Christian Zionist and Friends of Zion museum founder Mike Evans was given The Jerusalem Post’s “Lion of Jerusalem” award by its CEO Ronit Hassin-Hochman and the city’s new mayor, Moshe Lion at the paper's Diplomatic Conference on Wednesday.
“What an honor to get the lion award from a lion!” Evans said with a smile.
Evans knows of what he speaks. As a champion of Israel for the past four decades, Netanyahu has praised him for “fighting for freedom in a world of darkening and narrowing horizons. In his devotion to Israel, Mike has consistently demonstrated the moral clarity that is necessary to defend Israel against the lies and distortions of its enemies, and championed the Jewish people’s claim to the land of Israel.”
During his speech, he also predicted peace between Israel and several Sunni states in the Gulf is likely to occur.
“What will [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s legacy be?” Evans asked. “I believe it may be peace with five to six Sunni Gulf states. Yes! I’m not saying it in theory, I’m talking to these leaders and hearing things that are absolutely astonishing. I’m hearing things I’ve never heard before. What you have right now in the Sunni world is astonishing.”
Evans’ prediction comes after a series of closed-door meetings with prominent leaders in the Gulf, including the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabai Mohammad bin Salman.
“In the last few months I‘ve met with Muslim leaders,” he said. “I spent two hours with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates.” He said, explaining that the Gulf shares not only a common enemy in Iran, but also Muslim Brotherhood.
“They have a desidain for them,” he said, adding that they are not too enamored with the Palestinian Authority either, chiefly because of their increased closeness with the Muslim Brotherhood.
He praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s handling of this delicate issue and decision to put pressure on Iran and the Palestinian Authority, which has helped cause this favorable shift among the Gulf states.
“The shifting dynamic thanks to Donald Trump and Jared Kushner is pure genius,” he marvelled.
Forging this alliance is a critical and integral step to preventing terror, he stated.
“You have no comprehension what they can do to stop terror, which needs to be funded by money,” said Evans. “You suck the oxygen out of it, and it’s dead.
He also praised Netanyahu for stepping away from the brink of war with Gaza.
“Last week your Prime Minister prevented a war in Gaza,” Evans said. “It was one of the most courageous decisions a prime minister has made. We would have had dead children in Gaza and dead soldiers in Israel. It would have played lovely to his base and it would have been easy. “But what would he have lost? An ideological, media and economical war - war would have been a cash cow for Hamas,” he claimed.
And the aspiration for moral clarity appears to be the basis of the bond between Netanyahu, Trump and Evans.
“The prime minister has moral clarity, the president has moral clarity,” Evans said. “Don’t underestimate the power of moral clarity.”