New Christian Conference of Presidents aims to support Israel
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations was formed in response to the Eisenhower administration’s request for a unified, consensus, coherent agenda for American Jewry.
This week, the Conference of Presidents of Christian Organizations in Support of Israel launched, and its founders say they’re modeling it after the Jewish umbrella.
“I hope not,” deadpanned David Friedman, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, knowing how unwieldy the Jewish Conference of Presidents, with its 52 national Jewish organizations spanning the political spectrum, can be.
Friedman was among those in attendance on Tuesday for the launch reception in Arlington, Virginia, to which 100 presidents of top Christian organizations and Christian influencers were invited.
The effort is being led by Rev. Tony Perkins, Family Research Council president; Michele Bachmann, dean of the school of government at Regent University and former U.S. congresswoman; Mario Bramnick, Latino Coalition for Israel president; and Luke Moon, executive director of the Philos Project.
Moon told JNS that since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, “there have been a lot of moments where I really wish that I did not have to go to every organization I know individually and say, ‘Let’s do this thing together.’”
He said the new organization presents “an opportunity to have one place where everybody, all the leaders, are there, and we can really speak with not only one voice but also mobilize our networks and our members and our people to be more involved.”
Bramnick said he has gone on a few missions to Israel with longtime Jewish Conference of Presidents executive Malcolm Hoenlein, and that’s where the idea for the newly launched group sprung.
“I was so impressed just by what they were able to accomplish in terms of their influence abroad and in the United States,” Bramnick told JNS. “And I started thinking, if the Jewish community represents about 2% of the American public, the Christian community represents around 30%. The potential of an organization like this to strongly support a secure, safe and sovereign nation of Israel is huge.”
While the Christian COP doesn’t vary politically to the extent the Jewish COP does, Bramnick told JNS that it isn’t necessarily organizations that focus on Israel as a policy item that are being invited.
Friedman, who together with Israeli American Council CEO Elan Carr and educator and writer Rabbi Pesach Wolicki were among the Jews in attendance at Tuesday’s launch, said that humility is just as important as developing consensus in the Conference of Presidents format.
“It’s always difficult for religious organizations that have strong followings with charismatic people with justifiably large egos to work together and to kind of consolidate,” Friedman told JNS. “The reality is that whether it’s Jews or Christians or any other group, the leadership of America only has the capacity to absorb a certain amount of messaging, and the more that the messaging can be consolidated and funneled through a single source by someone who is respected and speaks for the large group, it’s great.”
Friedman asserted that a single-voiced Christian Conference of Presidents on Israel would be even more powerful, given its sheer numbers and its already-established political pull.
“It’s always good to get everybody in a room and force everyone to ponder what we really agree upon. What are our key points? And how do we want to present it, and how do we want to phrase it?” he said. “And it’s a good discipline, even if people walk out of the room and maybe go in different directions on other points.”
Bachmann told JNS that there is an extra duty within the Christian community in a post-Oct. 7 environment to support Israel, saying that “we’re in a magic moment right now, a very special moment, when I’ve seen more flowering than I’ve ever seen in my life between the Christian community and the Jewish community.
“You can’t look at a horror like October 7 and you can’t be human and have a heart and not have your heart broken over something like that. It kind of quickened the hearts of Christians and slapped us in the face,” she said. “If we don’t show up now, when Israel is under constant attack, if we can’t figure this out, then who are we?”
Earlier in the week, Bachmann helped launch Regent’s Institute of Israel Studies, with Friedman and Ohad Tal, a Knesset member from the Religious Zionism Party, in attendance at the school in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She told JNS it’s one example where the Christian community aims to have influence on Israel issues.
“Our whole purpose is really to be an antidote to Columbia University and all these elite universities where you’ve had all the [anti-Israel] protests,” said Bachmann. “We want to partner with secular schools, Jewish schools, Christian schools, churches, and put out a baseline of information about Israel, about the Jewish people, the right to the land, but then also intersect that with current events.”
Moon said every invitee responded positively to the idea of the Christian Conference of Presidents, though not all could make it to the launch, which also included a working meeting on Wednesday morning. Moon said he doesn’t anticipate the group will take much concrete action until after the U.S. election in November when the political landscape is expected to become much clearer.
But, he said the group is planning a pro-Israel rally on Washington’s National Mall to mark the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre.
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