#wfwp

Jerusalem Post. June 3, 2004

By JENNY HAZAN

An international women’s peace festival is met with suspicion

More than 500 women representing 33 different nations were greeted with smiles as they marched from Rehov Ben-Hillel to Independence Park last Thursday afternoon, singing and waving their respective national flags in an effort to bring a message of peace to Muslim and Jewish residents of the capital.

By the time the entourage, dubbed “A Mother’s Heart for Peace” reached its final destination, its conciliatory spirit had dissipated. The "Christian" group, hailing primarily from Japan, Korea, and the United States, were met by about 100 Palestinians who had been bussed to Independence Park from east Jerusalem and Arab villages north of Haifa by the event’s organizer, the Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP).

Dr. Moshe Nahum, president of the World Yemenite Federation and ambassador for the festival’s umbrella organization, the Inter-religious International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP), was puzzled by the low turn-out of Jewish Israelis.

“The only ones here who are from the region are Muslim,” he said as he glanced around the park in dismay at a group of Muslim children playing with plastic machine guns, which they directed at the Israeli policemen who came to secure the festival.

“Jews have nothing to do with this event,” commented David Cohen, one of the few Jewish Jerusalemites in attendance, who said he only came in order to stay informed about happenings in the city. “I don’t trust that the people who organized this event came to make peace.”

Rachel Gal, a Jewish volunteer with the WFWP in Jerusalem for the last five years, contested that the WFWP expected more Jewish women to come.

“I suppose Jewish Israelis were just too afraid to come,” she said.

An alternative explanation for the low turn-out is the infamous reputation of IIFWP founder Reverend Sun Myung Moon, whose Unification Church was mentioned 17 years ago in the ranks of the Church of Scientology and the Hare Krishna movement in a report by the Tassa-Glazer Knesset Commission, which was appointed by the Israeli government to investigate the dangers and damage caused by cults in Israel.

“These people don’t have a peace plan. They have a theological agenda,” said Aaron Rubin, director of the Anti-Missionary Department of Jerusalem-based organization Yad L’ahim (Hands to our Brothers), which offers help to Jews who have been persuaded to join cults and missionary movements.

According to Rubin, Moon’s Church of Unification is currently undergoing its fourth incarnation as an occult under the leadership of Rev. Moon and his wife, who also serves as head of the WFWP. The current objective of the church, he said, is to create the Fourth Israel. The church’s view holds that the First Israel was besmirched by the murder of Jesus by the Jews, the second was destroyed because Christians refused to recognize Rev. Moon as the messiah, and in the Third Israel, Christians denied that Rev. Moon represented the Second Coming.

“Moon’s followers call him The Lord of the Second Advent” said Rubin and revealed that the Fourth Israel aims to include Jewish, Muslim, and Christian followers in a joint chosen nation under the true leadership of Moon and his wife.

“The goal is to bring people of all faiths into his service,” said Rubin. “The problem is that most followers don’t understand the real agenda.”

Karen Smith, an Inter-religious International Peace Council (IIPC) representative from New York, denied that Moon has a hidden agenda and claimed that everyone affiliated with his movement sees him differently.

“The objective of the Unification Church is not at all conversion,” said Smith. “Some see him as a prophet or in a messianic role and others see him just as a smart man… Most people do respect him for what he has achieved by encouraging people to go beyond the boundaries of religion and nationality and see themselves as human beings who, if given the chance to work out our differences, can discover a genuine respect for each other.

“The church encourages followers of all religions to live up to the highest standards of their own tradition,” she continued. “That’s when we will all be making progress towards peace.”

...

Haitham Bundakji, president of the Masjid Board of the Islamic Society of Orange County (ISOC), an organization affiliated with the IIFWP, [said]

“... In America, the church is well respected and it is gaining respect all over the world.”

According to Rubin, Moon’s primary goal is to establish public legitimacy.

“Their tactic is different from most cults, since they don’t try to convert people directly, but instead try to gain legitimacy through different public conferences and festivals,” explained Rubin.

Another tactic, claimed Rubin, is encouraging the creation of advocacy groups which work on behalf of Moon, but which maintain their legitimacy by remaining officially autonomous.

Rubin gave as an example three rabbis who last year were invited to attend an IIPC-sponsored seminar in Jerusalem where they were lectured about peace for several hours before being asked to sign a symbolic treaty of solidarity in English. The treaty, said Rubin, which one of the rabbis couldn’t read, declared that the Jews were responsible for the death of Christ and that the signers vowed to encourage their congregants to repent for that sin.

“They are very deceptive people,” said Rubin, and estimated that there are over 50,000 international ambassadors for peace who are working under the indirect auspices of the IIFWP.

In addition to the IIFWP’s substantial following, the IIPC has formed a lobby group to encourage the United Nations to institute an inter-religious council.

“We recommend that the UN form an ad hoc committee to consider including an inter-religious council in the UN so that the religious voice can contribute to the peace-building work that is so desperately needed,” explained Smith.

The draft resolution submitted by the IIPC in the Philippines is currently on the table, but no decision has been reached. Until then, the IIFWP and its affiliate organizations will continue promoting their ideology through international peace festivals, seminars, and conferences. (A Mother’s Heart for Peace was among six IIFWP-sponsored events that have taken place in Israel over the last year alone.)

Forster said they have all been legitimate, peaceful gatherings.

“All we are hoping to do is make a statement in favor of reconciliation in this region,” she insisted. “As women, we feel that we have a skill that is not being utilized on the level of negotiation between governments. We have developed skills working with children and one of those is the knowledge that you can’t favor anyone when your own children are fighting with each other.”

“We have been transformed by meeting both Arab and Israeli women who have suffered,” added Susan Fefferman from Maryland, who helped to coordinate the festival. “We don’t have any answers, but we are willing to help and serve and listen, and that in itself is a step that can heal.”

Manan Aswanha, 25, a Muslim participant from Nazareth, agreed.

“It’s a lovely idea to come for a peace day. I think it’s what we need,” said the schoolteacher and mother of two. “I don’t know if efforts like this actually help the situation, but it helps me for my own personal psychology. It is nice to come to a place where you can see that there are good people who also want to make peace.”

For Moshe Fass, who had recently entered his retirement, the effort was at best naive.

Japan's Foreign Ministry said it provided around 9.55 million yen in official development assistance to a nongovernmental organization affiliated with the Unification Church in 2018 to build a women's vocational training school in Senegal.

The decision was made because the ministry wanted "to contribute to the advancement of women in society" and "was not aware that the organization was affiliated with the church," according to Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi.

Hayashi, who made the revelation at a House of Representatives foreign affairs committee meeting Friday in response to questioning by the Japanese Communist Party's Keiji Kokuta, added that an investigation will be launched to determine if there were any other similar cases.

According to the ministry, it decided in 2015 to provide financial assistance to the project.

Friday's meeting also found that in 2018, the Japanese ambassador to Rwanda delivered a speech at a ceremony held at a vocational training school run by the Women's Federation for World Peace, an organization linked to the Unification Church.

A meeting last month revealed that the ministry had presented a Foreign Minister's Commendation to the director of a school operated by the women's organization in Mozambique.

But the commendation was rescinded after it was found that the director had engaged in missionary work for the church at the school.

"We will cast a wide net to confirm these cases with a stance of having no future relationship with the group," Hayashi said.

Scrutiny of the Unification Church, now formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, intensified following the killing of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July.

Abe's attacker, Tetsuya Yamagami, has said he held a grudge against the group after his mother's considerable donations to the church left his family in financial ruin. Yamagami also reportedly said he targeted Abe as he was aware that the former prime minister was linked to the Unification Church.

Holy candy was made holy by the infusion of holy wine. More on the ingredients in the holy wine:  https://howwelldoyouknowyourmoon.tumblr.com/post/41791408948/sperm-in-the-holy-wine-of-the-unification-church

Candy Blessing Strategy Alexa Ward October 27, 2004

Dear WFWP, USA Leaders,

I would like to share with you one strategy for fulfilling the direction for each family to give the Blessing to 1,000 people. When the direction came to Bless two million people, I realized that there were many ways to fulfill this direction. I thought deeply about several different strategies.

I realized that I wanted a plan that reflected my heart and nature. I felt the need to invest my heart in this effort as a condition for God to work. I wanted to reach people in a way that would move them.

I decided that it was important for each person to receive something in writing that conveyed the essential points of this Blessing campaign. I decided that I wanted each person to feel that they had received a gift through the Blessing. I decided it was important to be creative.

With all this in mind, I settled on a plan that involved preparing baskets of Blessed candy, with a business card stapled to each piece of candy. I chose wicker baskets and tin buckets ($3/$4 AC Moore or Michaels). I lined them with colorful tissue. I chose Brachs candy (Costco bag of assorted hard candy 500 for $7) as well as a large bag of wintergreen lifesavers. Each piece of candy is individually wrapped in a way that it can be stapled.

I purchased a box of business card sheets at Staples (75 sheets for $25). Each sheet has 10 business cards. Using a business card template in my computer, I prepared both sides. On one side I typed the True Love Pledge. On the other side, I prepared three sections. The top section contains one of the following two phrases: 1.) Bless the Family; Bless the Nation, or 2.) World Peace Blessing. The second section contains: The family is the cornerstone for securing and keeping lasting peace in the world. The third section reads: Sponsored by the Family Federation for World Peace. For more information, please contact: We made our own email address for this effort. I printed the cards in many different colors.

My daughter helped me make a sign to go on the handle of the baskets. It reads: Line 1: True Love Candies; Line 2: a little blessing for the whole family; Line 3: ENJOY !!! Each line was printed in bright colors. We folded the paper sign around the handle and stapled it above the handle. For the final touch we added some bright bows on the sides of the baskets.

For the final product, each basket holds 100 or 200 pieces of candy with attached business cards. There is a sign on the handle. Each basket is decorated with tissue paper and bows.

We decided to place these baskets in businesses where people spend some time at the counters. With this in mind we chose: 1.) Chinese and Japanese take out restaurants; 2.) Chinese Buffet; 3.) Drycleaners; 4.) Pizza takeout. Initially I made a list of five businesses. In each case our family has used the business and was known by the owner to varying degrees. We went out with the first five baskets and each business was happy to place them prominently on the counters.

In approaching the owner, I explained that I was part of an organization that was trying to help people turn as well as focus their attention on true love, marriage, and family as a way to strengthen America and build a peaceful world. I explained that the candy represented a blessing of true love. In each case they were surprised that I was not asking for a donation; and said that their customers would be pleased to have this treat. Three businesses asked me if I was going to return to refill the baskets.

We plan to check the baskets once or twice a week and refill as necessary. Each time we visit the businesses we can talk a little more about the Blessing and the campaign with the owner. This way we can fulfill the numbers and educate key individuals on a deeper level.

I am sending you, as two attachments, one sheet that contains the wording of the business cards, as well as one sheet that contains the wording of the signs. I hope this can be useful as you work with your family to find creative ways to fulfill this Blessing mandate.