Just one month after Christian activist Charlie Kirk was murdered on a college campus in Utah, the Israel Allies Foundation has selected him as No. 2 on its list of Israel’s Top 50 Christian Allies.
“I don't think anyone did a better job making the case for Israel in the hasbara and social media world,” said Israel Allies Foundation President Joshua Reinstein. “He was a clear champion for Israel. He was obviously a Christian leader. His faith was important to him and he used that to defend God's covenant with Israel.”
The Israel Allies Foundation is an NGO that coordinates 62 caucuses made up of 1,600 faith-based, pro-Israel legislators worldwide who use faith-based diplomacy as a tool for building international support for Israel.
This is the foundation’s sixth annual list of top allies and only the second time an individual has been recognized posthumously. The first was Stuart Epperson, co-founder of Salem Communications, who was listed in 2023.
The list is released on Sukkot — known to Christians as the Feast of Tabernacles — because it’s a holiday when thousands of Christians make pilgrimages to Israel. On this festival, Jews read from the Book of Zechariah about a future time when all nations will celebrate Sukkot in the Holy Land at the End of Days.
Reinstein said the foundation’s regional directors had already decided to include Kirk on the list before his murder but raised him to the No. 2 spot afterward. Kirk, he explained, debated audiences from London to Israel and regularly confronted pro-Gaza demonstrations on college campuses.
“He was under a tremendous amount of pressure and attack to change his stance on Israel,” Reinstein noted. “A lot of the people around him weren't pro-Israel, yet he always stood very strong for Israel… He was our champion.”
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Charlie Kirk on a college campus in Utah the day he was killed
(Photo: Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via Reuters)
In May, Kirk wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that “one of my greatest joys as a Christian is advocating for Israel and forming alliances to defend Judeo-Christian civilization.” He also expressed concern about the growing anti-Israel sentiment in America that he warned could “eventually translate into less political and military support from America. The Holy Land is so important to my life, and it pains me to see support for Israel slip away.”
Kirk had been planning to visit Israel in January.
Taking the No. 1 slot this year is Rev. Paula White, who now leads the White House Faith Office and is known for her influential role as President Donald Trump’s pastor. Ynet Global’s video partner, ILTV, interviewed White at the Trump inauguration in January. She told the station that “God was moving” in America through Trump and that she expected “not only the golden era of America, which it is — but it's going to impact the world… So it's only going to be good things, great things from here on out."
White has long used her platform to strengthen U.S.-Israel relations.
“She is very influential because of her position in the White House,” Reinstein told ynet Global, “and she has used that influence to stand boldly for Israel like no one else. It was clear to us this year that she was number one already a few months ago.”
White has appeared on the list several times over the past six years. She was also ranked No. 1 in 2020, the first year the list was published, because of her influence on the president during his first term. That year, Trump pushed through the Abraham Accords; the year before, he recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Pastor Larry Huch, founding and senior pastor of New Beginnings Church in Bedford, Texas, was named as No. 3. Other honorees include Daystar Television founder and president Joni Lamb, multi-campus pastor Jentezen Franklin, and Gaza Humanitarian Fund director Rev. Johnnie Moore, among others.
Christian support for Israel has remained steadfast since the October 7 Hamas massacre and the ensuing two-year war. Reinstein said this support has become “paramount” and “pronounced” as the war drags on.
“If you look at tourism, there are hundreds of thousands of Christians coming to Jerusalem and standing with Israel,” Reinstein said. “There are Christians all over the world making the case for Israel. They see something others are missing. Many people look at recent years and see only how hard the war has been and the terrible sacrifice, which is true. But they miss the fact that the God of Israel has gone before us in battle and wiped out our enemies with furious vengeance and anger, as foretold in the Bible. That's why there is no Iranian nuclear threat, why Hezbollah is on the run, why there’s no such thing as an Assad Syria, and why Hamas is near destruction. They see God’s hand, and that has emboldened them. We're seeing incredible support from the Christian world everywhere.”
Reinstein added that critics of Christian support for Israel do so precisely because they understand how powerful it is.
“Faith-based diplomacy is so important,” he said. “But that’s also why it’s important that we recognize those Christians who have gone beyond the pale and really stood with us.”