A coalition of more than 500 rabbis, pastors, and faith leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., this week to commemorate Israel Advocacy Day and meet with Capitol Hill lawmakers amid rising antisemitism and antagonism toward the Jewish state.
“Antisemitism has tested America,” Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, told the gathering, acknowledging that it has “exposed the degree to which America’s institutions, notably higher learning institutions, have been poisoned by radical ideas.”
“Libels of genocide and starvation proliferate, and then antisemitism spreads like contagion and it kills in the name of goodness and liberation,” Leiter noted.
Rep. Don Bacon, R‑Neb., a co-chair of the House Antisemitism Task Force, warned during a congressional reception Tuesday evening that anti-Israeli sentiment has become the “dominant” position within the Democratic Party.
“My colleagues across the aisle on the Democrat side, what I see right now is a very anti-Israel dominance on the Democrat side and that scares me because [support of Israel] used to be bipartisan,” Bacon said, according to Jewish Insider. “I got a lot of friends on the Democrat side that are pro-Israel, but right now the anti-Israel tone is dominant.”
Bacon shared how it’s happening even in his own state—and his own party.
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“I see it in my primary back in Nebraska right now, where there’s two Democrats vying for the nomination and one is attacking the other for being pro-Israel,” Bacon said. “I don’t want to let that happen on my side of the aisle, and I’ve seen it grow on our side of the aisle.”
On Tuesday, Bacon posted on X his concerns about a Republican candidate in his home state of Nebraska: “So Scott Peterson, the candidate for NE secretary of state, goes on the radio and defends a statement made by a member of his team who says the Jews were behind the killing of Charlie Kirk. There is no place for this in the Republican Party.”
“There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” Bacon told the Israel Advocacy Day gathering. “I see all the time on social media that Israel is paying me to do this. No, these are U.S. citizens who love Israel and who hate antisemitism. And it’s important for us to know that U.S. citizens are doing this.”
Born Out of Oct. 7
Israel Advocacy Day was born out of a post-Oct. 7 gathering of dozens of faith leaders. According to a press release, it has since evolved into a large-scale, structured platform with growing impact—positioning faith leaders as an active voice engaging with elected officials to discuss U.S. policy related to Israel and the global fight against antisemitism and extremism.
International Christian Embassy Jerusalem–USA, Eagles’ Wings, and the Israel Allies Foundation hosted the Washington event, which brought together faith leaders from more than 37 states and conducted over 100 meetings with lawmakers.
The agenda focused on three key priorities: strengthening U.S. support for Israel; confronting the rise of antisemitism; and advancing resources and policies to safeguard synagogues, churches, and religious institutions facing growing threats.
A Right to Exist
The three-day Israel Advocacy Day event kicked off Monday, the same day swastikas and Hitler graffiti were scrawled on multiple homes and Jewish religious sites across Queens, New York—including on a synagogue started by refugees fleeing the Holocaust, the New York Post reported. On the second day of the event, keffiyeh-clad anti-Israel protesters surrounded a Manhattan synagogue chanting, “Israel should not exist.”
“Zionism is moral and just, and we must start carrying ourselves like it, unapologetically, unequivocally,” Leiter said. “We shouldn’t have to thank people for acknowledging the right of Israel to defend herself or the right of Israel to exist.”
“Claims that Jews are not indigenous to the land [of Israel] is what legitimizes” Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, he added.
Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, spoke of the onslaught of antisemitic attacks against Jews in America—and the power of Jews and Christians joining as one in prayer and support.
“We have been living through a period that feels like a plague,” Fingerhut said. “From the Oct. 7 attacks to just this last year—when we experienced the murder of two beautiful young people in D.C., Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim—and just a month ago, a terrorist attack at one of the largest synagogues in America, this is what we’ve been living through together.
“But today, in Washington, with Jews and Christians sitting together, holding hands, determined to lift up the light for all the people of the world, the plague has lifted.”
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