Evangelicals join solidary event held for Israel as it marks the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7 attacks; SBC’s ERLC pledges support
Leaders representing a quarter of a billion evangelicals globally – including those from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) – participated in what is being called the largest solidary event in Israel’s history commemorating Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks broadcast Oct. 6 from the media center of the Friends of Zion Heritage Center in Jerusalem, The Jerusalem Post reported.
“Mike Evans, the founder of Friends of Zion and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 113 books, as well as a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, remarked that the new wars of the 21st century are media wars, ideological wars, economic wars, and proxy wars. Friends of Zion is globally committed to fighting these battles alongside Israel. The vast majority of Zionists in the world are not Jewish but stand united, unconditionally, with the Jewish people of Israel,” the Post wrote.
SBC’s Leatherwood Pledges Support
In comments to Baptist Press (BP) following the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, Brent Leatherwood, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, recounted the resolution passed in June at the SBC Annual Meeting affirming support of Israel “On Justice and Peace in the Aftermath of the October 7 Attack on Israel.”
“That resolution states clearly that Southern Baptists ‘condemn Hamas’ terrorist attacks of October 7, commit to standing with the Jewish people and those suffering in the region, and oppose all forms of antisemitism,’ said Leatherwood.
The resolution further rejects “calls for the nation of Israel to lay down its arms, repudiat[es] any calls for a permanent ceasefire that do not also result in the immediate release of all hostages’ and urges the international community to redouble its efforts to support the nation of Israel toward a just and lasting peace, addressing underlying issues such as terrorism, human rights violations, and regional instability, consistent with biblical calls to defend the oppressed and promote justice, especially among non-combatants and civilians,” he told BP.
Additionally, Leatherwood encouraged President Joe Biden and Congress “not to waver or back down in their commitment to Israel’s right to exist and defend itself from the existential threats posed by terrorists and terrorist-supporting regimes.”
Attack Against Israel
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinian nationalist militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza Envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In total, 1,139 people were killed: 695 Israeli civilians (including 38 children), 71 foreign nationals, and 373 members of the security forces. 364 civilians were killed and many more wounded while attending the Nova music festival, according to Wikipedia.com.
Families of hostages taken during the incursion, bereaved families, survivors, and members of the security and rescue forces who fought on October 7 participated in the worldwide broadcast.
The late ninth President of Israel, Shimon Peres, founding international chairman of the Friends of Zion movement, commissioned the Friends of Zion Award, which has been given to 28 world leaders, including U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump.
The Friends of the Zion Heritage Center, a social network platform combating antisemitism and BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions], has seen more than 250,000 visitors since its inception in 2015. The advanced Media Center hosts numerous events, activities, and press conferences, according to friendsofzion.com.
Why Christians Should Support Israel
Christians are encouraged to support Israel as the nation holds special significance to God. The Bible emphasizes God’s chosen people and His promise to bless the world through Israel. The belief is rooted in the idea that Israel will bring future blessings to the world.
The nation of Israel is special to God. Deuteronomy 7:6-8 (ESV) reads, “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
The Abrahamic Covenant is God’s promise to Israel found in Genesis 12:2-3 (ESV), “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Therefore, from the biblical declarations of God’s love and care for His chosen people and nations being destroyed because of their evil against Israel, it is imperative that Christians support His chosen people.