Sunday, August 22, 2010

The Hidden Saints Of Palin's Israel Odyssey

Sarah Palin has expressed, not only through her words but her actions, the strongest support for Israel, the settlements and the right of return. In an interview she stated that the population of Israel would grow as more and more Jews seek to return to the land of their historic birthright stretching back thousands of years.


There have been many heroes facilitating this exodus including "Righteous Christians" who by their incredibly unselfish actions- often at great risk to themselves saved thousands of Jews from Nazi persecution and execution.

One of the saddest aspects of these great persons actions is that they were not honored until after their passing or very late in their lives. The world now knows of Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallennberg, but who knows of the incredible stories, documented in the amazing book 'The Fugu Plan', of Mitsugi Shibata, honored one year before his passing, who saved thousands of Jews in Shanghai during WW2? Or Senpo Sugihara who issued 6000 exit visas to Curacao via Japan to Lithuanian Jews who otherwise would have ended up in death camps?

It is an honor and a privilege to be able to publicize the  ongoing deeply felt commitment, in this case to the return of an incredible 120,000 Jews, by latter day heroes who also have faced strong challenges in assisting Jews to return. I came across an announcement in a small local paper of a public meeting which set out to describe and honor this ongoing work. It is doubly delightful to see Christians actively involved in presenting the struggles of Jews and that unsung "Righteous Christians" are still continuing this, surely sacred, work;


AN American with a passion for Jews is speaking at venues between  about the return of the Jewish people to Israel. Roger Wolcott, is spiritual advisor to Ebenezer Emergency Fund International’s board,
Mr Wolcott is also discussing how the Fund assists in the process of the repatriation of the Jews to Israel.


The representative for Ebenezer Emergency Fund, Branson Hopkins, said the organisation “was established by Gustav Scheller and his wife after their experience of being under rocket-fire in Israel. They established a shipping line from the Ukraine city of Odessa to Haifa in Israel, for the purpose of carrying Jewish people from the former Soviet Union.


“In subsequent years, using sea and air routes, more than 120,000 people have been repatriated to Israel by the Mission. There have been many exciting events associated with the Mission, and volunteers from all around the world have become associated with the work, determined to love and help the Jewish people besides distributing humanitarian aid wherever they go. ‘Operation Exodus’, as the Mission is named, has continued to grow.


“Mr Wolcott will give an informed message of how the return of the Jewish people will continue and how Ebenezer Emergency Fund assists in that process,” said Mr Scheller.


Mr Wolcott met Mr Scheller in Israel in 1987, and in January 1991 at the International Prayer Conference in Jerusalem, when Gustav got the vision to bring the Jewish people back to Israel from the Soviet Union.


Palin's support for these returnees and her expression of the strongest possible support for Israel which is recognized as obvious in Jerusalem and slowly but surely sinking into the consciousness of American Jewry-the scales are dropping even from the most blinded of Jewish supporters of Obama-excepting the left-wingers of the JStreet.

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