Saudi Arabia and Israel will sign a normalization agreement if Donald Trump is re-elected to the White House, according to one of the former president’s faith advisors, Pastor Robert Jeffress.“I was in the East Room of the White House when President Trump and Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu introduced the Abraham Accords,” said the Baptist leader, the senior pastor of the 16,000-member First Baptist Church in Dallas, and a Fox News contributor.
“It was amazing to see people from all nations standing up and applauding the president for what he had done,” recalled Jeffress, who also served as an informal advisor to the previous president on faith-based issues and was one of the speakers at the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem in 2018.“I thought only Donald J. Trump could have pulled this off. Of course, if he is re-elected, you will see similar arrangements.“Trump is a transactional resident,” Jeffress continued. “He aims to get things done, which made him a successful president.”
What is Jeffress' relationship with Israel?
Jeffress was in Israel with 500 viewers of his “Pathway to Victory” Bible TV program. The show reaches around three million people every week. The tour was built around his receiving the Friends of Zion Award on Thursday in Jerusalem.The award was commissioned by the late President Shimon Peres, who also served as international chairman of Friends of Zion.Jeffress, who has supported Trump since 2015, told The Jerusalem Post that he was “the most pro-Israel, pro-life, pro-religious liberty president in the history of the United States. And he has done more for Israel than any other president.”The pastor expressed confidence that the former president would be the Republican nominee and “be elevated” as the 47th president on January 20, 2025.The Republican primaries are in February 2024.In all Real Clear Politics polls, Trump is winning significantly. The most recent poll, taken on May 3 by Vanderbilt University and evaluating the 2024 Tennessee Republican Presidential Primary, showed Trump with a 34-point lead over his closest contender, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The last YouGov poll, taken the day before, showed Trump having a 36-point lead in the general primary.Since leaving office, Trump has drawn criticism for complaining that American Jews don’t appreciate his efforts for Israel. He also came under fire for hosting white supremacist Nick Fuentes and open antisemite rapper Kanye West at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.Jeffress did not believe these challenges would stop Trump from supporting the Jewish state.“He is perplexed as to why the American Jewish community seems not to care as much about Israel as perhaps they should,” Jeffress said. “I don’t think that will keep him from doing the right thing. President Trump understands that to be on the right side of Israel is to be on the right side of history – and I might add the right side of God.”He said that Israel is experiencing existential threats from various sources, and “I think America needs a president who is ready to defend Israel if it should have to deal with the Iranian threat or any other threat to their security.”Jeffress has been called out in the past for making negative comments about people of other faiths.“Not only do religions like Mormonism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism – not only do they lead people away from God, they lead people to an eternity of separation from God in hell,” he said during a 2010 lecture, according to Mother Jones.However, Jeffress told the Post today that “if you believe the Bible as God’s word, then you will be pro-Israel.
“My prayer is that the USA will continue to be on the side of Israel,” he concluded.