Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
Earlier this year, immigrants from North America landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport to make Israel their home.
Seeing Jewish people return to Israel is literally watching Bible prophecy unfold. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel speak of the Jewish return to their ancestral homeland.
"It says several times in Isaiah, 'I will lift up a banner to nations' -- to the gentiles. They shall bring your sons and your daughters back," Operation Exodus head Debra Minotti told CBN News.
Operation Exodus helps Jews return to Israel. Minotti said there's been a 79 percent increase in inquiries about assistance with immigrating since 2014.
"If I can just give glory to God because this is His work," Minotti said. "In 1948, Israel had 800,000 Jewish people in the land, and they became a nation in one day like Isaiah said. Now there's over 6 million, so that is incredible over 67 years. And so they're going back by the plane loads yearly."
"Last year, there were 27,000 [who] made aliyah [immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return]," she continued. "And [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin [Netanyahu] said...this year he said to the Jews of the world, 'Israel is waiting for you with open arms.'"
"So there are miracles happening right in front of our eyes -- that He says, 'I will bring them back from around the world -- the north, the south, the east and west for His name's sake," she said.
Operation Exodus partners with the Jewish Agency of Israel and other groups to help U.S. Jews immigrate to Israel.
The organization also provides humanitarian aid to Holocaust survivors and others in the former Soviet Union.
A big part in helping those seeking to return is the power of prayer.
"We pray for their safety. We also pray that they would get jobs quickly and [for] those things that are holding them back here, the frustrations," Minotti said. "You know, there's family issues going on, children who are sick."
Minotti said Jews are returning to Israel for many reasons.
"Many of them are saying, 'HaShem [Elohim] is calling us back to the land.' Others are saying, 'I want my children to be raised in a Jewish homeland.' Others are saying, 'I want to defend Israel. I want to be there, I'm a Zionist," she explained.
Minotti added that some are saying "this is 1939 and we see the handwriting on the wall."
"Anti-Semitism in New York is also up 27 to 28 percent so you look at the Bible, you look at the newspaper, and then we need to take action," she said. "And there's nothing more spoken in the Bible right now than His nation, strengthening it and returning the Jewish people to the land. He says, 'I will do this. I will do it to vindicate his name.'"
Motivated by love for Israel and the Jewish people, Operation Exodus offers Minotti and others the opportunity to work with God to bring His prophecies to pass.
"You wake up and you think, what an awesome responsibility and what an awesome joy it is at the same time," Minotti said. "It is deep joy and there's a cost to standing with Israel and it's intense, but I love it and our workers love it, our volunteers love it. It's only going to grow."
“Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, ‘The LORD has done great things for them.’” (Psalms 126:2)
The birth of the State of Israel brought with it practical and spiritual implications for the relations between Jews and Christians in ways that were unimaginable to previous generations. The Jewish State rose up from the ashes of the Holocaust and brought with it something entirely new and unexpected; a movement of Christian funded organizations that see it is as their God-given mission to help the Jews return to Israel as part of their messianic calling.
Operation Exodus is a stellar example of this new relationship. Started in the United Kingdom in 1991 by Gustav Scheller, the organization now has representatives in over 50 countries around the world who have assisted over 150,000 Jewish people in returning to Israel, including 1,750 from the US, as part of the aliyah (immigration to Israel) movement. Operation Exodus is a partner organization of the Jewish Agency for Israel and other Jewish aliyah organizations.
The motivation behind Operation Exodus is rooted in the Bible and a sense of spiritual debt to the Jewish people. According to the group’s mission statement, the State of Israel is a historic opportunity to right the historic wrongs made by Christians against Jews and a way to rebuild the relationship with the Jewish nation.
“Now is the time to bless them and assist them with their return to Israel, the land God promised to give them as an everlasting and unconditional possession (Genesis 17:8),” the Operation Exodus mission statement reads.
Operation Exodus assists Jews from all over the world make Aliyah. (Photo: Official Facebook Page of Operation Exodus).
The group’s connection with Jews and Israel takes a practical form, supported by generous donations from 200 churches and 97 ministries in the US alone, and thousands more around the world. No less significant is the change in their spiritual connection to the Jewish people, with tens of thousands of Christians worldwide praying for the State of Israel each day.
Operation Exodus also brings Christians to Israel in a program called “Engage” which allows Christians to see and experience first hand life in Israel.
Debra Minotti is the inspired director of Operation Exodus. Her personal connection with Israel began when, as a child, she saw the televised news of the Six Day War. She knew something deeply significant was happening and her heart drew her to identify with the Jews. Minotti’s life’s work, guided by her Christian belief, has been to help the Jews practically and pray for them spiritually.
“For those of us who are called to this work, it is something very deep and gratifying,” she told Breaking Israel News. “There’s just nothing that gives us more purpose.”
Minotti is not alone. She explained to Breaking Israel News that there are a multitude of Christians like her who care for the Jewish people.
“There’s over 6,000 Christians on our database in the United States who just want to hear what is happening with the Jews and Israel. There’s over 1,000 who are praying specifically just for Jews to make aliyah, and that is just one nation. There are over 50 nations involved in this. What the Jews do with it is up to them. But we are here for them.”
While this type of partnership between Jews and Christians have inspired many, the path has been fraught with difficulties.
The largest evangelical Christian group supporting Israel financially, with an annual budget of over $100 million, is the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), founded by Israeli-American rabbi, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein in 1983. The organization worked closely with the Jewish Agency for Israel, donating millions of dollars annually towards aliyah and other causes while carrying out its own projects. It is estimated that the IFCJ has provided $150 million to bring Jews to Israel over the last 15 years.
Ten years ago, then Jewish Agency Chairman, Avram Burg, refused to be photographed accepting a $3 million check from Rabbi Eckstein. Relations improved somewhat, leading to the Jewish Agency offering Rabbi Eckstein a seat on the board in 2007. This was considered a major milestone in Judeo-Christian relations, when a representative of an Evangelical charity, albeit a rabbi, sat on the board of the Jewish Agency.
However, old wounds had not entirely healed and the union was not to last. Despite the unprecedented beneficence from the Evangelical world, the Jewish Agency was still unwilling to formalize this partnership in a public manner. This led to the IFCJ breaking off relations and establishing its own independent aliyah program, effectively making them competitors with the Jewish Agency.
This is not the first time the IFCJ’s generosity and good-will was snubbed by an agency it supported and has learned to downplay their involvement to placate the recipients. The Israeli branch of IFCJ is named Keren LaYedidut (Friendship Fund) with no reference in its name to its Christian roots, though its website clearly connects it to the IFCJ. Philanthropy thrives on public recognition of the donor’s generosity, but the Jewish recipients are reluctant to acknowledge this generosity in a public manner.
New olim from Ukraine with The Fellowship Founder and President Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein (center) waving Israeli flags. (Photo Credit: Olivier Fitoussi)
Rabbi Eckstein, speaking with Breaking Israel News, reflected on the groundbreaking work the IFCJ and the sometimes difficult path his organization has encountered.
“For almost 40 years, I have strived to build bridges of understanding and cooperation between Christians and Jews. During those years, Christians have contributed some $1.3 billion to The Fellowship to help Israel and the Jewish people, including by supporting our ‘Wings of Eagles’ aliyah program,” he explained.
“While most Jews today have come to grasp that we are living in a new day when Christians – historically our greatest enemy – are now our best friends, there are, of course, those who still don’t ‘get it,’ but we dare not even hiccup let alone veer from our path working together to better the world and fulfill our mandate of tikkun olam,” Rabbi Eckstein told Breaking Israel News. “Thank God for these Christian friends – I don’t know where we would be today without their help and unconditional love.”
This little booklet consists of messages previously written in my books, which of themselves contain many various themes. I wanted to devote one book to just Israel and the Jewish people, and so this small booklet was compiled.
As you read the following, consider the truth contained in Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, which spell out the commitment of God the Father to choose a people who will be a light to the nations.
He chose the Jews, and gave them the Promised Land of Israel. It does not matter what other national governments try to say, do, or accomplish apart from the plans and purposes of the Lord. They will fail. His Word is true. It is eternal. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever, and thus His commitment in keeping His promises made to the Jewish people will be fulfilled.
Join us on our podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.
Earlier this year, immigrants from North America landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport to make Israel their home.
Seeing Jewish people return to Israel is literally watching Bible prophecy unfold. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel speak of the Jewish return to their ancestral homeland.
"It says several times in Isaiah, 'I will lift up a banner to nations'—to the gentiles. They shall bring your sons and your daughters back," Operation Exodus head Debra Minotti told CBN News.
Operation Exodus helps Jews return to Israel. Minotti says there's been a 79 percent increase in inquiries about assistance with immigrating since 2014.
"If I can just give glory to God because this is His work," Minotti said. "In 1948, Israel had 800,000 Jewish people in the land, and they became a nation in one day like Isaiah said. Now there's over 6 million, so that is incredible over 67 years. And so they're going back by the plane loads yearly."
"Last year, there were 27,000 [who] made aliyah [immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return]," she continued, "and [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin [Netanyahu] said...this year he said to the Jews of the world, 'Israel is waiting for you with open arms.' So there are miracles happening right in front of our eyes—that He says, 'I will bring them back from around the world—the north, the south, the east and west for His name's sake."
Operation Exodus partners with the Jewish Agency of Israel and other groups to help U.S. Jews immigrate to Israel.
The organization also provides humanitarian aid to Holocaust survivors and others in the former Soviet Union.
A big part in helping those seeking to return is the power of prayer.
"We pray for their safety. We also pray that they would get jobs quickly and [for] those things that are holding them back here, the frustrations," Minotti said. "You know, there's family issues going on, children who are sick."
Minotti says Jews are returning to Israel for many reasons.
"Many of them are saying, 'HaShem [Elohim] is calling us back to the land.' Others are saying, 'I want my children to be raised in a Jewish homeland.' Others are saying, 'I want to defend Israel. I want to be there, I'm a Zionist," she explained.
Minotti added that some are saying "this is 1939 and we see the handwriting on the wall."
"Anti-Semitism in New York is also up 27 to 28 percent so you look at the Bible, you look at the newspaper, and then we need to take action," she said. "And there's nothing more spoken in the Bible right now than His nation, strengthening it and returning the Jewish people to the land. He says, 'I will do this. I will do it to vindicate his name.'"
Motivated by love for Israel and the Jewish people, Operation Exodus offers Minotti and others the opportunity to work with God to bring His prophecies to pass.
"You wake up and you think, what an awesome responsibility and what an awesome joy it is at the same time," Minotti said. "It is deep joy and there's a cost to standing with Israel and it's intense, but I love it and our workers love it, our volunteers love it. It's only going to grow."
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