November 2003 Personal Letter

Dear Friend,

I typically look at Gary Bauer’s End of Day Report (available at OurAmericanValues.org). He is a particularly astute observer of affairs in Israel, as well as our own country. On the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), he wrote a piece so sensitive, so eloquent, and of such common sense, that I simply could not have said it better myself. So here’s his “Special Report” in its entirety:

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon in the Israeli port city of Haifa on the Jewish Sabbath before Yom Kippur when evil struck again. In a split second, a crazed female jihadist exploded her deadly cargo and 20 people died instantly, while dozens more were gravely wounded. The site of the blast was a popular restaurant, Maxim’s, jointly owned by Israeli Arab Christians and Jews. Three generations of one family were destroyed as they sat at their table breaking bread. At least five Israeli children were among the dead.

Later that day, I received a phone call at home from a prominent American-born Israeli, who was beside himself with grief and anger. He was angry at the jihadists who continue to break all the rules of civilization in their obsession to kill Jews. And he was angry at the US government that continues to browbeat Israel into restraining itself. “Israelis love America,” he said. “We don’t want to irritate or anger the White House. But what are we supposed to do?”

Coincidentally, on Saturday morning The Washington Post featured Colin Powell on the front page making it clear in an interview that the US was looking for ways to punish Israel because plans for the security fence were going forward. This follows our warnings to Israel last week to not touch a hair on the head of chief terrorist Yasser Arafat. This morning several papers are reporting that the President called Prime Minister Sharon to express condolences, but also urged him not to further heighten tensions. I pray those reports are inaccurate. Instead of telling our friend and ally to hold back while fresh graves are being dug for their children, we should be telling them that we now realize the folly of asking them to do what we would never do: bargain with terrorists in the vain hope it will bring peace.

Late last night, the media had managed to track down the family of the homicidal bomber. What that family said should be a slap in the face of reality to every State Department bureaucrat. There was no grief expressed — only joy. “This is a day as happy as her day of marriage would have been,” said one man. Get it? Killing Jews was the greatest accomplishment of her life. It was a joyous occasion to be compared to marriage! It was the fulfillment of her jihad Islamic responsibilities.

Does anyone in the US government know whether this incredibly warped evil mindset is embraced by a thousand, ten thousand, or a million Palestinians? Polling shows it is a worldview broadly embraced in the West Bank. So where are “Road Maps” to peace supposed to end anywhere else but in hell if these are the inhabitants of the Palestinian state that is supposed to live side-by-side in peace with Israel?

Syria ran to the United Nations yesterday to get a resolution to condemn the Israeli response, a 3:00 AM attack on an empty terrorist camp in Syria that resulted in two people being wounded. In a functioning UN, Syria — with blood dripping from its hands — would have been run out of the chamber by the civilized world. The US threatened to veto any resolution that condemned Israel unless it also condemned homicide bombers. Every member of the Security Council passionately condemned the air strike — the same countries that shrugged 24 hours before when the bodies of broken families were being removed from the restaurant.

There will be no peace for Israel or for America or for any of the civilized world until this jihadism is defeated. It can’t be bribed, reasoned with, or controlled by diplomatic maneuverings. It must be rooted out and destroyed, just as Nazism was after a long struggle at great cost. Our enemies are betting that neither America nor Israel will have the staying power to do what has to be done. God help us if they are right.

Our speaking tour this past summer was directed toward combating the anti-Israel philosophies being taught on our campuses everywhere. We targeted the Midwest this year due to the large number of colleges easily reachable in this region. We had a few adventures, and here’s what Professor David Weinberger at Governors State University (GSU) wrote about his experience as he helped us at his school:

In the Levitt Letter, Zola graciously offered to come speak at universities in the Midwest, on “Whose Land Is It?” As a Messianic Jewish believer, I am staff advisor to the GSU Bible Students Fellowship, a student group on campus. I was excited by the opportunity to invite Zola to speak at our innovative university of about 6,000 students, located in the south suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. The GSU Bible Students Fellowship officers and members agreed, and so did Zola when we contacted him. So about 6 weeks in advance, we began making the arrangements for Zola’s presentation on July 31st.

Cynthia, at Zola’s office, sent a sample flyer, which we then gave to the campus Student Life office to post on bulletin boards across the campus. We also posted it in local stores and sent it to various local congregations, home school groups in our area, and influential individuals.

Before long our flyer on the main school bulletin board had a note scrawled across it. The writer circled the statement on the poster that said, “Zola is a Jewish believer in Jesus” and then scrawled, “No such thing! He’s a Xian [as the defamer wrote], not a Jew!”

Not too long after that, I sent an e-mail announcement to the entire university: students, faculty, and staff. The message was basically the same as the flyer we put around the campus. The subject line read: “Zola Levitt at GSU!” Within half an hour, there was a reply from one of the professors (that also went to everyone at the university) asking to be taken off the mailing list for information such as this.

Several other e-mails were sent by students or staff with similar messages. A few professors sent e-mails defending the event. Each of these complaints, defenses, and retorts was sent using the “reply all” feature on the e-mail, so by the time of Zola’s talk everyone in the university had received over a dozen “Zola” e-mails. I considered it unsolicited free advertising.

While these e-mails went back and forth, the Bible Students Fellowship procured two large three by two-foot posters on foam-boards, which we put at the two key entrances in the main university building — one of the signs “disappeared” a day before Zola’s presentation!

I also got an interesting call from a Jew who was offended by the statement that “Zola is a Jewish believer in Jesus.” But after learning that Zola was coming specifically to defend Israel’s right to their land and counter anti-Semitism, they were satisfied. I had a chance to explain that a Jewish person who believes in Jesus is still Jewish, which they disagreed with. (This is a stumbling block preventing Jewish people from embracing Jesus, our Messiah. But it is a main goal of my life to say that one doesn’t stop being Jewish when he/she believes in Jesus. In fact, I found my Jewishness when I believed the Scriptures and believed in Jesus. I wasn’t living as a Jew before that. I call it a Biblical lifestyle, a Biblical Jewish lifestyle.)

When Zola arrived, he delivered an excellent presentation on Israel’s right to the land and had a fascinating question and answer session for over an hour with the 150 or so people present. We went until after 9 o’clock! However, no one rose to challenge any of the main points. In closing, Zola commented on the fact that people were willing to attack via e-mails, scrawling on posters (or carrying them off), but no one would come and defend their beliefs in person.

One professor in the audience noted, “Could it be that they are so insecure in their beliefs, that they can’t defend them when faced with the facts?”

“That’s it,” Zola answered.

Somebody at GSU said to me, “All this ‘to-do’ for nothing!” I didn’t agree. I think it was a big thing. I think Zola’s influence spread much farther than the 150 people at the lecture.

It was great meeting Zola and his wife, Sandra. The students who attended from our group were very enthusiastic about his message. Our contact from the GSU Bible Students Fellowship led to four or more additional engagements for Zola in this area, all of which were very well received.

I want to thank his patient, cooperative staff, especially Cynthia, for handling all my requests and questions. It was a great experience, and I encourage those reading this to remember that one excellent way to stand up for Jesus and for Israel is to promote Zola’s ministry in your area. Maybe he’ll even come to speak to your group if you invite him!

Jack Engelhard, writing in Arutz Sheva (IsraelNationalNews.com), recently made some very interesting points in an open letter to our president:

Dear Mr. Bush,

On January 20, 2001, you were sworn in as president by Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist. That in itself is remarkable, for how many of us get to be a president? Even fewer can claim a father as a former president. But something equally special occurred that day.

You raised your right hand and swore to defend the Constitution of the United States “so help me God.”

Meanwhile, your left hand was placed resolutely upon the Bible. Not the Koran, sir, the Bible. In doing so, besides upholding a tradition that goes back to our founding fathers, you instantly and automatically made a covenant to uphold all that is virtuous to Christians and Jews. Equally, you confirmed your belief in the absolute and everlasting truth of God’s words.

Perhaps, at some future time, the Koran will be used to swear in our presidents and cabinet officers, and Allah, instead of God, will be praised. Meanwhile, the Bible is the Holy Writ of this nation, and nowhere in these Scriptures of ours will you find any mention of a two-state solution. On the contrary, the Bible that you swore upon speaks vehemently about a One-State Solution.

Here’s a recap as it appears in Psalm 105: “He has remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations… The covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac… And He established it unto Jacob for a statute, to Israel for an everlasting covenant… Saying, ‘Unto you will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance….’”

Could this be any clearer? Isn’t this the language you like, Mr. Bush? Plainspeaking, direct, to the point, no equivocating? One State… a Jewish State… period.

Or, as House Majority Leader Tom DeLay put it just a few days ago, bringing it all up to date: “I can’t imagine this president supporting a state of terrorists.”

But obviously, Mr. President, that’s exactly what you’re doing, as if you’ve forgotten your Book, your God, your oath. Mr. President, an oath is serious business, and goes back in time. At Beersheba, Abraham took an oath not to deal falsely with Abimelech. Jacob demanded an oath from his son Joseph: “Bury me not in Egypt, but in the Land of Israel.” But here’s the clincher, Mr. President. There was another father/son one/two punch that preceded you and your dad. Some 3,000 years ago, in the One-State Jewish Land of Israel, King David swore that “as the Lord lives” Solomon will rule after him.

Here’s the real clincher, and again it comes from the same Bible upon which you were sworn into office: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”

One almost has to learn a new English language to read The New York Times. That newspaper is so hypercritical of Israel that its very wordings condemn our valuable ally and sister democracy. In regard to the security fence, the Times wrote recently:

But what about the Jewish families in the thriving Ariel settlement, with its 7,000-student college, which juts into hotly disputed territory? Arafat wants those residents left exposed to his “Martyr’s Brigades….”

Ariel Sharon’s cabinet meets today to consider “the battle of Ariel….” Hard-liners will argue for building the fence “east of Ariel,” incorporating it into the protected zone….

Reading this, we find that “hard-liners” (The New York Times’ term) want to incorporate Ariel “into the protected zone” (also their term). I suppose, then, that reasonable, middle-of-the-road people would want to expose Ariel and its college to Arafat’s Martyrs Brigades.

One might expect then that “soft-liners” will want the folks at Ariel to commit suicide on their own without troubling the Martyrs Brigades to blow themselves up.

Meanwhile, our ministry to promote Israel goes on. I’m hoping you’ll join us in Orlando, Florida, at The Holy Land Experience where we will tour on the weekend after Thanksgiving (November 28th–30th) and the weekend after Christmas (December 26th–28th). This excellent site gives a very realistic picture of first-century Jerusalem, with many Biblical attractions. Our people have loved it in the past, and our package cost makes it less expensive than doing the same trip on your own. Be sure to bring the kids — you’ll have a hotel suite! There will be plenty of time for questions and answers with me in this next-to-the-best Israel experience.

For more information or the confirmation of tour dates, check with Tony at (214) 696-9760 during business hours. You can also call 1-800-WONDERS (1-800-966-3377) anytime for a brochure about any of our tours.

We are making arrangements to have a tour of Israel in March. Now that tourism to Israel is increasing, we intend to return to our usual schedule of spring, summer, and fall tours. So keep this in mind and we’ll be bringing you more information about these tours in upcoming issues.

Finally, with much of the world aligning itself against Israel and the Lord’s Chosen People, it is important now, more than ever, to remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Your Messenger,

P.S. PAX is a national cable and satellite television network that has full-power broadcast stations in more than fifty cities. Accepting their 9:30 AM airtime would increase our broadcast expenses by 70%. On the enclosed response card, please indicate whether you believe we should undertake this dramatic increase in our outreach.