Page 8 - TORCH Magazine #15 - February 2020

CUFI Interviews the Israeli Ambassador
CUFI’s Erick Stakelbeck had the honour of interviewing Mark Regev, Israel’s Ambassador the
UK. Here is what they discussed.
Erick Stakelbeck: We know that the
US and Israel have this special relationship, but the UK and Israel also have a very crucial relationship. And you’ve seen this up close in your role as the Ambassador here in the UK for Israel. Tell us about that Israel-UK bond and why it’s such an important alliance, not just for the Jewish state, but also for the UK.
Ambassador Regev: First of all, Erick, what you said up front is 100 percent correct. Israel and the United States have a very special partnership, a very special relationship and Israel has no better friend than the United States of America. Having said that, the British are good friends too and we enjoy a good relationship with the British. We cooperate with them in defense matters, we’ve got a good trade relationship, we’ve got good political dialogue. And the truth is... the relationship between Britain and Israel goes back decades if not centuries.
Stakelbeck: You could say the modern Christian Zionist movement was really born here in Great Britain. You think of Lord Arthur Balfour, William Heckler, all of these pivotal
figures in the Zionist movement were born here in Britain.
Regev: Correct, Christian Zionism is
in many ways born in this country. There’s
a wonderful book by the historian Barbara Tuchman and she talks about the ideological foundations for Christian Zionism. And ultimately the idea that the Jewish people should be free to return to their homeland, to be able to have national self determination to be a free people in our historic land. That’s an ideal that was supported by many, many good people in this country.
Stakelbeck: It is crucial today that we have Christians standing for Israel here in the UK because we do have a rise in anti-Semitism here in Great Britain; anti-Semitic incidents are at an all-time high, and there is anti-Semitism within politics. Could you talk more about that, Ambassador?
Regev: Look, it’s terribly worrying. It
is especially troubling for the local Jewish community... You know they say the British parliament is the mother of parliaments and so many of the ideas... were born [here], British liberal, democratic ideas; freedom, separation of powers. Who would have thought that in this country in the 21st Century you’d see the rebirth of anti-Semitism? It’s terrible.
Stakelbeck: One of the tactics used by the