This summer, while the Gaza conflict was overwhelming us all, Jews could be forgiven for thinking that anti-Semitism was being reignited.

Daily reports from Europe spoke of violent anti-Israel protests, while some Jewish leaders in France and Germany were warning Jews not to walk on the streets with their kippot, and synagogues and other Jewish institutions were being targeted. Here in Canada, there were episodes of violence at marches on both sides of the divide, and reports of hate messages scrawled in Jewish neighbourhoods made the rounds.

Even so, in Canada, where all three political parties remained steadfastly in support of Israel’s battle against Hamas’ terrorism, it became difficult at times to reconcile our love and support for the Jewish state when so many innocent children were being killed in Gaza by Israeli rockets.

And, yes, we understood that Hamas was using children as “human shields” against Israeli missiles, but that didn’t ease the pain.

Thus it became difficult to hold on to our friends and supporters. Jewish advocacy agencies in Canada and around the world had their work cut out for them. Mainstream newspapers became one of the advocacy tools of choice. Letters to the editor, opinion articles and commentary were found daily in some of Canada’s most popular newspapers.

Advocacy ads, though, were sparse. Many believed that such ads placed by Jewish organizations would not be embraced, given the perceived bias of our position. And the expense of such full-page ads was usually prohibitive.

However, on Saturday, Aug. 2, B’nai Brith Canada ran a full-page pro-Israel advocacy ad published in the Toronto Star, and National Post.

Titled in large bold letters “For the sake of Zion I will not be silent,” it spoke of the need to ensure freedom of worship on the Temple Mount for both Christians and Jews. A laudable, if not controversial, position, it may have been taken at face value if not for those with whom B’nai Brith partnered on the advertisement. 

There were ostensibly seven partners to the ad, of which two were most curious indeed: the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry and Christian Friends of Israel. To be sure, all seven partners were Christian evangelical organizations, but these two seem heavily invested in Christian outreach and converting Jews to Christianity.

The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry is an in-your-Jewish-face Christian proselytizing group. According to Julius Ciss, the respected executive director of the Jewish counter-missionary group Jews for Judaism, “Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry is a large missionary organization that targets Jews for conversion in the same league as Jews for Jesus and the Chosen Peoples Ministries, operating on a multi-million dollar budget.”

Ciss goes on to explain that Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry also trains hundreds of Christians with the intent of having them influence their Jewish friends to embrace Jesus.

The Christian Friends of Israel, while a bit more cautious and even circumspect has nonetheless many of the calling cards of a group whose aim it is to convert Jews to Christianity. While it claims that its love of Israel is not predicated on direct conversion, its mission statement belies its true intent.

“As Christians we have received from God a love for Israel and the Jewish people. We want to bless them in the name of the Lord. We believe that the Lord Jesus is both the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world.”

While the Jewish community must do all it can to continue to win friends and support Israel, partnering with those whose avowed aim is to destroy Judaism strikes me as mind-boggling.

In the end, what is the cost-benefit tradeoff? If even one Jew is converted as a result of B’nai Brith’s union with such groups, is it worth it?