Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu claimed on Sunday that the Christian Zionist friendship is one of the most important for the state of Israel. At the American Evangelicals conference, Netanyahu said, "This is a friendship of the heart, a friendship of common roots, and a friendship of common civilization." This statement comes after Reform leader Rabbi Eric Yoffie claimed that Christians for Israel hurt the country.

This conference was arranged by Texas-based Christian evangelist Pastor John Hagee, who has openly support Israel for three decades. His work ministers to support for Israel and is not geared towards converting Jews to Chrisitianity. Donating $6 million dollars to over 16 causes in Israel, Hagee declared that Israel must remain in control of all parts of Jerusalem.

After 2,000 years of persecution and anti-anti-Semitism, Efrat Chief Rabbi Shlomo Riskin called the relationship between Israel and Christians "one of the most important things. What we have to understand is that the Christianity of persecution and intolerance and Jew-hatred is not the Christianity of Pastor Hagee and most evangelists today."