UNGA opens amid criticism: Jerusalem prayer breakfast offers interfaith solidarity

On Tuesday, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) is set to kick off its 79th session. The session opens 11 months into the Israel-Hamas war amid harsh criticism of the UN over reports of UN employees’ roles in the October 7 attacks. The UN’s historic anti-Israel bias is not expected to dissipate during this session, with Palestine participating in the UNGA in an official seat for the first time. The UNGA is also expected to discuss an advisory decision brought by the International Court of Justice that calls Jewish presence in the West Bank illegal.

Alongside UN discussions on Israel, a different sort of gathering is set to take place on the other side of town. During the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast (JPB) in New York on September 15 and 16, diplomats and representatives from around the world will pray together in a show of interfaith solidarity, support for the State of Israel, and opposition to the UN’s anti-Israel narratives. Influential Christian and Jewish leaders, including clergy members, Knesset members, US politicians, and representatives from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Italy, and Germany, are attending the event, hosted by New York State Senator Rob Ortt. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon will also attend.

In conversation with The Media Line, JPB co-founder and director Albert Veksler described the event as “an alternative United Nations.” Veksler co-founded JPB in 2017, modeling the movement after the US’s National Prayer Breakfast. Since then, the group has held 28 Jerusalem Prayer Breakfasts, eight of which took place in Jerusalem and 20 of which took place in major cities across the world.

“When we look at the world, we see about 600 million evangelical Christians that are potential supporters of Israel because we read the same book,” Veksler said. “And my goal is to see how all of these people would be united under loving Jerusalem, praying for the peace of Israel.”

Veksler contextualized this upcoming event within the last UNGA session, during which Israel was condemned twice as much as the remaining countries of the world combined. “What is important for us is to bring those representatives of all these nations to stand in the gap for their nation and for Israel and say, look, we are not agreeing with what our governments are planning to do. We cannot look at this, how they are just sending our ambassadors to the UN to just bash and condemn Israel all the time,” he said.

While the ongoing war has sharpened JPB’s goals, the group has been working for years to cultivate relationships between Christians and Jews. Veksler noted that such relationships have a long history of improving Israel’s standing, dating back to Theodor Herzl’s friendship with German pastor William Hechler. Years later, US President Harry Truman’s friendship with Jewish American businessman Eddie Jacobson paved the path for the US to recognize Israel.

“The Truman Administration didn't want to hear much from the Jewish community before the rebirth of the Jewish state,” Veksler said. “But because of his friendship with Eddie Jacobson, he listened to his advice, and he had a meeting with [World Zionist Organization President Chaim] Weizmann. And then he ended up, of course, endorsing and recognizing the newly born State of Israel.”

Israel has long recognized the importance of those relationships as well, Veksler said. David Ben-Gurion, the country’s first prime minister, actively encouraged Pentecostals to hold their World Conference of Pentecostal Churches in Jerusalem in 1961. The Prime Minister’s Office helped organize the conference and had a state medal minted for each of the 2,589 delegates. In addition, the Ministry of Religions published a special issue of its journal Christian News from Israel. Ben-Gurion himself sent written greetings to the conference, declaring that “today we are privileged to see the fulfillment of the prophecy and promise of the Bible.”

Continuing the legacy of interfaith support for Israel

JPB now works to continue that legacy of interfaith support for Israel. Veksler said that relationships sparked by JPB have led politicians in the Netherlands to release reparation funds for Holocaust survivors and led multiple countries to commit to moving their embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Those commitments don’t always see fruition. Veksler noted that Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro reneged on his commitment to move the country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“We were there when he needed our support. And we were there supporting his son. And then before he was inaugurated, and then right before the elections, we were there,” Veksler said. “And he did not fulfill his promise. He did not do what he promised. And that was a very, very sad thing to see.”

Veksler said that some “high-level people” he spoke to suggested that that unfulfilled promise was why he lost the election.

The idea of Jerusalem is something that can bridge divides, Veksler said, both across the Jewish and Christian communities and within each community.

“You can see at even our events in Jerusalem and worldwide how people come together that would otherwise not even meet each other,” he said.

Speaking of his own children who have served in Gaza, Veksler expressed his hope that some of the divides facing Israeli society might be dissipating.

“Yes, the political divide is there. Yes, the painful misunderstandings are still there. Yes, there are horrible, horrible sacrifices that have been made,” he said. “But I think there is something new that will be birthed out of this new generation. We will see a whole new leadership emerge, and I’m really expectant and happy to see how these young new leaders will change the face of Israel.”

After the New York JPB event, two more upcoming events are set to take place in Denmark and Norway. “We have heard, of course, about the rise of antisemitism in Scandinavia, in particular in Norway, and I think it’s the best answer to go there and to bring unity between the Jewish community and the Christian communities, and to stand on this common ground and say, here we are, here we are, and nothing will move us,” he said. “This is what God covenanted for the Jewish people, and this is what we believe, and this is what we will do. We will stand together.”