Three years ago, we launched ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS to break important stories affecting Christians
By God’s grace, a great deal has been accomplished – but there’s much more to do
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – On Sept. 1, 2020, my Israeli and Palestinian colleagues and I launched two brand-new websites, ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS.
Why?
Because, unfortunately, there weren’t any other news organizations that were doing all of the following….
Breaking important stories about affecting Christians in Israel and the Arab/Muslim world
Publishing exclusive interviews with top Israeli, Arab and U.S. newsmakers
Publishing exclusive polls on how Christians and others view Israel and the region
Publishing original news stories about Israel, Iran and the Arab/Muslim world
Publishing original and insightful commentary and analysis from a biblical worldview
Providing links to important, must-read stories about Israel and the region from other media platforms to create a “one-stop-shopping” environment
Publishing in English
Publishing every day, except Shabbat
Based in Jerusalem
Non-profit and thus non-partisan
Run by a senior management team of Israeli journalists and technology professionals who are devout followers of Jesus Christ
In short, we created ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS to fill a much-needed gap in the market – to create two credible, honest and attractive websites that Christians (and Jews, Muslims and others) could trust to tell them the truth about what’s happening in the Epicenter and why it matters, to educate readers about God’s heart and plan for Israel and her neighbors, to give a voice to the voiceless, and to counter the fake news and extreme bias against Israel, against Christians, and against the cause of peace and religious freedom found in so much of the mainstream establishment media.
While there is much more to do, I’m grateful to report that, by God’s grace, much has been accomplished in a short period of time.
Major Israel, Arab and U.S. newsmakers are meeting with us and granting us exclusive interviews.
Major news outlets like Fox, CBN, Newsmax, the Jerusalem Post and i24 news are covering our coverage and interviewing us about what’s happening in the Middle East.
Last year, the Trinity Broadcasting Company (TBN) – the most watched Christian TV network in the United States – asked us to launch a primetime weekly program based on our coverage, to which we happily agreed.
All of this is causing our traffic to grow and our donations, as well – which is good because we are a non-profit organization, not a business.
But far more importantly, we are seeing our reporting make a real difference in the lives of real people and this is immensely encouraging.
IMPACT: ALL ISRAEL NEWS HELPS STOP AN ANTI-GOSPEL BILL IN THE KNESSET
On Sunday, March 19, 2023, ALL ISRAEL NEWS broke an exclusive and important story about two ultra-Orthodox Members of Knesset who introduced a bill to outlaw people in Israel from sharing the gospel message, or other spiritual beliefs, with another person.
Violators could be convicted with up to two years in prison.
Our reporting on the story – including the full bill in Hebrew and a professional translation in English – quickly went viral and generated news coverage all over the world.
It also generated criticism from major Evangelical Christian leaders, which we also reported.
This, in turn, generated so much confusion and outrage that Israel's Foreign Ministry was deluged with inquiries and complaints over the next few days.
By Wednesday, March 22 at 4:43 p.m., Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement promising never to allow legislation to pass that would harm Christians.
This was a great and encouraging – and very fast – victory, which generated even more Israeli and international media coverage of Netanyahu’s decision, and the role ALL ISRAEL NEWS played in the story.
IMPACT: ALL ARAB NEWS HELPS GET A PALESTINIAN PASTOR RELEASED FROM PRISON
In March 2022, a Palestinian Evangelical pastor in Bethlehem was arrested for no good reason.
At first, Palestinian Evangelical leaders did not want any media coverage so they could handle the matter discreetly.
However, when weeks went by and the pastor was still in jail with no clear hope of getting released, ALL ARAB NEWS was asked to intervene.
We agreed.
On April 5, 2022, we published an open letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, informing him of the unjust arrest and asking him to intervene and release the pastor immediately.
Only a few days later, President Abbas did just that, ordering his security services to review the case and expedite the pastor’s release.
On April 11, Johnny Shahwan was, in fact, finally released and returned safely to his family.
This was a very fast and very encouraging development that generated coverage not just by us but by other media outlets, including the Jerusalem Post and CBN.
IMPACT: ALL ISRAEL NEWS PUBLISHES OTHER IMPORTANT STORIES AFFECTING THE ISRAELI CHRISTIAN & MESSIANIC COMMUNITY
Since we began operations, our news services have been breaking – and/or taking the lead in covering – critically important events affecting followers of Jesus here in Israel. We do this both to keep our readers informed, as well as to mobilize them to pray.
Earlier this year, we published an exclusive investigative report on the implosion of a prominent Israeli evangelist who divorced his wife, was fired by the Bible college where he worked, quickly married another woman, and then began publicly and aggressively attacking the theology and personal lives of Christians and Messianic Jews in Israel and the U.S. This was certainly one of the most bizarre and painful stories of 2023.
We also had to report on the tragic murder of a Messianic woman by her husband in Haifa. This was another of the most painful stories of 2023.
Over the past year or so, we have also been covering very closely and consistently the serious spike in attacks against – and harassment of – Christians in Israel, and particularly in Jerusalem.
And the terrible decision by bureaucrats within Israel’s Minister of the Interior to stop issuing clergy visas for staffers working at various Christian Zionist organizations in Israel despite written agreements with these groups promising a quota of visas every year.
We have covered efforts by Israeli President Isaac Herzog and other senior Israeli officials to publicly condemn the growing number of attacks on Christians.
We have also called upon Prime Minister Netanyahu to intervene more directly himself to get this situation under control.
Here are just a few examples of our coverage.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR US?
All of this is super encouraging – and we are deeply grateful to the Lord, to our readers and viewers, and to our very gracious donors.
Still, none of this is enough.
There are more important stories to break.
And many more great feature stories about Israel and the rest of the Middle East to share with you.
Soon, I’ll share more about where we hope to go next and how you can help.
For now, on behalf of our entire board and all of our editors, reporters, photographers, video editors and technical support staff, let me simply say thank you so much.
These have been three intense and exciting years – and none of us can wait to see what the future holds!
Joel C. Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York Times best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and Evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons.
