The largest influencer delegation in Israel’s history arrived in the country on Tuesday. The group includes 1,000 church leaders and influencers from the United States, initiated by Friends of Zion (FOZ) and at the invitation of the Israeli Foreign Ministry as part of its broader “battle for consciousness,” led by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
The ministry aims to bolster pro-Israel sentiment among sympathetic American audiences. Officials acknowledged that some evangelical support has eroded in recent years, making direct engagement increasingly important.
Each participant is considered a leading figure in their community, on social media, and on other media platforms. The ministry hopes that the visitors will share their experiences widely once back in the U.S., potentially reaching millions.
Another objective is to counter efforts by Qatar, which has invested heavily in evangelical circles in a bid to improve its image. Qatar has poured billions of dollars into U.S. universities over the years and has carried out intensive influence campaigns. According to officials in Jerusalem, these efforts have begun penetrating conservative American circles, including recent trips of American influencers to Qatar.
The ministry described the massive delegation as the “doomsday weapon” of Israel’s public diplomacy.
The initiative is being carried out in cooperation with Friends of Zion in honor of the tenth anniversary of the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem, along with its founder, Dr. Mike Evans, a former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump.
The official opening ceremony, with Sa’ar, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee, is scheduled for Wednesday. Hostage survivor Omer Shem Tov will speak about his experience and receive the Hineni Award for his advocacy work, together with his family’s efforts in international outreach.
The delegation will visit Mount Herzl for a meeting with a senior military figure and bereaved families whose loved ones are buried there. Another event includes a mass prayer gathering with all one thousand visitors on the southern steps of the Western Wall, followed by a meeting with the rabbi of the Western Wall in the plaza, where participants will place notes bearing the names of victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre and pray for their families.
One historical site on the itinerary is Ancient Shiloh in the Binyamin region, where they will meet Israel Ganz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council and chairman of the Yesha Council.
They will also visit the Nova festival site for a gathering with hostage survivors Emily Damari, Tal Shoham, Moran Stella Yanai, and Aviva and Keith Siegel, all of whom will receive FOZ’s Hineni Award for their contributions to international advocacy. The delegation’s formal program concludes on Sunday.
Dan Oren, head of the Foreign Ministry’s department for civil society engagement, said the ministry views the FOZ initiative and Evans’ leadership as an important and welcome effort to bring influential communities to Israel. “We are working to deepen ties with Christian communities in general, and with the evangelical community in particular,” he said.
He added that a delegation of 1,000 religious leaders is “an event of exceptional significance” both because of its scale and because it provides an opportunity to present firsthand the story of the State of Israel and its citizens since Oct. 7. “Direct encounters help convey Israel’s resilience and the spirit of renewal that characterizes the country during this challenging period,” Oren said.
Evans said, “Israel is fighting an ideological war that it cannot win without evangelical support. Israelis make up only 0.12% of the world’s population while evangelicals make up 9.7%,” he said. He warned that “progressive leftists and populist right-wing groups are uniting in attempts to harm Israel’s supporters and that extreme and radical elements are funding campaigns aimed at shifting public opinion, piece by piece.”
He added, “This strategy relies on anti-Israel narratives that create moral ambiguity, amplified by artificial intelligence responses that generate the illusion of mass support.”
Evans recalled that Israel’s ninth president, Shimon Peres, who served as FOZ’s founding international chairman, told him decades ago that the wars of the twenty-first century would be ideological, economic, media-driven and fought through proxies.
“That is exactly why I have mobilized these evangelical leaders,” he said.
