The strong support for Israel from Evangelical Christians was again demonstrated today at the Fourth National Prayer Breakfast in Honor of Israel.
“During the bleakest days of the past decade we in Israel knew that we could count on those who would not be swayed by political fashion or by the lure of Arab money,” Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, told the some 1,000 persons attending the breakfast at the Shoreham Hotel.
While many Jews attended, the vast majority were Evangelical Christians, many of them also attending the annual convention of the National Religious Broadcasters.
Nentanyahu note many have expressed surprise at support of Evangelical Christians for Israel and have seen it as a new phenomenon. “For those who know the history of Christian involvement in Zionism there is nothing new about the steadfast support given to Israel by believing Christians all over the world,” he said.
Netanyahu said that in the 19th century, American and British Christian Zionists began urging a return of Jews to the land of Israel, which “paralleled and reinforced modern Jewish Zionists.” Noting that Lord Balfour, Lloyd George and President Woodrow Wilson were knowledgeable of the Bible, Netanyahu said “the impact of Christian Zionists on Western statesmen helped modern Jewish Zionists achieve the rebirth of Israel.”
He said that today, when Israel’s future must be assured, your support is as indispensable to us as the support of your predecessors, the Christian Zionists of a century ago, was to the founders of Zionism.
U.S., ISRAEL SHARE BIBLICAL HERITAGE
Rep. Jack Kemp (R. NY) pointed to the Biblical heritage shared by the U.S. and Israel, noting that the founding fathers of the U.S. were “profoundly influenced by the example and heritage of Israel.” He said that like Israel, the U.S. was also established by a “covenant” and was based on law derived not only from Britain, but also “the laws of Moses.”
Kemp said the U.S. was also founded for a purpose “under God” and he stressed that by this he did not mean any national religion was established. “Our founding fathers would have been astonished to hear that invoking God’s blessing or warning of God’s judgement somehow established a national religion.”
Kemp declared that “the sense of identification with Israel felt so strongly by America’s pioneers is felt by Christians in this room and throughout America for Israel’s pioneers and the modern state of Israel.”
Calling Israel “the only reliable ally we have as a barrier to Soviet penetration in the Persian Gulf,” Kemp said that one of President Reagan’s most important foreign policy achievements was the strategic alliance with Israel. “I hope in the next four years it will be strengthened even more through greater consultations, joint exercises, and security and economic assistance that recognizes Israel as a trusted friend and an independent and sovereign nation.”
STATEMENTS BY MINISTERS
The evangelical ministers who spoke stressed Israel’s fulfillment of Biblical prophecies. Hal Lindsey, a radio evangelicist and author, who believes in the literal interpretation of the Bible, said the rebirth of Israel was the greatest fulfillment of prophecy in 2,000 years and was the beginning of the Messianic age.
He said nations have fallen because they have treated Jews badly. He asserted that the only reason the U.S. has survived despite what he said were major foreign policy mistakes, is that it has given a “haven” to Jews and “stood for a free State of Israel.” Lindsey said that, according to the Bible, God is the only owner of the Holy Land and he has given that land to Israel.
Jimmy Swagert, a television evangelicist, also stressed that America’s future is bound up with Israel. “Our nation must puts its resources, its strength, its money, its power, its prestige behind that country,” he said.
Dr. Ben Armstrong, executive director of the National Religious Broadcasters, said that he supported Israel not only for Biblical reasons but also for humanitarian reasons. “If we remember the Holocaust … we will be forever in support of the free land of Israel,” he said.
‘A PROCLAMATION OF BLESSING’
The organizers of the Prayer Breakfast issued “A proclamation of Blessing” which declared “We, representatives of Bible-believing Christianity, gather 40 years after the Holocaust to affirm the importance of the State of Israel and to unite with the Jewish people against those who wickedly assail them and their beloved state.
“The relatives of those who died at the hands of the Nazis are threatened today by evil forces that would complete in word and deed the ghastly debacle that Hitler attempted. We deplore such actions, and pledge to defend the State of Israel which stands as a beacon in the mist of an oriental sea of despotism.”
The proclamation also affirms that, “We hereby shed the Christian complacency so evident during the Holocaust and combat anti-Bib lical, anti-humanitarian attitudes of those who would declare ‘Zionism is racism,’ label terrorists as ‘moderates,’ and deny the Jewish community their very peoplehood.”
MESSAGES FROM REAGAN AND PERES
In a message at the breakfast, President Reagan said, “The ties of friendship that bind America and Israel have never been stronger than they are today. Our people share common values and aspirations and a deep appreciation of faith as a source of strength, comfort and meaning.”
Israeli Premier Shimon Peres, in a videotaped message, said, “No other nation knew so many challenges, oppression, hatred and conflict, and yet on the other hand, no other people knew so many friends so much support and enjoyed so much hope inside and outside as we did.” He expressed the wish to ”bring together people who were yesterday enemies and have to be and will be tomorrow neighbors and friends.”
Messages were also read from Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Industry and Trade Minister Ariel Sharon By Reps. Mark Siljander (R. Mich.) and Mac Sweeney (R. Tex.). Siljander greeted the audience in Hebrew and after reading Shamir’s message recited the first line of the “Shema.”
The master of ceremonies was E.E. McAteer, president of the Religious Roundtable who founded the annual Prayer Breakfast. Jews offering prayers at the Breakfast were Rabbi Joshua Haberman of the Washington Hebrew Congregation; Rabbi Alex Pollack of Congregation Adas Israel; and Rabbi David Ben-Ami, president of the American Forum for Jewish Christian Cooperation. Samuel Greenberg, national commander of the Jewish War Veterans, led the audience in the pledge of allegiance.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
