March 2001 Personal Letter

Dear Friends,

Gary Cooperberg has been featured previously in our ministry newsletter. Recently I chanced across an article by him in the Americans for Peace Now newsletter. The publication was some kind of left-wing diatribe that purported to show Cooperberg as a radical right-winger or militant Israeli. His article was used as proof that the people who consider the Palestinians to be the enemy are too zealous.

Well, I never thought that about Gary Cooperberg, an American Jew, who lives on the ground every day in Hebron and has seen the Palestinians in operation for most of his life. His bold and incisive commentary has always been welcomed on our TV program and in our letters. I contacted him and asked for an article for our newsletter and he responded with the thoughts below, which comprise an open letter to our new president. I concur with everything this brave West Bank settler writes.

January 18, 2001

Dear President-Elect Bush,

Congratulations upon your election to the presidency of the United States of America. As an American citizen who has also been an Israeli citizen for the last twenty years, I want you to know that in the last twenty years, this is the first American presidential election in which I participated. I voted for you, sir, because, as both an Israeli and an American, I have had my fill of William Jefferson Clinton and his ilk. That man is a brilliant performer and should be in Hollywood, but he is a disaster as a political leader.

The Oslo tragedy never was a “peace” process. It was an international deception which magically transformed a brutal sadistic murderer into a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. Mr. Bush, I am sure that you watched the lynching in Ramallah where two unarmed Israeli reserve soldiers who got lost and wandered into PLO-controlled areas by accident were taken into custody by the PLO and then butchered by their captors. The world saw the hideous glee in the eyes of the human beast who pridefully displayed his blood-drenched hands which had plucked the living organs from his victim’s body. This is not an entity with which one makes “peace.”

We are currently living under totally unacceptable conditions. One does not negotiate with an enemy while he is shooting and murdering your citizens. Further, we have nothing to negotiate. Israel is the only homeland of the Jewish people.

Mr. Bush, rumors have been circulating that you are considering placing Clinton in some kind of special position which will enable this man to continue endangering the situation in the Middle East. I realize that you have the best intentions to continue the good relations your country has always maintained with the Jewish state, but you must understand that Clinton has done more damage to the stability in the region than any of his predecessors. His words always sound sweet, but they are filled with deceit.

How often has he spoken about “enemies of peace”? What exactly is an enemy of peace? Is there anyone at all who really enjoys war and suffering? But worst of all, the President of the United States of America, in a cruel parody of the words of Winston Churchill, dared suggest that Israel’s “finest hour” would be when she willingly parted with parts of her Divine inheritance so that Arafat could have a PLO state and rule over our holy Temple Mount. Mr. Bush, if you believe in G-d, you must know that such a stance on the part of an American president has placed your country in serious jeopardy.

Our father, Abraham, the father of the Jewish people who made his home in Hebron and is buried here, would turn over in his grave at the thought that his children would willingly part from this holy city and give it to Arafat… even for peace, were that an honest option. The Blessing of Abraham still stands: “And I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you and through you will all of the nations of the world be blessed.” Mr. Bush, you can bring blessing to the United States of America by undoing the errors of Clinton. Peace will never result from giving anything to the likes of an Arafat. We gave him guns and military bases in our homeland and he has used them to create a de facto military state which is literally at war with Israel, murdering innocent civilians while pretending to negotiate peace. You can help to stop this deception by simply being honest and recognizing the fact that Arafat is a criminal, and that peace cannot and will not ever be achieved until Israel regains all of her homeland and the PLO is sent back to Tunis.

I wish you much success in your new job and will be happy to discuss the situation in Israel with you on a level that no Israeli leader will. I have no political interests, only concern for real peace, a peace which includes and is based upon genuine fear of G-d.

With Blessings from Hebron,

Gary M. Cooperberg
Executive Director
Project Shofar
Hebron, Israel

The writer spells God as “G-d,” because of the long-held Jewish tradition of never writing out God’s name. His view of the peace process as a deception squares exactly with this ministry’s position. And as he says, there are no “enemies of peace” among the Jewish people in Israel or anywhere else.

I must say that I almost hope our new administration will not be interested in Israel at all. Our government has done that sister democracy so much damage that I wish we would stop trying to “help.” Israel is of concern to Jews and to true Christians. To secular interests, it simply gets in the way of our relations with petroleum providers, like the Arabs. Rather than do more harm, I hope we’ll do nothing further.

As for true Christians, you are receiving a serious call in this hour to go to Israel if you possibly can. Nothing helps Israel like tourism and the truth that it sends home to participating nations. Help fight CNN! Become a true ambassador for the Promised Land and the headquarters of the Kingdom to come. Israel is perfectly safe for tourists, as I have been saying right along and as many pilgrims from America have attested.

I urge you to take advantage of one of our excellent tours in April. On our Deluxe Tour, April 16–26, we will visit all of the major Biblical sites, as we always do. I personally will teach at several sites, such as the Sea of Galilee, the Mount of the Sermon, the Upper Room and the Garden Tomb. You are welcome to ask me any questions you like, especially during our evening discussion meetings. Our Grand Tour, April 11–26, begins with a luxurious cruise of the Greek islands and then joins our Deluxe Tour in Israel. I hope you’ll go with us.

Our TV production crew will tape our April passengers enjoying springtime in the Holy Land plus man-on-the-street footage. Please help us produce these new programs for our new Eye of the Storm TV series. Thanks, and remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Your Messenger,

P.S. March 14 will be my 30th year in the Lord, marking thirty years spent in His service. Gifts to this ministry would be the best way of saying, “Happy birthday” to me. Thanks again.