American pastors who visited Israel targeted by online hate

Members of a delegation of more than 1,000 American pastors and religious leaders who visited Israel last week were targeted by a coordinated wave of online harassment on their return to the United States.

The development underscored both the hostility that exists on social media against Israel and the usage of bots to amplify hate on such networks.

The weeklong visit, which was organized by American evangelical leader Mike Evans with the Israeli Foreign Ministry, was the single largest gathering of pastors in Israel since the establishment of the state in 1948. It included a tour of the southern communities that came under attack during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre as well as meetings with survivors and former hostages.

Within 24 hours of their departure Sunday night, however, many of the pastors discovered that their social media accounts had been flooded with identical hostile messages and carefully crafted accusations, organizers said Tuesday.

“This delegation came to Israel with open hearts and a shared mission,” said Mike Evans, founder of the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem. “No coordinated digital campaign will silence those who stand for truth.”

The US evangelical leader had blasted the American conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, who was booed by the boisterous delegation as “a guided missile with no moral compass” during a visit to the Biblical heartland on Friday.

“Anyone who threatens by text or email or social media is a coward, mentally morally or spiritually,” Jay Strack, president of the Orlando-based educational program, Student Leadership University, who co-partnered with Evans in organizing the trip told JNS Tuesday.

“Man to man, heart to heart is the way things should be solved,” he added. “If you disagree with a position, you ought to be intellectually strong enough to talk about it in person.”

©️JNS