Njc Pulls out of Conference, Cites Concern for Proselytizing

The National Jewish Coalition, the major group representing Jewish Republicans, has pulled out of an upcoming conference on Israel because the sole purpose of some of the participating Christian groups is to convert Jews.

The Israeli Embassy previously pulled out of the conference, known as the “National Unity Conference for Israel,” for the same reason. But other Jewish groups are staying out.

In a March 23 letter to conference organizer Esther Levens, NJC Executive director Matthew Brooks specifically objected to the participation of evangelical Christian groups such as Shalom International Ministries, Friends of Israel and Bridges for Peace.

“The organizations mentioned above have as their chief purpose the conversion of Jews to Christianity,” Brooks wrote in the latter, in which he requested that his name and that of his organization be removed from the program.

“Their active support of missionizing is, in practice,a determined effort to destroy the Jewish people,” Brooks wrote. “I cannot in good conscience participate in an event, even one dedicated to support for Israel, which includes organizations whose primary goal I vehemently oppose.”

The conference is being held May 4 in Washington by Voices United For Israel, a group based in Mission, Kan, that reaches out to both Christian and Jewish communities to show support for Israel.

Included on the list of invited speakers is Elwood McQuaid, chief executive of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. On the program his group is listed as Friends of Israel and McQuaid is listed simply as an author, without any connection to his ministry.

In its members profile directory, published in January 1995, McQuaid’s group describes itself as “an evangelical faith mission proclaiming the need for personal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ to Jewish people and their gentile neighbors.”

It lists a total income of $5.36 million for 1993 and program expenses of $4.25 million.

Although some have pulled out, other scheduled Jewish participants are staying with the program.

Charles Brooks, executive director of the National Political Action Committee, which funds pro-Israel political candidates, said even though he is uncomfortable that such groups are participating in the conference, he has no plans to drop out because he is not speaking with any of them at the same session.

Brooks, who is not related to Matthew Brooks, said he has “no problem” participating as long as other major Jewish groups, such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, will be there.

AIPAC, the main pro-Israel lobby, is listed on the program, but a spokesperson said the groups has not yet confirmed its participation.

Among the prominent Jewish speakers scheduled at the National Unity Conference is former Sen. Rudy Boschwitz, the Minnesota Republican.

Boschwitz and others said they were unfamiliar with the missionizing goals of the Christian groups and plan to look into it.

“Most of the people who have been invited to speak probably have no idea about the other participants,” said Brooks of the National Political Action Committee.

Although he will participate, Brooks said he preferred working with Christian groups that do not target Jews.

“There are plenty of Christian groups we can work with that are not involved with those activities which are a threat to the Jewish community,” he said.

At least one Jewish participant, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, the founder of Toward Tradition, said he has no problem working with evangelicals whose goal is specifically to missionize Jews.

“For Jews to get upset that evangelicals to exactly what their faith demands of them is ridiculous. In the free market of ideas, what inferiority complex suffuses the Jews to think that we can’t compete?” said Lapin, whose Seattle- based group of Jewish activists supports politically conservative causes.

“Let the evangelicals do what they like,” Lapin said. “To whatever extent they succeed, the indictment is not on them, but on us.”

Allen Mothersill, the co-president of the conference’s sponsor, Voices United for Israel, said he was not aware that some of the participating Christian groups specifically proselytize Jews.

Mothersill, who is Christian but described himself as unaffiliated with any particular denomination, said he “can understand Jew’s concerns,” but urged the Jewish community “not to alienate” the evangelical community.

“The support Israel has in the Christian community is in the right wing, in the conservative, Bible-believing part of the community,” he said.

“With the good comes the bad, so to speak, so with their support you (also) get that they are here to evangelize the world and that is their function.”

But, he said, Jews should not be concerned about being proselytized at the National Unity Conference, because the group’s policy prohibits it.

Mothersill, who co-chairs the group with Levens, who is Jewish, said he hopes that this second annual gathering will draw between 300 and 500 participants.

Last year, there were 150 attendees.