Israel Team Update: Fall 2020

from Aaron Fruh, President of Israel Team Advocates International

Israel Team launches new national radio program:

ISRAEL AND YOU—Bringing Israel & the Jewish People into Focus
The program is aired on 200 stations nationwide on the American Family Radio Network (AFR).

The broadcast informs Christians about their deep and meaningful Hebraic roots and discusses the alarming rise of anti-Semitism in America today—especially on college campuses.

I interview amazing guests who share their love about Israel and the Jewish people and their commitment to join Israel Team in its mission of pushing back against

the growing tide of the anti-Israel narrative on evangelical college campuses. The program airs every Saturday at 6:30 p.m. central standard time. You can listen to the program live by going to AFR.net where you can find a station in your area. Or, you can download the free AFR app at AFR.net or your app store, which allows your smart phone or computer to stream the live program from any location.

Israel Team receives a matching grant

A foundation has examined Israel Team’s mission to reach the younger generation on evangelical college campuses where support for Israel and the Jewish people is in steep decline. If this trend continues, evangelicalism will be anti-Israel within ten years.

The grant is specifically directed to Israel Team’s work on college campuses to help launch campus chapters, meet with college professors and administrators in roundtable discussions, create awareness about young baptized Christian college students’ involvement in the Nazi genocide of Jews during the Holocaust, and use social media to turn the rising tide of anti-Israelism within evangelicalism.

The foundation will match any gift—dollar for dollar—up to $28,000. Israel Team has three months to raise this amount in order to receive the full match. You can be a part today:

  1. Give securely online at: IsraelTeam.org
  2. Mail your gift to: Israel Team, P.O. Box 91779, Mobile, Alabama 36691

Thank you for being a part of Israel Team! We are joining together to embrace the Hebraic roots of our faith, reach college students who are being influenced to reject Israel, and support our Jewish friends who are facing the dark rise of anti-Semitism. Israel Team is a 501(c)3 Not for Profit Organization and all gifts are tax deductible.

Israel Team launches new podcast

If you miss the live broadcast of “Israel and You” on AFR, you can still listen to the program! Just head to IsraelTeam.org, and you can hear the archived radio
programs on our own podcast! Here are the first five guests I am honored to have interviewed. Their stories will inspire you!

Coach Bruce Pearl

Men’s basketball head coach at Auburn University. Coach Pearl is one of five Jewish coaches to reach the Final Four. In this interview Bruce tells the harrowing story of his encounter with an anti-Semite dressed in a gorilla costume.

Coach Dale Brown

Former LSU men’s basketball head coach. Brown was Shaquille O’Neal’s coach and led LSU to win 400 games and four SEC championships. Dale tells the story of a railroad tie in the Auschwitz death camp that changed his life.

Stuart J. Roth

Senior Council at the ACLJ. Stuart has participated in 13 cases that have been argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. Stuart discusses the rise of college campus anti- Semitism in America and the international work the ACLJ is doing in defending Israel.

Dr. Marlene Warshawski Yahalom

Director of Education for the American Society for Yad Vashem. Marlene is a child and grandchild of Holocaust survivors and tells the story about what was lost in the Nazi genocide of the Jews.

Brittany Bertsche

Brittany is an evangelical millennial studying abroad in Israel at the University of Haifa, majoring in Holocaust studies. Brittany tells the remarkable story of how she came to love and support Israel and the Jewish people.

Coach Bruce Pearl

Men’s basketball head coach at Auburn University. Coach Pearl is one of five Jewish coaches to reach the Final Four. In this interview Bruce tells the harrowing story of his encounter with an anti-Semite dressed in a gorilla costume.

Coach Dale Brown

Former LSU men’s basketball head coach. Brown was Shaquille O’Neal’s coach and led LSU to win 400 games and four SEC championships. Dale tells the story of a railroad tie in the Auschwitz death camp that changed his life.

Stuart J. Roth

Senior Council at
the ACLJ. Stuart has participated in 13 cases that have been argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. Stuart discusses the rise of college campus anti- Semitism in America and the international work the ACLJ is doing in defending Israel.

Dr. Marlene Warshawski Yahalom

Director of Education for the American Society for Yad Vashem. Marlene is a child and grandchild of Holocaust survivors and tells the story about what was lost in the Nazi genocide of the Jews.

Brittany Bertsche

Brittany is an evangelical millennial studying abroad in Israel at the University of Haifa, majoring in Holocaust studies. Brittany tells the remarkable story of how she came to love and support Israel and the Jewish people.

Israel Team publishes new book about the alarming rise of anti-Semitism in America

THE CASUALTY OF CONTEMPT:Why Anti-Semitism Marks the Death of a Nation and What Can Be Done to Stop It
Last year (2019) the American Jewish community faced the greatest threat caused by anti-Semitism since the Anti-Defamation League began tracking hate crimes against Jews in 1979. According to the ADL, In 2019 there was a 56% increase over the previous year in physical assaults on Jews, 1,127 reported incidents of harassment, 919 acts of vandalism against Jewish synagogues, cemeteries, and Jewish property, 61 incidents of assaults against Jews that included the use of knives and guns that harmed 95 victims and caused 5 fatalities. Anti-Semitic incidents in K-12 non- Jewish schools increased by 19% in 2019 totaling 411. As
well, there were 186 anti-Semitic acts of rage toward Jews on college campuses in 2019. According to the FBI, the highest number of religious hate crimes in the U.S. (60%) are against the Jewish community. To address this alarming trend of violence against Jews, Israel Team has gathered a group of leaders from the arenas of sports, law, education, theology, and Israel advocacy to collaborate in a book entitled, The Casualty of Contempt: Why Anti-Semitism Marks the Death of a Nation and What Can Be Done to Stop It. The book will be released this fall in the month of November.

Here are the contributin authors:

Robert W. Ash

Senior Counsel at the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), Virginia Beach, and at the European Centre for Law & Justice (ECLJ), Strasbourg, France.

Brittany Bertsche

Graduate student studying abroad in Israel at the University of Haifa, where she is pursuing her Master’s degree in Holocaust Studies.

Dale Brown

Men’s basketball head coach for the LSU Tigers for 25 years, he led them to win over 400 games and four SEC championships. Coach Brown is known as a master motivator.

Aaron Fruh

President of Israel Team Advocates International, communicating the Biblical relationship of Christians, Jews, and the State of Israel to students on evangelical college campuses.

Dr. Gerald McDermott

Anglican priest and retired Chair of Anglican Divinity at Beeson Divinity School, McDermott’s books include Israel Matters (Brazos) and The New Christian Zionism (InterVarsity Press).

Dr. David Meola

Bert & Fanny Meisler Assistant Professor of History & Jewish Studies at the University of South Alabama. His focus is on German-Jewish life and anti-Semitism.

Bruce Pearl

Men’s basketball head coach for Auburn University, and also at Tennessee and Milwaukee; Coach Pearl led the Auburn Tigers to the Final Four in the 2019 NCAA Championship.

Stuart J. Roth

Senior Counsel to the ACLJ and the ECLJ; Roth has participated in 13 cases that have been argued before the United States Supreme Court.

Carrie Simms

VP and COO for the Advanced Security Training Institute (ASTI), ensuring the safety and security of American Citizens, and founder of For Such a Time as This.

Dr. Jay Sekulow

Chief Counsel at the ACLJ, Washington, DC, and at the ECLJ) Strasbourg, France. Dr. Sekulow serves as Counsel to the 45th President of the United States.

Yisroel Stefansky

President and Founder of The Advanced Security Training Institute (ASTI), a recognized expert in practical disaster response and an international lecturer in counterterrorism.

Dexter Van Zile

Shillman Research Fellow for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) focusing on anti-Israel propaganda in Christian churches.

Joshua David Washington

Director for the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel. Joshua writes extensively about Zionism and Civil Rights, seeking to strengthen the black and Jewish relationship in the U.S.

Olga Meshoe Washington

A South African native, Olga is the CEO of Defend Embrace Invest Support Israel International (DEISI) with a unique narrative on the Christian (and African) mandate to stand with Israel.

Dr. Marlene Warshawski Yahalom

Director of Education for the American Society for Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial & Museum in Jerusalem, raising the public’s awareness of the lessons of the Holocaust.

Amy Zewe

CEO of the business consulting firm, Alseata, and VP the Jerusalem Connection International generating the weekly “Red Alerts” video blog focusing on BDS, anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.

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