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ACSI's next meeting is on July 16, at 7:30pm.

The scheduled speaker, Bren Carlill of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, has been unexpectedly sent to Israel for work, and thus will not be able to deliver a lecture on the history of Jerusalem. Bren will deliver that lecture at the next ACSI meeting, on September 17.

Instead, we are pleased to present a showing of the 90-minute documentary Against all Odds: Israel Survives.

Given the circumstances surrounding Israel's birth as a country, and the odds against its survival, Israel should not exist as a nation today. Yet it not only exists, but seems to thrive in spite of its adversaries and in the face of circumstances that defy logic and reason. Why? How? This unique and dramatic documentary from 2006 goes beneath the facts of Israel's survival to explore the reasons Israelis themselves believe they have survived against all the odds against them. Not all attribute their military victories to divine assistance, but everyone agrees that the odds for Israel's survival through the turbulent twentieth century have defied all reasonable logic. As Meir Lau - Israeli's former chief rabbi says - "It's a combination of God's blessings to the Jewish people and the grace of a miracle that we more than survive we flourish". Or as Israel's first prime minister, Ben Gurion, said, "If you don't believe in miracles, it is not practical to exist in Israel".

Journalist Michael Greenspan confronts military leaders, battle commanders, strategists, and common soldiers on the field who provide their viewpoints of remarkable stories of heroism and bravery … some that defy human understanding. Why, for instance, did an unstoppable armada of Syrian tanks bound for Tel Aviv at the start of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, suddenly stop just north of Tiberias and simply wait for the Israeli army to arrive so they could surrender without a fight? When an Israeli tank commander found himself and his men in the middle of a mine field, how was the prayer of one of his men suddenly followed by an unprecedented wind that blew away nearly a foot of topsoil and then just as suddenly stop, revealing the hiding places of thousands of mines so the soldiers could escape unharmed? Why, during the War for Independence, did a battalion of Jordanian soldiers approaching the position of a handful of Israeli soldiers defending Mt. Zion without ammunition, suddenly shout "Abraham" and turn and flee? How could three dozen teenagers, survivors of the Holocaust, walk right past a company of Egyptian soldiers in the Negev without being seen? The fact that these and scores of other unexplainable occurrences fill the pages of every war in Israel is documented. The stories behind them have never been explored, until now.

Flyers for the meeting are available to be downloaded and printed out - so you can give them to your family and friends. (Click here for Word format and here for PDF format.)

ACSI meetings are held at Beth Weizmann Community Centre, 306 Hawthorn Rd, Caulfield South, at 7:30pm on the third Thursday of every other month. The remaining meetings for this year are on July 16, September 17 and November 19. Mark these dates on your calendar now.

Admission is completely free. Tea, coffee and kosher snacks are provided, with a gold coin donation.

ACSI meetings last approximately two hours, and include presentations on issues relevant to Christians who support Israel. Examples of presentations include The Jewish Roots of Christianity, How to Effectively Advocate for Israel, The Nabatean Civilisation, The Geography of the Land of Israel, Life in the Time of Abraham, The History of Jerusalem and more (The topics covered in past ACSI events can be seen here).

The aim of these meetings is to provide Australian Christians who support Israel a regular source of information about issues that matter to them, from local, interstate and international speakers, in order to better arm them to speak about Israel to people in their church and workplace.

E-mail acsi@acsisrael.org for more information.

At this stage, ACSI does not hold events outside of Melbourne, though this will hopefully change in the near future - stay tuned!

Can't get to an ACSI meeting?

There are regular meetings for Christian supporters of Israel all around Australia. You might find one near you in the following list. It should be pointed out that ACSI is not responsible for the content of these meetings.

Brisbane, Qld

Israel Awareness Day
Second Saturday of every month
Contact: icejaus@bigpond.com

Grafted, for young people aged 18-35
Third Saturday of every month
Contact: icejaus@bigpond.com

Northside Focus on Israel
Fourth Saturday of every month
Contact: icejaus@bigpond.com

Geelong, Vic

Kesher HaMenorah
Bi-monthly on Saturday evenings
Contact: mimget14@hotmail.com

Hobart, Tas