'Closer Than a Brother': New Christian Leaders Coalition Aims to Solidify Friendship with, Support for Israel

JERUSALEM, Israel – Proverbs 18:24 says, "There is a friend that sticks closer than a brother." Some Christian leaders came to Israel recently to demonstrate that kind of friendship. They also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Pastor Mario Bramnick, president of the Latino Coalition for Israel, filled us in.

To watch the interview with Bramnick, click on the video above.

The text of the interview is below.

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MARIO BRAMNICK:  We came to Israel for various things, but the most important thing was our Israel launch of our new organization that we established in September, called the Conference of Christian Presidents for Israel. It's a coalition of different presidents of Christian organizations and influential Christians in the United States to unite together, to be able to work together on pro-Israel policy, on strengthening US-Israel relations, on an executive level, legislative state level, as well as mobilization of any grassroots when necessary.

CHRIS MITCHELL:  I know you also met with Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Tell us about that meeting. 

MB:  It was great, It's always an honor to meet with the Prime Minister. You know at first we weren't sure if we'd be able to meet with him because of him having to be all day in court, with those cases, those unmerited cases, two to three times a week. But one evening after he was in court, he did meet with us, (and) was very, very gracious. We spoke about our launch of the Conference of Christian Presidents, and, we had a lot of things on our minds, a lot of different policies that we felt were very important,
And I was wise. Instead of speaking I said, Mr. Prime Minister, what can we do to help you and Israel? And he said, 'You need to do whatever you can to help the Christians that are suffering in Syria.'

CM: Wow. 

MB: Just imagine with all that on Israel's plate, all the different fronts, the internal battles, etc., etc.. That was primarily what was on his heart and how we can help.

CM: Tell us also about, you talked about Judea and Samaria. 

MB: Yes. We did visit Ariel.  We were with Heather Johnston who works very extensively on her initiative in Israel.

CM:  It also seems to be a very critical time, because President Trump has announced he'll be making a decision about, Judea and Samaria. Is this a very timely moment for the future of what some people call the "West Bank"? 

MB: Certainly there are a lot of things happening right now. We've got the issue in Gaza. We've got Israel having to complete all of the war goals of getting all the hostages out and completely dismantling Hamas. Other issues that Israel is tracking right now is how our United States deep state is working, and has been working, with the Biden administration, with Israel's deep state to unseat Prime Minister Netanyahu.

CM:  Tell us about the final thoughts you have about this new organization that you have just inaugurated here in Israel. 

MB: Well we're very excited.  The Prime Minister, the leadership that we met with, Jewish leadership back home as well as the Christian world – there's many, many great organizations in support of Israel doing great work. And we think that as we coalesce as one, we'll have a greater voice, greater impact on strengthening the US-Israel relations, on blessing Israel, on combating anti-Semitism. So, we're very excited about what God's doing and, the potential of this organization

CM: All right, Mario Bramnick, thanks for joining us on Jerusalem. Dateline.

MB: Thank you.