WASHINGTON — Five thousand Christians waved Israeli flags and demonstrated their support for the Jewish state at the Christian Solidarity with Israel rally last Friday at the downtown convention center.
Christians attending the rally, part of the Christian Coalition’s 2002 Road to Victory conference, say that their love of Israel is derived from belief in God’s biblical admonition to bless Israel, as well as the Jews’ status as God’s chosen people.
Some in the Jewish community, and beyond, have said that Jews should be wary of evangelical support, arguing that it is grounded in the Christian belief that Jews must return to Israel before the second coming of Jesus can occur. That would be followed by all the Jewish people either being killed or converting to Christianity.
Attendance at the Christian rally was considerably lower than organizers had predicted, and was blamed on both the rainy weather — the rally was originally scheduled to be held on the Ellipse — and roadblocks on Interstate 95 set up to catch the Washington-area sniper.
But those in attendance were spirited, singing along with songs like “Hatikvah,” led by Christian musician Ted Pearce.
While speakers at last April’s solidarity rally with Israel, organized by Jewish groups, focused primarily on fighting terrorism and Israel’s right to defend itself, the evangelical Christian and conservative political leaders who spoke at the rally often talked about the Jewish people’s biblical connection to the Land of Israel and God’s belief that the Jewish people belong there. Many rejected the idea of a Palestinian state.
Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson said that other than the Jewish community, evangelicals “make up the strongest support for Israel” in the United States. He also said “Palestine has been occupied by Yasser Arafat and his thugs” and that “we cannot turn it over to them.”
Referring to an undivided Jerusalem, he said, “I don’t care if it offends the Arabs or not, we must do what’s right.”
House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) noted that when he visited the Jewish state, “I didn’t see any occupied territory — what I saw was Israel.”
Christians at the rally frequently said their love of Israel was based on Genesis 12:3, which states that God will “bless those who bless [the nation of Israel], and the one who curses you I will curse,” and that Christianity would not have developed without the prior existence of Judaism.
Some were fervent in their support for Israel. Sandy Buchanan of Williamsburg, Va., wearing a tallit and a Star of David pendant, said she has always felt “Jewish in my heart.” She and her friend, Amy Vanover, strongly rejected second coming prophecy as the reason for their support of Israel, instead noting the Jewish roots of Christianity as one reason for their love of Judaism.
The views of Christians interviewed at the rally match somewhat with the results of a poll released last week by Stand for Israel, an organization mobilizing Christian support for Israel. The poll found that 24 percent of evangelicals support Israel because it is a democracy that values self-government and freedom, and an additional 19 percent support the Jewish state because it is an ally in the war against terrorism.
Thirty-five percent said their support results from Israel being the place prophesied for the second coming of Jesus.
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and co-chair of Stand for Israel with former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, said the poll demonstrates that most, if not all, Jewish fears about allying with evangelicals on the issue of Israel are “bogus.”
Eckstein said the $2 million his organization raised last year from Christians for Jews in the former Soviet Union and Argentina should prove that Christians truly care about the Jewish people and Israel, and not just about fulfilling biblical prophecies of the second coming.
He said many recent media stories have worked to undermine what he sees as a growing Jewish-evangelical alliance on Israel.
Jews who attended the Christian rally said they were appreciative of Christian support for Israel.
Benny Elon, a Moledet Party Knesset member who spoke at the rally, said it was important not to take Christian support “for granted.”
“Their friendship is a real friendship,” he said. “We have to know how to be friends.”
Elon told the crowd that there can be “no Palestinian state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean.”
Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert also spoke, as did three Israeli students who were in the D.C. area as part of the Israel at Heart program. One of the students, Dafna Kiro, said the outpouring of Christian support warmed her heart.
“We need all the help we can get,” said Rabbi Herzel Kranz of the Silver Spring Jewish Center, who lamented that Christians are often more strongly supportive of Israel than some Jews.