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Despite efforts to shift evangelical Christian support away from Israel, some of the most influential leaders say the community has stood firmly with the Jewish state since the beginning of the joint US-Israel operation against Iran.
As Wednesday’s ceasefire took effect, Dr. Mike Evans, founder of the Friends of Zion Heritage Center in Jerusalem and a close ally of President Donald Trump, reflected on the war. Evans flew to Israel on 26 February as tensions grew before the operation.
During his trip, Evans visited sites hit by enemy missiles, met with injured civilians and survivors of the massacre, and provided $50,000 in financial assistance to a bereaved family.
“I knew a war was going to start, so I flew to that area. I’ve been in 41 wars. When people are getting hurt, I go there intentionally to help them,” Evans told Fox News Digital.
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Rescue workers and military personnel carry the body of a victim after an Iranian missile strike killed several people in Beit Shemesh, Israel, on March 1, 2026. (Leo Correa/AP Photo)
On 1 March, an Iranian missile struck the town of Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem, killing nine people. Evans arrived at the scene with first responders shortly after the attack. He later visited Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, where he met Pnina Cohen, who was injured and lost both her husband and mother-in-law in the attack.
Evans said, “I’ve been doing this for half a century. This is my life—fighting anti-Semitism and helping the Jewish people.”
Operation Epic Fury, joint US-Israeli military operation [named Roaring Lion in Israel]According to a White House briefing, it began on February 28 with the stated goal of “eliminating Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and production capacity,” weakening its military infrastructure and preventing it from acquiring nuclear weapons. The first day of the operation was marked by the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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Prominent evangelical figures urged President Trump to continue supporting Israel. (Graham; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images, Mike Evans; Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
According to Israel’s Health Ministry on Tuesday, 7,183 people have been evacuated to hospitals since the start of the war, 118 of whom are currently hospitalized.
Evans described the US-Israel partnership as unprecedented. He described the campaign as “historic”, saying, “Nobody would have imagined that an American president would partner so closely with Israel against radical Islam.”
He said Christianity’s support for Israel is rooted in religious belief. He said, “The Bible is a Jewish book and evangelicals believe in a Jewish person, Jesus.” “They see Israel as the land of the Bible and believe that God keeps his promises.”
The evangelical Christian community, which numbers about 52 million in the United States, supported Trump’s presidency on the condition that he support Israel, Evans said.
Beyond political support, Evans said evangelicals are active online. “We’ve had 127 million views on social media in the last eight weeks,” he said. “We are fighting misinformation and anti-Semitism because lies can cost lives.”
He emphasized that the support is also practical. “We don’t just pray – we provide financial assistance to those who have lost homes and property.”
President Donald Trump bids farewell to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he leaves the White House after a meeting on April 7, 2025. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Evans acknowledged that a portion of young evangelicals have moved away from traditional support for Israel. “A segment has been influenced by universities and online voices,” he said, estimating that about 22% to 23% have shifted. “We are working to reach them and I am confident we can do that.”
American pastor John Hagee, founder and president of the Christian Zionist organization Christians United for Israel, told Fox News Digital that the evangelical community supports Trump’s decision to end Iran’s dangerous and murderous behavior.
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“We will support their request to Congress to fund this effort, and we will ensure that our elected officials represent the will and morality of the American people by seeing this noble effort to its rightful end,” he said.
Hagee said that “As Americans, we have the right to defend ourselves against half a century of terror of the Islamic Republic. As Christians, we are commanded to defend ourselves against evil, to stand with the oppressed against it, and to stand with the Children of Israel at all times.”
Following the US-Israel attacks, Iran launched missiles and drones towards Israel, causing people to seek refuge. (Mustafa Alkharaouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)
He said, “Evangelical Christians who grew up in the church and are biblically literate are Christian Zionists.”
He further stated, “The rise of anti-Semitism on the ‘woke right’ is not the product of evangelical churches, but the product of the false doctrine of Replacement Theology, repurposed and used as clickbait.”
Any pastor or priest, politician or podcaster who alleges that the modern Children of Israel are anything other than the direct descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and beneficiaries of God’s unbreakable covenant with Israel is not preaching God’s Word, Hagee said.
He said, “Operation Epic Fury is making the world a safer and better place for all its inhabitants; stay tuned, Mr. President.”
An Israeli fighter plane flies in to attack Tehran. (IDF)
Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, an international, evangelical Christian disaster relief organization, said Iran has vowed to wipe the State of Israel off the face of the earth, and with nuclear weapons, they could do so.
“If President Trump had not stopped them, this radical Islamic regime could have done this in the next few months,” he said.
He added, “My message to the American people will be to remember that Israel is the only true democratic nation in the Middle East. And they have been our country’s closest ally in the region. I urge Americans to ‘pray for the peace of Jerusalem’ as the Bible instructs us.”
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Graham said Trump stood with Israel in a way no other US president has in the past.
“There has never been a president like President Trump in our lifetime. If he says he’s going to do something, he’ll do it. He warned Iran that if it continued to develop nuclear weapons, the US would intervene, and that’s what he did.”
