NEWS STORY: Day of Prayer for Israel _ More Jews Welcome Evangelical Support

c. 2003 Religion News Service (UNDATED) As Israel’s security problems have mounted, many American Jewish leaders have strengthened their ties to evangelical Christians. On Sunday (Oct. 26), thousands of Christians observed the second annual Day of Prayer and Solidarity with Israel, an event overseen by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and involving evangelical […]

c. 2003 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) As Israel’s security problems have mounted, many American Jewish leaders have strengthened their ties to evangelical Christians.

On Sunday (Oct. 26), thousands of Christians observed the second annual Day of Prayer and Solidarity with Israel, an event overseen by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and involving evangelical churches from the Southern Baptist Convention, Calvary Ministries Inc. International and the International Church of the Four Square Gospel.


Though conservative Christian groups have supported Israel, their stances on issues including school prayer, abortion and gay rights have long alienated many American Jews.

But after Sept. 11, 2001, and an increase in terrorist attacks in Israel, many Jewish leaders have more openly embraced evangelical support for Israel, said Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder of the Chicago-based International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

“In the last two years, push has come to shove, and the Jewish community has come to realize who are its true friends,” Eckstein said. “It’s changed because of … the realization in the Jewish community that the primary battle and almost a litmus test of your friendship is: Are you going to fight terrorism and are you going to stand with Israel?”

Liberal Jewish leaders have criticized the alliance on multiple grounds. Some question the ultimate theological motive toward the Jews. They note that under Christian “end-times” philosophy, which is based on the New Testament’s Book of Revelation, Jewish inhabitancy of Israel is viewed as a necessary precursor to the return of the Christian Messiah, an event that would mean Jews either convert or die.

Others bristle that the alliance has come to include conservatives such as the Revs. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, accused by Jews in the past of being anti-Semitic, and Ralph Reed, the former executive director of the Christian Coalition, which supports political positions opposed by most mainstream Jews.

Still, in the last 11/2 years, the Zionist Organization of America gave Robertson a State of Israel Friendship Award, the Israeli Embassy hosted a prayer breakfast for prominent Christians including Falwell, and the Anti-Defamation League published newspaper ads with an April 2002 opinion piece by Reed on Christian support for Israel.

Reed was an organizer of Sunday’s Day of Prayer and Solidarity with Israel.

In a statement issued last week, he said, “Given the commitment of … American Christians to the state of Israel and her precarious position during the current outbreak of terrorism, I look forward to a groundswell of support for Israel in the Christian community.”


In the opinion piece written last year, Reed included several reasons Christians should support Israel: for the Middle Eastern country’s democratic values, for its location as the cradle of Judaism and Christianity, and for humanitarian reasons stemming from the Holocaust.

Rabbi Steven Bayar of B’Nai Israel in Millburn, N.J., doesn’t have any problems with the evangelical support for Israel, even taking the “end-times” philosophy into account.

“When the End of Days come, we should worry about it. Until then, I think our needs are more immediate, and I don’t mean that in a sacrilegious way,” he said. “If their theology leads them to support Israel, that’s wonderful.”

On the other side, Rabbi Mark Cooper of Congregation Oheb Shalom in South Orange, N.J., said that while he is grateful for the support, Christian views on how the Messiah’s arrival would affect Jews can be discomfiting.

“Fundamentalist Christian support of Israel, taken to its logical conclusion, is a statement that the Jewish people must cease to exist and accept Christ as their savior,” he said. “In one way, Israel and those who love Israel are grateful to have Christian support. On the other hand, to understand it fully means to understand that essentially it’s rooting for our demise.”

The Rev. Juan Galloway, an evangelical preacher in the Elizabeth, N.J., area, said although he believes in the Book of Revelation, he does not believe Christian support for Israel will hasten the coming of the Messiah.


“We believe the Jews were God’s chosen people as stated in the Old Testament,” he said. “We believe the land of Israel was given to the Jewish people, so we support their ownership and claim to the same land.”

Still, not all Jews are comfortable with the alliance.

“I think the Christian right is using Jews toward their own ends, to further build their political base in the country,” Rutgers University sociology professor Arlene Stein said. “It’s very helpful to them to have Jewish support, so they can say, `Look, it’s not so we’re trying to build a Christian power. We are ecumenical.”’

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