Dear Friends,

As we go to press, the situation in Israel is simmering down, and the unrest has become totally localized. As I observed back at the beginning of this particular “uprising,” it was merely ghetto rioting in which the have-nots, concentrated in their own neighborhoods, rioted outside their own homes, just as they did in Los Angeles and Detroit earlier in our own country.

The regrettable part of this particular fiasco, however, was the media’s hysterical exaggerations of something that happens in every democracy from time to time. With a casualty rate running about the normal pace of that of New York City (or of most other American cities), the story was hardly worth the airtime and press space it received. CNN hoped against hope that it would somehow build up to World War III so that it would have something exciting (and profitable) to broadcast, but the newscasters could hardly do that with such a small “war.”

The blatant ill will of the media was brought home to me when I was in Washington, D.C., in November and read the Washington Post’s coverage of an Egyptian election. The November 5 edition had the story on page A37, buried deep in the paper where it belonged. It started this way:

Dakahla, Egypt, Nov. 4—Police fired live ammunition and tear gas today in clashes with voters in three northern villages. Elsewhere, fistfights between supporters of rival candidates in Egypt’s parliamentary elections turned to gunfire. As night fell, four people were dead and more than 60 injured.

The story also reported that the police opened fire at an election polling place, and that 34 people were killed in the 1995 elections in Egypt.

On the same day, as far as I could ascertain, there were virtually no casualties in Israel, and very little action. But the Washington Post, truly a rival to even the New York Times as a constant critic of Israel, ran a very long story with photos, starting on page one, of a difficult marriage between a West Bank Arab and an Israeli woman. The complex story had little point and no news value whatever, but it served to defame the Israeli government and society as only American newsmen can do. It continued inside the first section, where it dominated half a page.

The Arabs of Israel are protesting the Israelis forming a coalition government to confront the latest uprising, but no one in our media asks when the next Palestinian election will be held. In reality, Yasser Arafat will dictate to the Palestinians, since he owns them all, until the day he dies, whether in bed or by violence, and then the next thug will seize the palace, and on we go. The story on Egypt reported that “President Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party controlled 97% of the seats in the outgoing Parliament…” and that is typical of Arab dictatorships. Until we get rid of one-man rule in the Middle East, we’ll never stop the constant barbarism that threatens civilized nations like Israel.

In Israel, unlike many longer-established nations, there exists a society of pioneers, or settlers. They are roughly equivalent to the American pioneers of the 19th century in that they are settling empty lands away from the cities. Theirs is a dangerous life since, like the American pioneers before them, they run afoul of local residents. In America, these were the native Americans with a perfectly legitimate claim to the land. In the Israeli situation, the Israelis are the natives—the original residents have returned.

The cover story on the November 6, 2000, Jerusalem Report covered the unique circumstances of the settler-Palestinian difference.

The conditions for Jewish vigilantism exist: the anxiety about safety; the sense that the government is not allowing the army to respond with sufficient force; the Palestinian desecration of Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus and the ancient Shalom Al Yisrael synagogue on the outskirts of Jericho. “We were very scared about how the settlers would react,” says Shlomo Dror, the spokesman for the coordinator of Israeli activities in the territories. “People in Beit Hadassah (in Hebron) have had bullets fired into their homes. They have sandbags on the windows. But none of them has taken out a gun and fired. The settlers see the peace process collapsing and they don’t want to do anything to change that. The Palestinians are doing the work for them.”

Settler casualties, by mid-October, were also low. Hillel Lieberman, a resident of Elon Moreh near Nablus, was the one man attacked and killed by Palestinians. Lieberman set off in the direction of Joseph’s Tomb—where he helped establish a yeshivah [school]—when he heard it was being desecrated, and was murdered, his body mutilated and dumped in a cave. During Lieberman’s funeral procession, a gun battle erupted between settlers and Palestinians. It’s just such a nightmare scenario of a settler-Palestinian war—which scares Israel’s political and military leaders.

Settler leaders say they have actively been trying to prevent any hint of vigilante action, but they cannot rule it out, and there’s no telling how the mood might shift if the Barak government returns to a negotiating process with Yasser Arafat.

If the government continues to adopt a policy of restraint, limiting the army’s response, says Benzi Lieberman, the head of the Shomron Regional Council, settlers will start to feel as if they are in Bosnia, and might start “acting as if they are in Bosnia. They feel the government is abandoning them,” he says. “I strongly oppose any private action, but my ability to maintain control of people is slipping.”

Benny Katzover, a leading settler figure from Elon Morch, warns that “voices are getting louder” for a private initiative. “Whoever is serious,” he says, “won’t talk about this in public. But the chances are growing that someone will take the law into his own hands. And the government will be to blame—a minority government that has auctioned off our national assets.”

Lamentably, some of our pilgrims have been convinced by the media distortions, and our December tour is very small. This actually presents an opportunity to those of you who have wanted to see the Holy Land but felt that our tour groups might be too large for you to hear the guide or have individual attention. Well, that won’t be the case in December, I guarantee you! At the time of this writing, we have barely a dozen people going on this tour, and in the end I’m sure the whole tour will fit into one bus with plenty of empty seats. In view of the lower price in December, this is a wonderful opportunity to have a really spiritual and comfortable tour of a perfectly safe Israel. I hope a few more of you will take advantage of it. We’ll leave the enrollment of the tour open until December 11, the day we leave.

If you’d rather wait, we’ll have our standard spring tour April 16–26 (the Deluxe Tour with an Israel-only itinerary) and April 11–26 (the Grand Tour including the Israel itinerary with the Greek island cruise). Our Deluxe Tour visits all the major Biblical sites, such as Mount Carmel, Megiddo (the future battlefield of Armageddon), Nazareth, the Western Wall, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Upper Room of the Last Supper, the Garden Tomb (which is now empty), Masada, and the Dead Sea. You will see the beautiful Golan Heights, from which vantage point you will overlook the tranquil Sea of Galilee. You will view the original Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as the caves of Qumran where they were found. On a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee, you will see the fisherman “cast [his] net on the right side of the ship” (John 21:6) after casting it on the left side and coming up empty. Visit the Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, and learn about the more than six million Jews who were slaughtered by the Nazis. Tour the Old City of Jerusalem and learn her history of resilience and victory. Enjoy the beauty of the ancient Holy Land that is still visible in the modern Israel of today.

You may also add an extension cruise to the Greek islands of Mykonos, Patmos and Rhodes, traveling aboard a luxury liner following the path of Paul through the Mediterranean. You will also tour Athens, with its incredible Parthenon, Acropolis and Mars Hill, as well as the ancient cities of Corinth and Ephesus, Turkey. Call Tony or Becky during office hours at 214-696-9760 for more information, or call 1-800-WONDERS anytime for a full-color brochure.

Please know that we will be taping a short series of programs on the Temple Mount for broadcast as soon as possible. I really would appreciate your support on this timely and important project. Since the year’s end is coming up, your gift would be most helpful at this critical time. The American public simply has to be better informed about this crucial holy place, the center of so much conflict and controversy.

And remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Your messenger,

Zola

Zola Levitt Ministries is ECFA approved and has Charity Navigator’s top rating of 4 stars.

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