The ceremony was attended by Dr. Mike Evans, founder of the Friends of Zion Heritage Center.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFFOZ founder Dr. Mike Evans awards former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee with the Friends of Zion award this week in Jerusalem(photo credit: YOSSI ZAMIR)
Friends of Zion Museum honored former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee with the “FOZ Defender Award” for his unwavering support of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.Huckabee was the 44th Governor of Arkansas, was a presidential candidate in both 2008 and 2016, and hosts the popular show Huckabee on Trinity Broadcasting Network. Huckabee was in Israel this past week with Dr. Joe Frager and the National Council of Young Israel.The ceremony was attended by Dr. Mike Evans, founder of the Friends of Zion Heritage Center. Evans, a New York Times bestselling author, commentator and head of several international nonprofit organizations in the US and the Netherlands, has been advocating for the State of Israel for over 40 years.Since opening in 2015, the FOZ Museum works to strengthen Israel’s relations with heads of state, ambassadors and others representing the largest Christian nations in the world, including the United States, Brazil, Guatemala, El Salvador, South Korea, the European Union and many more.After his visit, Huckabee thanked Evans and the Friends of Zion Museum saying “I just want to say thanks to Dr. Evans and thanks to the vision of the Friends of Zion Museum and the Friends of Zion outreach to the world. I think he is doing more than anyone I know to bridge the great, and sometimes unnecessary, gap between the Jewish community and the Christian community and to make us recognize that we need each other, we value each other and we stand together for the common good for bringing a sense of peace and understanding and gratitude for the traditions that we each have.”Huckabee also praised President Donald Trump and his strong support of the US-Israel relationship, explaining “we have had Democratic and Republican Presidents who have been strong friends of Israel, but we have never had such a President as today who not only said the things of friendship, but who actually did them, signed his name to them, and accomplished them.”In December 2017, the FOZ Museum bestowed unto Trump the “Friends of Zion Award” for his unwavering support and defense of Israel. Dr. Evans presented Trump with the Friends of Zion Award in the Oval Office in an event attended by Vice President Mike Pence, Senior Advisors Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump as well as faith leaders representing over 150 million Christians globally.Previous recipients of this prestigious award were Friedman, former US president George W. Bush, President Jimmy Morales of Guatemala, former president Rosen Plevneliev of Bulgaria, Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt, and most recently, Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson.The Friends of Zion Museum recently surpassed 62 million members, making it one of the largest pro-Israel sites in the world. The museum is a $100 million project that will include an educational center, think tank, communications center, and online university.FOZ is currently developing an Ambassador Institute which would include the first Christian Zionist think tank that would be in cooperation with top Christian think tanks from around the world. In joint effort, they plan to build a road map for decision-makers and enlighten the epicenters of politics, economics and media for hundreds of millions.
