Evangelical Leader ‘Horrified’ At Trump's Netanyahu Comments, Threatens Withdrawal Of Support

An Evangelical supporter of Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw support for the former president after the latter dissed former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week.

In an interview with Axios reporter Barak Ravid, Trump rallied against Netanyahu, one of his closest political allies, after the latter congratulated President Joe Biden for winning in the 2020 election.

“F*** him,” Trump told Ravid. "The first person that congratulated [Biden] was Bibi Netanyahu, the man that I did more for than any other person I dealt with. ... Bibi could have stayed quiet. He has made a terrible mistake."

While evangelical leaders mostly stayed silent on Trump’s comments, Mike Evans on Monday said he was “horrified” by the former president’s remarks and warned that his words could cause many evangelicals to withdraw their support.

Evans, who once worked as the former president’s adviser, also implored Trump to understand that there were more evangelicals supporting Netanyahu than there were of him.

“There is no possibility you can win again if Bible-believing evangelicals see you as the ‘F--k Netanyahu’ president who . . . blames the State of Israel, and not the Palestinians, for not making peace,” Evans added in a letter to Trump, a copy of which was shared with The Washington Post.

Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church, who also served as a member of Trump’s faith advisory council, urged both leaders to reconcile. He also encouraged Trump to clarify his remarks.

The former president’s denunciation of Netanyahu came as a surprise, especially with the former prime minister being one of his key political allies. Netanyahu had claimed credit for Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump had also taken credit for Netanyahu’s re-election in 2019.

White evangelical protestants overwhelmingly supported Trump in the 2020 presidential election, with at least 85% voting for the former president. In contrast, Biden earned the support of voters who were non-Christians, including American Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and other faiths, according to an analysis by D.C.-based Pew Research Center.

Most Jewish Americans also said Trump’s policies toward Israel were poor and that he was “unfriendly” toward U.S. Jews, according to a 2020 Pew Poll.

During his record-long tenure Netanyahu became practically synonymous with Israeli politics, and for some young people the only leader they had known Photo: AFP / EMMANUEL DUNAND