Some 1,200 Christian leaders, community representatives and influencers from 123 countries visited Ancient Shiloh in Samaria on Friday as part of the Friends of Zion Ambassador Summit.
The summit, led by Friends of Zion founder Mike Evans in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, brought the international delegation to the biblical site as part of a visit to Israel marking three years since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre.
Ancient Shiloh holds particular significance for both Jews and Christians. After the Israelites entered the Land of Israel, Shiloh served for centuries as the spiritual center of the Jewish people and was home to the Tabernacle before the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem.
The site features prominently in the Books of Joshua, Judges and Samuel and is closely associated with the biblical accounts of Hannah and the Prophet Samuel.
Participants toured the archaeological remains at the site and heard about Shiloh’s history and the Jewish connection to the area.
“God chose Judea and Samaria. This is where it all began,” Evans told the delegation.
“The man chosen by God to anoint the King of Israel, from whose lineage Jesus came into the world, is connected to this place,” he continued. “Eighty percent of the stories in the Bible originate in Judea and Samaria. We must secure recognition for Judea and Samaria.”
‘Bring what you witnessed here’
Binyamin Regional Council chairman Yisrael Ganz, who also heads the Yesha Council, accompanied the delegation and led a tour for participants.
Ganz said the presence of Christian leaders from around the world at the biblical site sent an important message at a time when Israel and Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria face growing international pressure.
“The gathering of 1,000 influential leaders from 123 countries in Ancient Shiloh is a powerful show of support against the campaign to delegitimize Israel and its communities in Judea and Samaria,” Ganz said.
“Their voices reach tens of millions of people,” he continued. “Together with Friends of Zion and Dr. Mike Evans, we are building an international alliance rooted in firsthand knowledge of this land and our deep connection to it.”
Ganz called on the visitors to take that message back to their home countries and specifically urged them to advocate in Washington for U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria.
“I called on these leaders to bring what they witnessed here to their communities and to Washington, and to urge President Trump to recognize Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,” he said.
Israel’s ‘eighth front’
Ambassador Yacov Livne, the Foreign Ministry’s deputy director general for public diplomacy, told the gathering that Israel was confronting not only military threats but also what he described as an international campaign of misinformation and delegitimization.
“Since October 7, Israel is fighting on seven fronts, but there is an eighth front—a front of lies, modern-day blood libels,” Livne said.
“Our enemies, the enemies of civilization, want to destroy the Jewish state,” he added.
Livne described Israel as being on the “frontline of our civilization” and accused radical political and Islamist movements and neo-Nazis of forming an “unholy alliance” against the Jewish state.
“And in this fight we must prevail, together,” he said.
The Friends of Zion Ambassador Summit brought more than 1,000 Christian leaders, community figures and influencers to Israel from 123 countries, it said in a press release on Friday. Organizers said the participants represent communities numbering tens of millions of people worldwide.
During their visit, summit participants have toured sites across Israel and met senior Israeli officials, released hostages, bereaved families, wounded Israelis and Holocaust survivors.
On Wednesday evening, nearly 2,000 Christian leaders, influencers and media representatives from 117 countries attended the summit’s central event at the Davidson Center adjacent to Jerusalem’s Western Wall, marking the third anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre. According to Evans, the summit’s events reached some 120 million people through social media.
