IFCJ’s TV ad campaign

January 19, 2009 - 6:33 PM by Harry · 9 Comments
Filed under: General 

Rabbi Yechiel EcksteinThe Zionist community might be a little queasy about its relationship with The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. After all, can supporters of Jerry Falwell and the Gush Katif crowd really share a bed comfortably? But the fact is, Chicago and Jerusalem native Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein’s organization has done amazing work when it comes to fostering support for Israel.

Last month, Eckstein was interviewed on the decidedly Jewish-flavored Shalom TV, where he defended his work with characteristic eloquence, speaking about how terror groups’ publicity campaigns in South America, for example, must be offset by his own.

Eckstein is no stranger to TV. His very own Journey To Zion program, which has been airing for about a year and a half on Christian television networks in the US, provides a pulpit for Eckstein’s introductory Jewish teachings.

And for the past several months, the IFCJ has been running TV ads on Fox News – something which no other pro-Israel informational organization has had the nerve or means to do. The spots (example here) may be sensationalistic, and they may stray from the latest trends of pushing an image of Israel as a nation of high-tech and supermodels, but they’re poignant, and they have yielded results.

This past March, back in the early days of the ad campaign, the IFCJ reported having raised enough funds to make a difference:

IFCJ funded the renovation of 32 public bomb shelters in Sderot at a cost of $1.5 million. In addition, the organization has recently pledged to upgrade 400 bomb shelters in privately-owned residences in Ashkelon at an expected cost of $2 million.

Even Haaretz is taking note, running a story last week on the campaign under the headline “Jewish charity brings U.S. viewers Israel’s version of the war in Gaza.”

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The Quiet Within the Storm

December 28, 2008 - 1:35 AM by DavidS · 3 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Politics, War 

You have to give Israelis credit; when the chips are down, even the ones who aren’t necessarily suspected of idealism come shining through.

As Israel went to war against Hamas over the weekend, the leaders of the major political parties all decided to suspend their political campaigns for the duration of the operation – which, both Prime Minister Olmert and Defense Minister Barak said could be lengthy. Barak, who leades the Labor Party, said that he had to concentrate on the operation and had no time for politics.

The Likud, too, suspended its campaign, and has put on hold a radio campaign featuring ads attacking Kadima chief and Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni. Posters that bear the campaign’s tagline – “Tsipi, the job is too big for you” – that have already been put up will be taken down. In a statement Saturday night, Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu said that “there is a time for debate and a time for unity, and today is a time for unity,” he said. “If our enemies thought we would not be united under rocket fire, they were wrong. The cannons roar, but we are united.”

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With the elections coming just about a month from now – and the gap between the Likud and Kadima narrowing, according to the latest polls – the suspension of campaigning is really extraordinary. It wouldn’t be surprising for opposition politicians, for example, to accuse the government of timing its operation to cynically improve its standing in the polls, giving it a “January surprise” type of bounce that could sustain it until the elections. But no – politicians on the left and the right spontaneously announced (without any coordination, as far as I could tell) that they were holding off on the negative noise we are set to be subject to. Not that any Israeli, given the choice, wouldn’t opt for the noise if it meant that the south was secure. But it does show that our political leaders and would-be leaders are a better caliber than we usually give them credit for being.

(Photo courtesy One Family Fund)

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