for Christian Palestinians only but a holiday for Palestinian nationalism because Jesus, may he rest in peace, is a Canaanite Palestinian. His resurrection, three days after being crucified and killed by the Jews -- as reported in the New Testament -- reflects the Palestinian narrative, which struggles against the descendants of modern Zionist Judaism, in its new colonialist form, that conspires with the Western capitalists who claim to belong to Christianity.

Jesus, may he rest in peace, the virtuous patriotic Palestinian forefather, who renewed the Old Testament, split away from its followers, brought forth his New Testament and spread it among mankind -- which led the Jews to persecute him until they caught him, crucified him and murdered him. Afterwards, he rose from the dead like the phoenix and set out to spread his teachings that still exist and will exist as long as mankind exists.

Jesus' story is his [Palestinian] people's story; the Zionist movement -- tool of the capitalist West -- wanted to falsify historical facts, to exile and crucify the Palestinian Arab nation and then murder it by means of ethnic cleansing... But the Palestinians, Jesus' descendants, rose from the ashes, like the phoenix, from the ruins of the Nakba [i.e., "the catastrophe," the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel] and the Naksa [i.e., "the setback," Palestinian term for Israel's victory in the Six Day War.] They dressed their wounds and raised the flag of nationality again by founding parties and factions...

Easter is a distinct [Palestinian] national holiday which doesn't concern only Christians but rather all Palestinians believing in the different religions- - Islam, Christianity and Judaism."

Many Christians would note the following:

· Jesus was born a Jew from "the house of David" in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, as foretold by the Jewish prophets. He's not and never was a "Canaanite Palestinian."

· He's alive and “seated at the right hand of the Father,” not “resting in peace.”

· Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, not “Palestinian nationalism.”

· The story of Jesus is not “his [Palestinian] people’s story,” but the simple Gospel for the whole world as stated in John 3:16-17.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Understanding London

Chris Mitchell — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:59:55 GMT

London's brutal, barbaric attack defies description. It's seems unbelievable yet all too real in today's world.

Why did these attackers driven by Islamic ideology murder this lone British soldier? What drives some – certainly not all – Muslims to wage "holy war" on infidels? What motivates a suicide bomber in Afghanistan? Or Al-Qaeda who kidnapped, killed, and be-headed Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002?

We talked with Professor Moshe Sharon of the Hebrew University about the tenets of Islam, why some are waging a "holy war," and the difference between the "house of war" and the "house of peace." Perhaps it will help bring some understanding to the incomprehensible.

Terror in Sinai

Chris Mitchell — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:49:37 GMT

It was a sobering call. We talked with Segen, a 35-year-old Eritrean woman caught in the web of kidnapping, human trafficking, and extortion in the Sinai. She’s being tortured by Bedouin tribesmen who are demanding $33,000 in ransom from her Eritrean family. If they don’t pay, she might end up like five others who were kidnapped along with her … dead.

She says their bodies – weakened by lack of food and water – couldn’t stand up to the torture. The Bedouins would beat their private parts and vital areas around the heart. Their bodies simply gave out.

Segen also mentioned that sometimes they’re hung up in a way the Bedouins call “Jesus Christ.” One can imagine what that’s like…a modern-day version of crucifixion.

By the way, did I mention Segen is five months pregnant? There are hundreds of Eritreans like Segen currently in the Sinai who've been kidnapped and thousands more who have passed through this human gristmill. Many did not survive. Most are Christian.

Will the Egyptian government stop this barbaric modern-day slave trade? Many believe they could, but the answer may lie with the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

If the embassy puts enough pressure and uses enough leverage, some believe they could force the Morsi government to stop this barbarism. Egypt has the power to stop it, if they but had the will.

Iran's Long-Range Ambitions

Chris Mitchell — Sun, 05 May 2013 18:43:02 GMT

When the light hits Syria, it seems to cast a shadow that looks like Iran's. The huge explosions outside of Damascus early Sunday are the latest indication of Iran's tentacles inside Syria.

One of the reported targets of the raid was Fateh-110 precision guided missiles manufactured in Iran. Iran is supplying Syria with weapons like the Fateh-110, funds and personnel. They desperately want to keep President Assad's regime alive.

But in light of the Assad's current precarious situation, does Iran have even bigger plans? According to retired Israel Gen. Shimon Shapira, they do. His brief from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, called "Iran's Plans to Take Over Syria," documents a detailed and elaborate plan not just to keep Assad's regime alive but to gobble Syria up and make it an Iranian Shiite state.

It's a prescient analysis with profound implications for the future of the Middle East. Here's his executive summary. The full report can be seen here.

In mid-April, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah paid a secret visit to Tehran where he met with the top Iranian officials headed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Gen. Qasem Suleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard Corps. Suleimani prepared an operational plan named after him based upon the establishment of a 150,000-man force for Syria, the majority of whom will come from Iran, Iraq, and a smaller number from Hizbullah and the Gulf states.

Suleimani's involvement was significant. He has been the spearhead of Iranian military activism in the Middle East. In January 2012, he declared that the Islamic Republic controlled "one way or another" Iraq and South Lebanon. Even before recent events in Syria, observers in the Arab world have been warning for years about growing evidence of "Iranian expansionism."

An important expression of Syria's centrality in Iranian strategy was voiced by Mehdi Taaib, who heads Khamenei's think tank. He recently stated that "Syria is the 35th district of Iran and it has greater strategic importance for Iran than Khuzestan [an Arab-populated district inside Iran]." Significantly, Taaib was drawing a comparison between Syria and a district that is under full Iranian sovereignty.

Tehran has had political ambitions with respect to Syria for years and has indeed invested huge resources in making Syria a Shiite state. The Syrian regime let Iranian missionaries work freely to strengthen the Shiite faith in Damascus and the cities of the Alawite coast, as well as the smaller towns and villages. In both urban and rural parts of Syria, Sunnis and others who adopted the Shiite faith received privileges and preferential treatment in the disbursement of Iranian aid money.

Iran is also recruiting Shiite forces in Iraq for the warfare in Syria. These are organized in a sister framework of Lebanese Hizbullah. Known as the League of the Righteous People and Kateeb Hizbullah, its mission is to defend the Shiite centers in Damascus. It is likely that Tehran will make every effort to recruit additional Shiite elements from Iraq, the Persian Gulf, and even from Pakistan.

Watchman on the Wall

Chris Mitchell — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:32:15 GMT

Bill Koenig has served as a White House correspondent for many years. He's the author of Eye to Eye, Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel and runs a website called Koenig International News.

During a recent visit to Jerusalem, we talked about his perspective on the situation in the Middle East, the dangers threatening Israel, and how Christians should be responding "for such a time as this."

Two Minutes for Six Million

Chris Mitchell — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:20:21 GMT

What does it look like when a nation stands still? That's what happens every year during Holocaust Remembrance Day. For two minutes, a siren sounds throughout the country and traffic stops, people halt and the Jewish state pauses to remember the 6 million who died in the Holocaust.

It's a sobering reminder of the horrors of what is called the "Shoah" here in Israel.

Here's two minutes of video of what it looks like here in Israel along with some footage from those darks days. Please be forewarned some of this footage is graphic. Yet it's a stark picture of the abyss and why the Jewish people vow "never again."

Palestinian Prison Riots: 'The Rest of the Story'

Chris Mitchell — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:42:08 GMT

The late iconic radio announcer Paul Harvey once hosted a program called "The Rest of the Story." He related little known facts about well-known stories that brought an entirely different perspective. The same could be said about the current riots in Israeli jails by Palestinian prisoners.

They rioted following the death of 64-year-old Maysara Abuhamdia who died of cancer in Beersheba's Soroka Hospital. After his death, some prisoners began a three-day hunger strike. Palestinian Authority Minister of Prisoner Affairs Issa Qaraqe demanded an international investigation into his death and accused Israel of medical negligence.

An Israeli court sentenced Abuhamdia - a Hamas operative - to life for attempted murder. He recruited a terrorist to blow himself up in Caffit's, a busy Jerusalem café in 2002.

That may sound sterile, but for someone who was at Caffit's that day in 2002, the story was very personal. Here's what she posted about Mr. Abuhamdia on Facebook:

"… My heart skipped a beat today as I realized the man (responsible for) nearly killed and maimed dozens of people, including myself who watched the whole drama personally died of cancer in an Israeli jail. I had forgiven this man but can't forget that day … as I watched the owner and waiter of Cafit bravely pin this man to the ground. Somewhere deep inside I had a fear he'd return to the streets to kill. I'm shocked as I looked on Google the outrage about this man, who actually received mercy of 11 more years of life when he sought to end the lives of many, including mine.

I want to shout from the housetops that that day is profoundly in my remembrance as a day when I, a witness, was spared harm and others spared death. I feel I would have been easily hit by shrapnel from the position I was standing in. I thanked G-d many times for his mercy to use me as a witness but also that I was spared harm in front of Café Cafit in Jerusalem that day in 2002.

I have now learned through many media outlets that this man died of cancer in an Israeli hospital today. I had always had a low level fear that he might return to the streets, you don't forget the one who tried to murder you.

What is the most shocking to me is that as I Googled this man's name and the circumstances of death from cancer is the outrage of media outlets all over the world at how he had been treated, not gotten to hospitals in time to treat his cancer, etc. etc. and yet he tried to kill and maim myself and many others and would have died at his own hand that day.

As at Passover we are instructed not to rejoice at the judgment of our enemy as the Everlasting Lord has compassion on the Egyptians too, so I don't rejoice but express a profound sense of awe again that I was spared that day and my enemy has passed and that all would be aware as the news is filled with the riots in prisons today that as Paul Harvey would say there is "the rest of the story"...

The Writer's Gathering: Writing Among 'The Living Stones'

Chris Mitchell — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:41:22 GMT

What better place for a story teller to come than the scene of the Greatest Story Ever Told … Israel. That's why Gary and Cindy Bayer have been doing for years, bringing the best storytellers of our generation to the land of the Bible to see for themselves this land called "holy."

Writers come to experience for themselves not only the sights and sounds of the land but also to meet the people - "the living stones" - that make this land come alive. They call it the "Writer's Gathering."

Living in what the Bible views as the "center of the world," Gary and Cindy Bayer have a front row seat for events unfolding in this very strategic crossroads of the Middle East. Both were drawn to Israel for different reasons. But having met and married there, they now share a common purpose which has opened doors to relationships with local people and has given them the opportunity to share their journey of faith.

Here's our Gary and Cindy describe it on their website, The Place of Stories is Israel

After marrying in Jerusalem on Easter Sunday 2005, Gary and Cindy created The Writers' Gathering Jerusalem which sponsors established screenwriters, TV writers, playwrights, and novelists for a two-week experience in Israel. The news media often paints a negative portrait of life in this ancient contested crossroads, but Gary and Cindy believe that exposing writers to the history and the uniqueness of the various peoples that call this tiny land "home" could give the world a more positive view of this Land of the Bible.

They are also very involved in sharing their table with others at both their Sea of Galilee home (The Place of Stories) and their little rooftop apartment on the Via Dolorosa in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. In the States they enjoy speaking engagements, meeting writers, and seeing their five children and five grandchildren.

With the Sea of Galilee as a backdrop, we sat down with Gary and talked about his desire to share the joy of story in the land of the Bible.