On Saturday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m., the Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Knesset will be speaking at the Sar Shalom Center in Ontario.
The public is welcome to come to the newly-opened center at 2510 West Fourth Street to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the rebirth of the Nation of Israel.
The event is sponsored by the Israeli Leadership Institute of North America and the Richland Community Prayer Network (RCPN), which is also celebrating its 20th year of existence. The keynote speaker, Hilik Bar, will be the highest ranking official ever to come to the area. In 2002, Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in Ashland at the Ashbrook Center but was not an elected official at the time.
According to the Executive Director of the Israeli Leadership Institute (ILI), Mr. Eeki Elner, “Knesset Member Hilik Bar will be in Ohio for one week to strengthen ties between the faith community in Ohio and Israel.”
Elner, who is based in Sderot, Israel, says that Bar’s visit to North Central Ohio is, “due to the strong Pro-Israeli clergy coalition there.”
In January 2017, RCPN enlisted the support of leading clergymen from over one hundred congregations throughout North Central Ohio for a clergy letter to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. The correspondence apologized for the anti-Semitic position the U.S. Federal government took in not opposing the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334.
Suffice to say, U. N. Resolution 2334 was passed the day before Hanukah in 2016 and opposed Israel’s sovereignty over East Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, calling it “a flagrant violation of international law.”
RCPN Coordinator Reverend El Akuchie explained that the clergy letter “Not only atoned for past local citizen support in 2005 of an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, it also helped facilitate reconciliation between North Central Ohio and Israel and most importantly, reconciliation between North Central Ohio and GOD. “
The season following the letter, the Ohio clergy observed blessings of “Biblical proportion” in the area.
“Ten days after the letter was sent, the billion-dollar Rover natural gas pipeline got federal approval to begin construction bringing money to local landowners and replenishing a local economy ranked tenth worst in the country.”
Akuchie asserts that the significant increases in the spring turkey harvest the whitetail deer harvest, and the largest cattle herd in thirty years “can be correlated to standing with Israel.”
“What also caught international attention was forty local clergy responding to these blessings by requesting the County Treasurer invest in Israeli bonds. As a result, Richland County changed a 25-year-old investment policy to include international investments, allowing for the purchase of between $100,000 to $200,000 worth of Israeli bonds.
Reverend El Akuchie
“The same day the purchase was announced, the County Commissioner Board was informed that nearly half a million dollars of unexpected revenue was coming in to alleviate a budget shortfall which is breathtaking,”
“The same day the purchase was announced, the County Commissioner Board was informed that nearly half a million dollars of unexpected revenue was coming in to alleviate a budget shortfall which is breathtaking,” says Akuchie smiling.
For a government entity, the State of Ohio is listed as the largest holder of Israeli bonds in the world and Elner optimistically reports that Ohio and Israel are “becoming closer and closer as evidence of the growing trade volume between the two states.”
(Photo courtesy of Frontlines Ohio)
It is no small matter that as a gift from the Ohio Speaker of the House in 2015, Hilik Bar was given the “Keys to the State of Ohio.” Bar is only the fourth person to ever receive such an honor.
“Hilik is focused on bringing the two peoples together” says Elner.
