"the astonishing speed with which IFCJ and the evangelical movement...have grown in stature as supporters of Israel"

By Anthony Weiss
26 Dec 2007

 

" ... About a decade ago, the head of the Jewish Agency for Israel refused to be photographed taking a check from Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. This past week, the agency accepted a hefty donation from the evangelical-backed organization and offered Eckstein a seat on two of its most powerful committees.

Eckstein’s organization and the Jewish Agency, which helped found the State of Israel, announced that IFCJ would donate $45 million to the agency over the next three years, almost all of it raised from evangelical Christians in North America. As part of the agreement, IFCJ will be declared a funding partner of the Jewish Agency. Eckstein will also receive new voting powers that will include spots on the committees that oversee the agency’s budget and that meet with the prime minister and his Cabinet.

“For the first time, Christians, who are mainly my constituency, will have a seat at the table,” Eckstein told the Forward.

The moves underscore the astonishing speed with which IFCJ and the evangelical movement in general have grown in stature as supporters of Israel. Even 10 years ago, Eckstein was shunned not only by Jewish Agency head Avraham Burg but also by many American donors.

Some Jewish leaders remain uneasy about allying themselves with evangelicals. But the support, both political and financial, seems to have proved irresistible.

As part of the agreement, which still must be approved by the Jewish Agency’s board, IFCJ will donate $15 million a year to the Jewish Agency’s core budget for immigration and resettlement, historically IFCJ priorities. This is nearly double IFCJ’s donation of $8 million last year. The IFCJ will also be described as one of the Jewish Agency’s funding partners, a status previously shared only by United Jewish Communities, the umbrella organization for American federations, and Keren Hayesod, which represents international federations. Eckstein will also become a voting member of the executive board and will gain seats on the budget and finance committee, which makes recommendations for how the Jewish Agency allocates its funds, and the coordinating committee, which meets with the prime minister and Cabinet members. Eckstein had previously been a nonvoting member of the executive board. Both Eckstein and a Jewish Agency representative stressed that Eckstein would continue to be IFCJ’s representative on the board.

“It’s not like all of a sudden you’re going to have Pat Robertson on the committee,” Eckstein joked. ... "

http://www.forward.com/articles/12353/