New York, December 12th, 2024 – Just weeks after senior EU policy makers at the annual ECI Policy Conference in the European Parliament in Brussels called for a renewed transatlantic partnership to provide leadership and stability in the world, ECI took part in a high-level Jewish-Christian leadership summit in New York to address the same concern. Representing the only European organisation present at a leadership consultation on Friday, ECI called for an international and inclusive approach to the new US foreign policy instead of isolationism.
The leadership consultation was followed by the seventh annual Jewish Leadership Conference on Sunday, titled The Jewish Fight for America, where various voices, including British journalist Melanie Phillips called for a Jewish-Christian alliance to save our democracy.
The conference, which was hosted by the Tikvah Fund, took place just hours after the breaking news on the fall of Damascus had come in. Various speakers praised the Israeli army for defeating both Hamas and Hezbollah despite being restricted by the outgoing US administration. Still, the main focus of the conference was not on the military conflict in the Middle East but on the war of ideas which is currently raging in the US where woke culture and anti-Western sentiments are taking over many college campuses, media outlets and even corporate life.
The conference which brought together close to one thousand participants included for the first time one hundred Christian leaders. The group had spent the weekend at a pre-conference learning about Jewish life and culture by visiting the Lincoln Square synagogue where Rabbi Meir Soloveichik gave a historic perspective on the current rise of antisemitism by saying that “If our ancestors from 100 years ago were alive today their biggest shock would not be the pogrom of Amsterdam but the fact that national governments are condemning these attacks and are committed to protecting Jews. Today we are no longer alone but we have millions of Christian friends standing on our side. This is the real difference between then and now.”
Christian writer and social critic Os Guinness spoke about the often-forgotten role of Christian restorationists in the Zionist movement and the importance of a revived Jewish-Christian partnership for the sake of our cultural survival. In his recent book, The Magna Carta of Humanity, he argues that the story of Exodus is the highest, richest and deepest vision of freedom in human history. “This is the model from the past that charts our path to the future”, he said.
Commenting on the rise of antisemitism in the US and Europe as well as the Hamas attack on October 7 Professor Ruth Wisse said that “the Jews are done fleeing. Migration is no longer an option but we Jews need to stand our ground.” She also pointed out that “history is not repetitive. Fighting our past enemies is a luxury which we cannot afford.”
The ECI delegation consisted of Tomas Sandell, Peter Fagerholm and Gregory Lafitte. Sandell summarised the message of the conference by saying, “The conference reaffirms the need for Christians and Jews to work together against the forces that try to undermine and demolish our Western civilisation.”
