Something about the beautiful summer weather brings out the crazies and the idiots. Of couse, I think the “Jews” for Jesus people are both, but I’m glad I don’t work in metro DC and have to put up with this crap:

A two-week evangelical campaign designed to bring Jews to Jesus is underway in Washington, taking this question to Metro stations, Nationals games and popular spots like U Street: Is Jesus the Jewish messiah?

Well, no, he wasn’t, but don’t let that get in the way of your ability to annoy.

That is the core belief of the international missionary organization Jews for Jesus, the best known of dozens of messianic Jewish groups that have sprung up in recent decades. Followers believe that Jesus was the messiah mentioned in Jewish scripture. The group, which has a $17 million annual budget, defines its mission as “making the messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to Jewish people worldwide.”

And here we must point out that the budget is almost wholly devoted to converting Jews, and yet, the Jews, they do not convert in droves. Go figure.

The group is loathed by many mainstream Jews.

You got that right, sister.

Washington area Jewish organizations and the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington have condemned the campaign, saying Jews for Jesus proselytizes too aggressively and misleads potential followers by using Jewish symbols, portraying their places of worship as synagogues and referring to Jesus by Hebrew names.

This is what’s known as the tactic of “lying.” It’s used when you have no other way to get your point across. One of the other ways that J4Js lie is when they pretend their congregations are Jewish, when in reality, just about every J4J congregation fills its seats with Christians, many of whom have no idea that the “Jews” in their church aren’t really Jewish. Because the other thing that J4Js do is call everyone who has a drop of Jewish blood in them Jewish. You grandfather was Jewish? Cool! We have another Jew in our J4J congregation. Halachic law? What’s that? The stuff that was superceded by Jesus? Whoops, wait, I didn’t mean to say that….

“You don’t dress up fundamentalist, evangelical Christian missionaries in Jewish clothing and call it Judaism,” said Scott Hillman, director of the regional office of Jews for Judaism, which works against groups trying to convert Jews to Christianity.

Amen, brother!

Oops. I got so caught up in the Christian evangelical part of the J4Js, that I forgot where I was.

More than 30 Jews and Christians from Washington and across the country are participating, a far smaller number than in 2004, when 600 volunteers were trained to hand out leaflets.

Aw. Gee. They’re losing ground. Could it be that those wily Jews have caught on to these bogus Jews? Ya think?

Organizers say that is because 2004 was part of an unprecedented five-year, 38-city, global Jews for Jesus campaign that cost millions. The D.C. area push that year, which cost about $200,000, was also promoted heavily by the Rev. Lon Solomon, senior pastor of the McLean Bible megachurch in McLean and a member of the Jews for Jesus board of directors. This year, McLean contributed a small number of volunteers and the campaign has no advertising, as there was in 2004.

Once again, I have to say that when you lower your budget, your employees, and your expectations, it shows that you are—say it with me, folks—losing. And losing makes you—once again, people: Losers.

But it comes at a time when congregations of messianic Jews are growing, albeit slowly. There are about 300 such congregations in the United States, up from none around 1970, according to the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations. Jewish groups that work to oppose conversion efforts estimate that 200,000 American Jews have become believers in Christ in the past three decades.

What else has grown since 1970: People who have home computers, VCRs, SUVs, PDAs, stock portfolios—I mean, really. If you have to reach back to the organization’s beginnings to prove that it has grown, you are reaching, indeed. However, we can take a look at one congregation of Faux Jews in particular that I encountered some time ago. The “rabbi” of that congregation actually bragged that he had A 34% Jewish congregation. Wow. One-third of his congregation called themselves Jews, or had Jewish parents or grandparents or great-grandparents. Which means that two-thirds did not. That’s something you never hear about from these J4Js: How high a percentage of their congregations are not Jewish. And then you get the nutty stuff like this, which makes real Jews sit up and, well, laugh.

Congregation Zion’s Sake also sponsors a Messianic Davidic dance team led by Rebbitzin Barb Carlson. Many of their dances consist of the “circle dance” which represents unity. It is a traditional Judaic belief that demonic forces cannot penetrate a circle. They dance before the Lord, sowing praise and worship unto the God of Israel! The Zion’s Sake Dancers have ministered locally and globally, having been called to worship and share Yeshua in our local prisons and jails, numerous churches, city festivals, and to the nations having ministered in St. Petersburg and Omsk, Siberia-Russia.

I’ve never quite heard the Hora described in such a manner. Next time I dance it at a bar or bat mitzvah, I will remember that I’m also guarding against demons. By dancing “Davidically.”

And just in case you think that this is an oddity, read on:

“How can you say you love Jews if you withhold the messiah from them?” asked Stephen Katz, director of the local Jews for Jesus office, who handed out brochures to commuters at the Foggy Bottom Metro during Tuesday’s morning rush hour.

Working with him was Adam Myers, 21, a junior at Liberty University, who said it bothers him that so many people at his church believe that proselytizing to Jews is unnecessary.

“It’s just not politically correct to tell people that if you want to go to heaven, you have to accept Jesus. What we’re saying is intolerant, just like if a doctor said you need to take this medicine, that is intolerant,” he said.

If anyone can please interpret what Adam Myers means about doctors and tolerance, I’d appreciate it. Because it makes absolutely no sense to me. Or to another college student, who happens to be Jewish:

While passing out brochures, Katz got the e-mail address of Michaela Curtis, a 21-year-old intern from North Carolina who grew up in a Christian household where interest in Judaism was high.

“Jews for Jesus is true Judaism, because Jesus was the king of the Jews,” she said. “It makes perfect sense to me.”

But nearby was Bess Lender, a Jewish George Washington University senior, who disagreed.

“They’ll promote themselves as Jewish,” Lender said, “but it’s just silly to me to think you can be Jewish and believe in Christ as the messiah.”

Attagirl. Show ‘em why the J4Js are doing such a crappy job. Because their mission is stupid to begin with.

Jewish. Christian. Pick one, and only one. Stop trying to pretend you can be both.

Yesterday, I emailed Allahpundit that “Jordanian” is almost always code for “Palestinian,” and to watch the word come up as the story unfolds.

Doctors from Iraq and Jordan were among the seven suspects arrested in the failed car bombings in London and at Glasgow’s airport, officials said Monday. A witness said police were closing in on the terror network just before attackers rammed the Scottish terminal building.

I was right.

One of the suspects arrested in Britain by police investigating three failed car bombings is a Jordanian surgeon, unnamed officials in Jordan said.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his wife had also been arrested.

The doctor is of Palestinian origin and carries a Jordanian passport, they said. He obtained his medical degree in Jordan.

Where else have Palestinians been trying to murder Brits? In Iraq, of course, where they also help train Iraqis in making bombs to kill Americans. These people are not our friends.

Omri caught it first, because one of us has to work for a living. And because today has been a very, very busy day work-wise.

An end-note: I’ve seen a few people make fun of the failed bombings (from both sides of the political spectrum), especially concentrating on what losers the bombers were because the bombs failed to go off. Perhaps our armchair quarterbacks should take a deep breath and thank God that the bombers screwed up the mixture necessary to create the kind of devastating bombs those might have been. Britain would be mourning hundreds today, possibly thousands, if those bombers had succeeded. I see nothing amusing about it.

So let’s see. The British union of journalists is boycotting Israel. And yet, they are not boycotting the Palestinians, who do this to their own journalists:

A prominent Palestinian journalist from the Gaza Strip has sought political asylum in Norway, Palestinian journalists said Saturday.

Seif al-Din Shahin, the correspondent for the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel network, left the Gaza Strip together with his family, they said, noting that he had received many death threats over the past few months.

Shahin’s request has yet to be approved by the Norwegian government. Several other Palestinian journalists are also reported to have fled the Gaza Strip out of fear for their lives.

Earlier this year, masked gunmen set fire to the offices of Al-Arabiya in Gaza City, causing heavy damage to furniture and equipment. Although no group claimed responsibility, Palestinian journalists blamed members of Fatah’s armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades.

The group was also responsible for beating Shahin in two separate incidents in 2001 and 2004. The second assault followed Shahin’s live broadcast of a rally held on Fatah’s anniversary. The report angered Fatah leaders who had instructed Shahin and other journalists to report that tens of thousands had participated.

So yes, absolutely, boycott the Israelis. Because it’s not like there’s freedom of the press in Israel or anything like that.

Oh, wait. Yes there is.

Looks like the IDF is breathing down Zubedei’s neck.

Palestinian sources in Jenin reported in the early hours of Monday morning that a senior al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades member was killed during exchanges of fire with IDF forces in the West Bank city.

The IDF said Mahmoud Abu el-Hija was armed and that a bomb was hurled at the soldiers during the incident.

According to reports, Abu el-Hija was shot dead during gun battles near Jenin’s community center. Two additional gunmen were injured in the clashes.

By the way, this is in spite of the supposed call by Abbas to turn in all illegal arms.

Last week Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree prohibiting West Bank residents from carrying illegal arms in the streets.

Zubeidi said the decree “has nothing to do with the Brigades. It’s meant for Hamas. Abbas recognizes the Brigades as a legitimate source of resistance.”

Nablus Nasser Abu-Aziz, the spokesman for Fatah’s armed wing in Nablus said, “No one from Abbas’ office ever asked us to disarm. We will never disarm until all issues are settled, including a complete Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Jerusalem and the right of return for all Palestinian refugees.”

Funny how you don’t see those quotes in the AP articles.