Thank you for standing with CUFI in 2023. As we enter this New Year, support for Israel is more important than ever. We enter 2024 burdened about the on-going hostage crisis. We continue to pray for those victims and family members who have suffered after the devastating 7th October massacre. We pray for the success of Israel’s offensive against Hamas in Gaza and for the ‘peace of Jerusalem’. Closer to home, we are anxious about the rise of antisemitism in the UK and renew our commitment to stand side-by-side with the Jewish people.
What we witnessed on 7th October was the outworking of Hamas’s evil intent to wipe out every Jew from the Land of Israel. It is unbelievable that in the past few months, open support for Hamas appears to have increased here in the UK, as opposed to dwindled as one would have hoped after such a barbaric act of terror. Or maybe support for Israel’s enemies was already festering and has now come to the surface. Years of certain politicians befriending groups such as Hamas, universities hosting terror-sympathisers and the church’s embrace of replacement theology and pro-Palestinianism have all contributed to a weakened backbone in standing up to evil in this nation. In 1939, the church in Germany failed in standing up to the Jew-hatred that was openly flaunted resulting in devastating consequences. It was largely silent, and at worse, complicit. Some, however, were brave enough to speak out, including the courageous German pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
Over six million Jews were murdered by 1945. Thankfully, Israel will not allow the same to be repeated. But in 2024 we have a lot of work to do to make sure that antisemitism is uprooted from this nation. Jews in this country need your support. Israel needs your support. And the future of Great Britain needs Christians to be courageous.
“May He send you help from the sanctuary, And strengthen you out of Zion;” – Psalm 20:2
Standing up for the truth is always the right thing to do, but it is not always easy. It takes courage. But thankfully, as this Psalm reminds us, we can draw upon our faithful Lord to strengthen us in our weakness. At the start of this New Year, we pray that the Lord will equip you to be courageous in all that God has called you to do this year.
We at CUFI are also praying that we will be more courageous in standing for the truth. Please consider how you can commit to supporting CUFI in 2024, either by making a monthly commitment to our work or making a one-off gift at the start of this New Year.
May the Lord bless you and your family in 2024.
