An Exchange on New West Magazine (www.newwest.net)

Bikeboy: It's difficult to bash somebody over their bigotry or hatred, without seeming a 
little bigoted or hateful yourself. (Or to criticize someone's intolerance, 
without revealing your own.) 
 
For those who are ganging up on Falwell over his anti-Semitism, apparently he 
repented... and you might say he found redemption later on in life. (Mr. Gier's 
piece sounds oddly like it was written maybe 10 years ago, back when Falwell was 
provoking so much debate.) 
 
From a news article written 3 days ago on http://www.thehill.com: 
 
Political leaders say farewell to Falwell 
 
... Present at the [funeral] ceremony was Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and 
president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and goodwill 
ambassador of Israel. Eckstein said he knew Falwell for 30 years and credited 
him with connecting evangelical Christians with Israel and the worldwide Jewish 
community. 
 
Falwell was “one of the first to build a bridge between evangelicals and Jews in 
America,” Eckstein said. “It is something that is important to the state of 
Israel and the Jewish people worldwide that we will not forget our friends who 
stood with us in a stalwart way, which Reverend Falwell did. 
 
“Today it is far less controversial both in the Jewish community and in the 
Christian community to support Israel and the Jewish people,” Eckstein added. 
“On behalf of the state of Israel ... I am here to pay tribute.” 
 
By Nick Gier, 5-27-07 

To Irwin and Sisyphus, I say many thanks for the chuckle. 
 
To bikeboy, I say that there plenty of recent evidence to demonstrate that 
Falwell is a false penitent. Please note the very recent reaffirmation of the 
9/11 comments. 
 
With regard to the good rabbi, here is a list long list of reasons why we should 
be suspicious of this character.  This is copied from a website that rates 
charities for their authenticity: 
 
* Rabbi Eckstein's total compensation seems excessive at about $381,500 for 
2002. 
 
* IFCJ is a one-way street of Christians helping Jews. True cooperation, mutual 
understanding, and sympathy entails that Jews also help Christians who are in 
need and/ or being persecuted for their faith. 
 
* IFCJ is simply a clever attempt to draw upon the financial resources of 
evangelical Christians by a man who actually opposes Christianity. 
 
* Some people believe that IFCJ is more of a political organization acting as an 
arm of the Israeli government than a charitable organization whose principle 
commitment is to helping people in need. 
 
* Many Jewish religious leaders have expressed skepticism over drawing alliances 
with evangelicals. 
 
* Many Christian religious leaders believe that the Zionist project has little 
or nothing to do with biblical prophecy; hence, efforts to return the Jews to 
their homeland based upon considerations of prophetic significance are 
misguided. 
 
* IFCJ, in promoting the Zionist cause, tends to ignore or downplay Palestinian 
suffering, which has occurred over the course of the Middle Eastern conflict 
 
* Many of the projects supported by IFCJ are simply government projects, which 
already receive funds from other sources.