“It’s the only reason I’m alive,” Isaacson told Religion News Service. The Toyota was one of four armored vehicles purchased for the Eshkol Regional Council by the International Association of Christians and Jews in 2001, during the second Palestinian uprising. “They continue to save lives,” Isaacson said.
Even as support for Israel has declined among younger evangelicals, according to a study conducted in 2021, it’s still a core value for most, according to Pew Research investigation found Last year. Many view the creation of Israel in 1948 from the ashes of the Holocaust as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, and perhaps a prelude to the End Times. Others take to heart the words of the book of Genesis: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, him will I curse, and through you all peoples of the earth will be blessed.” »
These theological ties to Israel have been accompanied by fundraising and other material support for Israeli municipalities, non-governmental organizations, and first responders. These connections allowed evangelical groups to mobilize within hours of the Hamas attack. Christian groups have launched special fundraising campaigns to help the more than 200,000 Israelis forced to flee their homes after the massacre and rocket attacks. They then issued calls for prayer and publicized the plight of Israelis and foreign nationals kidnapped in Gaza by Hamas.
“I don’t think we’ve ever raised this much money this quickly,” said David Parsons, vice president and spokesman for the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, which raised millions of dollars in its first days of the war. “People are reacting like never before. ” It was particularly moving, he said, to receive donations from “unusual” places like Nepal, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, “where people are poor but want to help Israel.”
The embassy, which donated bomb shelters and secure communications systems to first responders believed to have saved lives since the initial attack, is helping support displaced people and providing additional ambulances and several bomb shelters. bombs thanks to the money raised last month. Parsons said the group is dedicated to meeting the needs of survivors in southern Israel if and when they return to farm their kibbutzim or decide to settle elsewhere. “Those who decide to return, we will accompany them on the path to recovery,” he said.
The International Association of Christians and Jews was on the ground shortly after the Saturday morning attack, distributing bulletproof vests and first aid kits, according to its executive director Yael Eckstein. The organization has since set up 30 mobile bomb shelters along Israel’s northern border to protect against Hezbollah rockets from Lebanon, where fighting erupted after Hamas attacks in the south.
Part of the $14 million raised in the group’s first weeks was used to meet immediate needs, including vehicles to transport the elderly and disabled from the war zone and to feed thousands of displaced families. An emergency war campaign led by the Genesis 123 Foundation allowed it to send survivors of a farming community to a hotel for two weeks and provide “non-lethal equipment” like body armor, meals Shabbat and laundry detergent to Israeli soldiers on the ground.
But like the embassy, Christian groups plan to help in the long term. Genesis 123 examines the traumatic effects of war on young people and the economic impact on farmers whose crops cannot be harvested. “For many farmers, their livelihoods have been decimated. There’s no one to work their fields,” said Jonathan Feldstein, the group’s president.
Aid workers from Bridges for Peace, who feeds thousands Israelis each month delivered basic necessities to people housed in air raid shelters a few kilometers from the Gaza border as air raid sirens blared, said Ilse Strauss, head of its office in Israel. “We do whatever is necessary.” In partnership with the Isaiah ProjectsBridges for Peace will provide household appliances to 50 families whose homes were destroyed and sponsor mental health services.
Strauss said the motivations of evangelical Christians are simple. As hundreds of other organizations around the world work to support Palestinians in Gaza whose homes have been destroyed by the Israeli military response, “we want to ensure that the world does not forget the 1 400 Israelis and foreigners have been murdered and 240 people are being held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
“Strangely, it seems that the Hamas attack has triggered a hatred against Jews that has been simmering beneath the surface,” she said. “We want survivors to know that there are thousands and thousands of people who will probably never come to Israel but who are praying for them. »
