The evangelical delegation meets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Credit: GPO, State of Israel.

 

“The Israeli people need to know that there are people in America willing to stand up for the same principles that they are fighting for here in Israel,” said Fox News contributor Sara Carter.

DAVID ISAAC

(March 14, 2024 / JNS)

A delegation of leading American faith leaders visited the Jewish state this week to stand with Israel’s leadership against White House calls for a Palestinian state.

“What our administration is doing in pressuring Israel into a unilateral two-state solution…is absolutely outrageous,” Mario Bramnick, head of the Latino Coalition For Israel and leader of the delegation, told JNS.

A Palestinian state would be a “reward for genocide,” he said.

The solidarity mission was joined by by Southern Baptist pastor and U.S. politician Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, and Ellie Cohanim, who served as deputy special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism during the Trump administration.

The group met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and separately with former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who would likely occupy a key diplomatic position if his former boss Donald Trump returns to office. The faith leaders also received a security briefing and toured key strategic areas, including the Gaza envelope, Israel’s north and Judea and Samaria.

“Israel needs to make its own decisions without external pressures, and we expressed that to the prime minister, who is representing the will of the people as evidenced by the Knesset resolution opposing any imposition of a unilateral two-state solution at this stage of the game,” Bramnick told JNS.

Bramnick referred to the 99-11 Knesset vote to back the Israeli government’s decision to reject any unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Credit: Courtesy.

Israel’s government felt compelled to hold the vote due to what it deemed credible reports that the Biden administration planned a major push for a Palestinian state despite Israeli opposition.

Bramnick expressed his concern about America’s future if it pulls support for Israel.

“I am more worried about the United States right now. We are in an existential threat spiritually [regarding] the continuation of the assistance of the United States [to Israel] and the blessing and favor of God upon our nation,” he said.

There has been growing tension between the United States and Israel as the White House has heightened its criticism regarding the number of civilian casualties in Gaza and the need for more humanitarian aid to the Strip.

It has also demanded strictures be placed on any Israel Defense Forces operation in Rafah, Hamas’s last stronghold in the Gaza Strip.

The tension reached a peak this week with a Politico report suggesting that the White House is considering conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel on whether Israel enters Rafah, though the administration quickly refuted the report.

However, President Joe Biden told MSNBC over the weekend that Netanyahu “is hurting Israel more than he is helping.”

Netanyahu hit back, telling German newspaper BILD on Sunday that his policies are supported by the majority of Israelis and they are in Israel’s interests.

“[Israelis] also support my position that says that we should resoundingly reject the attempt to ram down our throats a Palestinian state,” Netanyahu said.

Delegation member Sara Carter, an investigative journalist and Fox News contributor, told JNS: “I’m here with this solidarity mission because Israel and the United States are fighting a common enemy. The enemy that wants to destroy not just Israel, but the Western world.”

“Our administration right now in Washington, D.C., has failed miserably the American people and our allies. I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu as well as the Israeli people need to know that there are people in America that are willing to stand up for the same principles that they are fighting for here in Israel,” she said.

Donna Jollay, Christian relations director of Israel365, an Orthodox Jewish group that builds bridges between Jews and Christians, accompanied the delegation.

“There was an incredible groundswell of support in the beginning, but that was several months ago now and did not last very long,” she said, noting that Israel feels abandoned by its friends.

“So we are working with leaders in Israel to develop plans, strategies and opportunities to help the lovers of Israel to stand with her in this dire hour,” she added.

“The absolute best thing that people can do is to come to Israel and that is another crucial element of this delegation. We are witnesses that Israel is miraculously safe even while she is in the fight for her life and it means so much to [Israelis] for us to be here,” she added.

https://www.jns.org/solidarity-mission-palestinian-state-rewards-genocide/