Uruguay Evangelicals host a Night to Celebrate Israel

Reflecting a new groundswell of support for Israel among Evangelicals in South America, Christians in Uruguay hosted leaders from the local Jewish community for the nation’s first Night to Celebrate Israel last week.

Described as a historic event, the Night to Celebrate Israel – held in a Montevideo church on July 20 – was organized by the Latino Coalition for Israel, a ministry based in the United States, and cosponsored by the Combatting Antisemitism Movement. 

Latino Coalition for Israel (LCI) President Mario Bramnick told ALL ISRAEL NEWS that 30 leaders from the Jewish community and the Latin American representative of the World Jewish Congress, were in attendance.

“We want the Jewish community in Latin American nations to know that they are not alone in the midst of hate and a growing new wave of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment,” he said. “We expressed our unconditional love to the Jewish community.” 

Uruguay’s Vice Minister of Environment Gerardo Amarilla and the former President of Guatemala Jimmy Morales were among the dignitaries in attendance.  

LCI’s delegation met with the president, Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou, as well during their trip and thanked him for agreeing to open up Uruguay’s trade office in Jerusalem.

Bramnick invited Morales to join the LCI delegation. As president of Guatemala, Morales became the second president to move his country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, after the United States, and the first Latin American nation to make the move.

“President Morales, against all opposition external and internal, made the bold and courageous decision to move the embassy, as he put it, because ‘It was the right thing to do,’” Bramnick said. “No one has the right to tell a country where they should have their capital.”

Morales described how after former U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would move his embassy to Jerusalem in December 2017, “I asked my foreign minister where our embassy was opened.”

“In Jerusalem,” he replied.

Morales emphasized he was “returning” the embassy to Jerusalem with his historic decision, not transferring it.

Amarilla spoke about Uruguay’s stance in the international arena “of being on Israel’s side, and not because it is sometimes politically correct, but because it is fair.”

“The Jews came to this country – many persecuted and some not persecuted but all seeking and dreaming of a better future – integrated into society and blessed us as a country,” he said.

The event gathered 200 Christians and Jews together in a church for speeches, Israeli dancing and the national anthems of both Uruguay and Israel.

“It was historic in forging unity among the Christians and Jews and forging future relationships,” Bramnick said.

The Latino Coalition for Israel has raised up voices and influencers in the Hispanic community to combat BDS and fight anti-Semitism in the U.S., as well as in Latin America.

LCI has met with about a dozen heads of state in Latin America including Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro several times, President Alejandro Giammattei of Guatemala and President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador.

Bramnick said that when LCI brings a delegation to Latin America, they speak with heads of state about the nation’s relationship with Israel and potentially moving their embassy to Jerusalem.  

“In meeting with pastors and other spiritual leaders, LCI members reinforce the importance of supporting Israel, spiritually and even politically,” Bramnick said. “Every nation that has come against israel has suffered the consequences of their actions from Pharaoh to Hitler to the inquisition in Spain. God judges nations based on how they treat Israel.”

“I tell the pastors that in order for the transformation of their nations, and for the revival and reformation they are waiting for to take place, alignment with Israel is foundational.”