Pro-Israel advocacy group continues to receive support from local Christians

Staff photo by Wyatt Massey / Bob Scott, Tennessee coordinator for Christians United for Israel, speaks at Redemption Point Church on Sept. 8.
Staff photo by Wyatt Massey / Bob Scott, Tennessee coordinator for Christians United for Israel, speaks at Redemption Point Church on Sept. 8.
photo Staff photo by Wyatt Massey / Irving Roth, a Holocaust survivor, speaks at Redemption Point Church for Christians United for Israel on Sept. 8.

Last week, Southeast Tennessee residents had several opportunities to join Christians United for Israel, one of the largest pro-Israel advocacy groups in the country.

Along with speeches from state and regional Christians United leaders, audience members heard from a Holocaust survivor about why they should contribute to the advocacy organization in support of Israel. Redemption Point Church and Bryan College hosted the Christians United fundraising events on Sept. 8 and 9, respectively.

Bob Scott, state coordinator for Christians United for Israel, said the organization has more than 7 million members during a presentation at the Ooltewah church on Sunday. Scott's presentation highlighted the ongoing threats to the Jewish state, such as rising anti-Semitism in Europe and the United States, as well as violent rhetoric directed at Israel from leaders of Middle Eastern countries and regional terrorist organizations.

Scott, and other presenters, regularly compared the realities faced by Jews in 2019 to those faced by Jews in 1939 during the buildup to World War II.

"When you see some of the things that are going on today, you could think this could very well happen again," Scott said. "I'm telling you, it's 1939 again. They're coming. It's time for us to stand."

Allison Padilla-Goodman, southern regional director for the Anti-Defamation League, said the previous two years have marked among the highest annual numbers of anti-Semitic incidents in the ADL's 40 years of doing audits.

"The anti-Semitism today is much more in your face," Padilla-Goodman said. "It's feeling much more normalized and finding comfort in places it hadn't before."

This week, the Rock at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville was covered with a message stating Jews were responsible for 9/11. An incident like that on a college campus would have been almost unthinkable before, Padilla-Goodman said. The rise of anti-Semitism should concern all people, she said.

photo Staff photo by Wyatt Massey / Bob Scott, Tennessee coordinator for Christians United for Israel, speaks at Redemption Point Church on Sept. 8.

"All marginalized people are literally under attack right now," she said. "Anti-Semitism feels a little too normal right now, but so does racism and xenophobia and homophobia and whatever other kind of hatred you want."

In Israel, tensions between the Jewish people and Palestinians, which have often turned violent, have continued since the creation of the Jewish state in 1948 after decades of British rule.

Palestinian forces fired 1,138 rockets from Gaza into Israel in 2018, resulting in one death and 40 injuries, according to Human Rights Watch's most recent world report. The Israeli army attacked with air strikes of its own, killing 37 Palestinians during a nearly eight-month period in 2018.

Israel controls the West Bank and Gaza, where Palestinians live, limiting Palestinian access to water and electricity. The Israeli government has moved to expand housing developments in the West Bank, destroying the homes of and displacing more than 400 people in 2018, according to Human Rights Watch. Before the vote on his re-election next week, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his government would seize control of land in the West Bank now controlled by Palestinians.

Scott said the Israeli govenment was not to blame for the state of the Palestinian people. Rather, the problems lie with Palestinian political groups, such as Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. Several countries list Hamas as a terrorist organization.

"The Palestinian people sometimes suffer some things," Scott said. "But can I tell you, tonight, no matter what you've heard in the news, it's not because of the Israelis. It's because of their own leadership and the Palestinian authorities that they suffer daily."

Palestinian support for Hamas, which helped bring the group to power, has faded in recent years. The majority of Palestinians, as well as the majority of citizens in neighboring Arab nations, are concerned about Islamic extremism, according to the Pew Research Center.

The United States receives God's blessing because it stands with Israel, Scott said. He is scared of what will happen if the U.S. ends its support. In the Bible, the people who go against God are forgotten, he said, and the churches who support Christians United for Israel, and therefore support Israel, will receive a "windfall" of blessings.

"Whenever the people of Israel are in the property that God has promised them, it gives glory to God and to God alone," Scott said.

Irving Roth, who survived the Holocaust, shared his story at the Christians United events. Roth was held in Auschwitz, where several of his family members were killed. He was rescued by American forces as he was nearing death from starvation, he said.

Roth's parents survived because they were sheltered by a Christian nurse in Budapest, he said.

"My parents survived because someone was willing to help," Roth said. "It was a tremendous, awful situation where millions of people were involved in killing Jews and there were those who said, 'No. This is evil.'"

Christians United for Israel is an organization that stands up for Jews, Roth said, emphasizing that there are threats to Israel coming from within the United States Congress.

"Members of Congress of the United States are pushing and promoting the destruction of Israel," Roth said. "They must not succeed. This is evil."

The critiques of Congress offered at the Christians United event appeared to focus on Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and Massachusetts Rep. Rashi Tlaib. Both members of Congress, who are Muslim, were denied entry into Israel in part because of their plan to visit occupied territories.

Christians United believes the Israeli people have a historical right to the land, according to the organization's marketing materials. The organization hosts a summit in Washington, D.C., along with programs at colleges and prayer gatherings. The pledge money gathered at the events this week goes to the college program to educate students and bring them to events, such as the summit in Washington.

Last year, Christians United's lobbying branch, Christians United for Israel Action Fund, spent $120,000 on lobbying, making it one of the largest pro-Israel lobbying groups, according to The Center for Responsive Politics.

Michael Dzik, Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga executive director, said his organization welcomes Christians United's efforts in supporting legislation and advocating for the Jewish community. The two groups have worked together for seven years, he said.

"It's heartwarming to see that there are Christians and churches that are supportive of the Jewish community and of Israel," Dzik said. "At a time when there's a lot of hate and anti-semitism especially, and lots of other forms of hate that are out there, to have people who are friends to the Jewish community, that we have things in common with it's refreshing for us."

Thousands of people attended Christians United for Israel events in East Tennessee in the past year, Dzik said.

Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Find him on Twitter at @News4Mass.

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