President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal hosted a delegation of 70 evangelical and pro with a combined social media following of 300 million at the President's Residence in Jerusalem.
President Herzog told the delegation: "We are grateful to President Trump for leading almost single-handedly a strategic change to end the war and return the hostages. We all pray for his success and the return of the hostages and the establishment of peace in the entire region."
To the delegation he said: "You are loyal ambassadors of Israel and I thank you for your steadfastness in standing by our side in the war of light against darkness. We are fighting the whole free world's war, and struggling for the future of our children and the children of many countries in the region."
The President added that: "Israel relies on its sons who serve in the army, including my son, because we have no choice but to fight against many enemies on several fronts. The terrorist organizations in Gaza use the population as human shields, hiding weapons and missile production sites in children's bedrooms, schools and mosques. Yet, the IDF operates with moral rectitude, and the ratio of non-combatant casualties to other armies, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the lowest. The peaceful people of Kibbutzim Beeri and Nir Oz drove Palestinian patients to hospitals, and they were the first to be murdered on the seventh of October. This is the gulf between us, the people of peace, and the people of darkness of the terrorist organizations."
The President's wife, Michal Herzog, stated that: "I have been devoting a great deal of time to the testimonies of the women who were raped, tortured and murdered on the seventh of October. These testimonies are shocking and unbearable. Women were raped, tortured and murdered. Look at what happened in Syria in the Druze massacre and you will understand that Israel is fighting for the entire free world, including for the Druze women and the babies in Syria."
The delegation was organized by the Wings of Eagles organization, founded by Bishop Robert Sterns, one of the most prominent evangelical voices supporting Israel, who founded three decades ago what has come to be known as the Birthright Project for the younger evangelical generation. In this context, hundreds of young people arrive in Israel every year to get acquainted with the country and become unofficial ambassadors in their countries of origin. "I am concerned that Israel will lose the young evangelical generation," Starnes noted at the meeting. "We are on the brink of it, if we do not act broadly and increase the resources needed to connect the communities, we may lose them."