Bennett under attack by Evangelical leader for helping oust Netanyahu
Rev. Johnnie Moore: "It is unwise for American Evangelicals to meddle in internal, Israeli politics"
By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMANMike Evans, founder of the Friends of Zion Heritage Center in Jerusalem.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Israel’s pending power change has split the US Evangelical Christian community, with one of its top leaders launching a scathing attack on Yamina Party head Naftali Bennett, although others believe that the community’s support goes beyond Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Netanyahu’s 12-year reign as prime minister is expected to come to an end this month after Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid announced that he and Bennett had managed to gather enough lawmakers, including the Arab Islamic party Ra’am, to be able to win a Knesset confidence vote.In a letter he said he sent to Bennett and Lapid and that has been widely circulated on social media and pro-Israel websites since Thursday, Evangelical leader Mike Evans, the founder of the Friends of Zion Heritage Center in Jerusalem and one of the Jerusalem Prayer Team, lashed out at Bennett for not sticking with Netanyahu and helping him form a coalition.“Don’t ever call yourself a defender of Zion. You’re not,” Evans wrote. “You betrayed the very principles that a generation gave their blood for and died for. You want to be in bed with the Muslim Brotherhood and leftists. God have mercy on your soul. You’re a pathetic, bitter little man so obsessed on murdering Netanyahu that you’re willing to damage the State of Israel for your worthless cause.”He said that he will “fight [Bennett] every step of the way. You have lost the support of Evangelicals 100 percent… We gave you four years of miracles under Donald Trump and this is how you show your appreciation sh***ing on our face. How dare you!”On Tuesday, Evans is planning to host an event in the Knet to discuss the “actions required for the development and preservation of the important alliance between the State of Israel and the Evangelicals.”The event is being sponsored by Dror Balikud, a group of Likud lay people that describe themselves as “loyal to the people of Israel and the Land of Israel.”“I am on a mission to bring Bibi back, and I believe I am going to succeed,” Evans told The Jerusalem Post.But several influential American Evangelicals who do not side with Evans told the Post that he is not as influential in the US as he likes to portray. They also said they do not believe that Evans' statements reflect the thoughts of the majority of Christians.“Mike Evans does not speak for me,” Trey Graham, senior pastor of First Melissa in Texas, told the Post.
Representatives of most of America’s 60 million Evangelicals have not yet made public statements or speak on record about the new government, as they are waiting until it is sworn in.But Rev. Johnnie Moore, president of the Congress of Christian Leaders and who helped organize the Trump campaign’s Evangelical advisory board in 2016, told the Post that while it is true that Evangelicals have a special relationship with Netanyahu, “they will have a good relationship with whatever government exists in Israel going forward.”He added that while the Christian community was strengthened by the work of the prime minister, its relationship with the Jewish state now transcends the nuts and bolts of politics in Israel or the US. Rather, he explained, the “Bible points our eyes” in the direction of Jerusalem.“It is unwise for American Evangelicals to meddle in internal, Israeli politics beyond praising the power of Israel’s democracy – and if Evangelicals do it anyhow, then they should be circumspect and respectful,” Moore stressed.“Even though most Evangelical leaders have enjoyed a tremendous friendship with Netanyahu which will continue, their friendship with Israel transcends the machinations of Israel’s politics and its political parties. Evangelicals will stand with Israel whoever is the prime minister, always,” he said.“We look forward to a close relationship with all future Israeli governments. As soon as this all settles, I’ll, for instance, be on a plane to Israel,” he continued. “Until then, I am watching and praying.”
