To the folks at a Jerusalem-based Christian ministry, Jesus Christ is Yeshua, the prophesied Messiah of Israel.
Founded in 2000 by Moran Rosenblitt, an Israeli Army veteran who moved to California to make a new start in life, Hope for Israel (HFI) has grown into a multi-level ministry offering Biblical teaching, Gospel outreach, material aid to needy Jews and Arabs alike, and a wealth of information about modern Israel. Plus, they do a wonderful job correcting much of the “fake news” about Israel.
Moran’s spiritual rebirth began when he visited Hope Chapel in Hermosa Beach in 1997, and the pastor challenged him to seek the truth about Jesus, which he did. After accepting Yeshua (Christ), “the Lord put a burning vision in Moran’s heart to return to Israel to share the hope he found in Messiah with the people of Israel,” according to Hope for Israel’s website.
Timothy Plan supports Hope for Israel because, “We love the Jewish people and we’re told in Scripture that the Lord blesses those who bless Israel,” said Timothy Plan founder and President Art Ally.
One of the reasons Timothy Plan created the Israel Common Values mutual fund seven years ago is to counter growing anti-Semitism in liberal circles and the BDS Movement (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) against Israel on college campuses and in major cities.
“Although we initially launched this fund to show our support,” Mr. Ally said, “we became impressed early on by Israel’s economic and technological growth; it’s a powerhouse.”
Refuting the BDS Movement
A foundational BDS tenet is the accusation that Israel has illegally occupied Arab lands since the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel defeated the combined forces of Arab nations.
As Hope for Israel notes, Israel fired the first shot on June 5, 1967 in response to Egypt’s closing the Strait of Tiran to the Red Sea to all Israeli vessels. And it came as several Arab nations encircled Israel with 250,000 troops, 2,000 tanks, and 700 aircraft. After the war, Israel established its current borders as the minimum buffer needed for the tiny nation’s defense against its many enemies in the Middle East.
You can learn more about the Six-Day War and its aftermath by accessing Moran Rosenblitt’s essay at Hope for Israel, “False Claims of the BDS Movement: The Israeli Occupation.”
The Hope for Israel website is a cornucopia of Bible teaching and information about Israel.
“Did You Know?”
This year, to counter increasingly hostile media coverage, Hope for Israel launched a video ministry featuring mini-tutorials by Moran called “Beyond the Headlines: Did You Know?” Most of the videos are about 2 minutes, and they educate viewers about Israel’s miraculous success in agriculture and water management in its dry lands (55 percent of Israel is desert), and how it shares its knowledge and bounty with poorer nations.
Some eye-opening facts: A leader in desalination, Israel also recycles almost 90 percent of its wastewater, four times more than any other nation. Deploying solar power and water technology, Israel has brought fresh water to more than one million people in African villages. Operation Good Neighbor, an Israeli charity, has donated more than 300 tons of food and 55 tons of clothing to refugees in war-torn Syria despite its being a sworn enemy of the Jewish state.
Several of Moran’s videos explain the current conflict at Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, which Israel returned to Arab control in 2005. After only two years, the terrorist group Hamas took over and has been firing rockets into Israel periodically ever since and digging tunnels into Israel for terrorist infiltration. The latest attacks are from kites set afire and sent into the dry Israeli fields.
Meanwhile, in an underreported story, Israel continues to send tons of medicine and food to the people of Gaza through the Keram Shalom checkpoint, which terrorists recently attempted to destroy.
Investing in local believers
Life is not always easy for Israeli followers of Yeshua, although it is far better than in Muslim majority countries where Christians are openly persecuted. “In addition to the possibility of harassment, losing friends, family, and even jobs due to their faith, some believers also experience increasing occurrences of violence,” Hope for Israel reports about conditions in Israel.
“Hope for Israel gives active support to persecuted believers through financial aid in cases of damaged property and loss of income as well as emotional and spiritual support to strengthen and encourage them to press on in the face of persecution,” according to the website.
A Lebanese Partnership
Hope for Israel’s emergency relief fund (Operation Restoration) was established in 2006 during the Second Lebanon war between Israel and the Lebanese-based terror group Hezbollah. Moran, who was in the United States, was on the phone with a friend in northern Israel when he heard air raid sirens in the background. His friend and her family had to relocate to a bomb shelter indefinitely.
Moran “realized that this was the time to do something to help; God was presenting an opportunity to reach out and minister to those suffering in Israel.” To date, Operation Restoration has aided hundreds of individuals and families affected by the constant state of war.
Arab Outreach
On May 23, 2000, following Israel‘s pullout from Lebanon after fighting with the terrorist group Hezbollah, about 6,000 Lebanese crossed the Israeli border, leaving behind their homes and most of their earthly possessions, families and friends. They came to Israel with empty hands, with some of the children in pajamas because they had to leave so quickly.
Hope for Israel partners with Pastor Joseph Haddad’s congregation, a vibrant body of Arab believers in northern Israel. “We provide the meeting place for the congregation, as well as meeting various needs within the congregation as they arise,” the HFI website says.
“God spoke to me and my wife several times that these precious Lebanese are not in Israel by mistake or coincidence,” said Pastor Haddad. “Our God is a God of order. He brought them here for a reason: to reveal Yeshua to them as their personal Savior, to fill them with his Holy Spirit, and strengthen them in the faith, and, in due time, to send them back to Lebanon to spark a fire of revival in that troubled country.”
“Local Jews from Nahariya are invited to our meeting by their Lebanese neighbors and discover Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel,” Pastor Haddad continued. “Praise God as He is using these born-again Lebanese to provoke the Jews to jealousy and introduce them to their Messiah. The word of God is true. (See Romans 11:11-12). It stirs my heart as a pastor to see these precious Jews worshipping Yeshua side by side with their Arab brethren at our Lebanese congregation.
“We have seen Hassan, an ex-fanatic Muslim from Lebanon who received Yeshua recently at our congregation, holding the hand of Yakov, a Jew, and praising the Savior together. It is a vivid picture of the new man in the Messiah from Ephesians 2:14.”
All of this is happening because Jesus touched the heart of a Jewish ex-soldier who was tired of war and needed a change in his own life.
For more information, go to hope4israel.org.
