Showing posts with label "The Israel Project". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "The Israel Project". Show all posts

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Evangelical Missionaries: Who Let Them In? Part I

Benjamin Netanyahu’s hiring of YouTube "sensation" Hananya Naftali as his new deputy social media adviser is disgraceful. As a notorious online missionary, Hananya Naftali's brazen admissions of proselytizing while in the IDF are well known. This disgraceful act from Bibi proves once again, that even in an era of anti-Torah values where anything seems possible, there are always lower levels of chillul Hashem that a society can succumb to. It exposes how far Israel's leadership has fallen. This is well beyond the challenges of secularism as it relates to a Jewish society, albeit one that very far from a Torah society. This speaks of basic Jewish identity and self-respect, so necessary for us to survive as a religio-nation. In short, when a spiritual predator of Jews whose proselytizing efforts are documented on video, can nevertheless be hired by a prime minister of Israel, something is indeed very wrong with the Jewish psyche. 

This is what happens after years of sleeping with evangelicals. Sleeping with the enemy is bad enough when it's just a one night stand. The torrid love affair with evangelicals is an enduring one.

Contrary to what too many brain-addled daati-leumi types think, evangelical money doesn't come free. The cost is high: a growing missionary presence in Israel that is more sophisticated, ambitious, and powerful than it was even five years ago. Thanks to Jewish collaboration. The reaction from the enemy is nauseating. Gloating and celebration.

The messianics and missionaries (in Israel and abroad) are celebrating because they know that missionaries are normalized in Israeli society and by the Israeli government. They understand that not only is Hananya Naftali no longer viewed as toxic, he is seen as a friend and an advocate for Israel. If in the past, Israel's anti-missionary laws were weak and ineffectual, they are entirely impotent today. Once upon a time, decent traditional secular Israelis would have wept. Today, more than a few religious Jews couldn't care less. Some are even glad.

In the aftermath of this perversion, certain voices rose up in outrage. Outrage is correct and understandable. But when did they wake up? And have they really? As I noted, the Likud has been in bed with missionaries for years. So it was inevitable that a friendly online missionary would become mainstreamed in an age of mindless, blathering, pandering, hasbara. Why not? Naftali “defends” Israel on YouTube. This is the end-goal, so why should hasbarites be surprised.




Yet the chutzpa of certain voices is beyond the pale.Some of the voices of outrage come with those who collaborate & collude with evangelicals. From the kinds of people who write books with missionaries, engage and dialogue with them, and even have tanach sessions in Knesset. Consider Rivka Adler Lambert and her "Ten For The Nations" book, which has chapters written by missionaries. She had the nerve to recently open her mouth on Facebook about Naftali. Shortly afterwards, she deleted the post when some of us "hijacked" her wall (the precise word used by an anti-missionary activist who disliked our aggressive approach) and demanded accountability from her. As these respectable types see it, Lambert should be praised. I believe that it is a clever diversion by a guilty party who is trying to sanitize her credentials from odious associations.

Similarly, Zehut's Moshe Feiglin has no credibility when he opines on Naftali yet ignores Zehut's Yishai Fleisher's enduring friendship with Hayovel missionaries, and his regular participation in the Knesset's tanach sessions with evangelical soul-snatchers. Such Torah sessions are well beyond the pale of anything acceptable in Torah society, and as such they are a clear violation of Rav Soloveitchik's strong position against any form of interfaith dialogue as expressed in his classic essay, "Confrontation". I am still waiting for JewishIsrael to explore Feiglin's failure to address this troubling issue. After all, JewishIsrael has written extensively on these issues in the past.


Take the hasbara blog Israellycool as another example. They celebrated Hananya Naftali until they could not. But even then, they gave him a slap on the wrist and refused to really tear into him. They attacked me relentlessly for calling out their soft handed approach. They never mentioned that "The Israel Project" still uses him, or gave it to "StandWithUs" for merely scrubbing him from their system. That would be hasbara suicide. The "Elder of Zion" blog had him listed for their coveted "hasby awards" in 2017. In the interest of complete candor, they recently published Varda Epstein's article against Hananya Naftali. Although it was a flawed effort which neglected many of the more difficult questions, it is nevertheless interesting that it wasn't featured on Israellycool, where her past articles were given a forum. 

My understanding is that Israellycool is now reticent to address Hananya Naftali, further proving my point that they have no spine or integrity. They get angry at me for my past assertions regarding their craven platform, and they then confirm my arguments. I am no mind-reader, but they are as predictable as the sunrise. Their mindset is clear. If it is good enough for the Prime Minister of Israel, what is any self-respecting hasbarite to do? Fight the PM and call him out? This would be a shanda for the goyim!

And even were Israellycool to go after Naftali they have a dilemma. What kind of credibility can they have, when they still ignore their own contributor Kay Wilson’s documented messianic past which she has never admitted. They will scream slander in the face of unread, ignored, evidence, yet once upon a time they made an interesting claim themselves. 
At the time of the incident, when she was unknown and they had no relationship with her, they were eager to get the scoop, and the following comment was posted on their blog. I bet they wished they hadn't been so ambitious. 




And what of the so-called experts who defend a Kay Wilson while touting their so-called credentials and ignore the naked facts of an unrepentant former(?) messianic?Self-proclaimed expert, Penina Taylor comes to mind. Personally, I have no patience for such disingenuous behavior. Ms. Taylor might benefit from further investigation into Kay Wilson, starting with JewishIsrael's article "Will The Real Kishkush Stand Up?" To date, Penina Taylor has never presented a public refutation of the article's contents. As I see it, her sanctimonious assurances of having "vetted" Kay (as articulated in her Times of Israel article, "The Witch Hunt") are devoid of any credibility, if she cannot answer questions. 

Tragically, certain individuals and organizations today who previously fought these issues, were bullied into submission over the years. Some of them are reticent to address these troublesome issues. Some pop up from time to time to offer their expertise. More than a few nakedly pander to the same forums and personalities who bashed them yesterday. (We have screenshots.) My advice to these weathered veterans. Call them all out, or shut your mouths and go away. Or do what the mainstream hasbara forums do and blog about celebrities and the BDS movement. But don’t lecture the few who are consistent and unafraid to demand equal accountability from everyone. It is normal to be broken by bullies, and to lose resolve. It is a tragic, but normal human reaction in the face of unrelenting bullying. If this is the case, retire gracefully and go away. Because one responds to bullies by punching their lights out, not by appeasement. 

I want to reiterate that’s Hananya's hiring is indeed an outrage and the kind of thing that should destroy a coalition (were there principled traditional/religious Jews in Bibi's coalition). Every day, the chillul HaShem grows stronger, and because he can, Bibi will continue to do what he wants. A simple and attainable goal would be to demand Naftali's firing. It will require extraordinary muscle, and I fear that at this point the collective Jewish voice is atrophied. 



In truth, the only voices that can argue such a position in good conscience are those whose conscience is clear. Not from those shtetl syndrome types who grovel before goyim and seek arrogant token gentiles to "defend" them with un-Jewish arguments. And not from those timid "hasbarites" who pine for popular attention and yearn for those coveted "hasby" awards.

To be continued......

Saturday, November 18, 2017

IsraellyCool's "Big" Stand

In an effort to look tough on missionaries, the weak-kneed, hasbara blog Israellycool is flexing her atrophied muscles by going after today's easiest target, the obnoxious YouTube missionary Hananya Naftali. Should we be impressed? A handful of Jews have been calling him out for years. Hananya has been honest about his efforts to missionize and 'share jesus' with Jews in the IDF for several years now. And while it is true that this isn't the first time that Israellycool's Aussie Davis has written about Naftali, his articles are replete with nebbish reflections about not wanting to attack people who do "good hasbara" and trying to show that he isn't anti-xtian. Here are some tidbits from his various articles on Hananya:

  • "I admire his passion for Israel, and appreciate the work he is doing. But there’s a big but.....Hananya, I truly hope you do not find it hard in the army just because you are Christian. Everyone should be treated equally. And I welcome and encourage your videos in support of Israel."
  • "I also certainly never suggested you do all your pro-Israel work to convert Jews. True, I suspected you might be partially motivated by this, but I also made clear I admire your passion for Israel, and appreciate the work you are doing in this regard. So to suggest I claimed all your pro-Israel advocacy is fake is disingenuous."
  • "Note: I have deliberated long and hard whether to publish this post because it calls out (again) an effective pro-Israel advocate whose advocacy work I respect. But I feel compelled to post this because of my concerns. I also want to stress up front that I am very appreciative of our Christian friends and supporters. This post is not aimed against them, but rather those people who I believe are trying to convert Jews to Christianity. And I have nothing against Christianity – it is just not for Jews!"
  • "Yet despite this good work, I have a real issue with him. He has not been truthful with us, and when someone resorts to lying, I don’t trust them. Call me old school."
  • And in his latest article: "Don’t get me wrong – he clearly loves Israel and I believe he sincerely wants to improve our situation in the world. But from what I can tell, he also seems to have another purpose, and that is to influence Jews to become Christians. And my concern is his online popularity can put him in a position to do just that, especially among younger, impressionable “fans."

Curious point: Aussie Davis has taken a stronger tone against many of us for disagreeing with the nonsensical "indigenous rights argument", than he has against Hananya Naftali for being a missionary.



Let me clarify MY position. I loath Hananya Naftali. By all means go after him. He deserves to be steam-rolled. Literally. If I wake up, and read that Hananya Naftali was run over by a steam-roller, drinks are on me. But is such a weak-kneed effort really calling out Naftali? More importantly, will Israellycool take other major organizations to task for still using Naftali in their hasbara campaigns? What about calling out "Stand With Us" who seems to have scrubbed their website's history of Naftali, but who ignored his history until late in the game, and to my knowledge has never made a statement about him? How about going after the "The Israel Project" which still features Hananya on their staff? 



The truth is that Hananya is an easy target since he brings nothing to the table. His "pro-Israel advocacy" doesn't bring money or volunteerism like Hayovel's evangelical ministry. So the cost of going after him is minimal. At this point, most Jewish organizations cannot afford to ignore his overt missionizing. But will Israellycool have the courage to go after the more prominent players who still associate with him? And its not just about organizations. Will Israellycool go after vlogger Ben Goldstein for shamelessly flaunting his friendship with this scrawny and obnoxious menace on Facebook?

Aussie Davis is trying to appear tough on this issue. I have a challenge for him:

How about going after the dangerous Hayovel ministry who have their headquarters in the religious community of Har Bracha in the Shomron? How about calling out the town's Rabbi Melamed for giving them a refuge in his closed community? (R' Melamed calls them rghtoeus gentiles, but I bet he wouldn't allow his own grandchildren to go unsupervised within a football field's distance of Waller and crew.) How about calling out the army of Jews who enable them and help mainstream them in Israeli society? Hayovel and Tommy Waller are still peddling "replacement theology" (despite his assertion otherwise) through the clever tactics of "restoration", which amount to the same thing. Will Israellycool go after Hayovel and the belligerent Jews who support him? Highly unlikely. Start your education Aussie:


How about CUFI's Dumisani Washington*, who heads a messianic congregation in California? Israellycool saw fit to feature a story where Dumisani's congregation evacuated their building in solidarity with Israelis suffering from rocket attacks in Gaza. But IsraellyCool never saw fit to explore Dumisani Washington's messianic congregation. They can start here:


http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/p/dumisani-washington-enemy-of-jewish.html

http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2017/07/dumisani-washington-exposed.html

http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2017/07/dumisani-washington-portrait-of.html



How about calling out Kay Wilson for never admitting or repenting from her documented messianic past? If she cannot be honest about her past, how can such a person be used for hasbara in the future? Yet Kay Wilson writes for Israellycool!*



Davis mentions new discoveries about Naftali that he finds online. How about taking an equally diligent look at Kay Wilson's past (which despite her efforts to scrub the internet) can still be found online? Start with the following article by Nathaniel Feingold. It's dishonest to go after one missionary while ignoring the past of another: http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2017/08/kay-wilsons-unaddressed-messianic-past.html Will Aussie Davis even read Feingold's well researched article?



As an aside Aussie, remember when you had this to say about Wilson's murdered friend, the missionary Kristine Luken? "She sounds like she was a special person. May her memory be blessed." Blessed? A person who worked with the CMJ (along with Kay Wilson), a charnel house of aggressive missionizing in Israel? (For more on the notorious CMJ/article by JewishIsrael)



Further reading on Kay Wilson:



http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2017/06/the-judean-hammer-podcast-kay-wilson.html

http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2017/05/kay-wilson-exposed.html

http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2017/05/kay-wilson-exposed-part-ii.html

http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2016/09/the-kay-wilson-conundrum.html



A final word for Aussie Davis:



When you've digested all of this unsettling material, integrity demands the immediate implementation of extreme changes at Israellycool. And if you are honest, you are going to have to start the unpleasant process of cleaning-house, starting of course with the dishonest Ms. Kay Wilson, and the buffoon mentioned below*. Naturally, I expect none of this to occur, and you can expect at least a handful of us to continue to expose you and your ilk who defend and enable many of the spiritual enemies of the Jewish people, in the name of respectable hasbara



But enough of your smug and self-righteous attempts to appear strong on the issue of combating missionaries. Nothing could be further from the truth. You lack the spine to even give a proper whipping to Hananya, and your criticism is peppered with apologetics and appreciation for his "good work". Your time would be better spent kvetching about the BDS movement and Roger Waters. That is after all, your bread and butter. 



Israellycool is a classic example of contemporary hasbara masquerading as Israel advocacy. Those who have little understanding of the issues cannot take a proper Jewish position on anything. 



SLIDESHOW: For those who refuse to read.* A presentation of Kay Wilson's past:



*Not surprisingly, both Kay Wilson & Dumisani Washington are defended by hasbara's gentile token and faux-indigenous activist, Ryan Bellerose, who was recently fired by Bnai Brith for incompetence. And lest we forget, Ryan also writes for Israellycool, where he babbles about fictitious indigenous rights and forgets that he is an angry white man who until recently identified as a conservative Roman-Catholic. When not on Facebook, Ryan enjoys gaming and eating and not writing that promised book on "indigenous rights" for which he raised over 21,000 dollars on GoFundMe. This raises the question. Can Israellycool do anything right?

IsraellyCool's "Big" Stand

In an effort to look tough on missionaries, the weak-kneed, hasbara blog Israellycool is flexing her atrophied muscles by going after today's easiest target, the obnoxious YouTube missionary Hananya Naftali. Should we be impressed? A handful of Jews have been calling him out for years. Hananya has been honest about his efforts to missionize and 'share jesus' with Jews in the IDF for several years now. And while it is true that this isn't the first time that Israellycool's Aussie Davis has written about Naftali, his articles are replete with nebbish reflections about not wanting to attack people who do "good hasbara" and trying to show that he isn't anti-xtian. Here are some tidbits from his various articles on Hananya:

  • "I admire his passion for Israel, and appreciate the work he is doing. But there’s a big but.....Hananya, I truly hope you do not find it hard in the army just because you are Christian. Everyone should be treated equally. And I welcome and encourage your videos in support of Israel."
  • "I also certainly never suggested you do all your pro-Israel work to convert Jews. True, I suspected you might be partially motivated by this, but I also made clear I admire your passion for Israel, and appreciate the work you are doing in this regard. So to suggest I claimed all your pro-Israel advocacy is fake is disingenuous."
  • "Note: I have deliberated long and hard whether to publish this post because it calls out (again) an effective pro-Israel advocate whose advocacy work I respect. But I feel compelled to post this because of my concerns. I also want to stress up front that I am very appreciative of our Christian friends and supporters. This post is not aimed against them, but rather those people who I believe are trying to convert Jews to Christianity. And I have nothing against Christianity – it is just not for Jews!"
  • "Yet despite this good work, I have a real issue with him. He has not been truthful with us, and when someone resorts to lying, I don’t trust them. Call me old school."
  • And in his latest article: "Don’t get me wrong – he clearly loves Israel and I believe he sincerely wants to improve our situation in the world. But from what I can tell, he also seems to have another purpose, and that is to influence Jews to become Christians. And my concern is his online popularity can put him in a position to do just that, especially among younger, impressionable “fans."

Curious point: Aussie Davis has taken a stronger tone against many of us for disagreeing with the nonsensical "indigenous rights argument", than he has against Hananya Naftali for being a missionary.



Let me clarify MY position. I loath Hananya Naftali. By all means go after him. He deserves to be steam-rolled. Literally. If I wake up, and read that Hananya Naftali was run over by a steam-roller, drinks are on me. But is such a weak-kneed effort really calling out Naftali? More importantly, will Israellycool take other major organizations to task for still using Naftali in their hasbara campaigns? What about calling out "Stand With Us" who seems to have scrubbed their website's history of Naftali, but who ignored his history until late in the game, and to my knowledge has never made a statement about him? How about going after the "The Israel Project" which still features Hananya on their staff? 



The truth is that Hananya is an easy target since he brings nothing to the table. His "pro-Israel advocacy" doesn't bring money or volunteerism like Hayovel's evangelical ministry. So the cost of going after him is minimal. At this point, most Jewish organizations cannot afford to ignore his overt missionizing. But will Israellycool have the courage to go after the more prominent players who still associate with him? And its not just about organizations. Will Israellycool go after vlogger Ben Goldstein for shamelessly flaunting his friendship with this scrawny and obnoxious menace on Facebook?

Aussie Davis is trying to appear tough on this issue. I have a challenge for him:

How about going after the dangerous Hayovel ministry who have their headquarters in the religious community of Har Bracha in the Shomron? How about calling out the town's Rabbi Melamed for giving them a refuge in his closed community? (R' Melamed calls them rghtoeus gentiles, but I bet he wouldn't allow his own grandchildren to go unsupervised within a football field's distance of Waller and crew.) How about calling out the army of Jews who enable them and help mainstream them in Israeli society? Hayovel and Tommy Waller are still peddling "replacement theology" (despite his assertion otherwise) through the clever tactics of "restoration", which amount to the same thing. Will Israellycool go after Hayovel and the belligerent Jews who support him? Highly unlikely. Start your education Aussie:


How about CUFI's Dumisani Washington*, who heads a messianic congregation in California? Israellycool saw fit to feature a story where Dumisani's congregation evacuated their building in solidarity with Israelis suffering from rocket attacks in Gaza. But IsraellyCool never saw fit to explore Dumisani Washington's messianic congregation. They can start here:


http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/p/dumisani-washington-enemy-of-jewish.html

http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2017/07/dumisani-washington-exposed.html

http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2017/07/dumisani-washington-portrait-of.html



How about calling out Kay Wilson for never admitting or repenting from her documented messianic past? If she cannot be honest about her past, how can such a person be used for hasbara in the future? Yet Kay Wilson writes for Israellycool!*



Davis mentions new discoveries about Naftali that he finds online. How about taking an equally diligent look at Kay Wilson's past (which despite her efforts to scrub the internet) can still be found online? Start with the following article by Nathaniel Feingold. It's dishonest to go after one missionary while ignoring the past of another: http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2017/08/kay-wilsons-unaddressed-messianic-past.html Will Aussie Davis even read Feingold's well researched article?



As an aside Aussie, remember when you had this to say about Wilson's murdered friend, the missionary Kristine Luken? "She sounds like she was a special person. May her memory be blessed." Blessed? A person who worked with the CMJ (along with Kay Wilson), a charnel house of aggressive missionizing in Israel? (For more on the notorious CMJ/article by JewishIsrael)



Further reading on Kay Wilson:



http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2017/06/the-judean-hammer-podcast-kay-wilson.html

http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2017/05/kay-wilson-exposed.html

http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2017/05/kay-wilson-exposed-part-ii.html

http://thejudeanhammer.blogspot.co.il/2016/09/the-kay-wilson-conundrum.html



A final word for Aussie Davis:



When you've digested all of this unsettling material, integrity demands the immediate implementation of extreme changes at Israellycool. And if you are honest, you are going to have to start the unpleasant process of cleaning-house, starting of course with the dishonest Ms. Kay Wilson, and the buffoon mentioned below*. Naturally, I expect none of this to occur, and you can expect at least a handful of us to continue to expose you and your ilk who defend and enable many of the spiritual enemies of the Jewish people, in the name of respectable hasbara



But enough of your smug and self-righteous attempts to appear strong on the issue of combating missionaries. Nothing could be further from the truth. You lack the spine to even give a proper whipping to Hananya, and your criticism is peppered with apologetics and appreciation for his "good work". Your time would be better spent kvetching about the BDS movement and Roger Waters. That is after all, your bread and butter. 



Israellycool is a classic example of contemporary hasbara masquerading as Israel advocacy. Those who have little understanding of the issues cannot take a proper Jewish position on anything. 



SLIDESHOW: For those who refuse to read.* A presentation of Kay Wilson's past:



*Not surprisingly, both Kay Wilson & Dumisani Washington are defended by hasbara's gentile token and faux-indigenous activist, Ryan Bellerose, who was recently fired by Bnai Brith for incompetence. And lest we forget, Ryan also writes for Israellycool, where he babbles about fictitious indigenous rights and forgets that he is an angry white man who until recently identified as a conservative Roman-Catholic. When not on Facebook, Ryan enjoys gaming and eating and not writing that promised book on "indigenous rights" for which he raised over 21,000 dollars on GoFundMe. This raises the question. Can Israellycool do anything right?

"Hayovel" and the Wallers