MONTREAL — Christian Zionists and Jewish community clergy and figures came together recently to bless and defend the State of Israel at a local State of Israel Bonds event.
Rev. Majed El Shafie of One Free World International ministries addresses State of Israel Bonds interfaith evening.
The Nov. 21 event, “Our First Interfaith Evening,” drew some 250 people to Catch the Fire, a West Island Christian evangelical church.
At the event, which Bonds organized in conjunction with Catch the Fire church, Jews and Christians expressed – at times emotionally – their heartfelt common devotion to Israel.
Among them were Israeli Consul General Yoram Elron; Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, of Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem; Catch the Fire Pastor Gerry Plunket, and Rev. Majed El Shafie, the Christian founder of One Free World International ministries, which defend freedom of religion and human rights around the world.
Bonds has held similar events in Ottawa and Toronto, and has material in which financial planner Grant Jeffrey, a Christian, describes the “Christian” interest in investing in Bonds.
This includes showing “practical support with a financial investment in the rebuilding of the Nation of Israel as prophesied through the Word of God.”
The attraction of Bonds investments for Christians was referred to in the program distributed to interfaith evening guests.
But Maria Corsi, the director of Bonds’ fledgling Interfaith Relations division in Quebec formed last June, was adamant that selling brotherhood – not Bonds – was the only thing on the agenda.
“The whole reason for this evening was to build bridges and form friendships between the communities,” said Corsi, who is a Christian Zionist.
Rev. El Shafie, the guest speaker for the evening, said in an interview that he rued the fact the world has seen such a significant rise in antisemitism, with both Christians and Jews facing increased persecution.
“It is one of the things our religions have in common,” he said.
A lawyer by training, the Cairo-born minister was born into a Muslim family but converted to Christianity.
When he began to build his own ministries in Egypt espousing full religious rights for all faiths, authorities arrested and tortured him for a week in Cairo’s Abu Zaabal prison before he was able to escape and flee to Israel, where he revelled in its humane and democratic spirit. Rev. El Shafie moved to Canada eight years ago and has since become a citizen, he said.
“In the absence of light, darkness prevails,” he said. “I want to emphasize the unity of the Christian and Jewish communities in fighting against persecution.
“I’m in favour of supporting the State of Israel economically, politically, in any way we can,” he added.
Elron described Rev. El Shafie as a “righteous soul” fighting for the legal rights of Egypt’s Christian minority.
“It is at times like these that I am reminded that although public opinion is often stacked against Israel, that we are not alone and that we have many friends and staunch supporters among our Christian brothers and sisters.”
Elron noted that Christians in Israel – two per cent of the population – enjoy full rights and religious freedoms.
In the context of the constant threat of “jihadist terrorism” facing Israel, Elron said, “the support of Israel’s Christian friends is more important than ever… Together we face a common enemy – the enemy of freedom and democracy – and need to stand united, shoulder to shoulder.”
In a written message to the evening’s participants, Corsi said that the “ongoing connection between the State of Israel and Christian Zionists is truly a partnership of common values.”
Event attendees also included Pastor Jean Lépine; Robert Issenman of Canada-Israel Securities (Bonds); Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg; former Canadian ambassador to Israel, David Berger, and representatives of the Jerusalem Foundation, the Jewish Community Foundation of Montreal, Canadian Friends of Ben-Gurion University and the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Montreal.
