ADL Slams George W. Bush for Headlining Jews for Jesus Gala

By Maya Shwayder November 11, 2013

The Anti-Defamation League “expressed disappointment” that former president George W. Bush plans to go ahead with a planned address to a Texas evangelical group at a fundraising event.

Bush is scheduled to speak on November 14 at a fundraiser for the Messianic Jewish Bible Institute.

“President Bush is a friend who has an abiding love and respect for Israel and the Jewish people,” ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said in a statement. “I know that he does not represent or embrace the purpose or the mission of this group, and therefore I wish he would not speak there.”

The group is devoted to “bring[ing] Jewish people into a personal relationship of faith with Yeshua the Messiah,” the Institute’s website says; in other words, to convert Jews to Christianity. The MJBI’s website uses copious Hebrew terms and quotes from both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO