Our President and Global CEO, Yael Eckstein, sits down with friend of The Fellowship Ben Ferguson on his show to talk about this year’s Flags of Fellowship participation, the threat of normalized anti-Semitism, and radical terrorism:
As you were speaking about, the level of anti-Semitism that we’ve seen that’s on the rise still since October 7 is something that is terrifying. We all thought that was something of the past and people that cherish freedom, and cherish the free world, and want a good future for our children –they realize that it always starts with the Jews and it never ends with the Jews. In fact, not only are we helping Jewish people in need, we are also helping persecuted Christians. We have a project at The Fellowship where we go into Syria and Lebanon to help Christians who are persecuted and targeted by the same enemies who are targeting Israel. And so, we hear the voices of Christians around the world who are saying, “We stand with Israel, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We read the Scriptures. We don’t stand with that darkness of anti-Semitism that is getting such a strong platform on mainstream media and social media around the world. What can we do to have our voices be heard?”
And so, after getting that question so many times from different pastors and individual Christians, The Fellowship started our Flags of Fellowship program. It’s a memorial around October 7 when we invite the grassroots Christian community –and in fact, this year the Jewish community, in a large way, has also joined in synagogues and Jewish institutions to plant 1,200 flags. And that each flag represents a life that was lost on October 7 and to learn about Israel because the more we learn about Israel the less these lobbies have power. We were blown away the amount of churches that wanted to join.
We set goals of 500 churches that would join, 700 churches that would join. This year, we had over 4,500 churches in 13 countries including UAE, South Africa, Australia, who have planted those flags in Flags of Fellowship in solidarity of praying for Israel and remembering October 7. So, at this very moment Ben, within all the darkness, within all the hatred, within all the anti-Semitism, there are over 5.2 million Israeli flags waving on church grounds saying that hatred, that darkness, is unacceptable.
Yes, there is real evil, and they are targeting people who are naive. They learned from history. They learned what works. Unfortunately, you look at communism and Nazism, you see exactly how it gets to be that evil, that dark, and it doesn’t happen overnight. It starts with lots of small gestures, with breaking taboos, with spreading lies, with targeting innocent people. And you, Ben, are so brave. You are brave. You are knowledgeable. You are bold. And unfortunately, we have so many people who don’t know better and they’re falling into the hands of this darkness and becoming one of the spreaders of this evil. Because when it comes down to it, each one of us has to think about our futures –as Americans, as Europeans, as Israelis. What do we want the future for our children and grandchildren to look like.
Because there’s only two choices. There’s the life of freedom and democracy, of hope and sanctifying life, or there’s the darkness of Islamism that is really no different than communism or Nazism. It’s a theology and philosophy and evilness that is taking over the world and doesn’t have any regard for borders. And so, for every single person who’s hearing this, for every single person who understands the lies and doesn’t want to be part of that darkness –it’s time to stand up. And, I’m hopeful. Maybe I’m naive but I’m hopeful.
I’ve seen so many Christians through the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews who are saying, “I’ve learned from history. I’ve studied history. I will not let that happen on my watch. And you know what, Ben? We’ve all studied of Corrie ten Boom and Oskar Schindler who risked their lives in order to save Jewish people from the Nazis during World War II. And by you not taking that money that you were offered and joining that darkness, you are at the level of the modern-day Corrie ten Boom, Oskar Schindler, and every single person who speaks out is spreading that light and light always dispels the darkness.
As Israel is rebuilding from this war on seven fronts, and just to put it in perspective, Israel is the size of New Jersey. You could drive from one side of the country to the other in three hours. And as we’re recovering being at war with seven different countries and thousands of rockets and ballistic missiles being thrown at our cities –there are so many needs. And so, it’s crazy to think about how The Fellowship has identified needs for bulletproof ambulances, because there’s terror attacks. You may not here about it, but there’s still terror attacks almost every single day.
Actually, just a week ago, the Israel Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter, his son was in a terrorist attack and he’s still in a coma. Ambassador Leiter’s other son was killed just a few years ago by terror. And so, it’s a daily reality here in Israel. So, we need bullet proof ambulances. We need underground hospitals so that when ballistic missiles are falling, at least the hospitals can be safe. We need bomb shelters placed at bus stops where children are waiting because when the rockets are fired, they have 15 seconds to find shelter, and they can’t wait safely at the bus stop without a shelter there.
On top of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and sheltering the poor, we are looking at the Scripture that says we see the watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem, and here it says, Naḥamû ’ammi yōmar ’ĕlōhêkem –comfort, comfort, my people. And we’re doing everything we can as Israel is rebuilding to let them know Christians around the world stand with Israel in prayer and in action.