What drives pro-Israel Evangelicals to advance peace with Gulf Arab states? 

A Jerusalem Post article published the day after the signing of a historic peace agreement with Israel between the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain noted that God was mentioned six times in several speeches that day because faith was the driving force behind the auspicious moment.

“That’s because the seeds for these agreements were planted and watered and ultimately flowered through faith-based diplomacy by Evangelical Christians – the same people who have been a driving force behind the White House’s pro-Israel policy for generations,” Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman wrote.

The English-language Israeli paper turned to Joel Rosenberg, editor-in-chief of All Israel News and All Arab News, and Rev. Johnny Moore, a member of the All Arab News advisory board, to find out what drives the world’s more than 600 million Evangelicals to care about and pray for peace in the Middle East.

U.S. President Donald Trump has long understood the importance of Israel to Evangelicals. He told Fox News the peace deal wasn’t just good for Israel — “It’s incredible for the Evangelicals, by the way.”

Rosenberg has led several delegations of Evangelical Christians to Muslim nations (including the UAE) for talks with leaders there about coexistence, efforts to reign in terrorism and, ultimately, peace with Israel.

• “We want to engage in advancing religious freedom, advancing peace between Israel and her neighbors, and making sure to strengthen our brothers and sisters who are followers of Jesus all throughout the Arab and Muslim world,” Rosenberg told the Jpost. “Above all, Evangelicals want Israel to be safer, stronger and more peaceful.”
• Rosenberg continued: “Abraham, who was given the original grant to the land, divided it with Lot to separate and achieve peace,” which shows that “making compromises for peace is a biblical approach.”
• “We love Israel, because that is where the prophets are from and where Jesus was born and raised, and where the Bible was written.”
• Moore explained to the Jpost, “Our vibrant, global and influential Christian movement not only represents one of the most important constituencies to the presidents of many countries, including the United States, but we are also a type of global firewall against anti-Semitism and its latest iteration in anti-Zionism.”
• “Rather than allowing religion to be a barrier to peace, for Trump, religion and politics are intertwined,” Moore continued. “This is a religious peace – that was the plan from the very beginning.”