Israel

Ariel Ben Ami's and Mark Kinzer's reactions to my study regarding the different ways of understanding Israel have been important and I have appreciated the richness of their contents, albeit correcting some opinions I had expressed.

While most Evangelical Protestants are generally friendly to the Jewish people and the State of Israel, there is a small band of Evangelical pastors and professors who want to line up all Evangelicals unilaterally on the Palestinian side. The most egregious example may be Anglican vicar Stephen Sizer, whose has chummed up with the likes of Naturei Karta and Iranian President Ahmadinejad. But Gary Burge probably wields the greater influence.

I often hear Catholics talking about going on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and I must confess that something lightly irritates me about this terminology. It seems that whenever Catholics talk about visiting the land of the Bible, they almost invariably call it “the Holy Land” and rarely “Israel.”

On the heels of the Gaza disengagement, which was intended to empower the Palestinian Authority to improve the lives of its people, few journalists have reported on the acutely trying times facing the Christians residing in areas "governed" by the Palestinian Authority. Professor Justus Reid Weiner, Scholar in Residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, provides an in-depth look into the nearly uninterrupted persecution of Christians throughout the decade since the Oslo peace process began.  Read Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society.

Catholics for Israel welcomes and applauds the decision of US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to relocate the American Embassy there.

Hamas denies Israel's right to exist. But for pontifical diplomacy, the Jewish state is wrong to defend itself with force. The custodian of the Holy Land reveals the thinking behind the Church's policy in the Middle East.

An interview with Petra Heldt, head of the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity in Israel and proud friend of Israel, on Christians in Israel, dhimmitude and Sharia law, and Jewish-Christian relations.

Not surprisingly, Israel's interception of the "humanitarian aid" flotilla heading for Gaza in the early morning of May 31, 2010, which ended with nine activists killed and dozens wounded, has sparked outrage and harsh condemnations from the international community.  The incident has been described as an Israeli "crime" and "massacre" of peaceful humanitarian workers who only wished to relieve the suffering of the people of Gaza.

Day by day the anti-Israel alliance, and sadly in collaboration with major church movements mainly from the Protestant world, is seeking to make the Apartheid label stick to Israel. We see this at present in the fortnight of global agitation known as “Israel Apartheid Week.” There is more to this scheming than meets the eye in that the real agenda behind branding Israel an “Apartheid state” is to remove the Jewish State altogether.

In this article, I examine three questions: First, the question "who is Israel?" - using as point of reference Fr. Carlo Colonna's five ways of understanding the term "Israel." Second, I discuss the idea of God's blessing that comes "from" Israel and is intended "for" Israel.  Third, I attempt to clarify our own identity and mission as Catholics for Israel in light of Fr. Carlo's five ways of understanding Israel.

The words "Israel" and "Israelite" occur 77 times in the New Testament. Is "Israel"ever used as a synonym for the Church? How many times does the NT use the expression "new Israel" or "true Israel" to refer to the Church?

Perhaps you have seen this map before; it claims to illustrate the "Palestinian loss of land" from 1946 to 2000. The problem is that the map completely misrepresents the recent history of Palestine-Israel.

God has tied His saving and redemptive concern for the welfare of all men to His love for the people of Israel. Only those who love the people of Israel can love the God of Israel. Israel is thus God's first-born, most precious in His eyes. -- Michael Wyschogrod (1928-2015)

In this message I try to outline a a Jewish Catholic doctrine of Mary, a doctrine that, I think, does full justice to Mary as she is understood by the Church while, at the same time, acknowledging the dignity of Israel as it is understood in Judaism.

From Herod’s stronghold heights, a Remnant watched, as Silva’s legion circled them in vain. Across the changing hues of water far below, they looked with memory at Moab’s hills, secure as even Moses could not be, for they were here in Judah’s field.

No film director’s dream, this Galilean town: an ordinary place. Do you think I put it down? Why, no! It is to ordinary men he came, to share their ordinary lives, that they might be his kith.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the 66th session of the General Assembly at United Nations headquarters on September 23, 2011, following Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' speech.

The Old City of Jaffa, located on the southern edge of Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean coast, was known in ancient times as the gateway to the Land of Israel. With its 3,000 years of history, Old Jaffa is the world’s most ancient port.

Jesus Christ suffers in the passion of Israel. In striking Israel, the anti-Semites strike him, insult him and spit on him. To persecute the house of Israel is to persecute Christ, not in his mystical body as when the Church is persecuted, but in his fleshly lineage and in his forgetful people whom he ceaselessly loves and calls. In the passion of Israel, Christ suffers and acts as the shepherd of Zion and the Messiah of Israel, in order gradually to conform his people to him.

If we wish to grasp the meaning of God's Plan in history with regard to Israel, we must go far beyond the issues relating to the present political Israel or any other temporal  vision regarding Israel. We must grasp the role Israel has in God's Plan in the last days of history, wherein we have entered with the end of the time of the nations and the beginning of the time of Israel as God’s nation called in the end times to accept Messiah.