Support for Israel

Last week, Concerned Women for America joined in celebrating Israel’s friendship with the Christian community at the sixteenth annual Christian Solidarity Event at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C.  The celebration coincides with three major events surrounding U.S.-Israeli relations that were the main topics of discussion: Israel’s celebration of 70 years of the State of Israel and Jewish independence, President Trump’s historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and the president’s announcement that the U.S. will pull out of the Iran Nuclear Deal. In addition to the Christian community, among those in attendance at the embassy were Counselor to the President of the U.S., Kellyanne Conway, Ambassador of Israel H.E. Ron Dermer, and the Reverend William Graham, grandson of the late evangelist Billy Graham.

After the crowd in attendance sang The Star Spangled Banner and the Hatikvah (Israeli National Anthem meaning “The Hope”), Rev. William Graham opened the event in prayer. Then, Kellyanne Conway spoke about why investing in relations with Israel was personally important to her as a Catholic woman whose faith was founded on “Judeo-Christian principles.” In her role as Counselor to the President, she highlighted why Israel is vitally important to the U.S., citing our shared values of democracy and freedom and calling Israel the greatest ally to the U.S. in the Middle East.  She then called President Trump “a man of action in a town of talk” as the first U.S. president to act on his promise to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move which symbolizes our acknowledgement of Israel as a nation state. She also underscored the dangers of the Iran Nuclear Deal to the U.S. and to Israel, a deal which President Trump declared “defective at its core” and announced the U.S. “termination of participation” in and withdrawal from on May 8.

Ambassador Dermer continued in this vein, praising President Trump for the upcoming move of the American Embassy to Jerusalem and pointing out that Israelis are not foreigners to this land as some have declared, but inhabited Jerusalem before Christ — King David having written psalms in Jerusalem three thousand years ago. He then focused on the Iran Nuclear Deal, saying the “insane” deal had damaged Israel’s national security and helps no one — not the U.S. and not Israel — no one, in fact, except for Iran, who refuses to recognize Israel as a nation and whose leaders have vowed Israel’s destruction.

Next week on May 14, Concerned Women for America CEO and President Penny Nance will attend the opening of the Embassy of the United States in Jerusalem at the invitation of Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, on behalf of you, our members. We are proud to support Israel and participate in such an historic event that will have lasting significance in the Middle East and on the strength of U.S.-Israeli relations. Please pray for wisdom and protection as CWA joins with U.S. leaders in Israel and for the continued support of a safe and prosperous Israeli nation.

December 6, 2017 was an historic day – President Donald Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel, 22 years after the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 was affirmed by the Senate. The Jerusalem Embassy Act urged the United States to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and respond by moving our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem but for 22 years formal recognition and our embassy move were put on hold.

No one is naïve to the reality that moving the U.S. embassy is a bold move with potential ramifications. Nevertheless, it is a necessary move – this move says that the United States will not be bullied into inaction but we will stand by our strongest and only democratic ally in the region, that our presidents will uphold their campaign promises and listen to the voices of the American people.

CWA was honored to be your voice on this issue. Concerned Women for America has been advocating for the U.S. embassy to move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem since President Trump took office.

Penny Nance was on CNN early this spring urging the President to “stand in lockstep with Israel” especially in the area of any disputed territory.

In May, before President Trump signed the Jerusalem Embassy Act waiver, CWA participated in the twitter campaign, #MoveTheEmbassy, in an effort to engage the public on the issue.

On behalf of each of you, Penny has personally discussed the issue with U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy, Dina Powell, Ivanka Trump, and President Donald Trump, thanking them for their work to repair our damaged relationship with the state of Israel.

Finally, CWA was party to letters sent to the administration regarding support for Israel which urged that our embassy be moved in acknowledgement that Jerusalem is the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state. One such letter can be read here.

We could not be more thankful for the supportive stance the Trump Administration has taken towards the state of Israel. Moving the United States embassy will leave a lasting impact in the Middle East.

I have been in Israel for less than a week and I have already learned so much! In the Holy Land, God and history permeate the atmosphere wherever you go.

It’s Ramadan, the Muslim month-long religious observance, and tensions are noticeably high. At the Shabbat (Sabbath) meal my friend Anna and I were invited to, the host made it clear she would not recommend we go anywhere on our own.

I can’t help but be nervous as I remember stories I’ve heard on the news about terror attacks. In Israel, the possibility of an attack is a daily reality. How do Israelis live this way? I suppose they get used to it – but the fact that they have to get used to it is a tragedy in itself.

Keren, a Fellowship staff member who lives in what most of the world would call a “settlement,” drove us around her neighborhood the second day we were here. Two things she showed us stood out to me.

First, we saw the bus stop where three Jewish boys – Eyal, Gilad, and Naftali – were kidnapped in 2014. They were murdered – today, at the spot where their bodies were found, there is a beautiful park built in their honor. Kids play and family events are held in this park, and the mothers of the boys attend regularly.

The second site was a grocery store where Keren shops with her beautiful family. Here, Arabs, Jews, and Christians stand side by side as they pick out their items, and stand in the check-out line together just like any other country.

But this isn’t any other country. In this country Jews are threatened, hurt, or killed regularly by Palestinian terrorists, simply because they are Jews. Yet Jews and Arabs still stand next to each other in mundane places like the grocery store.

In light of the tension I can feel here during Ramadan, and the fact that terrorists have been waging war against Israel for decades, this seems like a miracle. Maybe, after the recent attacks in London and Manchester, the world is getting a taste of why it’s such a miracle that Israelis are still able to go about day-to-day life – that Jews and Arabs are able to mix freely and peacefully at places like that little grocery store.

There’s so much to learn here in Israel and I’m so excited to see what God has in store. I’ve already seen Him move and I’m confident He’ll show me more. God has such a heart for Israel, and I can’t wait to see more of it through His eyes.

Editor’s Note: Claire Nance is a Christian college student interning with The Fellowship in Israel this summer. She’s from Washington, D.C., and studies Communications with a minor in International Relations at Liberty University in Virginia. This post was first published on the blog of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, has joined her voice with those of other Christian leaders in calling on President Trump to “uphold American law by moving the U.S. Embassy to Israel’s eternal and indivisible capital city of Jerusalem.” In a letter dated May 16, 2017, Mrs. Nance and others remind President Trump that the Republican National Convention’s official 2016 Platform rightly states, “We recognize Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state and call for the American embassy to be moved there in fulfillment of U.S. law,” and that President Trump specifically pledged during his campaign to uphold this policy.

To read the letter and view its signatories, please click here.