Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today, in Florida, met with evangelical community leaders.
The Christian church and university heads congratulated the Prime Minister on his successful meeting with President Trump and for his steadfast position, as well as for the determined decisions he took, throughout the war.
Prime Minister Netanyahu at the start of the meeting:
“You are representatives of the Christian Zionists who made Jewish Zionism possible. It’s hard for me to conceive of the emergence of the Jewish state, the re-emergence of the Jewish state, without the support of Christian Zionists in the United States, also in Britain, but the main thrust was in the United States in the 19th century.
So Christian Zionism facilitated the rise and success of Jewish Zionism. And it’s been an enormous partnership since then.
I’ve known some of you, Mike, how long have we known, since we were teenagers, something like that, a long time, 46 years. I can say that we have no better friends, and I mean that sincerely. You have stood by us through thick and thin, and now we’re challenged by new challenges, but equally with new opportunities.
We’ve fought, as you know, a seven-front war, and we’ve come out in many ways victorious, but there’s an eighth front, and that’s the front for the hearts and minds of people, especially young people in the West, and for me, especially in the United States, and for me, especially on the conservative wing of the United States.
I think it’s not just Israel’s battle. I think it’s our common Judeo-Christian civilization’s battle, and I think we have to engage in that battle, as forcefully, with as much resolution as we engage the other seven fronts. I think it affects not only Israel, it affects America, it affects our alliance, it affects the future of Western civilization. I don’t think I’m exaggerating one bit.
I have here my colleagues, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, to the United Nations, our Consul General in New York, our Consul General in Miami and every one of my delegation, we feel that this is a theater that has to be engaged with great force.
Who’s to engage in this? It’s us, it’s you and us. We have to, you know, we have to be, I think we have to stand up and be counted. They have to hear our voice.
There are some people who believe that faith should be silent, and terrorism should be understood. No, faith should speak its voice, and terrorism should be confronted, not understood, confronted and defeated. And that is what we’re engaging right now.
So, I want you to know that I spoke with President Trump yesterday, I said this publicly too. I see the battle against us and the battle against our Judeo-Christian tradition, basically being waged around the globe, and it’s waged primarily by two forces, radical Shiite Islam and radical Sunni Islam. That means the axis that is led by Iran, much battered, admittedly, but still there, and the Sunni axis led by the Muslim Brotherhood, which permeates everything. They go to Europe, they go to the United States, they go to Africa, Nigeria. And we are conscious of the fact that Christians are being persecuted across the Middle East, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Nigeria, in Turkey and beyond.
We’re also aware of the fact, as you are, that one country protects the Christian community, enables it to grow, defends it, and makes sure that it thrives, and that country is Israel. There is no other, None.
We are joining an effort to have basically a united nations of countries that support Christian communities around the world, beleaguered communities who deserve our help, just as you are helping us, we want to help back. And we’re capable of doing this. In Africa, with intel, in the Middle East, with a lot of means that I won’t itemize each one.
This is what our agenda is, it’s a main part of our agenda, and it’s going to continue with greater force and greater might in this coming year.
I want to use this opportunity to wish you all a belated happy Christmas, and a Happy New Year.
May it be a year of prosperity, peace and security for all of us, but especially for the Christian communities around the world.”