By Amy Zewe—
Thank you all for your continued viewership and support for The Jerusalem Connection Report where we work hard to support the Jewish people worldwide and the Jewish homeland established as the modern state of Israel.
Over the last several years our organization has partnered with other Christian organizations who have Zionism as part of their mission. The result is a network called the Association of Christian Leaders for Israel. Shelley Neese and I, as members of the leadership of The Jerusalem Connection and one of our Board Members, Lela Gilbert, were blessed over the last few weeks to help sponsor a series of seminars designed for Christian leaders across a spectrum of organizations such as churches, schools, missions, research organizations, and more.
Prior to COVID-19 restrictions, our network met periodically in Washington, D.C. to discuss supporting Israel and the Jewish people in a variety of ways including lobbying politicians when necessary, providing educational material, and examining anti-Semitism in all its forms and manifestations. We sought to define it, identify it, and develop solutions or actions we can take to combat it. These manifestations were examined in all their outcomes from school curriculum, to political movements and legislation both abroad and domestically, to events on college campuses and within communities. Antisemitism can take place as violence or instituted policy or as bad theology. Our work in the past included the successful lobby and encouragement of the Trump administration to work as quickly as possible to keep the promise of moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. And, with the likely change of administration coming in January, we believe we our work and efforts will be even more important.
The result of the pandemic left our scheduled March 2020 event on Capitol Hill to be revamped into a virtual symposium. We had over 400 participants from across the globe and across varying types of Christian organizations engage to hear expert speakers on the topic of antisemitism. These speakers included the following:
Special Envoy Elan Carr of the US State Department and Gary Bauer of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom who discussed the US government response to the global phenomenon of anti-Semitism.
Alyza Lewin of the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (LDB) examined anti-Semitism on college campuses and the hostility Jewish students experience as Zionism is attacked.
Liora Rez, cofounder of stopantisemitism.org, explained how anti-Semitic tropes proliferate on social media and influence many spheres of society.
Dr. Michael Brown examined the error of anti-Semitism in Christian history, and Dr. Gerald McDermott covered the fallacies of Replacement Theology, the theological seeds of centuries of Christian anti-Semitism.
Mr. Noam Katz, Deputy Director General, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led the closing session with a discussion of how anti-Semitism affects Israel in the international arena.
Our series ended with the collaboration of Christian leaders unifying against this hatred of antisemitism in all its forms. Keep in mind that violence against Jews in the US and Europe is at an all-time high since statistics were first tracked in the late 1970s. In a modern culture that is supposed to be so tolerant and observant of social justice, equality, and human rights protections, it is alarming to see the persecution of Jews on the rise and with such acceptance on the world stage as demonstrated on various social media platforms and within certain communities. College Campuses and Jewish community spaces are now dangerous places for Jews to be—how can that be in a modern society?
Forming solutions to the problem is always in our list of objectives.
For you to learn more and experience the webinars firsthand, go to our website and click on the blog tab. You will see an article with an overview of the webinar series including the speakers in each session. You will also have access to a link to view each of the recorded sessions.
You can download a free booklet called, “Standing with the Jewish People Against Antisemitism” produced by the Association of Christian Leaders for Israel and composed by Susan Michael of The International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, a close friend and partner of The Jerusalem Connection.
I encourage you to go to our site, watch the webinars and download the booklet. Watch for additional resources to be added to our website so you can study and disseminate information to your networks. Our best resource for combatting antisemitism is YOU! Your reach into your own families, communities, and organizations including your access to your elected officials is vital. Your support for our ongoing missions is light in the darkness. This Christmas and Hannukah season are all about the light. The light of Jesus coming to our world to save a broken human race. Each of you are a candle of light, illuminating your corner of the world.
Shavua Tov, have a great week.