O pinion
EDITORIAL Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, Bridge-Building Philanthropist
INTERNATIONAL Fellowship
of Christians and Jews founder
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, who
died Feb. 6 at age 67, is being
remembered this week by poli-
ticians, clergy and Jewish com-
munity leaders.

From all corners of the
world, the tributes are pouring
in for the New York-born rabbi
whose organization raised
more than a billion dollars
from the evangelical commu-
nity to support Israel and the
Jewish people.

In addition to facilitating
immigration to Israel from all
over the Diaspora, Eckstein’s
IFCJ helped transform the lives
of thousands of Israeli resi-
dents, including IDF soldiers
and their families, adults and
children living in poverty and
elderly Holocaust survivors,
as well as the Jewish poor in
the former Soviet Union. In
every area where his IFCJ got
involved, it did so in a big way,
and made a big difference.

The posthumous outpouring
might surprise Eckstein, a dual
American-Israeli citizen, whose
efforts to foster ties between
evangelicals and Jews were
not always met with approval.

Indeed, when he first proposed
building alliances between the
two groups in the late 1970s, he
was met with deep skepticism
and even disdain.

Undeterred, he founded
IFCJ in 1983, and battled to gain
credibility for his bridge-build-
ing efforts in the “mainstream”
Jewish world, even as he culti-
vated extraordinary relation-
ships with evangelical leaders
and their flocks and pulled in
eye-popping donations.

Eckstein’s activities gained
traction in the 1990s, when
he pursued efforts in support
of Jews in the former Soviet
Union, raising enough funds to
facilitate thousands immigrants
to Israel. In the following years,
his Jerusalem-based organi-
zation became a well-oiled
money-making machine with
diverse programming — one of
the largest charitable organiza-
tions in Israel.

But notwithstanding his
organizational and financial
success, Eckstein was frus-
trated by his inability to per-
suade many of his fellow Jews
to believe in the purity of his
motives and the legitimacy of
his outreach to evangelicals.

He tangled with Israel’s Chief
Rabbinate and was criticized
by a wide array of Orthodox
leaders, liberal American Jews
and Jewish organizational stal-
warts. Later, he would have a
very public falling-out with the
Jewish Agency.

In a 2005 profile of Eckstein
for The New York Times, Zev
Chafets reported that he was
focused on getting Jews to
practice “the Four As: aware-
ness that evangelicals are help-
ing Israel; acknowledgment of
that help; appreciation; and
attitude change.”
We have no question that
“awareness” and “acknowledge-
ment” have been met. And
the posthumous accolades for
Eckstein’s extraordinary accom-
plishments suggest that “appre-
ciation” may have also been
achieved. As for the desired
“attitude change,” the jury is still
out. Part of the problem may
have been Eckstein’s larger-than-
life persona and related issues
that got in the way.

But in the end, all that is over-
shadowed by the good Eckstein
did for the Jewish world, all
driven by his deep passion for
the Jewish people and love for
the state of Israel. May his
memory be for a blessing. l
The View from Here will return
next week.

Coming to Grips With the Truth About Qatar
BY JONATHAN S. TOBIN
THIS WEEK, the national
press has continued to keep
the heat on Saudi Arabia as
more details about the murder
of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
have made it clear that Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman
probably ordered the killing.

The outrageous slaying of
Khashoggi, a resident of the
United States who wrote for
The Washington Post, has
focused the world’s attention
on the brutal nature of the
Saudi regime and, as far as
14 FEBRUARY 14, 2019
many Americans are con-
cerned, called into question its
status as a U.S. ally.

But while the Saudis are
being subjected to even greater
scrutiny than ever, with many
in Congress demanding that
the United States stop assisting
their war against Iranian allies
in Yemen, another more insid-
ious force for radicalism has
been flying under the radar.

The emirate of Qatar on the
coastline of the Persian Gulf
has benefited greatly from
the limited attention span of
Americans who think that
the only threats in that region
emanate from Iran, ISIS terror-
ists or Saudi Arabia.

But given Qatar’s determi-
nation to spend a lot of its oil
wealth on spreading Islamism
and funding terror, even while
this Gulf State enjoys the sta-
tus of U.S. ally, it’s high time
that the West started paying
more attention to the insidious
nature of its activities.

A start was made towards
that goal with a conference
held this week in Washington,
D.C., by the Middle East Forum
under the title of “Qatar: U.S.

Ally or Strategic Threat.” The
daylong event brought together
scholars, intelligence profes-
sionals, journalists (I moder-
ated one of the panels) and
some members of Congress to
ponder the extent of Qatar’s
reach, as well as what to do
about a situation in which it
has largely avoided being held
accountable for its activities for
the simple reason that it is not
the Iranians, ISIS or the Saudis.

The answer that came out
of the sessions was clear: Qatar
is not merely a dangerous
source of radical Islam and
terror funding, but has also
benefited from a successful
effort to influence American
thought leaders, including
some American Jews, convinc-
ing some to view it as a force
for moderation when in fact, it
is anything but that.

The problem starts with the
fact that the emirate has almost
completely replaced the Saudis
JEWISH EXPONENT
as the source of funding for
Islamist education around the
world. The Saudis are no longer
trying to spread its own harsh
Wahabi brand of radical Islam
in the way they did as recently
as a decade ago.

ical Islam in the region and
was responsible for Egypt’s brief
period of radical Islamic rule
after the fall of the Mubarak
regime, as well as serves as
the spiritual godfather of the
Hamas terrorist movement.

Qatar is not merely a dangerous source of radical
Islam and terror funding, but has also benefited
from a successful effort to influence American
thought leaders, including some American Jews.

But the same madrassas and
mosques that were being influ-
enced by the Saudis are now
getting money from Qatar.

That wouldn’t be a bad thing if
Qatar was pushing a moderate
curriculum, but it’s doing just
the opposite.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the
exiled Egyptian cleric who is the
chief ideologue of the Muslim
Brotherhood, is orchestrating
all of Qatar’s efforts in spread-
ing Islam. The Brotherhood is
one of the chief sources of rad-
Qaradawi is also deeply
involved in the Qatar
Foundation, an institution
supported and sustained by
members of the Qatari rul-
ing family that has spread
radicalism around the world
while masquerading as a
charitable group.

But Qatar doesn’t just fund
institutions that promote
Islamism. It has been directly
funding Hamas’s efforts to
See Tobin, Page 16
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM