See mine affliction and my travail; and forgive all my sins. (Psalms 25:18)
A long drawn-out suit reached a dramatic climax today in Jerusalem’s Magistrates Court when Machon Meir agreed to publish an apology for slurs against CFOIC Heartland. In October 2010, Machon Meir published an article written by Mina Fenton in their newsletter, accusing CFOIC of involvement in missionary activity. Mina Fenton is well-known for her unrelenting campaigns against Christian Zionist organizations, accusing them of involvement in missionary activity against Jews.
CFOIC has been working for more than 15 years to create positive relationships between Christians from all over the world and Jews in Israel, focusing their activity on the communities of Judea and Samaria. For much of that time, CFOIC has been targeted by Jewish extremists who oppose any sort of cooperative relationship with Christian Zionists. “For years, we have been working to encourage Christian support for Israel while taking a firm no-evangelizing position. It has been heartbreaking for us to see our incredible work maligned by ignorant and biased individuals who don’t understand that a new day has dawned on Christian-Jewish relationships, that together we are standing for Israel and fighting anti-Semitism,” explains Kimberly Troup, the US director of CFOIC and a born-again Christian.
The text of the apology includes the following language: “Machon Meir affirms that it did not check the accuracy of the details included in the article before its publication because it assumed that the writer’s statements were well-founded and for this Machon Meir is sorry and apologizes.” The settlement also requires Machon Meir to make a NIS 10,000 donation to a humanitarian project in Ariel, in the name of CFOIC.
“Machon Meir’s apology is an important development in Christian-Jewish relations. For years, CFOIC and other Christian Zionist groups have suffered from defamations of this nature and it is our hope that this apology will serve as a deterrence against future publication of this sort of slander,” comments Sondra Oster Baras, an Orthodox Israeli Jew who serves as director of CFOIC’s Israel office. “We are well aware that the vast majority of Jews in Israel and abroad welcome Christian support for Israel, particularly when that support is accompanied by a sincere desire to help the Jewish people with no strings attached. Publication of such invective has often placed a damper on these relationships, which is why CFOIC launched the lawsuit to begin with.”
CFOIC Heartland was the recipient of a financial award from John Hagee Ministries last week in San Antonio, TX for its Heart of Benjamin program for special needs children. According to Baras: “Pastor John Hagee is a prime example of a Christian Zionist who supports Israel unconditionally, and I hope that more Israelis will become aware of the enormous benefit that the State of Israel receives from our Christian friends.”
CFOIC was represented by Michael Teplow, an American born Israeli attorney.
