Meshi Zahav renounces exorcism: 'May it be compared to the blessings of the righteous''

May 23, 2017   

More than two weeks ago, Channel 2 aired an article about a popular Nigerian pastor, T.B. Joshua, who wants to move his world center from Nigeria to the shores of the Sea of ​​Galilee. The priest, famous in Africa as a healer of possessions, witchcraft, and demons, surprisingly received help from ZAKA chairman Yehuda Meshi Zahav, who appeared alongside him in the article, and spoke admiringly of the priest, comparing his power to the blessings of the "ancestors" and Kabbalists - which sparked criticism from many. In the Channel 2 article, the priest is seen with his entourage and Meshi Zahav searching for a suitable compound on the shores of the Sea of ​​Galilee. The Yad L'Achim organization subsequently issued a statement expressing surprise at "an organization identified as Haredi and its leader who are helping to move the Christian priest's residence to Israel, thereby causing the desecration of God, giving a foothold to idolatry, and mass spiritual destruction." Meshi Zahav initially dismissed those who were outraged by his connection with the Nigerian priest - and said in a conversation with Channel 7: "I heard the criticism and I laugh with myself. We constantly make claims that they hate us and come against us. We all know that today the front is the front for the propaganda of all BDS organizations, and on the other hand, when you try to explain to someone who represents hundreds of thousands, people raise their eyebrows." However, this morning, Meshi Zahav published a statement saying: ""After an interview I gave, from which it was understood that I believe in the power of a non-Jewish religious leader, and that he has supernatural powers and virtues. God forbid that he be compared to the blessings of the great and righteous men of Israel, who come from the power of holiness and the power of the Torah.". And I will make it very clear that I believe that there is no one else besides Him. And He is the One who chose Moses His servant and Israel His people and the prophets of truth and righteousness. Moses is true and His Torah is true. "In addition, I withdraw my hand from helping him establish a house in the Land of Israel for his activities.". • Yehuda, why did you publish the message? "Because some people were confused by it, especially those who are Jewish, and it is important to me that it be clear and unambiguous." Two weeks ago, in a conversation with Channel 7, Meshi Zahav spoke about the connection that was formed with the priest: "The story is very simple - a connection was formed through ZAKA, which is an international humanitarian organization with connections to other organizations around the world. Cooperation was formed between us on a humanitarian basis, and then I learned and found out that he has over three million followers on Facebook, he is a religious leader of hundreds of thousands of believers, his YouTube videos have been viewed by over two hundred and fifty million people, he owns the leading television network in Africa. ''I connected with him and it turned out that he was also an assistant in security matters for the State of Israel during the time when Rafi Eitan was in the Mossad. We were with Rafi Eitan several times. I made this man a friend of Israel. "I quickly turned him into an Israel fan, we put a huge Israeli flag on his compound. We started speaking in favor of Israel. He is putting his television network at my disposal in an information project against BDS, and he will be a soldier on this front like many others. I brought him to Israel and we met with many ministers and rabbis, and he is enthusiastic about Israel." Meshi Zahav clarified at the time that this was not about establishing a church, but rather a compound where a spiritual retreat would take place for the pastor's believers, who would come to Israel and visit it as tourists. "He wants to turn his believers into Israel fans. He is not establishing a church and is not involved in missions. He is less than the evangelists. He is not involved in crosses, he is not addressing the Israeli target audience, but only wants to bring his thousands of people like any other tourist. After all, we all want thousands of tourists to come here. What's wrong with thousands of tourists coming here and leaving money here and receiving a spiritual retreat?" Meshi Zahav added: "The media's job is to search underground, and they present him as an exorcist, and we also have exorcists. I don't want to compare, but how many exorcists, etc., do we have here? ''After all, the whole issue of medicine is quite a bit of psychology. We know the hypochondriacs who take pills and they believe that it passes them by, so if someone thinks that a demon has entered them and he went to him and he cast it out, do we care? Let him cast out the demons for them." Yad La'Ahim were horrified to hear about the dangerous plan and rushed to send a series of hasty letters to ministers and public figures last week. The letters stated, among other things: "This priest is awash with enormous wealth, hundreds of thousands of Christians are flocking to him, and there is no doubt that his establishment in the country as someone who supposedly brings 'balm, miracles and wonders,' will bring a wave of Jews who will flock to him, and thus, God forbid, a vast field will be created for large-scale missionary activity." The organization sought to prevent this dangerous priest from being granted a residence permit.