Int'l Christian lawmakers vow to stop Iranian nukes

Lawmakers gather for Chairman’s Conference of the International Israel Allies Caucus in J'lem, sign “Declaration of Solidarity.”

By MELANIE LIDMAN
Interior of Bushehr nuclear plant 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Stringer Iran)
Interior of Bushehr nuclear plant 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Stringer Iran)
Dozens of parliamentarians from around the world gathered in Jerusalem on Wednesday to throw their support behind an effort to put pressure on their respective governments to stop Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.
The lawmakers signed a “declaration of solidarity” during the Chairman’s Conference of the International Israel Allies Caucus Foundation in Jerusalem, featuring leaders from the US, Canada, Macedonia, South Africa, the EU and Brazil, among others.
“The Iranian regime with its developing arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and its stated goal of destroying Israel constitutes a clear and present danger to the existence of the State of Israel that must be opposed,” the declaration of solidarity States.
Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein addressed the lawmakers and thanked them for their support of Israel.
“Support of that kind and acts of that kind are the real dividing line between a nuclear Iran and stopping them in time,” he said. “This [conference] allays the feeling in Israel that the entire world is against us,” Edelstein added.
Edelstein and other speakers frequently cited the pressure from members of Canada’s Israel Christian Allies Caucus who were successful in lobbying Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to completely sever ties with Iran last week.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also hailed Harper personally during a breakfast during his recent trip to New York.
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threat
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threat
“The Chairman’s Conference proves that faith-based diplomacy is the most vibrant and successful way to garner international political support for the state of Israel,” said Josh Reinstein, the director of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, the Israel branch of the foundation.
The outpouring of support from Christian leaders around the world came just a day after virulent anti-Christian graffiti was spray-painted on a Franciscan convent less than a kilometer away from the hotel where the conference took place.
Edelstein and other Christian leaders dismissed the graffiti, which read “Jesus is a bastard,” as the work of “a few crazies” and not representative of the average Israeli view.