The passing of Pat Mercer Hutchens

Dear friends of The Jerusalem Connection, On Monday night at 11pm, Pat Mercer Hutchens went to be with her Savior in Heaven. After enduring a grueling battle with ovarian cancer for many years, the doctors informed Pat and Jim two weeks ago that they no longer had any treatment options. Her earthly body was rapidly…

Details

Kerry arrives today in Israel

By HERB KEINON, JPOST— US Secretary of State John Kerry met in Jerusalem Monday evening with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, amid reports the US may release Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard by mid-April as part of a wider package designed to resuscitate the negotiations. Reuters, citing sources close to the negotiations, said that under the plan…

Details

The Neophyte President

BY RON JAGER— As we have all watched in disbelief over the past few weeks, we keep wondering when Obama will wake up and understand the ramifications of his strategic concessions. We wonder when Obama will put aside his seemingly childish eagerness for obscure negotiations. When will he put aside his hunger for diplomatic success,…

Details

Temple Mount education seeks to “rekindle the hearts of humanity”

By RAPHAEL POCH, BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS— On Sunday, the International Temple Institute will be celebrating the fifth annual International Temple Mount Awareness Day in honor of the new Hebrew month of Nissan, which inaugurates spring. The month of Nissan is a time of renewal and rejuvenation and the institute hopes, of rebuilding. The day seeks…

Details

4 threats to Christian support for Israel

By RYAN MAURO, JUICY ECUMENISM— In 2009, I made my first trip to Israel thanks to the Israel Experience program of Eagles Wings Ministry. It was around that time that I heard the ministry’s executive-director, Reverend Robert Stearns, say that Christian support for Israel was at risk. At the time, I was skeptical of the…

Details

No time like the present

BY STAN GOODENOUGH, JERUSALEM WATCHMEN— Russia’s annexation of the Crimea is a done deal – a fait accompli. Headlines about the land grab, described March 19 by NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh-Rasmussen as “the most serious security crisis since the end of the cold war,” are muted, barely there. They’ll soon be gone. Nor is Russia…

Details

Israeli Christians take on anti-Israel facebook campaign

By RYAN JONES, ISRAEL TODAY— The Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum on Thursday came out swinging against yet another malicious propaganda campaign targeting Israel on the popular social network Facebook. The campaign appears to center around a composite picture of six dilapidated local churches that are presented as false evidence that the Jewish state discriminates against…

Details

Menachem Begin’s bond with Christian Zionists

By RAPHAEL POCH, BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS— Former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin was the first president to openly welcome Christian Zionist support of Israel. Commemorating the 100th year of his birth, the Menachem Begin Heritage Center together with the International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem (ICEJ) have put together an evening which focuses on this unique…

Details

The peacenik vs. the hegemon

By CLIFFORD MAY, ISRAEL HAYOM— Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, seething over the collapse of the Soviet Empire, wants to become the hegemon of Eurasia — at least. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, outraged by the decline of Islamic power, wants to become the hegemon of the Middle East — at a minimum. U.S. President…

Details

Review of Schama’s History of the Jews

By VICTOR SHARPE— I watched the first installment of Simon Schama’s TV program. Schama is a historian but one more at home as a modern television personality where authentic history is not always apparent. Schama started what he called the story, strangely not the history, at a period some 3,000 years ago. But that timeline…

Details

Spot Report: Israeli Christians

Think on this: “You will see it with your own eyes and say, ‘Great is the LORD–even beyond the borders of Israel!’” Malachi 1:5 Pray on this: Heavenly Father, Please continue to give the Christians living in Israel strength. Protect them from their enemies who seek to silence their pro-Israel voices. Amen.

Details

Bible Awareness lecture in Israel

By RAPHAEL POCH, BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS— ‘Why the Bestselling Book of All-Time Is Seldom Read’ is the name of the event which will take place this week at the Bible Lands Museum featuring Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the Chief Rabbi of Efrat and the founder of The Center for Jewish – Christian Understanding and Cooperation (CJCUC),…

Details

75% of Palestinians: Chances for state in 5 years ‘nonexistent’

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, JPOST— A total of 62 percent of Palestinians would oppose US Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposed framework agreement if it includes a request to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, a public opinion poll published on Monday showed. The poll, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research,…

Details

Hamas lawmaker: ‘We must massacre Jews’

By ELAD BENARI, ARUTZ 7— A lawmaker from Hamas recently called for a “massacre” of Jews, explaining that the Koran indicates that this must be done. In a televised address the lawmaker, Yunis Al-Astal, also said that Jews must be forced to pay the “jizya” tax, which under the strict Islamic Sharia doctrine, non-Muslims living…

Details

Christians to EU: Israel is Our Safe Haven

By RYAN JONES, ISRAEL TODAY— Some 150 Israeli Arabic-speaking Christians on Sunday demonstrated outside the European Union mission in Tel Aviv, demanding that the international community stop nitpicking against Israel and start combatting the severe persecution of Christians everywhere else in the Middle East. “Nations, organizations and international missions are quick to raise an accusing…

Details