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July 30, 2024
Sondra Oster Baras

I write this newsletter from Washington, DC, the capital of the USA.  I am attending the annual CUFI Summit, where thousands of Christian Zionists gather each year to express their solidarity with Israel, including to members of Congress, as conference participants meet with their state representatives and staffers.  I attend this conference every year, primarily to applaud the efforts of this important organization to garner support for Israel and educate its members regarding Israel. But it is also an amazing opportunity for me to personally interact with so many Christian Zionists, including many friends and supporters of CFOIC Heartland.

This year’s conference is totally different than previous years, in so many ways.  First of all, the mood.  Usually, the conference is an opportunity to celebrate Israel, to rejoice in its existence and to thank God for all He has done for my nation.  But this year, in the wake of the terrible massacre of October 7th and the bloody war that followed and that we are still engaged in, the mood is somber.  Survivors of the attacks on October 7th told the story of their personal horror.  Family members of hostages told their stories.  And as one Christian leader summed up last night — we must imagine ourselves as that mother, sister, father, brother of a young person held hostage in Gaza, of a young soldier who has fallen or has been wounded, of a family who has been terribly wounded by this war.

As an Israeli, I have felt broken since October 7th.  My spirit remains strong, optimistic and determined.  But there is something else there, constantly with us.  A burden we all carry with us, as we turn on the news each day, wondering if someone else has been killed, hoping for a victory, for the release of the hostages.  But the experience of standing with Christians, from a country so far from my own, but who are truly with us, who are crying with us, praying with us, acting on our behalf — this has been truly amazing!

Yesterday morning, however, I was also exposed, close up, to the ugly side of this war, as it is also manifesting itself in the USA.  As I exited the elevator on my way to the morning conference session, I heard singing.  It sounded like a choir, singing lovely songs, but I could not make out the words.  Someone suggested it might be conference participants praying for Israel.  He could not have been more wrong.

I followed the music and came upon a group of about 100 people, standing in one of the hotel lobbies, holding signs accusing CUFI of genocide and lambasting Israel for its war in Gaza.  I caught words like free Palestine.  These people were singing beautiful songs but they had changed the words to express hatred.  They came to destroy the beauty that CUFI was creating. 

I was shocked that they were allowed to stand in the middle of a hotel lobby and demonstrate in this way, unimpeded. Thanks to an alert Israeli friend, I had actually seen an advertisement on social media for this demonstration a few weeks ago and had alerted CUFI leadership,  And they were prepared for it with heightened security.  But what I could not figure out was how the hotel allowed a demonstration in the middle of their lobby.

  These people were singing beautiful songs but they had changed the words to express hatred.  They came to destroy the beauty that CUFI was creating. 

Eventually, they marched out peacefully.  But I was standing there and as the marchers passed right in front of me, I lost it.  I yelled out “Shame on you!”  I approached one and asked him if he had relatives who had been massacred in Israel.  I told another group that they should take their demonstration to Gaza and see if they would emerge alive.  My words did nothing to penetrate their foolish cause, but I just had to say something, to protest their terrible stand.  As they left, I found myself shaking, with rage, with distress, with terrible pain.  I kept thinking of my nephew who had fallen in this war, of the countless others that I knew or had never met who had paid the ultimate price to protect Israel from the evil that is Hamas.  Of the Israeli children who will never grow up, of the red-headed Bibas children held hostage in Gaza.  How can anyone side with their murderers and kidnappers?

They left the hotel and we went on to the conference sessions.  Security was tight but something went wrong.  Several groups of protesters, hiding their true identities had registered for the conference and were present in the conference session.  John Hagee got up to speak and every few minutes, another group of protesters, from the audience, stood up and yelled “Free Palestine” or some other similar chant. Each time, security ushered them out the door and off the premises as the conference participants chanted Israel Lives to drown out their horrible messages. 

The final group to erupt was actually sitting right next to me.  When I looked for a seat, I saw three empty seats near the middle aisle.  I asked the woman sitting there if the seats were available and she answered very sweetly that they were.  I took her for a lovely Christian Zionist, joining with me to support Israel.  And then, out of nowhere, she and the four people to her left, erupted in chants and shouts.  Security literally jumped over me to get to them and shoved them out the door, as they continued to yell and scream.  I felt sullied, dirty.  I had sat next to someone who supported the evil of Hamas.  How could they have entered the halls of such a worthy conference, trying to poison the beautiful messages that were expressed by our Christian Zionist friends?

On Sunday night, we had heard testimony from both Christian and Jewish university students who had experienced the terrible anti-Semitism raging on campuses across the USA, including on some “Christian” campuses.  Of course, I had followed all of this on the news in Israel, but to see the students up close and hear their stories, was heartbreaking. 

There are terrible things going on in the USA and around the world.  Israel is fighting a terrible war for its very survival but so many have chosen the path of anti-Semitism, of evil, of lies and distortions of the truth.  But there are good people everywhere.  I feel blessed that I attended the CUFI  summit this year and was able to bask in the love of my country, of my people and of our God, so freely and honestly expressed by the wonderful Christian Zionists in attendance this year.  God bless you all!

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