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Trump's Ambassador to Israel Is "To The Right of Netanyahu"
Dec. 15, 2016 ONLY SIMCHAS NEWS
President-elect Donald Trump is nominating his top Jewish surrogate, David Friedman to be U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Friedman, a real estate & bankruptcy lawyer, is an Orthodox Jew who is a member of the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst and lives in Woodmere, NY. Friedman has been married for 35 years to Tammy Sand of Miami Beach, Florida. They also own a home in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Talbiyeh, where they spend the Jewish holidays along with their children and grandchildren twice a year. Friedman is also a commentator on Arutz Sheva and serves as the President of American Friends of Bet El Institutions.
David and Tammy Friedman at a playground which they dedicated in Bet El, with Former MK and Bet El Founder Yaakov “Ketzaleh” Katz. (on the left.)
A faculty house dedicated by Friedman in Bet El’s Ra’aya Girls High School. Baruch Gordon
Chief Advisor on Israel During Campaign
The involvement of David Friedman in the Trump campaign was first revealed shortly before Passover, in a meeting with Orthodox Jewish reporters, when Trump named the two men he said would be his chief advisers on Israel. Jason Greenblatt and Trump’s “good friend and trusted adviser”David M. Friedman.
During the meeting Trump told the reporters, “The Orthodox community is amazing. I grew up in Brooklyn, as you know. Ocean Parkway. And I’ve had many, many friends over the years Orthodox, in fact people that work for me,” Trump said.
“In fact, maybe I can get Jason Greenblatt down here. Jason is a person that has been so good, he’s a lawyer, he’s so incredible and he’s Orthodox.
Jason Greenblatt, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at The Trump Organization
Trump also talked about his Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who helped write the pro-Israel speech Trump delivered last month to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington, D.C., Copies of the speech were handed out to all the participants before the meeting.
“You probably know, many of you, Jared Kushner, who’s my son-in-law, and he’s happily married to my daughter Ivanka,” Trump said. “So he sends his warmest regards, and she does.”
At the same meeting, Trump talked briefly about his Jewish philanthropy, mentioning that his father used to buy Israel bonds, and wrapped up the meeting reiterating his befuddlement about why Jews are so supportive of Barack Obama.
“In my opinion, Barack Obama has been tremendously disloyal to Israel, and yet my Jewish friends go out and have fundraisers for him all the time,” Trump said. “Someday you people will explain to me what you’re doing.”
Video:
Tapping Friedman as U.S Ambassador to Israel
Today, Trump released a statement about his tapping Friedman for ambassador to Israel:
“The bond between Israel and the United States runs deep, and I will ensure there is no daylight between us when I’m president,” Trump said in a statement. “As the United States’ ambassador to Israel, David Friedman will maintain the special relationship between our two countries.” … (Friedman) has been a long-time friend and trusted adviser to me.
“His strong relationships in Israel will form the foundation of his diplomatic mission and be a tremendous asset to our country as we strengthen the ties to our allies and strive for peace in the Middle East,” Trump continued.
The statement also quoted Friedman predicting he would work from “Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”
Friedman added that he was “deeply honored and humbled” that Trump selected him to represent the US in Israel, and that he aimed to “strengthen the bond between our two countries and advance the cause of peace within the region”
Friedman speaking at a Trump rally in Israel
He also indicated that Trump would make good on his pledge to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “I look forward to doing this from the US embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”.
Trump made clear during his campaign that he would support Israel in a number of critical areas, including moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, all but enshrining the city as Israel’s capital over international objections. He also pledged to not put pressure on Israel to engage in talks with the Palestinians.
Until now, the United States and other powers do not regard Jerusalem as Israel’s capital – in addition to the U.S. embassy, other nations’ embassies are in Tel Aviv – and do not recognize Israel’s annexation of Arab East Jerusalem following its capture in the 1967 Middle East war.
One of the thorniest issues is resolving the rival Israeli and Palestinian demands for Jerusalem’s future. Palestinians regard the ancient city – which contains sites sacred to the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths – as the future capital of a separate state.
Advocate of Building Settlements
Friedman is considered far-right on issues, including settlement building and has advocated for the annexation of the Judea & Samaria, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war.
The Obama administration has been highly critical of Israeli settlement construction in the occupied Judea & Samaria and East Jerusalem. Most countries view all Israeli settlements on occupied land that the Palestinians seek for their own state as illegal.
Liberal Organizations Response to Appointment
J Street, the liberal pro-Israel group based in Washington, said it was “vehemently opposed” to Friedman’s nomination.
“As someone who has been a leading American friend of the settlement movement, who lacks any diplomatic or policy credentials … Friedman should be beyond the pale for Senators considering who should represent the United States in Israel,” it said in a statement.
“This nomination is reckless, putting America’s reputation in the region and credibility around the world at risk,” the statement said.
For his part, Saban, spoke at the Saban Forum in December and stunned liberal American Jews by saying the Trump administration would freeze out J Street, the left-leaning, pro-Israel lobby group based in Washington, D.C., which has been influential in recent years. In previous interviews, Friedman called the organization “far worse than kapos,” a highly insulting Yiddish word for Jews who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.
Israel’s left wing newspaper Ha’aretz describes David Friedman as “to the right of Netanyahu”
Friedman Interviewed by Israeli Media
Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East adviser to Republican and Democratic administrations, said Friedman’s nomination “was designed to send a signal that there will be significant break in tone, style and perhaps substance from the Obama administration” in its handling of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
“The peace process is just dead right now,” Miller said, alluding to the Obama administration’s failed efforts. But he said it was too early to see Friedman’s nomination as Trump’s disavowal of a two-state solution.
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ORTHODOX JEWISH MAN GOOGLES DANIEL 9 AND FINDS OUR WEBSITE...
Eitan got this message (originally in Hebrew) from Lior a few days ago (which developed into a 1-2 hour conversation):
"Shalom Eitan!
I am a religious Jew, yet never really felt home at rabbinic Judaism because it seemed so superficial to me - does God really care if I do the Netilat Yadaym (symbolic washing of hands) before I eat bread? Or if I wear phylacteries or things like that? Why would He give us the Sabbath with so many weird rules such as not tearing toilet paper? It makes more sense that He would expect us to be good and that our hearts will be with Him. I don't think he really cares if I twist strips of leather on my arm with an amulet over it...
So, one day I randomly opened my Bible (Hebrew Scriptures) in Daniel chapter 9, and read about the "Anointed One". I was curious about who or what is it talking about, so I googled it and your website came up.
From that point I read every possible article / video you have on your site and later also started reading the New Testament, and, it's just...
WOW!! It spoke to me so deeply!! It's the real deal!! I agree with every single word that came out of Yeshua's mouth!! It's what I have been looking for all my life!
However, I still have a few questions I would like to discuss with you..."
Please pray for Lior! We had a really great first discussion!
NEW PROMO VIDEO FOR 2016
You might also enjoy our latest "promo video" for Israel College of the Bible that we just made, explaining what happens at our campus... and inviting YOU to come and join us!
The Prophetic Significance of the Messianic Temple to Every Christian
The Messianic Temple still matters. (Menorah Books)
Sometimes when traveling and speaking in churches throughout the US, I remind my friends and audience that Jesus was an orthodox Jew in Israel in his day as I am an orthodox Jew in Israel today. We share the same holidays, read the same Scripture, and live our lives through the prism of Jewish values, culture and society. Sometimes I'll add, tongue in cheek, that one of the main differences is that he was able to bring offerings to the Temple where he worshiped, and I can only pray to do so. Strangely, as an Israeli Jew, I am prohibited from praying on the Temple Mount where the Temples once stood due to Muslim sensibilities.
Though nearly 2000 years have passed since Jesus walked, worshiped, and taught in the Temple, and we still wait and pray for it to be rebuilt, the Temple is no less significant in my life today as it was in his then. Indeed, for every year between then and now, tens of millions of Jews have prayed for the restoration of the Temple, literally in our daily liturgy and in many aspects of our culture. For instance, it's common when building a new home to leave a section incomplete, recognizing that our lives are not complete until the Temple is restored. When saying blessings after a meal, the prayer to rebuild Jerusalem is invoked. Even during the happiest of occasions such as weddings, we remind ourselves that our lives are not complete until the Temple is rebuilt.
No season in the Jewish calendar is more resonant of this huge missing piece in our lives than that which we have just observed. For three weeks on the Jewish calendar, beginning on the 17th of the month of Tammuz (when the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem in the year 70), and culminating with a national day of mourning on the 9th of the month of Av when the Temple was destroyed, we are especially mindful of our actions and the sincerity of our prayers so that we will merit the return of the Temple as the center of our lives physically, not just in our prayers.
The 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av in Hebrew, is a day of mourning and fasting not just for the destruction of the Second Temple in 70, but on the same day the First Temple was also destroyed, adding to our awareness that there are no coincidences when it comes to God. A number of other calamities befell the Jewish people on Tisha B'Av, making this a day of deep introspection, and praying that we will live to see the Third Temple rebuilt.
I used the opportunity of the Shabbat preceding Tisha B'Av to reread an in depth and thorough book that was given to me as a gift, The Messianic Temple. The book is engaging both because of how detailed it is, and that it adds photos and illustrations to help the reader see what is being discussed.
The Messianic Temple is based on the prophesy of Ezekiel, and a detailed analysis of the Scripture of Ezekiel 40-48. The original Hebrew text is balanced by an English translation, and followed by a line by line explanation of the text using a variety of sources.
Preceding the Scripture, the author, Rabbi Chaim Clorfene, provides dozens of pages of background for context and understanding who Ezekiel was, why the Third Temple, the Messianic Temple, is so significant, a timeline offering the Biblical significance, and scores of footnotes and sources. In a less serious book, one could come away with the heading, 'everything you wanted to know about the Third Temple but were afraid to ask.' It's that detailed and comprehensive.
I was particularly pleased that my son came into the room and asked what I was reading. I shared it with him happily. He responded enthusiastically, grabbing the book from me and studying some of the pages and illustrations. He was really engaged which told me that the subject and presentation really does hit the nail on the head. Having grown up in Israel with Hebrew as his comfort language, he asked me if I could find the book in Hebrew. Not only will I try, it's a meaningful enough investment if only one of my children is brought closer to the understanding of the history, significance, and centrality of the Temple in our lives, albeit that it does not stand today, yet, and our role to be active players in realizing God's promise to rebuild the Temple one final prophetic time.
I wouldn't call The Messianic Temple a page turner. That suggests a level of excitement that one can't wait to get to the next page. In fact, it's the opposite. The detail is so great that one can spend lots of time on each page, wanting to gain insight and understanding from every nuance and thought. For me at least, it was a slow read, enriching and inspiring in every page. Having the presentation of the Scripture as well done as it is, preceded with ample historical references, makes this an outstanding source and resource for anyone who, like me (and Jesus), live our lives on the centrality of the Temple, and for anyone who prays for it to be rebuilt soon.
So may it be His will.
Jonathan Feldsteinwas born and educated in the U.S. and immigrated to Israel in 2004. He is married and the father of six. Throughout his life and career, he has been blessed by the calling to fellowship with Christian supporters of Israel and shares experiences of living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel. He writes a regular column for charismanews.com's Standing With Israel. You can contact Jonathan at firstpersonisrael@gmail.com.
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JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israel owes no apologies for its polices in the land God gave to the Jewish people. That's the word from Israel's new deputy foreign minister.
Tzipi Hotovely delivered that message in a speech to the nation's diplomats on Thursday.
Hotovely, an Orthodox Jew, referenced the Bible frequently in her remarks.
At 36, Hotovely is among a young generation in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party who supports construction in Jewish towns and cities in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and opposes surrendering any of Israel's biblical heartland to the Palestinian Authority.
"We expect, as a matter of principle, the international community to recognize Israel's right to build homes for Jews in their homeland everywhere," she said.
Hotovely is currently the country's top full-time diplomat.
The American Attack on Christians Reaches an All-Time Low
The owners of Sweet Cakes were fined for not wanting to cater a same-sex wedding. (Courtesy/Samaritans Purse)
The recent events surrounding the court case against a Christian-owned bakery in Oregon are so surreal that they almost defy imagination.
The case itself has been well publicized.
In 2013, the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, Aaron and Melissa Klein, politely declined to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, as a result of which they were taken to court and charged with discrimination based on sexual orientation.
On Friday, Oregon's Bureau of Labor recommended that the Kleins be fined a total of $135,000 to compensate "for the emotional suffering they [the lesbian couple] experienced."
Seriously?
Because a Christian couple cannot, in good conscience, bake a wedding cake for a homosexual couple, they are fined $135,000?
Let that sink in: $135,000 for not baking a cake.
What if Orthodox Jewish wedding photographers declined a job because it was on the Sabbath?
What if Muslim caterers declined a job because it required pork?
Would they be taken to court and fined?
What if Christian videographers declined a job because it required them to shoot a porn scene for a movie?
Would they be fined?
Yet these Christian bakers have not just been fined, they have been fined a ridiculous amount.
Really now, what kind of "emotional suffering" did the lesbian couple endure?
The women listed a total of 178 symptoms of their suffering—not 7 or 8 or even 17 or 18, but 178 symptoms—90 from one and 88 from the other.
As reported by Kelsey Harkness, "Examples of symptoms include 'acute loss of confidence,' 'doubt,' 'excessive sleep,' 'felt mentally raped, dirty and shameful,' 'high blood pressure,' 'impaired digestion,' 'loss of appetite,' 'migraine headaches,' 'pale and sick at home after work,' 'resumption of smoking habit,' 'shock,' 'stunned,' 'surprise,' 'uncertainty,' 'weight gain' and 'worry.'"
All this—and much, much more—simply because a Christian bakery said, "It's contrary to our religious beliefs to participate in a same-sex wedding ceremony."
Is it possible that these women were not exaggerating?
Yes it is.
But that doesn't mean that the Kleins should be fined $135,000. Instead, it means we should question the overall emotional stability of these two lesbians since it is almost impossible to believe that they really suffered all this simply because a Christian company said they could not participate in a lesbian "wedding."
Since coming to faith in Jesus as a Jewish teenager in 1971, I have often experienced rejection from the Jewish community. For example, a Jewish bookstore wouldn't sell books to my school, a Jewish educational service changed their phone numbers to shut me out once I subscribed to their phone-based teaching sessions, a religious Jewish man spat on my face while we talked on the train one day, also hurling my Hebrew Bible in anger, while others have simply turned their backs on me when I tried to address them.
So what?
We all get rejected and we all have people who don't like us and we sure don't come up with lists of 178 examples of our trauma when someone expresses their polite disagreement with something important to us.
Let's also remember that, before the courts ever ruled on the Kleins' case, the vicious, gay activist attack against them forced them to close their business, which means that the fine now levied against them would have to come out of whatever personal funds they have.
As Aaron Klein said, "The state is now saying that we can award damages above and beyond what you have already suffered ... and they have no qualms about doing this. It is really showing the state is taking a stance on absolutely obliterating somebody that takes a different stance than the state has."
What kind of totalitarianism is this? And how could this lesbian couple possibly think they were entitled to $135,000 in compensation, blaming this litany of 188 symptoms of emotional suffering on the Kleins?
This is beyond ludicrous.
But it gets worse and even more ludicrous.
On Friday, shortly after the fine was announced, an account for the Kleins was set up on GoFundMe, and in about 8 hours, more than $109,000 was raised for them. And then suddenly the page was taken down.
What happened?
According to Jay Richards, "A competitor of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, Lisa Watson of Cupcake Jones, contacted GoFundMe to alert the crowd-funding company that the Kleins had violated the terms of service," as a result of which they disabled the campaign.
This is what Watson wrote to GoFundMe: "This business has been found GUILTY OF DISCRIMINATION and is being allowed to fundraise to pay their penalty. The gofundme terms of service address hate speech, bigotry, criminal activity and sexism among other things in their campaign ... The amount of money they have raised in a matter of a few hours by thousands of anonymous cowards is disgusting."
What a ridiculous complaint, especially in its accusation that it was "anonymous cowards" who came forward to help the Kleins, deeming their actions "disgusting."
So today, you can't even stand with other Christians without being lambasted in the ugliest terms.
This is utterly appalling.
But it is even more appalling that GoFundMe agreed with her complaint and shut down the campaign, claiming that because Sweet Cakes had been found guilty by the court, raising funds for them would violate the GoFundMe terms of services. (Others have already pointed out that GoFundMe is being completely inconsistent in their actions here.)
Thankfully, Franklin Graham stepped forward and continued the campaign for the Kleins on his Samaritan's Purse website.
But this whole episode exposes the moral bankruptcy of the contemporary attack on Bible-believing Christians, first, with the state requiring the Kleins to violate their religious beliefs, second, by blaming them for a ridiculous list of traumas, third, by fining them such an exorbitant amount of money, and fourth, by shutting down the caring campaign meant to help them.
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"Dancing together with Arabs? Laughing together with them? These are the people I hated my whole life," says Chava, a Messianic Jewish girl who grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family in Israel.
Chava was part of a three-day gathering where she met with an estimated 1,000 Messianic Jewish and Arab Christian youth and young adults in Haifa. At a time when murderous kidnappings, violent riots and a developing war in Gaza are bringing racial tensions to boiling point, these young Messianic Jews and Arab Christians arrived at the conference still reeling with all the raw emotions of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
"These young people came carrying a lot of hurt because of all the recent violence here in Israel," says Rick Ridings, organizer of the annual Elav conference. "Many of them thought that they had dealt with these feelings, but because of the kidnappings and killings they are in pain, on both sides."
For Chava, who grew up in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish ghetto, it was the first time to be in such close quarters with Arabs. "I used to walk with my family to the Wailing Wall and pray that bad things would happen to the Arabs," she recalls. "We have this view that Arabs are bad people. But when I saw them praying to God, and heard them worshipping in Hebrew and then in Arabic, God touched my heart. These are the lost brothers and sisters I have been looking for all my life," she says.
Ridings, who has been organizing these gatherings since 2007, was not sure that any of the young Arabs or Jews would even want to be together during such difficult times. "I didn't know if any of the Palestinian Arabs would even be able, or want to come," he says. "Yet almost miraculously, given the heightened security, about 50 Palestinian believers were able to come."
"These were some of the most meaningful times I have seen at the conference," Ridings told Israel Today. "Perhaps the situation forced these young people to get over the things that normally cause problems. This was real, not just some canned program."
For many of the young believers this was the first time they had ever had a meaningful encounter with the other side. When an Arab believer who grew up in Gaza and a young Messianic Israeli shared their testimonies, it helped others to open up and talk about what they really feel, sharing honestly about what had happened in the army, or with friends killed by terrorists.
"As I washed the feet of my Arab sister, I was able to ask forgiveness for the way my family, and my people, look at them (Arabs)," says Chava. "To hear her say that she forgives me and loves me was so healing. It was the love from Yeshua, nothing else. I never had an Arab friend. Now I have daily contact with my sisters in Ramallah, Jordan and Lebanon," she smiles.
"After hearing my story," continues Chava, "an Arab girl came up to tell me that she hated religious Jews whenever she saw them. This was her first time meeting with someone who came from an Orthodox religious background. She ran to me and asked for forgiveness and asked me to pray for her that she would have more love for my people."
Ridings says that the vision for these gatherings is "to provide a safe environment for Jewish, Arab and Palestinian youth and young adults to have personal encounters with the Lord, to wait on him through worship and prayer, to grow in unity, and to be challenged to minister the Kingdom of God into every area of society."
On the last evening of the gathering, a young Messianic Jew shared about spending three months in Syria helping war refugees. The conference concluded with a call for the young people to go and share the powerful testimony of what Yeshua can do for our broken world.
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