In the midst of war, hostage negotiations, and a global surge in antisemitism, more than one thousand evangelical pastors and Christian leaders from across the United States touched down in Israel this week for what organizers are calling the largest delegation of American Christian leaders to visit the Jewish state since its establishment in 1948.
The delegation’s arrival comes at a moment when Israel faces coordinated attacks on multiple fronts—not just from Hamas terrorists in Gaza or Hezbollah in Lebanon, but from what Israeli officials describe as an ideological war being waged through media, academia, and international institutions. As Israel continues to wait for the return of hostages from Hamas captivity and grapples with the trauma of the October 7 massacre, these Christian leaders have chosen to stand with the Jewish state in its darkest hour.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, himself a former Arkansas governor and prominent evangelical voice, challenged the delegation to counter the lies about Israel being spread on college campuses and in international forums. He urged the pastors to bring their congregants to see Israeli hospitals and daily life firsthand, noting sarcastically that “if that’s apartheid, Israel is really, really bad at doing it.”
The emotional high point of the summit came when the delegation gathered at the Western Wall for a mass prayer for the peace of Jerusalem, broadcast live to tens of millions worldwide. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall, recited Psalm 121, the same Shir HaMa’alot (Song of Ascents) that former hostage Omer Sam Tov sang in Hamas captivity every Friday to strengthen his spirit. Evans called the coincidence “a sign from God.” Participants received slips of paper bearing the names of those murdered on October 7 and placed them between the ancient stones while praying for the victims’ families.
Our friends at Israel365 News reported that The Friends of Zion Ambassador Summit 2025, a weeklong program organized in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aims to transform these participants into trained pro-Israel “ambassadors” who will carry Israel’s story back to tens of millions of evangelical supporters in America.
When Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed the delegation at the Friends of Zion Museum in central Jerusalem on Wednesday night, he thanked them “for your support and for your friendship. And it’s not taken for granted.” Herzog described Israel as standing “at the frontier of the clash of civilizations,” defending not just itself but “the free world” and “Europe” against enemies who “went and broke all rules possible” through “burning, abducting, raping, taking hostage, and killing mass murder.”
The president’s words echoed the biblical charge given to the children of Israel: “See, I have set the land before you; go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them” (Deuteronomy 1:8). This divine mandate, recognized by evangelical Christians who revere the Hebrew Bible, forms the theological foundation for their unwavering support of the Jewish state.
Dr. Mike Evans, founder of the Friends of Zion Museum and organizer of the summit, has built his life’s work on the words of the late President Shimon Peres, who warned him that “the new wars of the 21st century are going to be ideological wars, media wars, economic wars, and proxy wars” and that a small country like Israel “is going to have to have friends.” The Friends of Zion ambassador program, Evans explained, is part of a “hundred-year plan” to recruit “ambassadors with an S, not one or two or five or 10.”
The delegation’s arrival comes at a moment when Israel faces coordinated attacks on multiple fronts—not just from Hamas terrorists in Gaza or Hezbollah in Lebanon, but from what Israeli officials describe as an ideological war being waged through media, academia, and international institutions. As Israel continues to wait for the return of hostages from Hamas captivity and grapples with the trauma of the October 7 massacre, these Christian leaders have chosen to stand with the Jewish state in its darkest hour.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, himself a former Arkansas governor and prominent evangelical voice, challenged the delegation to counter the lies about Israel being spread on college campuses and in international forums. He urged the pastors to bring their congregants to see Israeli hospitals and daily life firsthand, noting sarcastically that “if that’s apartheid, Israel is really, really bad at doing it.”
The emotional high point of the summit came when the delegation gathered at the Western Wall for a mass prayer for the peace of Jerusalem, broadcast live to tens of millions worldwide. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall, recited Psalm 121, the same Shir HaMa’alot (Song of Ascents) that former hostage Omer Sam Tov sang in Hamas captivity every Friday to strengthen his spirit. Evans called the coincidence “a sign from God.” Participants received slips of paper bearing the names of those murdered on October 7 and placed them between the ancient stones while praying for the victims’ families.
Our friends at Israel365 News reported that The Friends of Zion Ambassador Summit 2025, a weeklong program organized in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aims to transform these participants into trained pro-Israel “ambassadors” who will carry Israel’s story back to tens of millions of evangelical supporters in America.
When Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed the delegation at the Friends of Zion Museum in central Jerusalem on Wednesday night, he thanked them “for your support and for your friendship. And it’s not taken for granted.” Herzog described Israel as standing “at the frontier of the clash of civilizations,” defending not just itself but “the free world” and “Europe” against enemies who “went and broke all rules possible” through “burning, abducting, raping, taking hostage, and killing mass murder.”
The president’s words echoed the biblical charge given to the children of Israel: “See, I have set the land before you; go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them” (Deuteronomy 1:8). This divine mandate, recognized by evangelical Christians who revere the Hebrew Bible, forms the theological foundation for their unwavering support of the Jewish state.
Dr. Mike Evans, founder of the Friends of Zion Museum and organizer of the summit, has built his life’s work on the words of the late President Shimon Peres, who warned him that “the new wars of the 21st century are going to be ideological wars, media wars, economic wars, and proxy wars” and that a small country like Israel “is going to have to have friends.” The Friends of Zion ambassador program, Evans explained, is part of a “hundred-year plan” to recruit “ambassadors with an S, not one or two or five or 10.”
