US rabbi and pastor team up to ‘check & examine’ Syria’s new gov’t amid push for international legitimacy

An unusual tag-team made up of a Jewish rabbi and an evangelical pastor will soon travel to Syria to “check and examine” the country’s new Islamist government, which continues attempts to improve relations with the West despite the recent Islamist attacks on the Druze community.

This was first reported by Israel Hayom, whose reporter talked to Rabbi Abraham Cooper and Pastor Johnnie Moore after they recently met Syria’s new foreign minister in the U.S.

According to the report, their upcoming visit will not be in any official capacity but will happen with President Donald Trump’s approval.

Cooper and Moore have acted as diplomatic vanguards in the past, and both have close ties to the Trump administration.

Rabbi Cooper told the Israeli newspaper that the goal of the trip will be, “To check and examine. We are not naive. We did not experience a moment of kumbaya.”

A decade ago, Moore and Cooper traveled to Bahrain on a similar mission, which eventually led to the entry of the Gulf country into the Abraham Accords.

However, the context is much more challenging this time, as the trip will follow shortly after dozens were killed in clashes between Islamist militias associated with the new government and Druze forces in southern Syria.

Israel has expressed its strong support for the Druze, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted several air strikes and a supply drop in Suweida province to assist the Druze.

Despite the deadly clashes, the government of President Ahmad al-Sharaa is officially continuing on a line designed to win the support and approval of the Western countries, which it desperately needs for sanctions relief and assistance in reconstructing the war-torn country.

On Sunday, the Interior Ministry announced it had initiated expedited procedures to arrest members of its security forces suspected of harming civilians in a Druze suburb of Damascus.

“The rule of law is the basis for addressing all issues within Syria,” the ministry declared, adding it “reiterates that any harm to civilians will be dealt with severely by means prescribed by law.”

In addition, after the grave of a Jewish rabbi was vandalized in Damascus last week, Kan News reported that a pit dug into the grave had been filled and covered up.

The report added that the rabbi of the Syrian Jewish community in Israel, Rabbi Benjamin Hamra, was in contact with people close to Syrian President al-Shara, in an effort to repair the damage and increase security around it.

Moore and Cooper said that Foreign Minister al-Shibani came into their recent meeting in the U.S. “well prepared, with detailed answers. It was clear that he had prepared,” Cooper told Israel Hayom.

Cooper and Moore presented a humanitarian project they would like to implement in Syria, with the cooperation of several countries, including Israel.

While the two countries have never made peace in the past, and relations have been particularly tense in recent weeks, U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman recently expressed optimism about the prospects for peace following a meeting with al-Sharaa in Damascus.

Cooper added, “We have an interest in what’s happening with minorities, and with non-Muslim religious groups.”

He said al-Sharaa knows “that Syria cannot be rebuilt the way he envisions without the U.S. His vision is to unify Syria and rehabilitate it, but that can only happen if the international sanctions on Syria are lifted. And that won’t happen without U.S. approval. They know they need America.”

In their meeting with Shibani, Cooper and Moore, also said they emphasized that normalization with Israel will be a necessary condition for ties with the U.S.

“The Syrian regime understands that enormous tasks lie ahead of it in order to realize the vision of Syria’s reconstruction. Words are easy,” Cooper said.

However, he also warned: “But we also need to remember what happened with the Taliban. They promised to uphold minority rights and education for women. And today girls are studying at home. So there is a vision, but we need to see how it’s implemented and whether it can be implemented. Especially since in Syria, it’s always complicated.”