One hundred days.
It's been 100 days since terrorists invaded my homeland, the Jewish people's only home, Israel.
It's been 100 days since hundreds of Israelis were taken hostage.
It's been 100 days of war and sorrow and uncertainty.
But after these 100 days, the one thing I am certain about—that I've always been certain about, and have seen more than ever in the days since Oct. 7—is that the Jewish state and the Jewish people have true friends in Christians around the world.
That's why it has been so unsettling to see anti-Semitism being spread in the name of Christianity—by those on the fringes, and those in mainstream media. But you know who has notbeen fooled by these lies?
Israel has more than 700 million Christian friends worldwide. As people who value human life—in this fight against those who don't hold life sacred, we all—Christians and Jews—must take a stand now, before it's too late. The time to stand for Israel and the Jewish people in now,as hateful and dangerous anti-Semitism has risen by nearly 400 percent in the 100 days since Hamas' attacks on the Jewish people.
During these 100 days of war, I've been shocked to see centuries-old blood libels revived, which have always been intended to divide the Christian and Jewish communities and make them see one another as enemies: "The Jews killed Jesus..." (...no, the Romans did).
Over these past 100 days, I've also seen new anti-Semitic theories spread like wildfire, all of them, too, based on historical inaccuracies—including Munther Isaac in the New York Times and Father Edward Beck on CNN both saying that if Jesus were born today, he'd be a Palestinian (...no, Jesus was a Jew, born in what the Bible calls the Land of Israel, more than 100 years before Judea was named Palestine by the Romans).
As I've heard these dangerous, harmful, evil anti-Semitic tropes spewed, it makes me wonder why Jesus' own people—the Jewish people—are being attacked in his name.
Because today, Jesus would be a Jewish citizen of the Jewish state—the only country in the Middle East where the Christian population is growing, up 1.3 percent from the year before, with 187,900 Christians living in freedom. More than 20 percent of Israel's population is not Jewish and enjoys full legal equality.
Jesus today, would be proud to be an Israeli.
Today, the Jewish Jesus certainly wouldn't live in or even be allowed to visit biblical places like Gaza or Jericho or Bethlehem—these are places in which no Israelis are able to enter.
And like Israelis of all faiths—Jewish, Christian, and Muslim—Jesus would be in the middle of this ongoing war, spending time in a bomb shelter as terrorist rockets have targeted nearly every city in the Holy Land, including Jesus' hometown of Nazareth, these past 100 days.
One reason I am shocked, terrified, and outraged that such antisemitism is spreading is because Jewish-Christian relations have come so far. Bridges built on faith and fellowship have ended what have been centuries of distrust and worse. For the first time in history, millions of Christians and Jews are standing shoulder-to-shoulder in shared Judeo-Christian values we hold sacred. I guess it makes sense that the terrorists and the forces of darkness are trying to destroy what we, as people of faith in a loving God who sanctifies life, have achieved.
But those evil forces will never win. Today more than ever, millions of Christian friends around the world do stand for Israel.
Millions of Christians have stood with Israel—with their prayers and their support—during this war. Instead of joining the trending calls for Israel's destruction, they're praying for our strength and our success in wiping out Hamas, the modern day Amalek.
Millions of Christian friends of the Jewish people act by boldly rejecting the anti-Semitic lies being spread and by speaking up and spreading the truth about Israel.
No longer will a huge portion of the Christian community be fooled by hatred and lies, nor will they be fooled into spreading them. Israel's Christian friends are too committed to spreading love and support for their Jewish brothers and sisters, as they fight for survival in the only Jewish homeland.
The rising anti-semitism across the globe, only serves as a stark reminder to us all, why the Jewish people need a safe haven.
In Israel, it has been a beacon of hope for all of us, to see how millions of Christians love, pray, and act for Israel during our fight for survival, as enemies on every side try to destroy the land of the Jewish people, the Promised Land of the Bible.
No longer will Christians and Jews be separated by lies and hatred. Today, we stand unified.
These past 100 days, as Israel's enemies have chanted, "from the river to the sea," Israel's millions of Christian friends continue the same chorus to which they've been committed for more than 75 years:
Never again.
Yael Eckstein is President and CEO of The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (The Fellowship), one of the world's largest religious charitable organizations. The Jerusalem Post's 2023 Humanitarian Award recipient and 3-time honoree on its 50 Most Influential Jews list, Yael is a Chicago-area native based in Israel with her husband and their four children.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
