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Fifty-one pastors from the United States, one from each state and Washington, D.C., are visiting Israel on a solidarity mission under the auspices of the Christians United For Israel organization.

“It is vital that as Americans we show solidarity with Israel, not just in the U.S., but here in the Jewish State,” David Brog, executive director of CUFI, said in a statement. “We will take what we heard in Jerusalem and what we saw in Sderot and Ashdod back to our communities, so that every one of our 1.8 million members might better understand the challenges that Israel faces and better make the case for Israel to our friends and neighbors.”

The pastors, who spent their first full day in Israel on Aug. 6, received a briefing from senior officials in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and visited the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem, where they saw an exhibition of rare ancient biblical texts.

The group also visited Sderot, which came under heavy rocket fire during the Gaza operation. — jta