Michael Cherney: Israel, Japan To Cooperate Against Terrorism


Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso
visits Israel this week, ignores Hamas.

By Herb Brandon
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem ----August 14 ....... Michael Cherney (Mikhail Chernoy), who recently coordinated The Jerusalem Summit Asia in Tokyo, states that Israel and Japan will be increasing joint efforts in the war against Islamic terrorism.

The fourth-annual "Jerusalem Summit Asia," which was recently held in a Japan Parliament owned building in Tokyo, brought Israel Tourism Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, lawmakers from the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus, conservative Israel academics and thinkers together with Japan's small but growing evangelical Christian community. Many evangelical Christians are concerned by the rise of global Islamic terrorism but who have until now maintained their distance on the issue in Japan which is a predominantly secular country.

A group of Israel politicians and academics recently sought the support of Japan's small but influential Christian community, part of an increasingly global Judeo-Christian alliance against radical Islam.

Cherney (Chernoy) through his Jerusalem Summit executive director, Dr. Dmitry Radyshevsky, called for Christians and Jews in Israel and throughout the world to unite "politically and spiritually" in the face of radical Islam, which Cherney called "the reincarnation of fascism and Nazism."

"Jews and Christians are one tree, with the Jews forming the roots and the Christians the branches; when it is united it is unbreakable," Radyshevsky said.

"Here in Tokyo we are building a bridge of partnership and friendship to save our basic freedoms based on shared Judeo-Christian values," said Likud MK Gideon Sa'ar. "Our battle against the forces of Islamic extremism must end with a clear and moral victory like the victory over Communism."

Jerusalem Summit Asia which was attended by several hundred evangelical Christians from Japan and elsewhere in Asia as well as Israel Ambassador to Tokyo Eli Cohen, was held as Japan marked the 62nd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, and amid growing persecution of Christians throughout Asia and Africa.

"You can try to be politically correct, but don't be Biblically wrong," said MK Benny Elon (National Union-National Religious Party), who spearheaded Israel's ties with the evangelical world during his tenure as tourism minister.

It is believed that the Jerusalem Summit Asia led Japan to resume direct aid to the moderate Palestinian government, after ignoring its Hamas - led predecessor for more than a year, Japan Deputy Ambassador Kuninori Matsuda announced yesterday.

Matsuda said the $20-million Japanese aid package would be dispersed in eight payments to support the Palestinian government and provide humanitarian relief to the residents of the Gaza Strip.

Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso is to officially inform the Palestinians of the aid package when he meets tomorrow in Jericho with his Palestinian, Israel and Jordan counterparts.

On his first visit to Israel, Foreign Minister Taro Aso arrived with a $100-million gift to be invested in industrial parks in a peace valley between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.

Israel President Shimon Peres presented the idea to the Japanese during his visit to Tokyo last march. But it was Israel industrialist Stef Wertheimer who has been advocating Israel Palestine industrial parks for many years. The concept was shelved for several years as a direct result of Islamic terrorism in Israel.

Wertheimer promotes the idea of economic development and regional stability by establishing industrial parks which encourage new businesses on the borders of Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine. He built Tefen Industrial Park in the north of Israel as a working model of this idea.

Elon urged Japanese Christian parliamentarians to carefully monitor their country's massive financial assistance to the Palestinians to ensure it was not being channeled to terrorist organization such as Hamas and to stop contributing to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which he said had only exacerbated the Palestinian refugee problem.

He said the decision to enlist the support of Japanese Christians in the struggle against Islamic extremism followed marked success in working with the evangelical Christian community in other Asian countries, including the Philippines and South Korea, which, along with Singapore, had hosted such conferences in the past.

About one percent of Japan's 127 million people are Christians.

Aharonovitch called on the Christian leaders to show support for Israel by visiting "the country where the Bible is your calling card and guide book" in the coming year, as Israel marks the 60th anniversary of statehood.

He said only 7,000 Japanese tourists visited Israel last year, and that he was working with Japanese officials to speed up the planned inauguration of direct flights between the two countries, tentatively scheduled for 2010.

"Especially in these difficult times, only the Biblical path can be the light to our feet," said Marisa Albert, the executive director of Jerusalem Summit Asia and chairwoman of the Jerusalem East Gate Foundation, a Jerusalem-based evangelical ministry that works with the Asian world.

"The issue of Israel today is most of all an issue of faith," she said.

The two-day conference concluded with a discussion among religious leaders on how to focus world attention on persecution of Christians in Asia, particularly in Indonesia and Malaysia, a subject that most Japanese Christians in the audience said they knew little or nothing about.

Indonesian Pastor Fransiskus Irwan Widjaja said it would be good if governments throughout Asia - especially those with larger, more active Christian populations than Japan - spoke out against persecution of Christians in an effort to pressure other states to intervene on the issue.

Since his Aliya to Israel, Michael Cherney maintains business interests in Russia and post-Soviet states, while developing new business contacts between Russia, Europe, Israel, and the US. In Israel, Michael Cherney spends much effort on charity and humanitarian projects that reinforce cooperation between Israel and Russia in fighting terrorism.

Michael Cherney established a Website for his Foundation on June 1, 2001, the night of the terrorist bombing outside the Dolphinarium Disco in Tel Aviv. When Michael Cherney learned the number of victims - 21 dead and over 150 wounded - he realized that rendering assistance required a systematic organized effort.

Prior to 2001, Cherney was engaged in charity work in Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, Bulgaria, the US - wherever he did business. He made valuable contributions into Jewish philanthropy in Russia. Following the Dolphinarium terrorist tragedy, the Cherney Fund became the helping hand for all its victims. In a misfortune like this, emigres from the former Soviet countries are even worse off than those born in Israel: they don't have a support system or savings.

The Cherney Fund, therefore, renders help mostly to the new arrivals, victims of catastrophes and terrorist acts that continue to bleed Israel, as well as to the low-income victims of terror in other countries. Another equally important task assumed by the Cherney Foundation is the media effort in war on terror. Shortly after the Dolphinarium attack, the Foundation published a book called Dolphinarium: Terror Targets the Young.

The Michael Cherney Foundation has established grants for students from the former Soviet Union in all major Israel universities with an annual endowment of 1 million shekels.

Mr. Cherney and his family live in a suburb of Tel Aviv.