< Previous10 CUFI FALL 2021 BY PASTOR JOHN HAGEE AND AMBASSADOR NIKKI HALEY ome things are unforgettable. Like what we saw in Israel last week. We were standing in a neighborhood, looking at the wreckage caused by the latest round of terrorist rockets. We were outside the home of a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor – at least, what was left of it. She wasn’t there, because she was in the hospital. She lost her legs and nearly her life. Her caretaker died when the house was destroyed. While we stood there, the next- door neighbor came rushing out to meet us. Screaming and crying, she invited us into her home. It was badly damaged, too. When the rocket hit, she was holding her grandchild. The blast threw them into the wall. We could see the outline of her body, and even her hair, which had stuck there. Still crying, she and her husband hugged us close, and thanked us for being there. There was nowhere else we wanted to be. We went to Israel in the wake of war. Less than three weeks earlier, S Israel Endures Here’s what we witnessed on the ground after Hamas’ rocket attacks HAGEE&HALEY:11 CUFI FALL 2021 Israel’s citizens endured 11 straight days of rocket attacks. The Hamas terrorists bear full responsibility. They launched more than 4,300 rockets at Israeli schools, homes and synagogues. Their goal was to kill as many innocents as possible – innocents like the family we met. BUT AS WE SAW, ISRAEL ENDURES. Israel came through the crisis thanks to the Iron Dome, which we saw up close, and the iron will of its people. Israel was completely in the right to take the fight to Hamas. With the terrorist leaders operating from hospitals, apartment buildings and even a foreign media hub, Israel targeted them with the utmost precision and protection for innocent Palestinians. As one of us said to the U.N. Security Council in 2018, “no country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has.” What was true then is still true. Israel’s restraint is all the more remarkable given the threat it faces. Every Israeli citizen knows that Hamas would kill each and every one of them if given the chance. Israel’s response is to target Hamas, and Hamas alone, while trying to spare the lives of Palestinians who Hamas uses as human shields. Palestinians deserve better than to be ruled by terrorists. Such values ensure that Israel endures. So does the country’s commitment to democracy, which deserves American support regardless of the party in power. We met with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and thanked him for his immense contributions to Israel’s security and prosperity. He will continue to serve his country as leader of the Knesset’s opposition. IRAN IS A FUNDAMENTALLY BAD ACTOR. ITS LEADERS, LIKE THE HAMAS TERRORISTS THEY SUPPORT, WANT TO DESTROY ISRAEL. We also met with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid from the new governing coalition, which took office while we were there. It’s a powerful statement that even in the midst of a national security crisis, Israel had a peaceful transition of power. Few other countries – especially among Israel’s critics – would manage or even attempt the same feat. ISRAEL’S ENDURANCE WILL CONTINUE TO BE TESTED. Even before the Hamas rockets stopped, the United Nations began lobbing its own missiles at Israel. The ridiculously named U.N. Human Rights Council has launched an “investigation” into Israel’s recent actions in Gaza. The investigation is nothing more than a one-sided witch hunt with a predetermined outcome. Israel is used to such ugly and false attacks, but that doesn’t make them any less painful or pathetic. Even the United States is testing Israel’s endurance. In one of his earliest acts in office, President Joe Biden rejoined the U.N. Human Rights Council. The leader of the free world cannot allow the U.S. to simply go along for the ride with the Council’s anti-Israel investigation. Biden has also rejoined the U.N.’s Palestinian “aid” program, which teaches people that Israel is evil. And he recently threw more than $100 million behind Palestinian “reconstruction,” even though that money will unavoidably fund Hamas and other anti-Israel groups. Worst of all, Biden is desperately looking for a way to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal. That deal was a disaster for America and Israel. It gave Iran more than $100 billion to spend on the very Hamas terrorists who just lobbed more than 4,300 rockets at Israel. While we were there, Biden lifted some key U.S. sanctions on Iran in a misguided attempt to show good faith – an attempt that will no doubt be perceived by Tehran as yet another act of weakness. Iran is a fundamentally bad actor. Its leaders, like the Hamas terrorists they support, want to destroy Israel. America must stop them, not embolden them. THE CHALLENGES FACING AMERICA’S ALLY ARE MANY AND MOUNTING. BUT WE HAVE FAITH ISRAEL WILL ENDURE, AS ALWAYS. Our trip is a small sign of the steadfast support that Israel can count on – support that is grounded in faith, common sense and common ground. Israelis and Americans share the same values and the same vision of peace and prosperity in the Middle East and beyond. On that foundation, we will continue to build. THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED ON FOXNEWS.COM Pastor John Hagee is the founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel. Ambassador Nikki Haley was governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2019. 12 CUFI FALL 2021 It’s invite-only for 700 of the organization’s leaders and donors, combining the January leadership conference and summertime summit with the opening plenary session to be livestreamed. CUFI TOUTS ITS STATE-LEVEL SUCCESS AHEAD OF LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE hristians United for Israel (CUFI) is set to hold its annual summit this weekend, feeling new urgency in its mission to fight for Israel as attacks on Israel and Jewish people increase in the United States. Sandra Hagee Parker, chair of the CUFI Action Fund, the organization’s 501(c)4, said that this year, the title of the summit’s second-day session “Never Again Is Now” is more pressing than eve for the organization. “I think all of us had shock and awe,” she said, following the May conflict between Hamas and Israel, noting “the increase in violence targeting Jews on the streets of the United State of America. These are things that we’ve maybe only been used to seeing in the Middle East or unfortunately Europe.” Anti-Semitic attacks like the one on outdoor Jewish diners in Beverly Hills, Calif., and in New York City, was a “tsunami, not a rising tide,” said Parker. From its beginnings in 2006, the grassroots organization founded by evangelical Pastor John Hagee has stood against anti-Semitism in churches, local communities and schools, as well as on Capitol Hill. “Pastor Hagee has said before, ‘If there’s a line to be drawn, then draw it around Christians and Jews together. We’re going to be standing shoulder-to-shoulder and there’s no room for daylight to separate us,’ ” said Parker, his daughter. This also means combating the threats posed to Israel from its enemies as well, such as that from Iran and its proxies dug in around the northern and southern borders, such as Hezbollah and Hamas, poised to attack, added CUFI co-executive director Shari Dollinger. This year, CUFI plans to have a much smaller annual summit than usual, which annually brings in as many as 5,000 members for a multi- day event in Washington, D.C. This weekend’s summit will be held in Dallas, and is invite-only for about 700 of the organization’s leaders and donors. It will combine CUFI’s annual January leadership conference and its summertime summit, with the opening plenary session on Sunday evening livestreamed. Last year, instead of holding an in-person summit, CUFI was one of the first major organizations to feature a full virtual conference. Due to lingering coronavirus restrictions, it was unable to hold a large summit in Washington but was still looking to do something in person. “We knew that it was important for our members to gather in person. There’s a hunger and a need to be together,” said Dollinger. “So we looked to an alternative of where we would facilitate a meaningful opportunity for our folks to come together to enhance the U.S.-Israel relationship.” While Texas no longer has capacity limits, the organization felt the hotel that would best serve its purposes was one on Dallas Fort- Worth Airport property, where federal capacity limits still apply. “We are going to have the same type of important content that we discuss in D.C., just not in D.C.,” she said. C FIGHTING ANTI-SEMITISM BY DMITRIY SHAPIRO 13 CUFI FALL 2021 “And being out of D.C., it opens us up to talk more about what has been happening at a state level, which has been tremendously exciting and productive during COVID.” Despite having an online summit, last year generated 300,000 letters to lawmakers from CUFI’s members in support of legislation the organization backed through email “Action Alerts,” and all three pieces of legislation were successful. This year, the organization plans to do the same. CUFI’s work on the local and state level through activists also met with success over the past year, Parker said, in efforts to encourage states to pass laws against the BDS movement and legislation supporting Holocaust education in public schools. “Our people don’t see these issues of course as a political issue. They see these issues as a biblical issue,” said Parker. “The Bible tells us to support Israel, to ‘bless Israel and you’ll be blessed.’ To pray for the ‘peace of Jerusalem.’ ” CUFI’s legislative agenda this year includes lobbying for the fiscal year 2022 House and Senate’s State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bills, which will provide $3.3 billion in military aid to Israel, 75 percent of which must be spent in the United States. “So even though bills like this … sometimes people think they’re rote because they’re annual. It’s important for us to make sure that our people and even beyond our own constituency understand the value of bills like this and ensuring that our intelligence teams continue to work together, and that we do everything we can to help Israel protect its quantitative and qualitative military edge,” explained Parker. However, CUFI opposes the $225 million provided for economic support programs in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which it believes will be funneled into the “pay-for-slay” program by the Palestinian Authority. “That is something that we will be working on in terms of getting the Senate to take that out and that the funding of the $3.3 billion goes with no conditions,” said Parker. “We are not opposed to aid to those who need it, but money is fungible. So if there are tangible needs that need to be met, let’s meet them, but let’s not be giving anybody a blank check.” The second legislation CUFI will support is the U.S. Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2021, which would establish a grant program at the Department of Homeland Security to fund cooperative cybersecurity research between the United States and Israel. “We need to look no further than recent hacks that America and some of its largest businesses and government agencies have suffered over the past year to realize that cybersecurity is also a battlefront. Bombs are important, but we saw this year what kind of damage not only germs can cause but also hacks,” said Parker. Lastly, CUFI will lobby for Congress to pass the Hizballah in Latin America Accountability Act of 2021, introduced in May by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). The bill introduces reporting requirements to track and disrupt Hezbollah’s influence in Latin America, which is a source for funding of the Iran- backed terrorist organization. This year’s opening plenary will include addresses by Hagee, Dollinger, Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. Haley recently accompanied Hagee on a trip to Israel and was shown the damage caused by the recent conflict between Hamas and Israel. The next day will run from morning to evening and will be open to attendees only. There will be a number of panel discussions, including with state legislators from around the country, briefings from CUFI affiliated organizations, legislative reports, briefings from the Israeli Defense Forces, discussions about Iran with various think-tank experts and speeches by Jewish communal leaders. The day will conclude with an address from conservative talk- radio host Dennis Prager. Monday will also include panels from CUFI’s Israel Collective, an initiative focused on younger generations, whose support of Israel, even among evangelicals, has recently been questioned through polls that indicated lessening pro-Israel views. Ari Morgenstern, senior director of policy and communications, said he was not concerned with the poll results and questions their accuracy. “We’re actually on the ground with 10 million members. We’ve not seen any indications that these polls are worth changing our efforts,” said Morgenstern. “We’ve been engaging … with Gen Z and millennials alike for years, and we’ve been doing it to great success.” REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE JEWISH NEWS SYNDICATE Dmitriy Shapiro the Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Jewish News Syndicate.Da ughters for Zion is a prayer ministry under the umbrella of Christians United For Israel, also known as CUFI (www.cufi.org). CUFI’s over 10 million members defend Israel and fight against antisemitism in our communities, churches, college campuses, the media and on Capitol Hill. DforZ.com // info@DforZ.com // Fax Number | (763) 315-7043 “In these challenging times, your prayers for Israel and for the peace of Jerusalem are critical. The Bible commands us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as written in Psalm 122:6, ‘Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May those who love you be secure.’” - PASTOR JOHN HAGEE Pastor John Hagee Founder and Chairman Christians United for Israel Pastor Lynne Hammond National Director Daughters For Zion CUFI’s We are taking Israel education to a whole new level with Purchase for $25 online at cufi.org/learn/join/the-israel-course For multiple copies please contact our office at 210-477-4714 or info@cufi.org This course includes: » Discussion questions » Additional resources › Videos › Articles › Exclusive CUFI educational tools › Biblical perspectives on what God’s Word says about our responsibility to stand with Israel and the Jewish people This course is ideal for: » Self-study » Small group settings within your: › Home › Church › Community* Dates subject to change For details contact FROSCH Travel (713) 568-4296 // cufipoland@frosch.com // frosch.com/cufipoland/CUFIPoland2020-registration POLAND NEVER AGAIN TOUR MARCH 20-27, 2022 WARSAW POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews Orphanage of Janusz Korczak & symbolic memorial, Umschlagplatz Villa in the Warsaw Zoo Beit Centrum Ki Tov KRAKOW Jewish Quarter The Market Square Renaissance Cloth Hall Podgorze Oscar Schnidler’s Museum Wawel Castle TREBLINKA Lopuchowo Forest, Treblinka Extermination Camp MAJDANEK / WARSAW Majdanek Concentration and Extermination Camp AUSCHWITZ- BIRKENAU Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp Oswiecim Jewish Center *Itinerary subject to change. Appointments subject to confirmation. Order of sites may vary.16 CUFI FALL 2021 BY JONATHAN A. GREENBLATT The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a 19th century forgery by Russian intelligence services, was designed to scapegoat Jews for the empire’s hardships. It has since fueled more than a century of hate. he Protocols has catalyzed antisemitic harassment, assaults and pogroms, and helped lay the groundwork for the Holocaust. For over a century, the Anti-Defamation League and other experts have warned that The Protocols are nothing but venomous lies and antisemitic conspiracy theories. And Iran’s President-Elect, Ebrahim Raisi, played a hands-on role in promoting The Protocols as part of a sustained campaign to demonize and delegitimize the Jewish people. This information, which the ADL recently uncovered, is deeply relevant as the world considers whether to return to the Iran deal and what would constitute a “longer and stronger” accord. Raisi’s track record shows us that an obsessive hatred of the Jewish state is not an abstraction but a major feature of his career. To be clear, Raisi is far from a humanitarian. He has gotten much attention for reported crimes against humanity. It is well-documented that he was one of four judges who, in the late 1980s, oversaw the execution of thousands of members of Iranian opposition groups, including women and children. One analyst recently wrote that his subdued personality and criminal record evokes Hannah Arendt’s notion of the banality of evil. In 2016, Raisi was appointed by Iran’s supreme leader to direct the Astan Quds Razavi Foundation, in which capacity he oversaw the production of a 50-episode documentary film promoting The Protocols. The documentary aired on Iranian TV and was distributed to pilgrims at a major religious shrine under his control, the Shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad, Iran, the resting place of the eighth Shi’ite Imam. The Shrine is a major religious site visited by 20 million pilgrims a year pre-pandemic, according to Iranian records filed with UNESCO. T17 CUFI FALL 2021 While the Foundation had previously published and promoted hardcopy editions of The Protocols and continued to do so during his tenure, under Raisi, it also exploited new media to amplify the spread of the antisemitic Protocols. About a year after Raisi assumed control, the Foundation announced plans for the documentary about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. In 2018, the film, titled “the Devil’s Plan,” was released and the Foundation held a press conference in one of the Shrine’s historic courtyards. The film’s director told journalists that Jews, “the leaders of this front of untruth,” have in the Protocols “codified from past centuries the most complete plan for their demonic world domination” and that the film explains the need for their “elimination.” He decried “the hands of the party of Satan, namely, global Zionism” and said the film would be broadcast on both the Foundation’s television network and on public TV stations. The Foundation then published a news bulletin announcing that its 50-part documentary would be available on CD for pilgrims visiting the Imam Reza Shrine and distributed to audiences at the Foundation’s cultural programs. Raisi left the Foundation in 2019 when he was picked to head Iran’s judiciary, but the Foundation continued the antisemitic project it pioneered during his leadership. For example, several weeks after Raisi left, the Foundation announced a contest on which contestants would be quizzed as to the contents of the Protocols film, to better teach the “ways to confront the tricks of Satan.” The public was invited to participate in the contest online and pilgrims encouraged to submit answers using special drop boxes at the Imam Reza Shrine. As head of the Foundation, reportedly the largest holding company in Eastern Iran, Raisi bore responsibility for its exploitation of a major heritage site to spread vicious antisemitism and for letting its financial resources be used to propagate such incitement against the Jewish people. But even since he’s left the Foundation, Raisi has continued to incite hateful conspiracy theories and even violence in his public remarks. Last year, he alleged America and “global Zionism” are plotting to subjugate all Muslims, pulling the strings of a global media empire, hatching devious plans in think tanks and conspiring to insult the Prophet Muhammad. And he cheered on other terrorists, proclaiming “all the Zionists know Hezbollah will drop such rockets and bombs so that no person in Israel will be safe.” Raisi’s history of hate mongering throws into stark relief the twin perils of U.S. engagement with Iran over its nuclear activities. On the one hand, real progress will be tough to achieve with such a regime, especially now that Raisi’s election erases the fiction that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, might be offset by a less provocative Iranian president. But on the other hand, these revelations also highlight the urgency of such negotiations, given how terrifying the prospect would be of nuclear weapons in the hands of such cruel and hateful men. Clearly, such a dilemma offers no easy answers. Yet our discovery that Raisi was responsible for systematically propagating The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, one of the most dangerous tracts in history, provides an unsettling reminder of just how engaged Iran’s government and leaders have been in inciting antisemitism. The revelation appears to substantiate the profound anxiety among Israelis and others in the region about an ascendant and militarized Iran. The Biden Administration’s recent disruption of regime-backed websites that spread Iranian disinformation and bigotry was a positive step, even if those sites already are resuming activity. What’s needed now is a forthright recognition by this Administration that Iran’s regime remains the number one state sponsor of antisemitism, which the Trump team actually got right. And based on that, the Administration should issue a strategy for constraining and counteracting Iran’s initiatives inciting hatred and violence against Jewish communities around the world. The devastation wrought by dictators from Hitler to Stalin to Khomeini brandishing The Protocols should compel all of us to take seriously the threat represented by an Iranian regime bent on acquiring nuclear weapons and sponsoring terrorism across the region. Raisi comes to this job as a perpetrator of crimes against humanity, and no responsible country should host him for a state visit or any official talks. Now the U.S. and all world powers must work together to assure that he can commit no additional crimes against humanity. THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN NEWSWEEK Jonathan A. Greenblatt is the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League.18 CUFI FALL 2021 peaking at Christian’s United for Israel’s 2021 summit in Dallas on Monday, Sandra Hagee Parker, chair of the CUFI Action Fund and daughter of CUFI founder Pastor John Hagee, the organization’s advocacy wing, said with some force that the multiple polls indicating waning support for Israel among evangelicals are false. Parker said she originally planned on speaking about the work her organization was doing in state capitals across the United States to support a pro-Israel agenda, but after the number of questions she had received from reporters on the topic, she felt the need to address what she called the “elephant in the room.” She said it was a fallacy that evangelical support is waning or that it is so closely tied to the Republican Party that their influence is waning with a Democratic administration and Democrats in charge of Congress. Nor, she said, is it weakened by Israel’s new government in the Knesset, which no longer is led by conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Christians have supported every Israeli leader since [first Prime Minister David] Ben-Gurion, and that will not change,” said Parker. “Shame on anybody for thinking that our power comes from an administration, comes from a person, comes from a party.” “If that was the truth, then what we do isn’t worth nothing,” she said to applause from the audience. “Because if a man or a party can give us our power, then a man or a party can take away our power. And what we do because of a biblical mandate, and our God is the source of our power.” While the politicians who spoke at the summit were from the Republican Party, Parker said that CUFI itself will not treat Israel as a political football, applying the same condemnation for Republicans spouting anti-Semitic statements such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) as much as it does Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). “Whether you’re a Democrat or whether you’re a Republican, if you care at all about the politics you aim to support, you should demand that your party clean its own house and take the fringe elements outside, not just merely to the sidelines,” she said. “Kick them out of the party and take a stand once again, and make sure that Israel never becomes a partisan political football because it is just too important.” The stories and polls, she stated, are efforts to discredit their work, saying it loud enough and frequently enough to make it truth. “We will support Israel, and we will continue to confront anti-Semitism in all its forms wherever it can be found—in the schoolhouse, in the church house, in your house, in the White House—it doesn’t matter,” said Parker. “Our support for Israel has no bounds, has no jurisdiction. We go where the fight is. If it’s in politics, we’re there; if it’s on campus, our students are there. If it’s on social media, our employees are there.” The invitation-only audience of leaders and donors at the summit included 145 college students who are members of CUFI on Campus, a college outreach program. She said if it was a full summit like they usually hold in Washington, D.C., there would be as many college students as the total attendance this year that filled an entire ballroom at the conference, which stood at around 700. Parker said the organization has more than 350 campus chapters and hundreds of members of Israel Collective members, a CUFI initiative targeted at millennials. The summit later heard from CUFI on campus and Israel Collective leaders speaking about their work. “So keep your survey, keep pushing your pencils; we have a 15-year track record and 10 million members that prove you wrong,” Parker concluded to wild applause. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE JEWISH NEWS SYNDICATE S “Our support for Israel has no bounds, has no jurisdiction. We go where the fight is. If it’s in politics, we’re there; if it’s on campus, our students are there. If it’s on social media, our employees are there,” said Sandra Hagee Parker. EVANGELICAL SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL ARE ‘FALLACY’ REPORTS OF WANING BY DMITRIY SHAPIRO 19 CUFI FALL 2021 BY DMITRIY SHAPIRO Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid told the gathering of some 700 pro-Israel Christian leaders that the Israeli government is “proud of our Jewish heritage and Jewish identity, and equally proud of our democracy and our commitment to liberty and freedom.” LAPID TO CUFI CONFERENCE: ISRAEL GRATEFUL FOR UNEQUIVOCAL SUPPORT DURING GAZA CONFLICT n a video address to the 2021 summit of Christians United for Israel, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday expressed his appreciation to the largest pro-Israel organization in the United States for their ongoing support—most recently, during and after the 11-day conflict with Hamas in Gaza in May. While its base is American evangelicals, which are largely politically conservative, CUFI as an organization emphasized that it makes its decisions based on the pro-Israel issues it believes in. While evangelicals fervently supported former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, CUFI so far is embracing Israel’s new diverse leadership, including Lapid and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Lapid told the approximately 700 invited attendees to the in-person summit in Dallas that the new administration in Israel plans to represent all Israelis, no matter the level of religiosity, political views or background, including those who did not vote for the coalition government. Lapid said the government is “proud of our Jewish heritage and Jewish identity, and equally proud of our democracy and our commitment to liberty and freedom.” He thanked CUFI for its support of Israel during the recent conflict and for pro-Israel legislation in Congress, including military aid to Israel. Most importantly, Lapid said the country is grateful for not making comparisons between Israel and the terrorist organization that launched more than 4,000 rockets towards Israeli population centers in May. He noted that while wars are devastating and every loss of life, especially those of children, is a tragedy, the world has a responsibility to make clear that Hamas is responsible for these deaths—terrorists who fire rockets and hide behind kids, using them as human shields with a complete disregard for their own civilians. “Our new government has made its policy clear. We will use as much force as necessary to strike back against terrorists and do whatever we can to minimize the impact on innocent civilians,” said Lapid. He pointed to the numerous cooperation initiatives between Israel and the United States, which CUFI has supported through its lobbying efforts, such as the joint Iron Dome air-defense system and the F-35 fighter jet. ISRAEL IS AN OPTIMISTIC STORY There are other, less open collaborations, he said, such as the sharing of intelligence between the two nations that have saved countless of lives. “Israel faces challenges on all fronts— from Hamas in the south to Hezbollah in the north, from Iranian-backed militias in Syria to Iranian scientists developing their nuclear program in Iran. We will face all these challenges head-on alongside our friends… ,” said Lapid. “But the challenges won’t define us. Israel is, at its core, an optimistic story. It is a story of success against all odds and the story continues today.” Lapid spoke after an introduction by Diana Hagee, CUFI co-executive director and wife of CUFI founder Pastor John Hagee. Hagee described the group’s latest visit to Israel in the wake of the conflict, along with former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, where participants met with the new foreign minister. Diana Hagee said Lapid asked her husband why Christians are so supportive of Israel—to which the pastor gave a strong and rather lengthy response. As for Lapid, she said that “we found him to be intelligent, thoughtful and charismatic, and we have every confidence that he will serve as a great statesman for Israel.” REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE JEWISH NEWS SYNDICATE INext >