Standing up for Israel: What are you doing?

Jerusalem Report

from the founder of the Jerusalem Prayer Team

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Dear Art,

On Monday, I met for two hours with the Her Majesty Farah Pahlavi, former empress of Iran at her home outside Washington. She has been so kind as to send my book, Jimmy Carter: The Liberal Left and World Chaos to many Muslims. She also said that my message was going into Iran in Farsi.

The empress told me that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran wanted to win over voters for the upcoming election. He took a truckload of oranges to a poor town and began giving them away…until someone saw the stamp “Jaff” on them. They were from Jaffa, Israel.

I am still in Washington, DC, meeting with political leaders and defending Israel at every opportunity. Why? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Barack Obama in two weeks. The Arab world wants an Islamic Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. They believe the survivors of the Holocaust stole their house, “the land of Israel.” The Palestinian Authority wants the right to own airspace, an army, and institute treaties. Israel would become another Lebanon if that were to happen. (It was I who recommended Benjamin Netanyahu for his first appointment. At the time, I was advising Prime Minister Menachem Begin.)

The White House can make life a living hell for Israel economically if Israel chooses not to capitulate. I had dinner last night with over 100 Congressmen and White House staff. During the meeting, slides of former presidents were shown to the assembled group. A slide of Jimmy Carter, who brokered the Camp David Peace Accords, drew murmurs of disapproval. Since leaving office, Mr. Carter has become severely critical of Israel. Shortly, I will go to the Senate.

At one meeting in Washington, Iran’s nuclear program came under harsh criticism. Three experts from the international community talked of the danger to Israel if Iran is allowed to produce nuclear arms. Tehran continues to reject UN Security Council demands that it halt its nuclear works. Iran is considered the major sponsor of terrorism worldwide and overtly supports both Hamas and Hezbollah, terrorist neighbors to Israel.

I believe with all my heart that we can win this battle if we unite. The national anthem of Israel is Hatikvah, which means “hope.” Israelis are not allowed to respond with sorrow when it is played. They pick themselves up so the nation can move forward with hope, and a hope-filled future. You and I must do the same.

While President Ahmadinejad was cursing the Jewish state as a “stinking corpse that must be wiped off the map,” tens of thousands of Jews were at the Kotel (Western Wall). Sirens wailed across the entire nation of Israel in remembrance of those Jews who died in wars defending the Jewish state and the six million who died in the Holocaust, including a million children, as the world slept.

The solemn ceremony of remembrance day cannot overshadow the joy of independence day, Yom Ha'atzmaut. I’ve attended this ceremony many times and watched as young soldiers gathered to display the Star of David and the seven-branched candlestick, singing and dancing. Twelve torches are lit to represent the twelve tribes of Israel.

Mike Evans



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