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Supporters of Hamas hold flags and a Quran during a Hamas rally celebrating election results, Monday. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners January 31, 2006 |
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The victory of the militant Islamic Hamas in last week's Palestinian election will likely strengthen the relationship between Israel and evangelicals, Israeli parliament members and Christian leaders said Monday.
A Hamas-led government could threaten access to holy sites and the well-being of Christians in the holy land, Israeli parliament members and evangelical leaders warned in a meeting sponsored by the Christian Allies Caucus, a group of 14 Israeli parliament members seeking to mobilize Christian support for the Jewish state.
Evangelical Christians are among the strongest supporters of Israel in the U.S., but some are uncomfortable with their extreme stance, opposing any Israeli pullback from Judea, Samaria or Gaza or compromise with the Palestinians.
Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson caused a stir in Israel by implying that the massive stroke Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered on Jan. 4 was divine retribution for his pullout from Gaza last summer. Robertson later apologized.
Israel has said it would have no contact with a government led by Hamas, which rejects Israel's right to exist and has sent dozens of suicide bombers into Israel, killing hundreds.
At the meeting, Christian representatives said a Palestinian government led by Hamas will galvanize Christian support for Israel.
When Fatah was in power, it was more complicated for many evangelicals to understand they should side with Israel, because Fatah was a partner to interim peace accords, said David Decker, of the Covenant Alliance, an arm of the Christian Allies Caucus seeking to set up pro-Israel groups in parliaments around the world, including the U.S. Congress.
"Most of the civilized world understands that Hamas is bad," Decker said. "So this makes it very clear (Israel) is the one trying to make peace and (the Hamas-led Palestinians) are not."
It is no longer simply pleasant for Evangelicals and Israeli leaders to work together, said Rebecca Brimmer, president of Bridges for Peace, an Evangelical Christian organization that helps Jews immigrate to Israel.
"We must not forget we have joint enemies," Brimmer said.
Evangelicals and parliament members said it didn't matter than Hamas was elected democratically.
"It's openly a holy war against both our faiths," said Yuri Shtern, a hawkish member of Israel's parliament and chairman of the caucus. "And they (want to) keep the most important Christian holy places in their hands. This is a death threat to our civilization, to our religions."
However, Bishop Arif Shirvanian of the Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, was more optimistic about Hamas.
"I am hopeful with a lot of pressure from the international community and moderate Arab countries, Hamas will moderate its promises and ... they will come to think of achieving peace with Israel," Shirvanian said.
In another example of Christian-Jewish relations strengthening, a Rabbi told members of Colorado's largest church Sunday, that both Israel and the post-Sept. 11 United States are threatened in today's world, and that Jews and Christians need to "reverse history" and support one another.
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, told the congregation of New Life Church on Sunday that when missiles were paraded in Tehran, Iran, recently, they were painted with the phrases "Kill the Jews" and "Kill the Crusaders."
"We have the opportunity today, I would say the obligation and the responsibility, to extend love, true love toward one another," said Eckstein, whose Chicago-based group has raised $50 million a year for charities helping Jews in Israel and other parts of the world.
Eckstein was invited to speak at the 11,000-member church by pastor Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, to mark a day of solidarity between Christians and Israel.
The AP contributed to this report.
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