Mike Evans Lashes Out as Netanyahu Faces Ouster, Renewing Debate Over U.S. Evangelical Support for Israel

Mike Evans, a prominent Christian author and evangelist who was a member of former President Trump’s evangelical advisory board, has had a difficult year. Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, looks likely to lose his post if a new coalition government is formed as expected. The source notes that Netanyahu is not leaving quietly and describes him as appearing to borrow Trump’s “election fraud” playbook.

Evans responded with what the source describes as rambling, lewd, and vitriolic statements aimed at the leaders of the proposed coalition. In one, he said, “They’re willing to carve up the bird, the soul of the nation, simply to vent their spleens on one man they despise and God who chose him to be prime minister.”

The source also reports that Evans appeared to blame Jews for the Holocaust while suggesting that those who opposed Netanyahu were doing the same thing. He wrote: “I understand how the Holocaust happened. German Jews were busy insulting each other, drunk on the wine of pride. They did not see the smoke of Auschwitz rising because they were more German than they were Jews.” He then addressed an expletive-filled letter to the man expected to become Israel’s next prime minister, telling him not to call himself a defender of Zion.

Evans runs several ministries devoted to building support for Israel, including Churches United With Israel, the Jerusalem Prayer Team, and the Friends of Zion Museum. He has also been politically active, meeting with Trump and then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to advocate for moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and for closer administration support of Netanyahu’s policies. He has been close to several Israeli leaders, including former prime minister Menachem Begin.

The source cites a 2013 Pew Research Center poll finding that 82% of white evangelicals believed God gave the land of Israel today to the Jews. Only 19% of Christians living in Israel agreed. Most Israeli Christians are Arab, and 86% of them said the U.S. was too supportive of Israel politically, compared with 12% of U.S. white evangelicals. White evangelicals in the U.S. also gave higher responses on these questions than American Jews did. Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer urged Israel’s government to intensify engagement with American evangelicals, saying, “If you look just at numbers, you should be spending a lot more time doing outreach to evangelical Christians than you would do to Jews.” He noted that evangelicals make up about a quarter of the U.S. population and Jews less than 2%.

When Evans said at a press conference in Jerusalem that “Bibi Netanyahu is the only man in the world that unites evangelicals,” the source notes that polling has shown U.S. evangelicals view the prime minister more favorably than any other world leader. Christians in the Middle East, however, appear more divided from them. Azar Ajaj, president of Nazareth Evangelical College, cited several reasons Christians there are less supportive of Netanyahu, including his ongoing trial on bribery, fraud, and other corruption charges, which could result in significant prison time. Ajaj said, “Although he has not been convicted yet, as Christian believers we can’t support him.” He added that Netanyahu “created a culture of lies and of breaking promises,” and that “They simply do not believe him” (Proverbs 11:1, honest dealing being essential to public trust).

The divide was visible several years ago when Sen. Ted Cruz spoke at an event on the plight of Christian communities in the Middle East. Addressing a crowd that included many Arab Christians, he said, “Christians have no greater ally than Israel,” which prompted boos and shouts of opposition. Cruz responded, “Those who hate Israel hate America,” and “If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you.” Shortly afterward, he launched a presidential campaign heavily focused on winning the support of white evangelicals. The conservative Christian writer Rod Dreher criticized him, saying, “I still could not get over the audacity and the cruelty of the act, and the shamelessness of his using the most persecuted and threatened Christians in the world to boost his own political prospects or to cover his flank with his domestic audience.”

In the era of Trump, the source notes, evangelical support for a non-religious politician facing numerous scandals is no longer hard to imagine. But evangelical support for Netanyahu came decades before that of Trump.

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