June 1996: Volume 18, Number 6

Contents Darkness in Gaza Follow the Word A Tour With Zola A Note from Zola "Corrupt, Dictatorial, Oppressive" ZOLA LEVITT In my September 1994 Levitt Letter I shared some correspondence between myself and Anthony Lewis, a syndicated columnist, concerning his anti-Israel stance. His views appeared to be intractable, so I was surprised to read his column of May 6, 1996, quoted below from The New York Times Op-Ed page: Darkness in Gaza Dr. Eyad R. Sarraj, a psychiatrist trained at the Maudsley Hospital in London, is director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program. During the Israeli occupation he developed ways of treating children traumatized in the Intifada. He was then, and is now, a campaigner for human rights. I talked with Dr. Sarraj about the condition of Palestinians in Gaza since the new Palestinian Authority took control. It was a remarkable conversation. "People are intimidated," he said. "There is an overwhelming sense of fear. The regime is corrupt, dictatorial, oppressive. "I say this with sadness, but during the Israeli occupation I was 100 times freer. I wrote in the Israeli press and the Arab press. Today I am boycotted by our press and television. "There are so many arbitrary arrests now, without charge, without reason. The Authority has nine security organizations, each with its own detention center. And people are systematically tortured." (Elsewhere I was told about another doctor, who expressed shock at the condition of a Hamas prisoner brought to a Gaza hospital after being tortured. The doctor was arrested and held for six days.) Dr. Sarraj was arrested himself last December after he told a visiting European press organization that the human rights situation in Gaza was "terrible." The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported his remarks, and the reporter called the Palestinian Attorney General for comment. Dr. Sarraj was questioned at the criminal investigation bureau and released after 10 hours. Yet he still wants to take the risk of speaking out. "Under the occupation we felt brute force," he said. "But we never felt the humiliation we do today, because we are oppressed by our own Authority. . . ." "The mood in Gaza is not a healthy one," Dr. Sarraj said. "People feel alienated, depressed, hopeless. And hopelessness is the worst emotion you can have." Such an about-face on the part of a consistently pro-peace-process reporter is almost unprecedented, and I lost no time in following up with a letter: Dear Mr. Lewis: I was downright shocked by your column which appeared on May 6 in the New York Times op-ed page. It was critical of the Palestinians and almost favorable to Israel. For more than 20 years you have been one of Israel's most reliable critics and among its enemies' best supporters. Are you starting to see the truth? When we were in correspondence, you asked me in your letter of July 12, 1994 how I "would deal with the two million or so Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza," and I answered you. I pointed out that people who are fortunate enough to live in a democracy can very well cooperate and prosper along with that democracy. I gave the example of my father (and probably yours) who was not a co-religionist with the majority of Americans when he came here, but who assimilated to mutual benefit into this culture. To date, you have not answered that letter. Mr. Lewis, the real issue is not religion or land, but democracy versus dictatorship. You have always taken the side of the Palestinian dictatorship, and now you are compelled (and honest enough) to report that "People are intimidated. . . . There is an overwhelming sense of fear. The [PLO] regime is corrupt, dictatorial, oppressive." The Palestinian Dr. Eyad R. Sarraj, whom you quote, claims that "during the Israeli occupation, I was 100 times freer." You detail Dr. Sarraj's reports of arbitrary arrests, systematic torture and repression of human rights in Gaza. Mr. Lewis, why are you surprised? I am one of probably thousands of people who warned you of this obvious development over the years of the "peace negotiations." Why didn't you listen? Now the chickens have come home to roost, and the best I can say for you is that you're at least willing to report the facts, contrary as they may be to your previous positions. "The mood in Gaza is not a healthy one. . . . people feel alienated, depressed, hopeless." It's going to get worse as the PLO's dictatorial powers increase. I think we have turned the corner in Israel. The so-called peace process has done irreparable damage. The future is almost hopeless, dooming a much smaller Israel to absorbing constant terrorist attacks from sectors you favored giving to the PLO. I still would answer your question of what I would do with the Palestinians the same way as I did two years ago, but with much less confidence in Israel's future. My answer then was, "with limited autonomy and not a giveaway of Jewish land." The giveaway, however, has been largely accomplished and now we can only draw a hard line in the sand and enter a period of prolonged war against a much stronger and better-located enemy than we had in the Intifada. The future of Israel is in grave doubt, and thus so is the future of Jewish people everywhere. Mr. Lewis, I assume from what you wrote that you are at least modifying your positive views of Arafat. Do you ever truly change your position and apologize for what you wrote before, and for the damage it has helped to cause? Sincerely, Zola Levitt Should Mr. Lewis reply this time, we will publish the correspondence for your edification. Before we went to press, we learned that Dr. Sarraj was arrested on May 18 by the Palestinian Authority for the comments he made in The New York Times article. Mr. Lewis responded with another editorial, titled "Where Freedom Ends:" Many Palestinians spoke to me when I visited the area recently about the repressive character of Yasir Arafat's Palestinian Authority: its use of arbitrary arrests, torture, secret trials. A courageous Gaza psychiatrist and human rights advocate, Dr. Eyad Sarraj, said people feared a "dictatorial, oppressive" regime. I quoted him in a column. On May 18 Palestinian policemen arrested Dr. Sarraj. The Attorney General, Khaled al-Qidra, said he was suspected of "slandering" the Authority — in the comments I had quoted. . . . The arrest of Dr. Sarraj was bitter evidence that what he said about the Palestinian Authority was true. His detention told the world that Mr. Arafat had no tolerance for dissent. On the other hand, the episode showed that many Palestinians are committed to political freedom and the rule of law. Their voices, protesting Dr. Sarraj's arrest, put effective pressure on Mr. Arafat to relent. . . . The Sarraj episode, as it developed, illustrated a division mentioned to me by Palestinians I met earlier this month between the leadership that came from exile in Tunis and those who have lived in the occupied territories. The exiles had no experience of democracy. Of the others, a Palestinian journalist said: "They grew up with Israel, they know its prisons and they know its democracy. They learned Hebrew, they watched how the Knesset worked and they want that democracy for themselves." Dr. Sarraj was released on May 26, after nine days in a Gaza City jail. Palestinian authorities warned that he could still be charged with libel, incitement and harming the public interest. In spite of this threat, Dr. Sarraj was quoted in a May 28 New York Times article as saying, "I will keep up my criticisms. . . . Everybody knows that there is mishandling of authority, there is confusion and there are no respect to laws." This incident is a vivid demonstration that superimposing the PLO regime on the Palestinians in Israel was a gross error. Arafat is a terrorist. He doesn't understand democracy, and he never intended to establish a truly democratic government in the new Palestinian Authority. Israel is the only real democracy in the Middle East and the Palestinians, having experienced that for decades, are chafing under this new oppression. The international media tend to present the Palestinian people as a united front, the leaders and citizens in agreement; but that is far from the case. Perhaps the next question is whether the Palestinian state will self-destruct before it can accomplish its task of taking over Israel. Whatever the case, look for further turmoil in the area controlled by the Palestinian Authority. We will keep you apprised of the adventures of this typical Arab dictatorship. Return to Index Follow the Word By Zola Levitt In May's Levitt Letter, I briefly mentioned the late Dr. J. Vernon McGee and referred to him as an amillennialist who thought that Israel did not matter. We heard from some of our subscribers who felt that Dr. McGee's beliefs had been misrepresented and who were afraid that we had prejudiced our readers against him and his ministry, Thru the Bible Radio, so I wanted to address the issue. My comment was based on an interview I did with Dr. McGee many years ago on my radio program The Heart of the Matter. I had listened to his radio teaching program and was familiar with his doctrine, so I was surprised to find that he was uninterested in discussing Israel. He sat with me for an hour and told me during commercial breaks that God works through the church and not through countries. He left me with the impression that he thought Israel was somewhat irrelevant. Dr. McGee had a fatherly voice and a biblically-based ministry, and I enjoyed listening to him. But until I met the man face-to-face and heard what he had to say about Israel, I had not realized there might be a wrong emphasis in his teaching. I may not have correctly applied the amillennialist label, but during our interview he sounded like a modern seminary professor who is unaware that he is teaching amillennialism, but who is doing it all the same. In his written literature, Dr. McGee described himself as pre-millennial and pre-tribulation, which is also the belief of this ministry. It is not my desire to turn people away from the Thru the Bible Radio ministry, which has a lot of solid Bible teaching. But I do want to sound a warning note that Christians should not swallow "whole" the teaching of any man, whoever he is, without checking it against God's Word. No man, other than Jesus Christ Himself, has all truth, knows all things, understands all Scripture — and that of course includes me. I've made many mistakes and repented of many wrong ideas. We all need to understand that there is no paragon, there is no man that we worship or follow 100%. Another thing we need to keep in mind is that today's media is image-driven. Not every image conveyed through television or radio is an accurate depiction of a person, object or event. TV is about making impressions, and not everything you see and hear is going to be true. Mediocre men are cast as great statesmen: Bill Clinton, Shimon Peres — even terrorists such as Yasser Arafat. Everyday people of no particular greatness become rich and famous. A prime demonstration of image-worship was the recent auction of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' estate cast-offs. Items sold for thousands of times their true value. It was all about image. Worship of JFK's ashtray and worship of J. Vernon McGee are equally faulty. Idolizing Hal Lindsey, Billy Graham, Zola Levitt, etc., would be crazy. We make paragons out of media people, whose only credentials often are that they look good or have good reading voices. Yet they are in a position to decimate whole countries, such as the U.S. or Israel, to start wars, to elect presidents, mainly because of an image created by image-makers. If we watch the media's reports on the Middle East, we come away with the idea that Israel is the bad guy, unless we keep in mind the tremendous media bias that skews the truth. Weak-minded government officials and even seminary professors turn against Israel, and we are currently watching that democracy being dismantled in favor of an Arab dictatorship. The bottom line is that you can't believe everything you see or hear — not on television, not with Dr. McGee, not with Zola Levitt. The way to discernment is to be like the Bereans, who "received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11). Do not follow a man, follow the Word. Return to Index A Tour With Zola By Thomas S. McCall, Th.D. Thomas McCall Last year Zola was given an award by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism for bringing 50 tour groups to Israel over a number of decades. This means that several thousands of viewers of the TV program have accompanied him to see the wonders of Israel and the other lands of the Bible. As many as this is, we realize it is only a small fraction of the millions of people who see the program weekly and receive the Levitt Letter. There must be many readers, then, who wonder what a tour with Zola is like. What do you see? What do you learn? It has been my privilege to serve as a Tour Leader and Bible teacher on several of Zola's tours, including the most recent Spring Grand Tour, in which we travelled through Greece as well as Israel. I would like to tell you something about what it is like to be on such a tour. The pilgrims themselves are special. The people who take this tour are from all sections of the country, and many are faithful watchers of the Zola Levitt Presents TV program. They love the Lord Jesus Christ, they love the Word of God, they love the fellowship of the redeemed Church, and they love the nation Israel. Although most are strangers to one another when the tour begins, many life-long friendships have been formed as a result of these like-minded people being in the Holy Land together on this one-of-a-kind trip. There is a strong emphasis on Bible teaching. Strange as it may seem, it is possible to visit the Bible lands, including Israel, without getting much information about or insight into the Bible. On Zola's tours, there are frequent lectures in the hotels and at the sites on location to keep the pilgrims fully informed of the biblical history and prophecy related to the places they will visit on a given day. Emphasis is given to both the places "where Jesus walked" (along with the prophets and apostles of old), and where Jesus will walk again when He returns to rule the world from Jerusalem with His saints. Few pilgrims ever forget the stirring moments of the visit to the Garden Tomb, where we observe the Lord's Supper and celebrate His resurrection from the grave. Zola uses Messianic Israeli guides. Guides make all the difference in the world in how a place is understood and perceived. The featured guides on Zola's tours are two Sabras (native Israelis) who are believers in Christ and are in the forefront of the remarkable Messianic Jewish movement in Israel today. Yossi is a retired Colonel of the Israeli Army, spent some time in the U.S. training on military bases here, speaks five languages, and is a veteran of the numerous wars Israel has gone through for survival. Zvi is also a veteran tank commander of the 1967 and 1973 wars, who saw action in the Sinai Desert and the Golan Heights. These men know the Land of Israel like the backs of their hands, and are able to share great insights as representatives of the revived "mother church" of Israel. Special features usually included in Zola's tours are lectures from outstanding military and political figures, such as representatives from the Israeli Army and writers from the renowned Jerusalem Post. Our pilgrims come away with in-depth exposure to what is actually going on in the crucible of human history and future prophecy. The Spring Grand Tour: Greece The Grand Tour in April included about a week in Greece before we joined the Basic Tour in Israel. Some 39 of us met at the International Building at JFK Airport in New York, and departed for the 10-hour flight to Athens, Greece, where we arrived in mid-afternoon. After having a lecture about the biblical sites we would visit on the upcoming cruise, we rested that night in the hotel. The next morning we took the bus to the dock at the port, Piraeus, and boarded the large luxury ship, the Olympic. Making a brief stop at the picturesque fishing island, Mykonos, we sped overnight toward the southeastern Aegean. We awoke the next morning at the port of Rhodes where stood the great Colossus, one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the world. Our guide, Yossi, took us to the synagogue, where a Jewish woman (a Holocaust survivor) carefully maintains the building, which had been destroyed by the Nazis when they deported the Jews of Rhodes to the death camps of Europe. The synagogue was rebuilt by the British Army and the Jews of British Palestine (as it was then known) shortly after World War II. The next stop on the cruise was Ephesus, the great ancient city on the mainland of Asia Minor, which is now known as Turkey. The Apostle Paul ministered for at least two years at Ephesus in the synagogue and the School of Tyrannus. Marble streets and buildings, a magnificent library, and the Temple of Diana have been uncovered. The large amphitheater where Demetrius worked up the crowd to shout for hours, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians," can be seen (Acts 19:28). We sat in this very amphitheater, read the pertinent Scripture, and sang together, "How Great Thou Art." This seemed to be a good response to the pagan devotees of Diana. From Ephesus we sailed for Patmos, where John was exiled and received the Book of the Revelation. Patmos is a small and rocky island that now has several thousand inhabitants and boasts a monastery founded in 1088 A.D. atop an 800-foot hill overlooking the Aegean Sea. It is called the "Jerusalem of Greece," because of its association with the revelation of the Apocalypse. Seeing this island is an unforgettable experience for believers. The next morning found us back in Athens, where we debarked from the ship and spent the rest of the day touring the ancient city of Pericles, Solon, Socrates and Plato. We visited the stunning Acropolis with the beautiful Parthenon, which contained the statue of the patron goddess Athena. It was in this pagan setting of all the statues and temples that the Apostle Paul came and gave his powerful message of the Creator God who will judge the world to the philosophers on Mars Hill facing the Acropolis (Acts 17). Our people actually climbed to the top of Mars Hill, and viewed the very topography of the Agora (market place), the Acropolis, and the rest of Athens Paul must have seen as he delivered the Gospel there. On our final day in Greece, we took the bus trip to Corinth, where American archaeologists have uncovered much of the ancient port city, including the Agora with its evidence of a synagogue, the fountains, the Bema (judgment seat), an early church building and the Acrocorinth. It was here that the Apostle Paul labored for over eighteen months along with his business partners, Aquila and Priscilla. We stood before the Bema, or judgment seat, on which the Roman Deputy Gallio heard and dismissed the case brought against Paul for preaching the Gospel in the synagogue and teaching in the house of Titus Justus (Acts 18:12-17). Who can forget these scenes of the spreading of the Gospel of Christ in its infancy, once one has stood in the streets of Corinth? And then we boarded the plane at Athens to continue our pilgrimage to the heartland of the Gospel and of prophecy, the promised Land of Israel. In our next article, we will review the marvelous places we saw in Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem. [Click here for the next article] Return to Index A Note From Zola Dear Friends, I would like to take this space for some comments on recent events. The media is in question for the suicide of Admiral Jeremy Boorda. Their defense was that it was an important story to research. Was it worth the life of the top admiral in the Navy, the only enlisted man in history to rise to such a position, for the media to know the details of the ribbons he wore on his shirt? Are these untitled salesmen called reporters also justified in "killing" Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, a nation that, like Admiral Boorda, also rose from obscurity? We must keep in mind that we don't get a vote on what these people say in the press and on TV, but I sometimes wonder: are their readers and viewers so satisfied with them that they could survive on donations the way that many ministries do? The CNN program Reliable Sources, a half-hour of conceit where the media examines itself, referred to the Boorda story as "gotcha journalism." Is there anyone anywhere who approves of journalists having the power to "get" people? Bear in mind that journalists need no licenses, as do doctors, lawyers and even folks who want to drive a car. They are monitored by no one, paid according to how much of an audience they can gather, and they have the power to wipe out admirals and whole countries as they please. When they are caught in errors or lies, they need not correct themselves or repent. There will be more on the destruction by the media in upcoming Levitt Letters. The recent crash of Valujet in the Florida Everglades caused 110 deaths. There were more than double that number blown up on Pan Am 103, which was not an accident but the result of a purposeful plan by the PLO, run by Arafat, and gladly claimed by them. By and large, the media seem more angry with the president of Valujet and the FAA than they were at terrorists who committed willful mass murder. The government standoff with the Montana Freemen is costing $1 million per day. With the standoff entering into its third month, that is adding up to some serious money. Our government is supposedly so cash-strapped that it has to engage in deficit spending; but perhaps the authorities are counting on the Freemen to eventually give in quietly, thereby by avoiding the bad publicity caused by the Branch Davidian debacle. Israel has been accused of purposely killing civilians in Lebanon. Various world governments have proclaimed that it is bad to kill civilians, but did the UN condemn Arafat or the PLO when buses were blown up and innocent Israeli bystanders were killed or maimed, or when the Hezbollah began shelling Kiryat Shemona, an unarmed Israeli town? You wouldn't have known by the news that killing civilians was bad until Israel was accused of it. One of the most important elections in the history of Israel occurred on May 29. As we went to press, Netanyahu was declared the new prime minister, although votes are still being counted. It is not surprising that the majority of the Jews in Israel would vote against Peres and his peace process. (It is also not surprising that the Palestinians were overwhelmingly in support of him.) If the Palestinian vote were discounted, Netanyahu would have a solid 56-44 victory. As I write this, Peres has not yet conceded the election and there may be further developments along those lines. I will cover the issue in more depth in our July personal letter, but keep an eye on what is happening in Israel because it will have a profound effect on the Middle East, and indeed the whole world. One of the best ways to counteract the bias of the media is to testify the truth to those who are in error. Come to Israel with us and see the Land for yourself. There is no greater confirmation than being there where it is all happening. You experience a special thrill in seeing prophecy unfold around you. And as Christians, how wonderful it is to walk where Jesus walked and see the land He saw. Our Fall Festival Tour will offer a Basic Israel Tour from September 18 - 27, including the major biblical sites. Also available is our Grand Tour from September 18 to October 1, which will cover more of Israel than the Basic Tour and will also feature a journey into Jordan to see Mount Nebo and the ancient city of Petra. You can receive a free brochure by calling 1-800-WONDERS (966-3377) or Cynthia at 214-690-1876. Production continues on our newest series, a film version of our Israel tours. We hope these programs will be a special blessing for those of our viewers who have never had the opportunity to visit the Holy Land. It also will be a good "return trip" for travellers who have been there before. As you can see from Dr. McCall's article elsewhere in this newsletter, our tours offer a variety of experiences. Although his article this month centers on Greece and our series will focus on Israel, you can get a glimpse of the types of activities these programs will feature. We will keep you posted on this series as it develops, and also on airing times as we get closer to its completion. In the meantime, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Your messenger, Return to Index Return to Levitt Letter Archive Index Return to Home Page