700 Million Christians Cannot Be Incorrect on Israel | Opinion

100 days.

It has been 100 days since terrorists invaded my homeland, the Jewish individuals’s solely residence, Israel.

It has been 100 days since lots of of Israelis have been taken hostage.

It has been 100 days of conflict and sorrow and uncertainty.

However after these 100 days, the one factor I’m sure about—that I’ve at all times been sure about, and have seen greater than ever within the days since Oct. 7—is that the Jewish state and the Jewish individuals have true associates in Christians around the globe.

That is why it has been so unsettling to see anti-Semitism being unfold within the identify of Christianity—by these on the fringes, and people in mainstream media. However you understand who has notbeen fooled by these lies?

Israel has greater than 700 million Christian friends worldwide. As individuals who worth human life—on this battle towards those that do not maintain life sacred, all of us—Christians and Jews—should take a stand now, earlier than it is too late. The time to face for Israel and the Jewish individuals in now,as hateful and harmful anti-Semitism has risen by nearly 400 percent within the 100 days since Hamas‘ assaults on the Jewish individuals.

Throughout these 100 days of conflict, I have been shocked to see centuries-old blood libels revived, which have at all times been meant to divide the Christian and Jewish communities and make them see each other as enemies: “The Jews killed Jesus…” (…no, the Romans did).

Over these previous 100 days, I’ve additionally seen new anti-Semitic theories unfold like wildfire, all of them, too, based mostly on historic inaccuracies—together with Munther Isaac within the New York Times and Father Edward Beck on CNN each saying that if Jesus were born today, he’d be a Palestinian (…no, Jesus was a Jew, born in what the Bible calls the Land of Israel, greater than 100 years earlier than Judea was named Palestine by the Romans).

As I’ve heard these harmful, dangerous, evil anti-Semitic tropes spewed, it makes me marvel why Jesus’ personal individuals—the Jewish individuals—are being attacked in his identify.

As a result of right now, Jesus could be a Jewish citizen of the Jewish state—the one nation within the Center East the place the Christian inhabitants is rising, up 1.3 percent from the yr earlier than, with 187,900 Christians residing in freedom. Greater than 20 p.c of Israel’s inhabitants is just not Jewish and enjoys full authorized equality.

Jesus right now, could be proud to be an Israeli.

At present, the Jewish Jesus actually would not stay in and even be allowed to go to biblical locations like Gaza or Jericho or Bethlehem—these are locations through which no Israelis are in a position to enter.

And like Israelis of all faiths—Jewish, Christian, and Muslim—Jesus could be in the course of this ongoing conflict, spending time in a bomb shelter as terrorist rockets have focused practically each metropolis within the Holy Land, together with Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, these previous 100 days.

One motive I’m shocked, terrified, and outraged that such antisemitism is spreading is as a result of Jewish-Christian relations have come up to now. Bridges constructed on religion and fellowship have ended what have been centuries of mistrust and worse. For the primary time in historical past, thousands and thousands of Christians and Jews are standing shoulder-to-shoulder in shared Judeo-Christian values we maintain sacred. I assume it is sensible that the terrorists and the forces of darkness try to destroy what we, as individuals of religion in a loving God who sanctifies life, have achieved.

However these evil forces won’t ever win. At present greater than ever, thousands and thousands of Christian associates around the globe do stand for Israel.

Tens of millions of Christians have stood with Israel—with their prayers and their assist—throughout this conflict. As a substitute of becoming a member of the trending requires Israel’s destruction, they’re praying for our energy and our success in wiping out Hamas, the fashionable day Amalek.

Tens of millions of Christian associates of the Jewish individuals act by boldly rejecting the anti-Semitic lies being unfold and by talking up and spreading the reality about Israel.

Now not will an enormous portion of the Christian neighborhood be fooled by hatred and lies, nor will they be fooled into spreading them. Israel’s Christian associates are too dedicated to spreading love and assist for his or her Jewish brothers and sisters, as they battle for survival in the one Jewish homeland.

The rising anti-semitism throughout the globe, solely serves as a stark reminder to us all, why the Jewish individuals want a protected haven.

In Israel, it has been a beacon of hope for all of us, to see how thousands and thousands of Christians love, pray, and act for Israel throughout our battle for survival, as enemies on each aspect attempt to destroy the land of the Jewish individuals, the Promised Land of the Bible.

Now not will Christians and Jews be separated by lies and hatred. At present, we stand unified.

These previous 100 days, as Israel’s enemies have chanted, “from the river to the ocean,” Israel’s thousands and thousands of Christian associates proceed the identical refrain to which they have been dedicated for greater than 75 years:

By no means once more.

Yael Eckstein is President and CEO of The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (The Fellowship), one of many world’s largest non secular charitable organizations. The Jerusalem Put up’s 2023 Humanitarian Award recipient and 3-time honoree on its 50 Most Influential Jews checklist, Yael is a Chicago-area native based mostly in Israel together with her husband and their 4 kids.

The views expressed on this article are the author’s personal.