Last week was a real roller coaster of messed-up time and events.
It’s hard to know what to share, the good or the bad, and yes, even the ugly.
I decided to start with a favorite event, the gala opening of the Christian Media Summit.
This year, the opening gala was held in the Museum of Tolerance on Monday night.
The Government Press Office, led by Nitzan Chen (second from left), sponsors these events.
The first one I attended was at First Station when it was new. Sitting next to people from Romanian radio who came to Jerusalem with love for Israel was an eye-opener.
There was time to interview the important guests and speakers.
I tried to get Amichai Chikli, the Israeli politician currently serving as the Minister of Diaspora Affairs, to smile, but failed. He put on a jacket before going on stage.
One of the speakers, after the buffet meal – it’s Israel, so of course food! was Ambassador Dan Oryan, the director of the Civic Diplomacy Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
One of his slides showed images of support from around the world.
However, more impressive was to meet a man from Nigeria and a woman from Indonesia. Her project was called Hadassah, she said, because she wanted to be like Esther to help the Jewish people.
Member of Knesset Ohad Tal, Chairman of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, was another speaker.
Ditza Or, mother of Avinatan Or, who was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, gave a powerful presentation.
“He is in the hands of God…in the darkest moment, I whispered to myself, God is good and God can do anything,” she recounted.
Looking to ancient Shiloh, she “prayed for her beautiful boy.” Imagine two years vanished into darkness.
Standing to sing Hatikva at the end – the program and other speakers were too good to leave early.
In 2018, the Prime Minister came; this time, however, PM Netanyahu sent a brief video message.
More photos from the Christian Media Summit were posted on Facebook –HERE
There is also a GPO Jewish Media Summit. However, a date for a new one has not been agreed upon.
An annual symposium on indigenous people had interesting speakers.
It was held again at the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem where a yellow sign awaits the return of hostages.
Last year at the Jerusalem Indigenous Embassy symposium, a highlight was the well-researched presentation by the impressive Dr. Izabella Tabarovsky.
This year, Nova Peris’ speech was so good, I asked her to send a copy. I would love to share her story and words with you. Born in Darwin, Australia, her list of accomplishments includes being the first Aboriginal Australian to win an Olympic gold medal. She was elected to the Australian Senate, where she said she received death threats. Her taking a stand with Israel now, with growing antisemitism, is impressive.
The Jerusalem streets are waiting for the last hostages to return, three weeks past the proposed deadline
I decided to end a difficult week on an optimistic note.
I showed this photo to Ditza Or at the end of the evening, where she spoke of her son, his captivity, and returning home. She had ended her talk with similar words to the bumper sticker on the Zussman’s car.
After her son Ben Zussman fell in Gaza, his mother said, “Our story will end well.”
The sun is shining, though we need rain, time to get back out on the Jerusalem streets and find more good things happening to share.
Am Yisrael Chai!