Dr Mike Evans, the founder of Friends of Zion and Jerusalem Prayer Team, came to Arutz Sheva’s new studio in Jerusalem for a special interview on Tuesday, following his trip into Israel’s embattled southern regions.
“These things break your heart,” he says, referring to the sights he and his group found in the south. “An eighty years old Holocaust survivor, her assistant killed, her house destroyed, herself in the hospital.”
“I came there to inform,” he says, with great conviction. “Israel is winning the ground war, but it always seems to lose the ideological front. It’s insanity to think about left and right right now - Israel needs to think about its branding.”
“Israel has a great brand,” he explains. “The brand is moral clarity, and Israel needs to stick to it.” This brand, he claims, can be summed up in three easy steps: “One: Israel values life. Second: Israel’s enemies value death. Third: Israel does not fight for its land, but for its people. People aren’t killed for their land in Israel, they are killed because they are Jews.”
“Israel needs to speak louder,” he says. “Israel needs to stand tall, to stop apologizing. Israel has nothing to apologize for. They’re doing the right thing, for the right reason, and they have a lot of friends.”
Evans addressed some of those friends, a seventy-seven million strong evangelical group that has recently and unexpectedly been barred from Facebook. “We are the largest pro-Israel site, one of the largest sites in religion, and among the top thirty in the world,” Evans points out.
As reported, Evan's "Jerusalem Prayer Team" Facebook page, which has 77 million followers, was blocked last week (Friday) without warning.
“Hackers targeted our group, filling it with antisemitic posts, then reporting it to Facebook. They pulled the plug on our entire group, all of whom are praying for the Jews.” He goes on to relate how no appeal to Facebook helped until Israel’s foreign minister, Gabi Ashkenazi, reached out to the company.
Evans thinks nothing of the accusations of missionizing in Israel. “If we were trying to missionize in Israel, we’re doing a bad job,” he laughs. “The Jews in Israel are Jewish, and that’s that. Most of us have no hidden agenda - I for instance, have one agenda - to combat antisemitism. Israel is the apple of God’s eye, and it is doing God’s work.”
Dr Evans had also met with Israel’s Public Security Minister Amir Ohana and Sderot Mayor Alon Davidi, and expressed his deep gratitude for their staunch stance against terrorism from Gaza.
Source: Arutz Sheva