Latest news with #ChristiansUnitedforIsrael
New York Times
09-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Palestinian Christians Remind Us: ‘We Are Also People'
The group in America that I'd say is most fervently urging President Trump to crush Palestinian hopes for a state is not the Jewish community but rather evangelical Christians. 'We have no greater friends than Christian supporters of Israel,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once told the conference of Christians United for Israel, which with 10 million members is twice the size of the much better known American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Evangelical leaders have been calling on the White House to 'reject all efforts' to constrain Israeli control over the West Bank, in the words of a group called American Christian Leaders for Israel. These evangelicals often cite God and the Bible as authorities for their position that Israel should annex Palestinian lands. I couldn't reach God for comment, but I suspect that the divine press office would have referred me to the Eighth Commandment, 'Thou shalt not steal.' Trump's ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former governor of Arkansas, has favored Israel's annexing the West Bank and has said, 'There is really no such thing as a Palestinian.' In the face of this American Christian enthusiasm for crushing Palestinians while saying it is God's will, I wondered what Palestinian Christians thought. So I visited Bethlehem and asked them. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Fox News
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Leading evangelicals in push to have President Trump recognize Israeli sovereignty over ‘biblical heartland'
TEL AVIV, Israel - Last week, an influential group of American Christians publicly reaffirmed the Jewish people's right to Judea and Samaria as the biblical heartland of Israel. The Judea and Samaria area is more commonly known as the West Bank. The declaration was unveiled at the annual National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Dallas by American Christian Leaders for Israel and was expected to be signed by 3,000 religious leaders before being delivered to President Donald Trump. The push to apply Israeli sovereignty to the area comes after Trump said last month that his administration would make an announcement on the matter in the coming weeks when asked about annexation. The Oslo Accords, forged under the Clinton administration, divided the West Bank into three regions: Area A, under full Palestinian jurisdiction; Area B, under Palestinian civil administration and Israeli security control; and Area C, under full Israeli authority. A 2020 Trump plan, dubbed Peace to Prosperity, envisioned Israel annexing parts of Judea and Samaria, but was shelved in favor of the Abraham Accords, which normalized Jerusalem's ties with four Arab countries. "The evangelicals gave Trump the presidency. He will support our position on the Bible and that's why he chose Mike Huckabee [as ambassador to Jerusalem], who supports Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria," Dr. Mike Evans, founder of Friends of Zion, which boasts just under 30 million members, told Fox News Digital. The declaration reaffirms "the Jewish people's inalienable right to the Biblical Heartland of Israel and reject all efforts—both from the United States and the international community—to pressure the Jewish people to relinquish their ancestral homeland in Judea and Samaria." Evans said evangelicals support Israel "because they believe in moral clarity, good versus evil, they are friends of Zion. They see Jews being killed because they're Jews, not because of land." Pastor John Hagee, the influential founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel, told Fox News Digital that Evangelicals "know the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will always keep His word to the Children of Israel. From beginning to end, the Bible is a Zionist document mandating that all believers stand with, and bless, Israel and her people. "For almost half a century, I have been preaching the message that Israel does not occupy the land, Israel owns the land, the title deed of which is recorded in the pages of the Bible. The land was endowed by God to the Jewish people for all time," added Hagee. Earlier this week, Fox News Digital reported that some Republican lawmakers led by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) urged the president to recognize Judea and Samaria as Israeli territory. Their letter to the president expressed support for Jerusalem applying sovereignty over the area, which the lawmakers said was "the heart of our shared Judeo-Christian heritage." Israel's Parliament Speaker Amir Ohana on Feb. 23 urged the government in Jerusalem to extend sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, saying full control over the region was the "one and only way" to achieve lasting peace. Another Likud lawmaker, Dan Illouz, told Fox News Digital that Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023 massacre "proved that any withdrawal, any concession, any illusion of coexistence with those who seek our destruction is not just naive—it is suicidal … we withdrew from Gaza, and in return we got Hamas and the massacre of our people. Judea and Samaria cannot become another terror state." "A push for sovereignty in Judea and Samaria would be the end of Israel," Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli lawmaker and an architect of the 1993 Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, told Fox News Digital. "If Israel were to become a minority of Jews dominating a majority of Palestinians, it would be neither Jewish nor democratic. I don't believe it could ever happen, but just waving this [idea] is bad enough," he said. "The right in Israel believes that Trump would support whatever they demand. But five years ago, he suggested there could be a two-state solution. As such, it is not as clear-cut as it seems," he added. Late last month, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to conduct a "massive" counter-terrorism operation in Judea and Samaria after three buses exploded near Tel Aviv, and bombs were found on two others in what is being investigated as a coordinated attack. "This brutality and forceful displacement of civilians in the West Bank… was never about self-defense, but rather a colonial expansion scheme and an ethnic cleansing campaign," Ahmad Fattouh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's dominant Fatah faction, told Fox News Digital. "Annexing the West Bank will set us back to 1948 and destroy any future stability or prospects for peace. Every rational voice understands too well that there is no way forward except the two-state solution; otherwise, it will lead to endless havoc," he added. Israel Ganz, head of the Yesha Council, the umbrella group representing Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, is working in conjunction with the government in Jerusalem to push for sovereignty. "We started a campaign to push for it, but we won't do it without the support of the U.S.," he told Fox News Digital. "Many in the Trump administration are very connected, they know the area, and they believe in our right to this place. They understand that if they want to stabilize the situation, we must have sovereignty in Judea and Samaria." "For Israel to be able to continue to survive and thrive along the coastal plain, which produces about 80% of the country's GDP, then it must keep control of the high grounds in Judea and Samaria," Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus (ret.), a former IDF international spokesperson and now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. "If any other entity, Palestinian or otherwise, holds that, it would be used as a way to threaten Israel's security; its core infrastructure, including Ben-Gurion Airport, and also its population– concentrated in a narrow strip between Haifa [in the north] and Ashdod [in the south]--approximately 15 kilometers wide," he said. Another element, Conricus explained, is that some 500,000 Israelis currently live in Judea and Samaria, and they need to be protected. "The trends of escalation in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem are highest now since Oct. 7. We see significant terrorist activity in almost all Palestinian cities and continued weakness of the P.A. in exercising control," he said. Ze'ev Orenstein, director of international affairs at the Jerusalem-based City of David Foundation, told Fox News Digital that the Jewish people's millenia-long connection to the Land of Israel bestows upon them an inherent right to Judea and Samaria. "The reality is that there is likely no other people on the planet today with a deeper–and longer–connection to any piece of land than the Jewish people with the Land of Israel, in general, and Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem, in particular; where the inhabitants continue to worship the very same G-d, speak the same language, practice the same faith, celebrate the same festivals, and walk upon the very same stones, as their ancestors did so many thousands of years ago," Orenstein added.
Los Angeles Times
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Why conservative American evangelicals are among Israel's strongest supporters
WASHINGTON — One of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's first meetings in the United States this week was not with American Jewish leaders but with evangelical ones. The conservative Christians met with Netanyahu on Monday at Blair House, a residence for visiting foreign officials near the White House. The gathering came ahead of the Israeli leader's meeting with President Trump on Tuesday that led to Trump's dramatic proposals about the future of Gaza. 'The fact that our meeting took place before his meetings with President Trump and U.S. elected officials is indicative of the strength of the historic friendship that exists between Israel and Christians in America,' said Pastor Jentezen Franklin, who leads a Georgia megachurch and has served as a Trump spiritual advisor. Among those in attendance were former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist pastor and Trump's pick to be the U.S. ambassador to Israel, and Tony Perkins, president of the socially conservative Family Research Council. Many of those in attendance were Christian Zionists, including Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel, an evangelical organization that claims 10 million members. 'The Prime Minister is here — as his country begins to conclude its longest war — to effectively reset the U.S.-Israel relationship after the damage done by four years of, at best, lukewarm support for the Jewish state,' Hagee told the Associated Press via email. Christian Zionism is an ideology among some evangelical Christians, particularly in the United States, that interprets the Bible as promising the land of Israel eternally to the Jews and asserting that God would bless Israel's supporters. Some proponents also interpret the Bible as predicting many Jews' eventual conversion to Christianity. The meeting was a reminder that evangelical Christian Zionists are among Israel's strongest supporters in the U.S. — and they wield considerable influence as Trump begins his second term. They have also backed controversial sentiments expressed by Republicans and Trump this week over the territories of Gaza and the West Bank. Trump, during a shocking news conference with Netanyahu on Tuesday, suggested that Palestinians from the Gaza Strip could be removed and resettled elsewhere, with the U.S. taking over the war-torn region. The president, echoing his real estate developer past, said he envisions a Gaza that could be 'the Riviera of the Middle East.' 'This could be something that could be so valuable. This could be so magnificent,' Trump said, adding that the people who live there would be able to live in peace. Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and a key White House advisor during his first term, has also praised the 'very valuable' potential of Gaza's 'waterfront property.' 'I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up,' Kushner said a year ago. The national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Nihad Awad, assailed Trump's proposal. 'Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people, not the United States, and President Trump's call to displace Palestinians from their land either temporarily or permanently is an absolute nonstarter,' Awad said in a statement. 'If President Trump wants to make history with some sort of grand peace deal, he must start by accepting that the way to make permanent peace is to end the Israeli occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people.' Trump's proposals underscore 'the colonial nature of the Palestinian struggle,' said Salam Al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. 'Any forced relocation of the Palestinian population will only escalate violence and resistance, leading to more instability in the region,' he said. 'Anti-American sentiment will spike even further than what we have witnessed over the last year.' Among U.S. Jewish leaders there were mixed views. The president of an umbrella group representing relatively progressive congregations, Rabbi Rick Jacobs of the Union for Reform Judaism, was skeptical. 'While this moment indeed requires bold thinking to bring safety and autonomy to Israel and the Palestinians, what we heard yesterday will not build that future; it will undermine it,' Jacobs said. 'A peaceful Palestinian state alongside a secure Jewish state of Israel has to be reached through a negotiated agreement between the two parties,' he added. 'Forcibly removing either populace will only perpetuate the conflict.' The executive vice president of a more conservative group, Rabbi Moshe Hauer of the Orthodox Union, said Trump's pronouncements about Gaza 'were certainly a shock' and might be viewed in some quarters as insane. Yet he described the policies affecting Gaza for the last two decades as 'utter insanity,″ with Hamas holding control and then invading Israel in 2023. 'There may be in this new proposal something to digest and think about,' he said. 'We have gotten into a very unproductive place, an insanity that keeps repeating itself. Let's take a step back, and think, 'What if this really works, and bodes well for the future of everybody.'' Trump's proposals were praised by Sam Markstein, communications director for the Republican Jewish Coalition. 'President Trump is a disruptor, and after decades of failed policies, we are encouraged that the president is pursuing a bold, new vision for the region. ... As the most pro-Israel president in U.S. history, we are confident in President Trump's ability to bring security, peace and prosperity to this troubled region.' One longtime goal of Christian Zionists, and their allies, got a boost this last week when Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) reintroduced legislation that would require all official U.S. documents and materials to use the term 'Judea and Samaria' instead of the 'West Bank.' The legislation was introduced in the House by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) 'The Jewish people's legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria goes back thousands of years,' Cotton said. 'The U.S. should stop using the politically charged term West Bank to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel.' Israel's government refers to the West Bank by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria, and considers it the historical heartland of the Jewish people. Palestinians and the U.S. government refer to the occupied territory as the West Bank. Israel captured the West Bank in 1967 along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem — territory the Palestinians seek for a future state. The U.S., along with most of the international community, has traditionally supported the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines. American Christian Zionists often use the biblical terms Judea and Samaria as a signal of their support for Israel and its annexation of the West Bank. Speakers at the annual conference of Christians United for Israel frequently invoke the biblical language as an applause line. Huckabee has repeated that the West Bank belongs to Israel, and recently said 'the title deed was given by God to Abraham and to his heirs.' Ironically, Judea and Samaria were once part of an ancient two-state scenario. For at least 200 years of Israel's royal history, Judea and Samaria represented separate kingdoms: Judea continued the dynasty of King Solomon while Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom, called Israel. Stanley writes for the Associated Press. AP journalist Mariam Fam contributed from Egypt. Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with the Conversation, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The Guardian
07-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Trump's task force order is latest in efforts to boost Christian nationalism
Donald Trump is reigniting his alliance with the Christian right, unveiling a flurry of actions that include an aggressive executive order establishing a dedicated task force to combat what he claims is 'anti-Christian bias' across federal agencies. Addressing supporters at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Trump announced a far-reaching directive that empowers Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, to lead an effort to 'fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism' in government institutions. 'You've never had that before,' Trump said. 'If we don't have religious liberty, then we don't have a free country.' The move represents a direct appeal to energize his Christian conservative base, and follows efforts including pardoning anti-abortion activists such as Paulette Harlow, who was convicted of blocking access to an abortion clinic – which his administration framed as persecution of Christian believers. Trump also signed orders to ban the legal recognition of transgender people by the US government. The president's push for a religious conservative alliance also bridged domestic and international spheres this week, with his new task force announcement paralleling Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Washington visit. At Blair House on Monday, Netanyahu met with key evangelical leaders, including Christians United for Israel founder and pastor John Hagee and former governor Mike Huckabee – Trump's ambassador-designate to Israel – drawing together Christian Zionists who form a critical geopolitical support network. These evangelical powerbrokers, who champion hardline annexation policies such as Trump's surprise announcement to empty out and take ownership of Gaza, and reject traditional diplomatic language around the occupied Palestinian territories, represent a formidable political bloc through groups such as Christians United for Israel, which claims over 10 million members. The recent executive order announcement takes direct aim at federal agencies including the FBI and IRS, which Trump accused of systematically targeting Christian believers. It includes the creation of a new White House faith office led by Trump's longtime spiritual adviser, televangelist Paula White. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Some critics were quick to condemn the initiative as a thinly veiled attempt to privilege evangelical Christianity over other religious minorities. 'If Trump really cared about religious freedom and ending religious persecution, he'd be addressing antisemitism in his inner circle, anti-Muslim bigotry, hate crimes against people of color and other religious minorities,' the president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Rachel Laser, said in a statement. 'This task force is not a response to Christian persecution; it's an attempt to make America into an ultra-conservative Christian Nationalist nation.'
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why conservative American evangelicals are among Israel's strongest supporters
WASHINGTON (AP) — One of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's first meetings in the United States this week was not with American Jewish leaders but with evangelical ones. The conservative Christians met with Netanyahu on Monday at Blair House, which is near the White House. The gathering came ahead of the Israeli leader's meeting with President Donald Trump on Tuesday, which led to Trump's dramatic proposals about the future of Gaza. 'The fact that our meeting took place before his meetings with President Trump and U.S. elected officials is indicative of the strength of the historic friendship that exists between Israel and Christians in America,' said Pastor Jentezen Franklin, who leads a Georgia megachurch and has served as a Trump spiritual adviser. Among those in attendance were former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist pastor and Trump's pick to be the U.S. ambassador to Israel, and Tony Perkins, president of the socially conservative Family Research Council. Who are Christian Zionists? Many of those in attendance were Christian Zionists, including Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel, an evangelical organization that claims 10 million members. 'The Prime Minister is here – as his country begins to conclude its longest war — to effectively reset the U.S.-Israel relationship after the damage done by four years of, at best, lukewarm support for the Jewish state,' Hagee told The Associated Press via email. Christian Zionism is an ideology among some evangelical Christians, particularly in the United States, that interprets the Bible as promising the land of Israel eternally to the Jews and asserting that God would bless Israel's supporters. Some proponents also interpret the Bible as predicting many Jews' eventual conversion to Christianity. The meeting was a reminder that evangelical Christian Zionists are among Israel's strongest supporters in the U.S. – and they wield considerable influence as Trump begins his second term. They have also backed controversial sentiments expressed by Republicans and Trump this week over the territories of Gaza and the West Bank. Trump suggests the U.S. could take over Gaza Trump, during a shocking news conference with Netanyahu on Tuesday, suggested that Palestinians from the Gaza Strip could be removed and resettled elsewhere, with the U.S. taking over the war-torn region. The president, echoing his real estate developer past, said he envisions a Gaza that could be 'the Riviera of the Middle East.' 'This could be something that could be so valuable. This could be so magnificent,' Trump said, adding that the people that live there would be able to live in peace. Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and a key White House adviser during his first term, has also praised the 'very valuable' potential of Gaza's 'waterfront property.' 'I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up,' Kushner said a year ago. Muslim and Jewish leaders react The national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Nihad Awad, assailed Trump's proposal. 'Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people, not the United States, and President Trump's call to displace Palestinians from their land either temporarily or permanently is an absolute non-starter,' Awad said in a statement. 'If President Trump wants to make history with some sort of grand peace deal, he must start by accepting that the way to make permanent peace is to end the Israeli occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people.' Trump's proposals underscore 'the colonial nature of the Palestinian struggle,' said Salam Al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. 'Any forced relocation of the Palestinian population will only escalate violence and resistance, leading to more instability in the region,' he said. 'Anti-American sentiment will spike even further than what we have witnessed over the last year.' Among U.S. Jewish leaders there were mixed views. The president of an umbrella group representing relatively progressive congregations, Rabbi Rick Jacobs of the Union for Reform Judaism, was skeptical. 'While this moment indeed requires bold thinking to bring safety and autonomy to Israel and the Palestinians, what we heard yesterday will not build that future; it will undermine it,' Jacobs said. 'A peaceful Palestinian state alongside a secure Jewish state of Israel has to be reached through a negotiated agreement between the two parties,' he added. 'Forcibly removing either populace will only perpetuate the conflict.' The executive vice president of a more conservative group, Rabbi Moshe Hauer of the Orthodox Union, said Trump's pronouncements about Gaza 'were certainly a shock' and might be viewed in some quarters as insane. Yet he described the policies affecting Gaza for the past two decades as 'utter insanity,″ with Hamas holding control and then invading Israel in 2023. 'There may be in this new proposal something to digest and think about,' he said. 'We have gotten into a very unproductive place, an insanity that keeps repeating itself. Let's take a step back, and think, 'What if this really works, and bodes well for the future of everybody.'' Trump's proposals were praised by Sam Markstein, communications director for the Republican Jewish Coalition. 'President Trump is a disruptor, and after decades of failed policies, we are encouraged that the president is pursuing a bold, new vision for the region. ... As the most pro-Israel president in U.S. history, we are confident in President Trump's ability to bring security, peace, and prosperity to this troubled region.' Is it the West Bank? Or Judea and Samaria? One longtime goal of Christian Zionists, and their allies, got a boost this past week when Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) reintroduced legislation that would require all official U.S. documents and materials to use the term 'Judea and Samaria' instead of the 'West Bank.' The legislation was introduced in the House by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-New York). 'The Jewish people's legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria goes back thousands of years,' Cotton said. 'The U.S. should stop using the politically charged term West Bank to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel.' Israel's government refers to the West Bank by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria, and considers it the historical heartland of the Jewish people. Palestinians and the U.S. government refer to the occupied territory as the West Bank. Israel captured the West Bank in 1967 along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — territory the Palestinians seek for a future state. The U.S., along with most of the international community, has traditionally supported the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines. American Christian Zionists often use the biblical terms Judea and Samaria as a signal of their support for Israel and its annexation of the West Bank. Speakers at the annual conference of Christians United for Israel frequently invoke the biblical language as an applause line. Huckabee has repeated that the West Bank belongs to Israel, and recently said 'the title deed was given by God to Abraham and to his heirs.' Ironically, Judea and Samaria were once part of an ancient two-state scenario. For at least two hundred years of Israel's royal history, Judea and Samaria represented separate kingdoms: Judea continued the dynasty of King Solomon while Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom, called Israel. ___ AP journalist Mariam Fam contributed from Egypt. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
