Many Jewish people – especially those who belong to the lost and scattered tribes of Israel that live in Africa – struggle just to survive.

They’re the poorest of the poor … without enough to eat, without clean water for drinking and bathing, without medical care and, saddest of all, without hope.

But through your generous gift, these precious descendants of the Nation of Israel will get the medical, eye and dental care they so urgently need.

Together, as we help heal their physical pain, we’ll earn the right to share with them the Good News of Yeshua (Jesus), their Messiah.

You can change lives today …

One thing about the Middle East: it’s never boring.

Two new developments impacting the region have dominated the news during the past week.

1. Hamas and Fatah, once bitter rivals, have reconciled

Negotiators from Palestinian rivals Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal last week, ending their bitter, decade-long split.

Following talks mediated by Egyptian diplomats in Cairo, the two groups signed the agreement, which will give the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority full governing power over the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip by December 1, The Times of Israel has reported.

The two Palestinian factions have been quarreling for 10 years, since Hamas seized Gaza from Fatah in a violent coup in 2007.

The next step, reports The Times, is likely to be formation of a government that will unite the various Palestinian political movements. Those negotiations are expected to take place at a follow-up meeting in Cairo on November 21.

The disarming of Hamas is a key issue yet to be resolved.

Hamas is not prepared to disarm, according to reports from Egypt broadcast by Israel Radio. The reports indicate that the Islamic terrorist group has instead agreed not to use its weaponry without approval from a joint panel.

The “Big Unknown”

With the fate of Hamas’ vast, 25,000-troop military force unknown – and in light of the failure of many previous attempts at reconciliation – observers worldwide are viewing this latest reunion with caution.

Reconciliation could make an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal more difficult. Hamas does not recognize Israel and has vowed its destruction, while the Palestinian Liberation Organization, led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, takes a more moderate approach regarding Israel.

Hamas is blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union, and that’s unlikely to change. It has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, even as conditions in the blockaded Gaza Strip have deteriorated from a scarcity of electricity, water, medical care and food.

Faced with increasing isolation and frustrated Palestinian citizens, Hamas was forced to seek help from Egypt, which has agreed to provide fuel to the Gaza Strip. In turn, Egypt has pressed Hamas to move forward on reconciliation with Fatah.

2. The U.S. will withdraw from UNESCO

The United States announced late last week it is withdrawing from the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The decision came down to financial considerations, the need for reform and the organization’s “continuing anti-Israel bias,” said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert in The Times of Israel.

The withdrawal will take effect on December 31, 2018.

According to a report in Foreign Policy magazine, cited by The Times late last week, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made the decision to withdraw several weeks ago, but has agreed to remain in the organization until a new director-general is elected in the coming weeks.

U.S. officials have not decided how to address the mounting unpaid dues owed to the organization. America suspended its funding of UNESCO when the organization granted full membership to Palestine in 2011.

Many saw the vote to include Palestine as proof of long-running, ingrained anti-Israel bias within the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters.

Israel follows suit

Hours after the U.S. announcement, Israel said it plans to leave the organization as well, The Jerusalem Post reported.

In a statement issued by his office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called America’s move a “brave and moral decision, because UNESCO has become a theater of the absurd.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, said UNESCO has become a forum for Israel-bashing and has forgotten its original purpose. It is now “paying the price” for the “shameful” decisions it has adopted against Israel, he said, adding, “A new era is dawning” at the UN in which “anti-Israel discrimination” will carry consequences.

Israeli officials have charged the U.N. with passing one-sided resolutions that obsessively target Israel.

In 2016, UNESCO’s Executive Board passed two resolutions ignoring Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and one in 2017 that disavowed Israel’s sovereignty in Jerusalem. Over the summer, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee declared the Cave of the Patriarchs and Hebron’s Old City as endangered Palestinian sites.

What do these developments mean to us as supporters of Israel and her people?

America, always a staunch ally of the Jewish state, has said of the U.N.’s anti-Israel bias, “enough is enough.”

We’ll have to wait and see how things play out. Rest assured, Jewish Voice will keep you informed.

In the meantime, keep praying for Israel and her people. Please pray for us at Jewish Voice also. We are thankful to be on the same team with you, caring for and supporting Jewish people – in the Middle East and throughout the world.

Your partnership with us means so much as you help us stand with Israel and take compassionate humanitarian aid to Jewish people in need.

As a token of our appreciation for your gift of $35 or more today, we’ll send you a meaningful piece of artwork. The Soldier at the Wall statue depicts an Israeli soldier – a defender of Israel – praying to the One who is the tiny nation’s ultimate protection.

Huddled together under raggedy umbrellas, thousands of people tried to stay dry as they waited to be seen at our Kechene Medical Outreach in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last month.

It was the rainy season in Ethiopia. The neighborhood of Kechene sits upon the slopes of the capital city’s tallest mountain, and during this time of year, everyday life is disrupted by water – flowing, pooling and pouring down from thundering skies.

Weeks earlier, JVMI Ethiopian staff spent days rebuilding the outdoor drainage system at the neighborhood clinic where we conducted our Medical Outreach. Without this work, flash flooding would have cut off the site’s main passageway.

The Jewish Voice team of medical professionals provided needy patients with specialty health care while our Prayer Partners helped the local Bet-Abraham Messianic Congregation host an off-site prayer and counseling open house.

Once the Ethiopia Outreach concluded, part of the staff traveled to Mberengwa, Zimbabwe, where they joined staff already there to immediately begin the next Medical Outreach. The Outreach Partners united to share the love of Yeshua (Jesus) by serving thousands more people in desperate need of medical care and the Good News.

JVMI marked two historic – and fantastic – milestones during these back-to-back Outreaches:

•  In Mberengwa, Jewish Voice treated our 400,000th medical patient since our humanitarian efforts began in 1999
•  In Kechene, we welcomed our 1 millionth ministry recipient. We’ve served 1 million through various outreaches including Medical Clinics, Israeli eye and dental services, and International Festivals of Jewish Music & Dance

You helped make these exciting ministry milestones possible, and we are so grateful for all you’ve done. Take a look at some of the other things you helped us accomplish in Kechene and Mberengwa:

Addis Ababa/Kechene, Ethiopia

August 31-September 10, 2017

• 8,973 patients treated, including
• 1,339 dental patients
• 2,269 people who received eyeglasses
• 77 people received eye surgery for cataracts or trachoma
• 159 people received minor surgery
• 342 people visited our off-site prayer room
• 53 people professed that they received Yeshua as their Messiah
• 64 people received Bibles in their own languages

Mberengwa, Zimbabwe

September 7-18, 2017

• 8,124 patients treated, including
• 1,278 dental patients
• 994 people who received eyeglasses
• 73 people received minor surgery
• 2 babies were born
• 3,227 people visited our prayer room
• 367 people professed that they received Yeshua as their Messiah
• 2.172 individuals received personal LifeStraws®
• 8 families received LifeStraw Family® units
• 624 children had a wonderful time through our Zehra Kids Program

How can we thank you enough for your prayers and support? Through your partnership, more than 19,000 Jewish people and their neighbors received healing and hope in these two recent Outreaches. That’s amazing! And with your continued help, we can reach thousands more in needy communities like Kechene and Mberengwa.

Thank you so much for standing with us in taking the love and message of Yeshua to a hurting world. You’re making a big difference.

A new survey of Arab citizens of Israel finds their attitudes toward the Jewish State and its institutions to be more positive than previously thought.

The survey results, published in The Jerusalem Post this week, showed that 60 percent of Israeli Arabs have a favorable view of the State of Israel, while only 37 percent report their view as unfavorable.

The poll, released last week, was conducted by the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation at Tel Aviv University and Keevoon, a global research company.

Broken out by religious faith, 49 percent who identified themselves as Muslims view the Jewish State favorably, compared with 48 percent who say their view is unfavorable. Among Christian respondents, 61 percent said their view is favorable compared to 33 percent who reported an unfavorable view.

Itamar Radai, Academic Director of the Adenauer Program and a scholar at Tel Aviv University, said he found the number of favorable responses “quite remarkably high.”

Racism, however, was listed as a top concern by respondents. Nearly half said they feel “generally treated unequally” as Arab citizens.

Surprising and significant

Among the most surprising and significant findings was the response to the question, “Which term best describes you?” The largest number, 28 percent, replied “Israeli Arab,” while 11 percent said “Israeli,” 13 percent said “Arab citizen of Israel” and 2 percent said “Israeli Muslim.”

Only 15 percent of respondents said “Palestinian,” while 4 percent said “Palestinian in Israel,” 3 percent said “Palestinian citizen in Israel” and 2 percent said “Israeli Palestinian.”

“The bottom line is there is more identification with Israel than with a possible Palestinian state,” says Michael Borchard, a director at the Konrad Adenauer Program.

Borchard also highlighted that nearly two-thirds of Arab citizens surveyed said Israel is a “positive” place to live, with only one-third saying it is negative. Respondents also gave high marks to the country for having a “strong” degree of personal freedom and a “strong” amount of stability.

The survey asked citizen respondents to rate on a scale of 1–10 how much sense of “belonging” to the State of Israel they feel (with 10 being the highest level of “belonging.”) Forty-five percent gave responses between 8 and 10, 17 percent between 5 and 7 and 35 percent between 1 and 4.

For the poll, researchers surveyed 876 citizens of Israel and 125 permanent residents of East Jerusalem.

The 'Palestinian issue'

In another key revelation, the survey found that Arab citizens of Israel are more concerned about the economy, crime and equality than the “Palestinian issue.” When asked which issue most concerns them, 22 percent said personal security and crime, and an equal number said racism. Fifteen percent said the economy and jobs are their top concern, while 13 percent cited the “Palestinian issue.”

When asked about policy implications of the survey, Brochard said he believes “Israel should do more to answer this rather positive attitude and be more inclusive.”

Yousef Jabareen, an Israeli Arab and member of the Knesset (Israel’s legislature), responded differently to the findings, saying they might be misleading in terms of how Israeli Arabs view their situation.

More participation “is our demand, but it’s the government that excludes us and has this campaign of delegitimization,” Jabareen said. “Participation is an aspiration, but it doesn’t reflect the situation on the ground.”

Takeaways

As a Believer in Yeshua (Jesus) who lives in America, I experience a nonstop drumbeat of negative opinions about Jewish people and Israel – certainly in the news media. Perhaps you see it too.

Yet, here’s a new survey saying that even Arabs who live in Israel have a more positive view of the Jewish State than we’ve been led to believe. First, that’s good news.

But it’s also a reminder that we need to be more careful about how we filter news reports that put a consistent negative spin on events in Israel.

This flow of misinformation and bias feeds the growth of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment worldwide and, I believe, encourages racist movements like Boycott, Divest and Sanction.

Still, we can take heart in the good news coming out of Israel. And it’s my pleasure to share it with you today, because I know that, like me, you care deeply about the Jewish people, their security and their future.

Celebrate and stand with Israel!

Thank you so much for reading along with me. And thanks also for your interest in and support of Jewish Voice Ministries. I’d love to know you’re standing with Israel today. Your online gift of support is one way you can do that right now.

If you feel called to give to support the Jewish people, your gift would be a welcome blessing to them and to us. You’ll provide a variety of humanitarian and spiritual aid and, most important, the chance for them to hear the Good News: Yeshua is Messiah!

As a token of our appreciation for your gift of $15 or more today, we’ll send you two encouraging resources. The Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem Mug and the JVMI Stand with Israel Car Magnet will both show that you stand with Jerusalem and the Jewish people.

We are so grateful for your support. Together we are seeing lives transformed with healing, hope and the Good News of Yeshua.

Simchat Torah means “joy of the Torah” in Hebrew. This Jewish holiday celebrates the completion of the annual Torah reading cycle.

The Torah contains the first five books of the Holy Scriptures and is Judaism’s most revered text. In it, we discover the God of Creation and learn the history of Israel. We receive His Law and find the first prophetic promise of mankind’s redemption.

Each year, Messianic Jews along with the Jewish community read through the Torah in weekly segments called the parasha (para-ah-SHAH). The yearly schedule of readings ends on the morning of Simchat Torah and begins again that evening.

In a morning service, worshippers read the final parasha of the cycle and celebrate this holy gift from God – His holy Word. Participants rejoice with festive dancing and singing while the Torah scroll is carried around the synagogue or public square by as many people as possible, each in turn.

Messianic Jews identify Simchat Torah as a time to rejoice also in God’s Word given through the remainder of the Tenach (Old Covenant Scriptures), New Covenant writings, and in Yeshua (Jesus) Himself, who is called the Word of God (Revelation 19:13).

Scripture is alive with the breath of God. It is “inspired” (2 Timothy 3:16), meaning “God-breathed.”

Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God is active, performing His work in us “piercing right through to a separation of the soul and spirit” and is “able to judge thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

The Word of God cleanses us (Ephesians 5:26) and is a vital tool in transforming us by renewing our minds with truth (Romans 12:2).

God’s Word is where He reveals Himself to us. It displays His holiness, majesty and power. It exposes our sin and separation from God and proclaims His plan of redemption through Messiah Yeshua. In the Scriptures, we meet God’s love and compassion, His message of deliverance, and find encouragement and hope for each new day.

As Messianic Jews join the Jewish community in celebrating the joy of the Torah, we hope you will take time to celebrate the amazing gift of God’s Word. In many parts of the world, Believers are not able to hold the Word of God in their hands to read it for themselves. We are blessed and privileged when we have this treasure available to us. For many of us, it as close as our nightstand or desk. May we recognize its value and renew our dedication to feasting on God’s Word.

Open Doors to the Good News in 5778/2018

The Hebrew year 5777 has ended, and we are now in 5778, which some are calling the Year of the Door. This is because Chet, the 8th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, represents the 8 in 5778 and signifies a door. It brings to mind Rav Shaul’s (the apostle Paul’s) words in 1 Corinthians 16:9, regarding how “a great door has opened wide for me, though many are in opposition.”

As we look at the list of upcoming Jewish Voice Ministries Outreaches for 5778/2018, we see six critical doors of opportunity for the healing love and saving power of Yeshua (Jesus) to be made known:

• Ethiopia – March 15-25, 2018
• Zimbabwe – April 19-30, 2018
• Ethiopia – May 24-June 3, 2018
• Southern Africa – July 19-30, 2018
• Zimbabwe – August 23-September 2, 2018
• Ethiopia – October 4-14, 2018

Please join us as we begin to saturate each location with prayer!

Let’s pray:

• Lord, please finalize every detail and give us favor – Your favor, as well as that of the local and national leaders and authorities in each area and in each country
• We listen so carefully for Your will regarding where we should go. We continue to listen, Lord. You see and know what we do not. Close any doors that are not of You, and open any new ones You are calling us to enter
• Father, we have often experienced that open doors entail much opposition. Begin to soften hearts and break down resistance in these places. Stir prayer that moves mountains for each nation You have put before us
• As Believers, congregations and other groups begin to look ahead to 2018, may they purpose to come on Outreaches with us and bring others with them
• Help us – as people of prayer – to have faith to believe You for the future, as we pray through these dates and places that extend well into next year
• Deepen our desire to see all Israel – all the Jewish people of the world – saved, as well as their neighbors, and give us a greater burden for the urgency of the Gospel
• Open the eyes of those we are reaching out to that they may see Yeshua IS the door, the only way to salvation, according to John 10:7. May they see and believe! In Yeshua’s name, AMEN

Thank you, Prayer Partners, for paving the way with your prayers for us to move through the open doors the Lord has for us. May He open doors of favor for you as well!