Dear Christian Leaders,

 

In the midst of everything else happening in our world in this time in which we live, CAMERA's Partnership of Christians and Jews has taken the fight against anti-Israel Palestinian propaganda to a new level.

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New Bible Translation Underscores Jewish Roots of Christianity

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Last  week, we were privileged to host a webinar featuring Dr. Brad H. Young,  the translator and publisher of the soon-to-be-released Hebrew Heritage Bible. Dr.  Young's work on this new translation reflects the depth and breadth of  his forty plus years of scholarship in Judaism, early Christianity,  biblical research and translation.

 

The Hebrew Heritage Bible is  groundbreaking in the way it underscores the Jewish roots of  Christianity, reconstructs the Hebrew sources of the biblical text, and  uncovers the Jewish mindset and Hebrew thought behind what is written. In so doing, it clarifies certain texts concerning Israel and the Jewish  people that, as a result of faulty interpretation, have inspired  antisemitism and delegitimization of the Jewish people and the State of  Israel. 

 

By affirming the Hebrew heritage of the Christian faith and allowing the  modern reader to hear what the first century listeners heard, the  erroneous doctrine of replacement theology is refuted, and the false  notion of a Palestinian Jesus is exposed.

 

If you were not able to join us last week for our fascinating and informative discussion with Dr. Young, or if you would like to watch it  again and share it with others, a recording is now available here.

 

The Hebrew Heritage Bible is scheduled to be released in December!

If you would like to preorder your own copy, you may order it here.

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Palestinian Propaganda Purports Arabs were the First Christians

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This  week, the Partnership strongly refuted the fallacious assertion by a  pro-Palestinian activist that Arabs were the first Christians. In a book  titled, Occupied With Non-Violence: A Palestinian Woman Speaks,  the author employs blatant falsehoods to write Jews out of the history  of the early church and supplant them with her Arab ancestors in order  to gain sympathy for the Palestinian cause and encourage opposition  towards a sovereign Jewish state in the Holy Land.

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For an piercing analysis of the errors promoted in this book, you need to read Dexter Van Zile's latest article!

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TIME TO BRING ANTI-ZIONIST ANACHRONISMS TO AN END

Dexter Van Zile

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In her 2008 book Occupied With Non-Violence: A Palestinian Woman Speaks,  pro-Palestinian activist Jean Zaru speaks of the difficulty that she  faces when introducing herself to Christians from the West. They often  mistakenly assume that she is either a Muslim or a Jew because she lives  in Jerusalem. When she tells these Christians that she is in fact a  Christian, they often ask when she converted to her newfound faith.

 

Her  answer, she writes, is that “I am a Christian, because my ancestors  were disciples of Christ. Arabs were the first Christians. They formed  the earliest Christian community in Jerusalem.”

 

Zaru’s response is riddled with blatant falsehoods.

 

Lies.

 

The  first Christians were not Arabs, but were Jews who had followed Jesus  during his ministry and kept his memory alive after his crucifixion,  resurrection, and ascension. Moreover, Arabs did not form, as Zaru  writes, “the earliest Christian community in Jerusalem.”

 

That  designation, belongs — again — to Jews. Arabs who embraced Christianity  are in fact mentioned in the book of Acts, but the fact remains that  Jesus’s earliest followers and the first Christian community in  Jerusalem were Jews.

 

This  is patently evident in the Book of Acts. The first five chapters  describe the early episodes of the church in Jerusalem, with one of the  biggest events, Jesus’s ascension, taking place on a Jewish holiday —  Pentecost.

 

And  Acts 15 recounts Peter’s leadership at a council in Jerusalem which  determined that non-Jews did not need to be circumcised as Jews did to  become members of the church. This was a debate between people who were  born and raised as Jews, not Arabs. The Jewish roots of the Christian  faith are unmistakable and undeniable.

 

Zaru’s  shameless attempt to write Jews out of the history of the early church  and supplant them with her Arab ancestors got past the editors at  Fortress Press without challenge, probably through a combination of  ignorance and ideological sympathy with the Palestinian cause and animus  toward the presence of sovereign Jews in the Holy Land.

 

So what actually happened?

 

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