A senior evangelical official has warned former U. S. President Donald Trump to end his break with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said it could endanger the lives of American Christians.
Mike Evans, a former Trump adviser very close to Netanyahu, sent a letter to Trump, which he shared with the Washington Post, saying he was “horrified” by Trump’s recently reported comments.
The letter comes after the publication of an interview with Trump through Israeli journalist Barak Ravid in which Trump lashes out at Netanyahu for the Israeli leader’s congratulations to US President Joe Biden after winning the presidency last year.
Trump said Netanyahu’s congratulatory message to Biden came too temporarily after the effects of the election were announced, which he continues to dispute to this day.
“It’s very early. Like before most. I haven’t spoken to him since,” Trump said.
Other published comments saw Trump claim that Netanyahu, not the Palestinians, was the main impediment to peace, and that Netanyahu angered and blinded Trump with a plan to annex much of the West Bank.
“Please, I beg of you, don’t put us in the position of choosing between you and the land of the Bible,” the letter read, according to the Post. “There is no option you can get back if you believe the Bible. Evangelicals see it as President ‘Fk Netanyahu’ who . . . Accuses the State of Israel, not the Palestinians, of not making peace.
Evans implored Trump to “understand that Benjamin Netanyahu,” in his view, “has much more among evangelicals in America than you do. “
Evans, who heads the “Jerusalem Prayer Team,” which has a million followers, has already come to Netanyahu’s defense.
Earlier this year, when a coalition was being formed under Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid to topple Netanyahu, Evans warned that such a move could cause Israel to lose power to American Christians.
He called them a coalition of anti-Zionist and post-Zionist Arabs who would “wave a white flag” and radical Islam.
“Bibi Netanyahu is the guy in the world who unites evangelicals,” he said.
Evans also issued an open letter to Bennett, calling him a “nasty disappointment” and accusing him of “shitting in the face” of American evangelicals.
He later apologized and said Bennett “was a strong Zionist maximum of the time, I know him and he deserves more respect. “
Netanyahu has been instrumental in shifting Diplomatic attention from Israel to the United States in recent years, from supporting the American Jewish network, which is largely liberal and critical of Israel, to seeking evangelical support.
This was underlined earlier this year when Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, warned that Israel deserves to prioritize “passionate and unequivocal” evangelical Christians over American Jews, who, according to him, are “disproportionately among our critics. “
Other evangelical leaders had a more nuanced view of Trump’s comments than Evans, but were obviously dissatisfied with the breakup.
“Evangelical for Israel is rooted in our biblical culture that transcends politics and personalities,” Sandra Parker, president of the Action Fund of Christians United for Israel, the largest pro-Israel lobby in the United States, told the Post on Tuesday.
Johnnie Moore, a former Liberty University official who helped organize Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Council in 2016, said American evangelicals would abandon Trump.
Others pointed out that while the data is true, it did not diminish everything Trump had done for Israel, which increased his popularity of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem, the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and Iran’s popularity. Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
“Even if the alleged comments are true, it does not diminish the fact that President Trump’s policies have been the pro-Israel maxims in history,” said Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, who led a prayer in 2018. opening of the U. S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
Trump spoke with Ravid in April and July for the Israeli journalist’s new Hebrew book, “Trump’s Peace,” about normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states, which were negotiated with the Trump administration. Some of his comments, which were recorded, were broadcast on Israeli television, adding the “Fuck Bibi” comments.
Despite Trump’s anger, Netanyahu was delayed enough to congratulate Biden in November last year, apparently so many hours behind many other world leaders.
Trump’s denial of Biden’s electoral victory led him to boycott the nomination of his successor. He led to the Jan. 6 attack on the U. S. Capitol through a crowd of Trump supporters, for which the House impeached the former president for the time being.
Ravid writes for Israeli Walla News and Axios News in the United States.
Speaking to Ravid, the former president said no one had helped Netanyahu more than he had, so it was a betrayal when Netanyahu congratulated Biden on his election victory, even though Trump falsely claimed the election had been stolen.
“No one did more to Bibi. I enjoyed Bibi. I still love Bibi,” Trump said. He’s “the guy I did more for than any other user I dealt with. “
“But I also like loyalty. The first user to congratulate Biden Bibi. And he didn’t just congratulate him, he did it on tape. And on tape.
“Personally, I let him down,” he said. Bibi may have been silent. He made a terrible mistake. “
“I haven’t talked to him since. He.
– Jacob Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) December 10, 2021
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