Levitt Letter, October 2012
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OCTOBER 2012 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.–ROM.10:1 By Myron Kaplan, CAMERA.org Media Bias Against Committee for Accuracy in Middle-East Reporting Israel in America (CAMERA) C-SPAN is a private, non-profit company, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service to provide public access to the MORE political process, including airing congressional > sessions, hearings, press conferences, interviews, INSIDE etc. C-SPAN receives no government funding. It ■ CLASSIC TOM McCALL 5 earns its operating revenues through license fees ■ OUR MAN IN HAIFA 6 paid by cable systems that offer the network to ■ HOLOCAUST 7, 25 their customers. In recent years, C-SPAN’s daily ■ program Washington Journal has become a plat- CLASSIC ZOLA 8 form for anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic callers who ■ ISRAELI TECHNOLOGY 11, 26 are rarely, if ever, interrupted or challenged by & MEDICINE 27 the channel’s hosts. (continued p.2) ■ BULLETIN BOARD 15 ■ A NOTE FROM MARK 21 ■ LETTERS TO ZLM 22–24 Myles to Go P.3 ■ JOSHUA 21:43 ISRAEL 29–31 ■ CHRISTIANITY 32, 34 Shalom From ■ JEWISH HUMOR, TV 33 Sandra P.4 ■ SETTLERS HERE TO STAY 35 CLASSIC ZOLA: 1982—30 YEARS AGO Todd Baker P.9 TJF Report P.10 “Stop Trying to Kill Me!” Takeover Continues P.12–14 Among the pro- grams in our new Promised Land Parsons: Hebrew Lesson P.16 series, the one caus- ing the most effect is our story of the Holocaust, filmed at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Yad Va- shem is a museum of artifacts Archaeology 28 from the concentration camps and it provides a soul-shattering experience to those who under- take to fully understand this McCall P.5 unparalleled human massacre. To go through Yad Vashem, look- Harbor dates back 2,300 years ing at the actual paraphernalia of the times and reading the cont. p.8 2 Courteous, concise e-mails should urge Comcast and Time Warner Cable to make clear to C-SPAN executives that Washington Journal must not continue providing a platform to haters of Media Bias Against Israel Jews and the Jewish state. C-SPAN’s chief executives are Susan Swain continued from cover ([email protected]) and Rob Kennedy By Myron Kaplan, www.CAMERA.org ([email protected]). The themes of many such callers are the stereotypical charges of Jewish manip- ulation of U.S. foreign policy and the U.S. economy, and Israeli oppression of Arabs. The callers frequently promote anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic websites by name, encouraging listeners to visit. Among these are American sites as well as Iran’s PressTV site. Occasionally, guest speakers—journalists, authors, academics, government officials—offer information that counters these distortions and falsehoods. But C-SPAN hosts themselves almost invariably sit mute or even, at times, reinforce the bigoted rants. It’s left to the occasional pro-Israel caller, sometimes self- identified Christians, to provide moments of rationality. No other ethnic or religious group has been subjected to such continuous and virulent defamation on the network. Moreover, to date, C-SPAN has stonewalled all efforts to discuss this problem, while the hate-filled calls continue. CAMERA’s website lists a chronology of anti-Semitic utterances by C-SPAN callers. Here’s one from July. The host was Steve Scully. His guest was a senior fellow from the Center for a New American Security. Their topic dealt with renewed violence in Iraq and the fighting in Syria. One of their callers made the statement: “The U.S. or Western nations are trying to change centuries and centuries-old cultures and political systems especially in the Middle East. And of course, everything the U.S. does is by the pressure from Israel—and of course, Israel benefits first—everything is for Israel—it might not help the U.S.” NOTE: The caller charged, “everything the U.S. does in the Middle East is by pressure from Israel and benefits Israel first—everything is for Israel.” Neither the host nor the guest questioned or refuted this obvious falsehood. Guests, of course, may focus on what they will, but when one allows such an audience response to pass without comment, responsibility falls to the host. Yet on Washington Journal, when Israel is gratuitously targeted, that’s a responsibility C-SPAN hosts chronically avoid. Washington Journal, the network’s premier daily public affairs and call-in show, has been given a pass for many years on the failure of its hosts to challenge allegations by anti-Semitic callers. C-SPAN’s major patrons include Comcast, the largest cable television provider in the country. Neil Smit ([email protected]) is president of Comcast Cable and the most prominent member of C-SPAN’s five-member Board of Directors executive com- mittee. Another prominent member is Glenn Britt, Chairman and CEO of Time Warner Cable ([email protected]). “You shall know the truth...” and we will continue to publish it! Our antidote for anti-Semitic “journalism.” —Myles 2 FOR CREDIT CARD ORDERS OR DONATIONS, YOU MAY CALL 1-800-WONDERS (966-3377). MYLES TO GO: MYLES WEISS 3 Too Much Daylight “Daylight” has become a symbolic I thought of my grand- measurement of intimacy: More day- mother who lost many friends light indicates less intimacy. A father and relatives in the Holocaust. She likes to see daylight between his would no doubt feel wonder were daughter and her boyfriend. Daylight she alive. “Christians supporting Jews?” is also a symbol for the relationship Almost impossible to believe. Yet there, between Israel and America. before my tear-clouded eyes, I saw Christians’ genuine love for God’s nat- Historically and traditionally, these ural family, and trust in the Messiah. two nations have shared similarities in He would bring Jews to the Jewish democratic citizen participation, liberal Messiah in His own way, in His own diversity, and a sense of God-given, day. Believers have become content for Bible-supported freedoms. Regarding Jews to follow Yeshua in their own threats to those freedoms, Israel is often style, as Jews. The Church finally rec- the “canary in the coal mine.” Keeping ognizes that it is not a sin to be a Jew; a close eye on Israel affords America Jews are not “converting into gentiles.” the heads-up we need to see what Acts 15 has come full circle, and Jews might be coming against us. The kin- who come into relationship with the ship strengthens both countries. Israel Jewish Messiah may have very Jewish shines brightly as the only true democ- ways of following and worshipping Him. racy in the Middle East. America’s exceptionalism distinguishes it from What about the daylight? While many socialism in Europe and Marxism in American Christians vocally support Latin America. In many ways, the the Jewish people and Israel, our gov- brightness of these two nations makes ernment fluctuates. And now, we’re it easy to discern good from evil. faced with the Muslim Brotherhood, whose motto reads, “Allah is our goal, The daylight between us has fluctuated the Prophet our model, the Koran our since the days of Harry Truman. Truman constitution, Jihad our path, and death was the modern era’s Cyrus, blessing for the cause of Allah our most sublime Israel and bringing blessing on America belief.” With the Muslim Brotherhood by doing so. We don’t want to squander gaining power in the Middle East, let that blessing! These are momentous us pray that God closes the daylight times. gap between the U.S. and Israel. Several years ago, I watched 4,000 Christians gather in Washington D.C. to support Israel. They proclaimed an intimate friendship with the tiny Jewish State. They lobbied Congress. They packed tightly into government offices to convince their legislators to stand with our ally. At one point, I stood at the top of a giant stairwell as hundreds streamed by to hear the next inspiring conference speaker. I wept as I realized that these gentile Believers, these Christians, were coming full circle. After two thousand years of daylight between the Church and Jews, the gap was closing. Christians were standing up in record numbers to proclaim their love for the Jewish people. OCTOBER 2012 P.O. BOX 12268 • DALLAS, TX 75225-0268 • (214) 696-8844 • WWW.LEVITT.COM 3 SHALOM FROM SANDRA 4 And where exactly is this Promised The 7th of the Land? You want me in a what? … a temporary shelter (sukkah/booth) Seven Feasts with flimsy branches for protection? Really? What about the bugs and the Sukkot wild animals? According to Leviticus 23:42, 43, “You are to live in sukkot (booths/tabernac- I understand the fear. Don’t we all, les) for seven days; every citizen of however, have a fear of the unknown Israel is to live in a sukkah so that when we first believe in Adonai? We generation after generation of you come from the desert of wandering, we will know that I made the people of find Adonai, and we start on our journey Israel live in sukkot when I brought to the Promised Land. Along the way, them out of the land of Egypt; I am Adonai feeds us, clothes us, and shelters Adonai, your God.” us until we get where He’s leading us. In the end, He is the ultimate trail boss. My idea of camping is no room service. Consequently, reading about the Feast I had the pleasure of “living” in a booth of Sukkot/Booths in Leviticus wildly in Israel for an evening during the Feast stimulates my imagination.