You literally said "What gives us the right to say we know, and Netanyahu doesn't, that he couldn't possibly descend from Judah or Jacob in any line, or in fact that he denies Jesus whom he speaks highly of?"
Anyone who says Jesus was only a good man or only a wise teacher or only a prophet is denying the Messiah.
Sometimes based on his hints I wonder whether (conspiracy theory) Netanyahu has some bridge idea about Jesus that says more than "only a good man" but that can't be expressed publicly for obvious reasons. But whether or not, my point is that he didn't say "only". It's possible he's an apostate, it's also possible that he thinks he believes in Jesus and is so afraid to speak that his silence is as grave a sin as idolatry.
Because I believe the church should be giving Jews our good news about the crosswork and resurrection of Jesus the Jewish Messiah, I like to give credit to people who are diplomatic enough to say "a good man" and to remain tactically ambiguous about saying "only". There are scoffers who say "only a good man" because they believe it solves the dilemma, and as you and Lewis and McDowell know it only makes it worse. Then there are those who know how to embrace the historical facts without speaking offensively against Christianity either.
Now there are plenty of pages here about how he's only doing it to get Christian billions; the motive is present. But that same motive is what protects Jewish evangelism and that is being used by God for good reasons. Perhaps we should say that via one interpretation of the Kol Nidre nothing he says can be trusted and it's all as bad as Muslim taqiyya, but then the question becomes how the whole of his life indicates his view of the real Creator God who has come in Christ. Since there are plenty of opinions about his actions here already I need not add my own views or judge his silence.
You literally said "What gives us the right to say we know, and Netanyahu doesn't, that he couldn't possibly descend from Judah or Jacob in any line, or in fact that he denies Jesus whom he speaks highly of?"
Anyone who says Jesus was only a good man or only a wise teacher or only a prophet is denying the Messiah.
Sometimes based on his hints I wonder whether (conspiracy theory) Netanyahu has some bridge idea about Jesus that says more than "only a good man" but that can't be expressed publicly for obvious reasons. But whether or not, my point is that he didn't say "only". It's possible he's an apostate, it's also possible that he thinks he believes in Jesus and is so afraid to speak that his silence is as grave a sin as idolatry.
Because I believe the church should be giving Jews our good news about the crosswork and resurrection of Jesus the Jewish Messiah, I like to give credit to people who are diplomatic enough to say "a good man" and to remain tactically ambiguous about saying "only". There are scoffers who say "only a good man" because they believe it solves the dilemma, and as you and Lewis and McDowell know it only makes it worse. Then there are those who know how to embrace the historical facts without speaking offensively against Christianity either.
Now there are plenty of pages here about how he's only doing it to get Christian billions; the motive is present. But that same motive is what protects Jewish evangelism and that is being used by God for good reasons. Perhaps we should say that via one interpretation of the Kol Nidre nothing he says can be trusted and it's all as bad as Muslim taqiyya, but then the question becomes how the whole of his life indicates his view of the real Creator God who has come in Christ. Since there are plenty of opinions about his actions here already I need not add my own views or judge his silence.