The founding fathers of Israel, who imprinted an obligation to encourage the immigration of Jews in the proclamation of independence, would be surprised to find that seventy years later the state relies on the fact that the fulfillment of these promises is promoted by Christians.
What was once financed exclusively by Jews is increasingly being financed by evangelical Christians. Israel's Christian allies now finance about a third of all immigrants arriving in the country, according to The Associated Press. These figures reflect the increasingly strengthened relationship between Israel and its evangelical Christian allies, on which Israel counts in everything from political support to tourism.
"After 2000 years of oppression and persecution, today we have Christians who help the Jews," said Rabbi Yehiel Ekshtein, president of the International Brotherhood of Christians and Jews, an organization that collects money from evangelical Christians for Jewish activities. Israel has long depended on the Jewish communities of the Diaspora, especially in the United States, because of their donations and lobbying in local government. But evangelical communities are becoming more important. Israeli charities receive millions of dollars from Christians around the world, and evangelical Christians make up 13 percent of all tourists in Israel.
The parliamentary group works with evangelical lawmakers around the world to support Israel. The Israelis can also thank the evangelicals for helping to bring the president of Donald Trump, the ardent supporter of the current government of Israel, to the White House. "Israel has no better friends, I mean that there are no better friends in the world than Christian communities," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Christian summit in Jerusalem last year. European and American Jewish philanthropists defended immigration to Israel, known as "Alia", or "ascent", even before the state was created in 1948, working to settle the Jews in the then Ottoman and British Palestine.
For decades after gaining independence, the government cooperated with Jewish groups to organize the air transportation of Jews from disadvantaged countries. Christian support for aliyah largely began after the collapse of the Soviet Union and in recent years has grown when American Jews redirected charitable donations to highly specialized projects. This forced non-profit organizations to expand their list of benefactors. "We see no reason why we can not rely on help, including donations, from all our friends around the world, whether Jews, Christians or others," said Igal Palmor, representative of the Jewish Agency, a non-profit organization that deals with Jewish immigration to Israel.
However, the Israeli Ministry of Aliyah and Absorption stated that it had no ties with Christian groups. Of the more than 28,000 Jews who immigrated to Israel in 2017, at least 8,500 came from Christian donations, according to official figures and data provided by the Brotherhood and the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, another prominent group that collects the money of the evangelists. The Jewish Agency receives additional anonymous funds from other Christian donors, which means that their share may be even higher.
Some in Israel are suspicious that the support of the evangelists is based on the belief that the modern Jewish state is the forerunner of the apocalypse - when Jesus returns, and Jews either accept Christianity or die. Liberal Jews, who make up the majority of the American Jewish community, are concerned about the connections of the evangelists with right-wing politicians and their support for the Israeli settlement movement in the West Bank, which is the main obstacle in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Jeremy Ben-Amy, president of J Street, a liberal pro-American organization in Washington, said the Jewish community should be "careful in helping those who play with our lives to advance their religious and ideological goals." Evangelical Christianity is one of the fastest growing religious movements, accounting for more than a third of the 2 billion Christians in the world. Evangelicals say that their proximity to Israel stems from the Jewish roots of Christianity. Some consider the creation of Israel the fulfillment of biblical prophecies that open the supposed Messianic age. Jews also believe in the future Messianic age, but do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah. "This is a link. It's a love affair, it's a romance with a nation that is connected with heaven and earth, "said Mike Evans, an evangelical Christian who is part of the advisory council of the Evangelical Faith at Trump.
In recent years, the level of mistrust in Israel has declined, in part due to the constant flow of donations, as well as evangelicals that reduce rhetoric about the end of days. They