Organizers of the upcoming Christian-Jewish events in Jerusalem say no missionary activity is involved; Israel's Chief Rabbis say they will review a ban on participation in the events ordered by a Rabbinate subcommittee.

MK Rabbi Benny Elon met with Israel's Chief Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar today, regarding last week's controversial ruling by a Rabbinate subcommittee. The three-rabbi subcommittee, presented with evidence of wide-scale missionary activity throughout Israel, banned participation in two Christian-Jewish events planned for later this month in Jerusalem.

However, Elon - who works closely with Christian Zionists in advancing Israel's political interests - offered to present the Chief Rabbis with evidence that might change the picture. The rabbis agreed, and a meeting on the matter is set to be held in a matter of days.

Elon, who heads the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, told Arutz-7, "We are very careful not to work with missionary organizations - and they well know this. In this case, however, I believe the rabbis simply did not have the right information."

The Chief Rabbinate Council committee of municipal chief rabbis - headed by Rabbi Simcha Kook of Rehovot, with the participation of Rabbi Yitzchak Peretz of Raanana, and Rabbi Yehuda Deri of Be'er Sheva - ruled that the "Woman to Woman" conference sponsored by Bridges for Peace, and the "Empowering Women through Judeo-Christian Values" event of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus Women’s Summit both "stand in opposition to Torah thought and law."

The ruling added that the two events "strive to create a partnership between famous Christian preachers and leaders of organizations that have worldwide missionary programs to missionize as many Jews as possible... Events of this nature have been banned in the past by Torah giants throughout the generations, and they are forbidden."

Reactions were quick to arrive. Sondra Oster Baras, Director of the Israel Office of Christian Friends of Israeli Communities and a Board Member of the Women's Council of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, explained that Bridges for Peace (BFP) "does not engage in missionary activity and [its chairperson Rebecca Brimmer], personally, has an exemplary record in that regard." Baras noted that while some rabbis "oppose any activity between Jews and Christians, there are many others who are quite supportive."

Josh Reinstein, of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, agreed: "BFP is against missionary activity... It is hard to fathom that there are Jews who are willing to meet with our enemies, yet not with our friends."

BFP head Brimmer herself, speaking on IsraelNationalRadio and later contacted separately by Arutz-7, also said that her organization has no missionary objectives - though she stopped short of condemning all missionary activity outright. Asked by IsraelNationalRadio's Jeremy Gimpel if the organization's good works on behalf of Israel are just a cover for missionary objectives, she said, "You've known me for 4-5 years. Have I tried to change you into a Christian?"

Gimpel: "Absolutely not - but I want you to say it on the air. I want everyone to hear the President of BFP say that she is absolutely against missionary activity, that this is not what the organization stands for."

Brimmer: "That is not - BFP is not a missionary organization, we are an organization that is trying to bring relationships and reconciliation between two people who have been at odds for 2,000 years and who both love and serve the same God and who both read the same Bible. I think it's a sin against God for us to be always at odds and hating one another, and I think we need to change that."

Later, Arutz-7 asked her about promotional literature for the BFP event that speaks of "Jewish and Christian women together, studying the Word..." Ms. Brimmer agreed that this might be misleading, and said that the description is inaccurate. "Basically," she said, "we have a small conference of about 30 Christian women from abroad, with no Jews signed up, nor did we attempt to invite them as participants. What we did was to invite Jewish women to come and share with the Christians how they think - because if we're going to overcome anti-Semitism, then we need to get to know one another."

(The reference is to the Woman to Woman event; the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus summit is a larger affair - two days of sessions in a Jerusalem hotel on issues such as abuse of women, the lack of women's rights in various countries, Judeo-Christian ethics,  women as leaders, and more.)

Sitting Together, or Teaching?
Ms. Brimmer was asked to elaborate: "Do you see this as a way of simply showing Christians that Jews don't have horns - or is it that the Jews will actually teach the Christians, such as is described in Zechariah 8:23, which states that 'ten [Gentiles] will take hold of a Jew by his cloak and say, 'let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you'"?

"I can accept both formulations," she responded. "Most Christians are totally unaware of the riches they can learn from the Jews. In some ways, Christianity has been removed from its source... But we're certainly not getting Christians to become Jews, that's for sure."

Blurring the Lines
The Rabbinate council is concerned, however, that while specific groups are not involved outright in missionary work, the "blurring of the lines" will lead to danger in the future. "Bonds of this nature and the search for Judea-Christian values, and the study of the Jewish foundations of Christianity are forbidden and must be condemned," the ruling states.

Following the conversation with Ms. Brimmer, Arutz-7 asked one of the signatories, Rabbi Yitzchak Peretz, whether the ban included teaching the Christians. His response: "Participation of any sort is forbidden, because the Christians' ultimate goal is to convert Jews and we cannot give this legitimacy."

A senior member of the Yad L'Achim anti-missionary organization told Arutz-7 that though BFP and others are not actively involved in missionary work, "we must be very vigilant. Whether they are active or not is not the question; they can still be supportive of evangelizing Jews even though they do not actively do it. There are some issues on which we can work with them, and some that we cannot. It has to be done with careful judgment... For instance, to talk of 'Judeo-Christian' values - there is no such thing. This is a concept that arose in the West. There are some values that they adopted from us, and others that they distorted."

Rabbi Yitzchak HaLevy of the Yesha township of Karnei Shomron said (before learning that the Chief Rabbis planned to review the ruling) that though he would not take a public stance in opposition to the Chief Rabbinate, "I don't think that we have to fear these organizations that much. The bottom line is that their spiritual influence here is very small. It's true that belief in a trinity is pure idol worship, but I don't think we have to fear that they will make inroads with this nonsense." He agreed that in the city of Ariel, Christian influence is not insignificantly felt.

Missionary Influence
Jerusalem Councilwoman Mina Fenton, who met with the Rabbinate committee, feels the missionaries' influence must not be under-estimated. She says that various volunteers throughout the country provide food packages and other help to many needy families, providing "spiritual counseling" as an added bonus. In addition, she told the rabbis, there are some 10,000 Messianic Jews in 100 communities around the country, and another 3,000 Jehova's Witnesses, all of whom are active in various ways in "spreading the gospel."

"The goal of all the groups," she feels, "is to blur the differences between Jews and Christians, to show the Jewish roots of Jesus, and to show that we believe in the same things - thus making it easier for the actual missionaries to come in for the kill."

Not every Christian wishes to missionize Jews, most agree. Women-in-Green co-founder Ruth Matar remembers fondly the Christian family that adopted her as a little girl during the Holocaust and constantly told her never to forget that she was Jewish and that what she heard with them at church was not "for her." Similarly, many feel, many Christian Zionists today love Israel with no ulterior motives.

On the other hand, as Sandra Oster Baras writes, "Make no mistake. Most Christians do believe that Jews need to accept Jesus. That is their religion. [But our] goal in building relationships between Jews and Christians is... to develop ways to cooperate and work together for the benefit of Israel and the Jewish people, despite our religious differences. We will not cooperate with anyone who is involved in missionary activity targeting the Jewish people. We will, however, continue to cooperate with anyone who wants to help the Jewish people and is willing to set aside his missionary agenda."

Opportunity - or Danger?
"For us," says Baras, "it is an opportunity to help Israel that we dare not ignore." Others say it is a danger that we dare not ignore.

---- Sites related to the missionary debate: ----

* Outreach Judaism (includes 25 hours of free audio downloads)

* Jews for Judaism

* Being Jewish

Reactions to the publication of the Winograd testimonies of Prime Minister Olmert, Defense Minister Peretz and ex-IDF Chief of Staff Halutz were no surprise: The opposition called for Olmert to resign, while his supporters backed him.

MK Menachem Ben-Sasson (Kadima), the head of the Knesset Law Committee, said the Prime Minister acted with long-range vision, and assigned focused missions upon the army.

MK Danny Yatom (Labor), who represents internal opposition to the Kadima-Labor government: "I regret that the Prime Minister shifted responsibility to the army. His testimony strengthens the earlier report that so sharply criticized his personal performance. He sent the army to war, even though he knew it wasn't ready."

MK Gideon Saar, the head of the Likud Knesset faction, summed up Olmert's testimony as an attempt to deflect responsibility from the political echelons to the army. "He did not learn from his mistakes, and he is not the right person to correct the faults," Saar said about the Prime Minister.

National Union chairman MK Benny Elon said, "There is nothing new; the failure is known. There must be an immediate political change, so that the public trust - and that of the reserve soldiers - can be restored in those who make the decisions before the next war, which is soon approaching."

National Religious Party chairman MK Zevulun Orlev: "Now we see why Olmert didn't want his testimony publicized - because it shows him running away from all responsibility and blaming the army."

Meretz Party leader MK Yossi Beilin called on both Olmert and Peretz to resign.

The Winograd Commission has released the testimonies of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, and ex-IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz - partially censored for security reasons.

The Winograd Commission, reviewing the mistakes leading up to and during the Second Lebanon War, has released the testimonies of six of the 74 witnesses it heard. The testimonies of Prime Minister Olmert, Defense Minister Peretz, and ex-IDF Chief of Staff Halutz were released Thursday morning.  Those of Vice Premier Shimon Peres, former IDF Intelligence Chief Amos Malka, and Emergency Economic Authority chief Brig.-Gen. Arnon Ben-Ami were released weeks ago.

Prime Minister Olmert's testimony fills 89 pages, including many ellipses [three dots] on each page indicating censored material. He said it was clear that Israel had to take action against Hizbullah, but "something in our conception of the activation of our forces, and in the control of our forces, was not what we suspected - and without a doubt this was what caused the gap between our capacities and what we actually achieved."

Defense Minister Amir Peretz stated that the original estimation was that the Second Lebanon War was going to be a limited military operation lasting no longer than two weeks.

Together with the publication, Committee members Ruth Gavizon and Menachem Einan expressed their disapproval of the Supreme Court-ordered publication of the testimonies.  The two said it would negatively influence the way people testify in future committees, as well as the operation of future committees.

Ehud Olmert: Proud of Peretz
Olmert, the last of the witnesses to be heard by the Winograd Commission, admitted that Foreign Minister Livni was not involved in government consultations at first. "Israel should be proud of Amir Peretz," Olmert said, noting that he had grown up in a development town (Sderot), was injured in battle, led a popular national platform, came from behind to win Labor Party leadership and then led the party to a significant electoral achievement, etc. However, Olmert said that he himself was not involved in the militarily-inexperienced Peretz's appointment as Defense Minister, explaining that it was a political matter determined by Labor. "I had no choice in it," Olmert said.
Olmert said that a ground offensive was not an option at first, as "Chief of Staff Halutz didn't want it." He described his own decisions as having been satisfactory, while admitting that some things could have been done differently, such as holding more discussions with the security mini-cabinet. He said that he asked the army to show him plans, fearing that the situation would "end up leaving Israel stuck in a new Lebanese mire, just like the old one."

Peretz: My Inexperience Had a Good Side
Asked if he had enough experience to be Defense Minister, Amir Peretz said, inter alia, "I don't think we should [deal with this issue]. I was a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and I had contact with security issues in my other positions, but I don't think this matters. I believe that [what is important is] the fact that I came in totally clean, without any prior obligation to any system, neither procedurally nor conceptually... I felt the need to ask and investigate everything, more than others; I didn't feel that I knew everything...

Peretz said that on July 12, the day IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were kidnapped by Hizbullah, "I didn't know of the unpreparedness of the army; the army did not tell me." Asked to explain his boast that Nasrallah would rue the day he first heard the name Amir Peretz, Peretz said he never said it.

"I accepted the possibility that there might be Katyushas on our homefront," Peretz said, "for it would show the enemy that we could withstand this - and we would thus be more free to operate."

Defense Minister Peretz said that he objected to the proposed massive cut in defense spending immediately after the formation of the government, even though he had always championed social issues: "I felt that this was an irresponsible thing to do at the time, before I had a chance as Defense Minister to see what would be the ramifications. I knew that I would get bad publicity..."

Halutz: "We Could Have Achieved More"
Ex-Chief of Staff Halutz, in his testimony, was asked about his having said in a press interview, that it is possible that if different people had been Prime Minister and Defense Minister, the outcome of the war would have been different: "I meant this very straightforwardly. People make the difference... I don't remove myself from this equation either."

Halutz said that the war should have been shorter, and that its length was its main failure. "If the first ground offensives had been carried out better, we would not have had to reach the major ground offensive at the end [in which many soldiers were killed]... Given the situation and means that we had, we could have achieved much more - had we been more determined, initiating, and responsible. These are the three criteria."

He said that his relations with Peretz were "correct," and that because Peretz was also the head of the party, he was somewhat less attentive to the army's problems. Halutz said his relationship with Olmert was "excellent."

State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss published a report Wednesday finding that the 2005 Disengagement Plan cost twice the figure quoted by Ariel Sharon's government prior to its implementation.

The government estimated the expulsion of 10,000 Jews from Gaza and northern Samaria, the destruction of their homes and their rehabilitation elsewhere would cost 4.5 billion shekels. In reality, it has cost 9 billion shekels ($2.25 billion) so far.

"The cabinet and the Knesset were not presented with estimates and assessments regarding the expenses that may be required to fund the various solutions," Lindenstrauss wrote.

The report blamed the Prime Minister's Office, The Disengagement Authority and the State Assessor’s Office for the failures.

The Prime Minister’s Office responded to the report, blaming the funding issue on the fact that the Evacuation-Compensation Law was only passed after the Supreme Court approved its final form in June, 2005 – two months before the forced eviction. They also blamed Gush Katif residents for not cooperating with the expulsion from and destruction of their homes.

IDF Criticized
The comptroller report criticized the IDF for failing to stop Kassam rockets from being fired from Gaza, and for failing to find a solution to the smuggling tunnels providing Gaza’s Hamas-led PA with massive amounts of arms and explosives.

The report recalls that 1,025 rockets landed in the western Negev in 2006. “Although the threat of the Kassams was identified at the end of 2001, the IDF didn't develop a strategy to combat the threat quickly enough, and by the end of 2005 there was still no clear strategy,” the report said.

The report reveals that in October 2004, then-Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon appointed Dan Halutz, to head a team assigned with finding a solution to the Kassam fire. Halutz went on to lead the IDF as Chief of Staff during the Disengagement, after Ya’alon’s quiet unwillingness to command it cost him his job.

The IDF statement released after the report claimed the army has indeed had advances toward preventing the tunnels.

According to IDF officials, a 30 million shekel system that detects the tunnels has been developed, but is only operational in 10 percent of the areas in which it is needed, due to budget limitations of the IDF. Regarding the bombardment of Israeli targets with Kassams, the IDF report explained, "Budget cuts and delays in receiving approval have made it difficult to formulate a long-term plan for the formation of an IDF force, in particular regarding the prevention of high trajectory fire."

According to the latest intelligence briefings, there are at least 15 active smuggling tunnels in PA-controlled Rafiah, along the Gaza-Egypt border. Rafiah is home to a crossing manned by observers from the European Union.
IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit was abducted by Gaza terrorists who used a tunnel to approach his position on the Israeli border with Gaza and to escape following his capture.

Lack of Avian Flu Preparations Criticized
Lindesntrauss said Israel had received warnings about the H5N1 Avian Flu already in 2004 – enough time to prepare for the 2006 outbreak. “The authorities, such as the Agriculture Ministry and Health Ministry, failed to prepare for the crisis.”

Illegal Practices at Kinneret
The State Comptroller found that visiters to Lake Kinneret are still being charged entry, contrary to the law. The land around Lake Kinneret is public, but businessmen have erected beaches and campgrounds along its shores and charged visitors for years.

The Tiberias city council has also failed to provide free parking along the beach as it is obligated to.

Israel Police in Judea and Samaria are suspected of forging a tape of a briefing that supposedly took place prior to the violent events of February 1, 2006 at Amona.

On that day, the Israel Police carried out orders to demolish nine Jewish homes in Amona, 12 miles north of Jerusalem. The police were filmed using excessive force against hundreds of youthful protestors, over 200 of whom were injured and taken to hospitals for treatment.

Dr. Yitzchak Klein of the Israel Policy Center has gone public with evidence suggesting that a tape released recently by the police has several signs of being tampered with or staged altogether.

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The tape allegedly shows Judea and Samaria District Commander Maj.-Gen. Yisrael Yitzhak briefing the policemen who were chosen to carry out the demolition orders prior to the mission. The filmed briefing, which aimed at proving that police did not receive explicit orders to use violence against protesters, was handed over to the Israel Policy Forum after six months of refusals by the police, who explained its release would compromise national security.

The Israel Policy Center had the tape examined by professionals, who found a number of suspicious anomalies.
• The timestamp on the close-up of the commander delivering the briefing, March 5, 2006, was five weeks after the events at Amona, when a Knesset committee of inquiry had already been established and was demanding a response from the police.
• There is at no point a shot panning both the audience and the close up of the speaker.
• As the audio of the briefing continues, the camera cuts to the audience of 1000 riot police listening. The exact same footage panning the audience is used a total of six times throughout the video.
• The filmed footage of the audience is jumpy indicating that the video camera was hand held. The filmed footage of the officer delivering the briefing (with the time stamp 6 weeks later) was steady indicating that the camera was mounted on a tripod.
• In relation to landmarks at the site, such as a dirt path, it appears the speaker is standing in two different locations in the two different camera shots.
• When seen from behind with a wide angle shot including the audience, the speaker does not appear to have notes on the podium, but when in the close up version shot from the side, he is reaching down to shuffle his notes. • Six minutes were missing entirely.

"It appears that the material was extracted from a larger body of raw footage," Klein said at a press conference Tuesday. "We requested the raw footage, but the police said that this is all the footage they have."

Arutz-7’s Israel National TV examined the video as well, producing an in-depth report examining the alleged inconsistencies in the footage. Click here to view the Hebrew report and the police footage.

Complaint Filed
The Israel Policy Center has filed a complaint with the Police Investigation Unit alleging that Judea and Samaria District Commander Maj.-Gen. Yisrael Yitzhak, seen delivering the briefing in a barren valley, with a podium and microphone, forged the tape, which shows him instructing police officers that they should avoid violence during the demolition of nine houses at Amona.

"Anyone who is inside the circle or in the buildings, we will take him out," Maj.-Gen. Yitzhak is seen saying on the video. "And if he resists passively, then that is the end of the matter. You have helmets and clubs. If you need to, then use them, but if you don't need to, then don't use them."

“If the briefing had been real,” Dr. Klein said, “the police would not have used excessive force during the destruction. We suspect that this briefing is not the real briefing.”

The complaint was filed with Israel’s State Comptroller, the Public Security Ministry and the Attorney General as well. “Who was this video made for and why?” Dr. Klein asks in his petition. “If this is not the real briefing, what happened to the real briefing?"

Due to the violence at Amona, which included mounted riot police beating protesters with batons, as well as the beating of passive protesters sitting on the ground with their arms locked, over 200 were treated at regional hospitals due to wounds sustained.

Click here to view Arutz-7’s documentary on the violence at Amona

He said the entire video was taken in the presence of former Police Chief