Friends of Israel

The phrase "Friends of Israel" does not identify one unambiguous entity. Sources apply it to an international Christian organization founded in Philadelphia and headquartered in Deptford, New Jersey.[1] Separate organizations include the parliamentary lobby European Friends of Israel and the interparliamentary Transatlantic Friends of Israel.[2][3] The Friends of Israel Initiative and Academic Friends of Israel are also separately constituted bodies.[4][5] The Congressional Record identifies a British Friends of Israel, while Ynet identifies Friends of Israel Scouts as another distinct organization.[6][7]

The Jewish Agency for Israel's 2025 impact report lists "Friends of Israel (FOI)" in its Keren Hayesod / United Israel Appeal section and separately lists "Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry" among supporters of the Ben Gurion International Leadership Council. It does not further describe either entry or establish a connection between them.[8] This illustrates how the name functions across the pro-Israel landscape: as a broadly intelligible signal of purpose rather than a trademark belonging to any one organization.

The underlying practice of forming organized friendship societies with Israel predates most of the named advocacy groups. Societies established in different countries to promote friendly and cultural relations with Israel had a combined membership of approximately 30,000. Although some formed soon after Israel's establishment in 1948, most came into being after 1965.[9]

Inside Israel, corresponding societies promoted friendship with 27 countries. Umbrella bodies included the Israel-Asia Friendship Council and the Israel-Africa Friendship Association, while the Central Cultural Institute in Jerusalem coordinated work for Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries.[9] By the late 1970s, the network spanned Europe, North America, Asia, and Latin America, with cultural institutes operating in countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico.[9]

The America-Israel Friendship League, founded in 1971, had brought more than 5,000 secondary-school students together through its Youth Ambassador Student Exchange program.[9] The later development of parliamentary, religious, and issue-specific organizations expanded the "Friends of Israel" model beyond the cultural friendship leagues.

The historical friendship societies were typically led by prominent citizens and organized lectures, seminars, Israeli art exhibitions and concerts, and receptions for Israeli visitors. Some arranged annual study tours to Israel and published pamphlets, periodicals, and books about life in Israel. Most focused on cultural relations, though a few were more explicitly political. Their membership was composed mainly of non-Jews, even as Jewish community leaders played active roles in some.[9]

Coordination among the societies was handled by the Council of Israel Friendship Leagues, which shared information between member organizations, maintained contacts with sister societies abroad, hosted visitors, and arranged concerts and exhibitions. The societies also cooperated with local Zionist federations and other Jewish bodies and received support from the World Zionist Organization's External Relations Department.[9]

The Encyclopedia.com entry distinguishes these cultural friendship societies from pro-Israel parliamentary groups, naming Conservative Friends of Israel, Labour Friends of Israel, and Liberal Friends of Israel in Britain as organizations active mainly in political circles.[9] More recent groups have used parliamentary networking, public declarations, religious education, academic monitoring, and organized visits to Israel.

Historically, friendship leagues gave predominantly non-Jewish supporters an organized means of learning about Israel and building cultural relationships through educational events, publications, exhibitions, travel, and student exchanges.[9] Their activities linked civil society abroad with Israeli institutions and Jewish communal organizations.

Later organizations extended that model into political and transatlantic cooperation. Transatlantic Friends of Israel reported a network of approximately 186 parliamentarians across European and North American legislatures and the Knesset in 2023.[3] European Friends of Israel organized large parliamentary gatherings connected to diplomatic and commercial relations with Israel, while the Christian Friends of Israel supported educational engagement with Yad Vashem.[2][10] Together, these examples demonstrate the range of cultural, religious, political, and educational activity conducted under similar names.

The principal interpretive problem is that similar names can obscure major differences in mission, structure, and constituency. Cultural friendship leagues, Christian ministries, parliamentary networks, academic campaign organizations, and public declarations should not be treated as branches of a single institution.[9][8]

Some organizations operate in politically contested areas. Academic Friends of Israel was established in response to academic boycott efforts, while British parliamentary groups were active mainly in political circles.[5][9] European Friends of Israel's 2008 assertion that 2,000 of approximately 6,000 MPs across the European Union supported Israel was reported as the organization's own claim rather than as an independently verified membership count.[2]

One specific bearer of the unqualified name "Friends of Israel" is an international Christian organization founded in Philadelphia and headquartered in Deptford, New Jersey.[1] Yad Vashem describes it as an organization that has supported the Jewish people since 1938 and, later, the State of Israel.[10] Its support of Yad Vashem has included sending pastors and leaders to Christian Leadership Seminars.[10]

In October 2017, FOI President Jim Showers visited Yad Vashem and unveiled a plaque alongside Shaya Ben Yehuda, managing director of Yad Vashem's International Relations Division.[10] A 2021 Jewish News Syndicate profile identifies Dr. Jim Showers as the organization's executive director and president.[1]

The Friends of Israel Initiative (FII) is a distinct advocacy body established in 2010 by former Spanish prime minister José María Aznar.[11][12] Its four founding members named in a contemporary report — Aznar, former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, Lord David Trimble, and investor Roberto Agostinelli — met President Shimon Peres to express their support for Israel.[4] Fiamma Nirenstein also served on its board.[11]

A Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs essay describes the FII's aim as seeking to "counter the attempts to delegitimize the State of Israel and its right to live in peace within safe and defensible borders."[13] At the time of a 2011 report, the group opposed unilateral Palestinian action outside negotiations, including efforts to seek recognition at the United Nations, with Aznar arguing that Israel, as a Western democracy in the Middle East, needed active international support.[4]

European Friends of Israel (EFI) is a parliamentary lobby group described as uniting hundreds of parliamentarians across European countries.[14] In November 2008, EFI organized a Paris conference attended by nearly 1,000 members of parliament from all 27 EU member states at the time.[2] Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik delivered the keynote address after meetings with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner; she urged European parliamentarians to help secure the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who held French citizenship, and argued that Europe bore a historic duty to support Israel's security.[2]

EFI claimed that 2,000 of approximately 6,000 MPs across the European Union supported Israel and had expressed interest in its initiatives to strengthen European ties with Jerusalem.[2] A January 2011 report noted that EFI planned a four-day Jerusalem conference expected to draw approximately 500 European parliamentarians, including visits to Israeli tourist sites and factories and meetings with Israeli leaders.[15]

The economic backdrop lent the 2011 visit added significance: following the Lisbon Treaty's entry into force on 1 December 2009, the European Parliament gained approval authority over trade agreements. Israel–EU trade in 2010 stood at approximately $36 billion, roughly one-third of Israel's total foreign trade, making the Parliament's new role directly relevant to Israeli commercial interests.[15]

A separate initiative, the Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI), was launched in the European Parliament in July 2019 by the American Jewish Committee's Brussels-based Transatlantic Institute.[3] TFI operates as a cross-party interparliamentary network. By June 2023, it included approximately 186 parliamentarians drawn from the European Parliament, 23 European national legislatures, the U.S. Congress, the Parliament of Canada, and the Knesset.[3]

TFI's Italian chapter launched in May 2023, announced by TFI Italy Chair Senator Marco Scurria in the Italian Senate with backing from 16 lawmakers representing five parties; more than 100 people attended the associated press conference and reception.[3]

Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) is a distinct British organization founded in 1974 by then-MP Michael Fidler, in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the Heath government's arms embargo on combatants.[16] Fidler established CFI partly to redress a perceived political imbalance: Labour Friends of Israel had existed since 1957, and many British Jews regarded Labour as their natural political home.[16]

CFI's twin aims are supporting Israel and promoting Conservatism in the United Kingdom. Among its activities, CFI organized visits for parliamentarians to Israel and the Palestinian territories, including briefings and meetings with both Israeli and Palestinian officials, with the stated goal of equipping delegates to engage more informedly with the issues.[16]

Academic Friends of Israel (AFI) is a separately named British organization established in spring 2002 by Ronnie Fraser, specifically in response to academic boycott efforts, particularly activity by academic trade unions.[5] AFI sought to counter those efforts through political campaigning and monitoring and later broadened its attention to anti-Israel activity on campuses in the United Kingdom and abroad.[5]

A notable case AFI brought to public attention in 2003 involved Oxford professor Andrew Wilkie, who rejected an Israeli postgraduate applicant on the stated grounds that he would not supervise someone who had served in the Israeli army. Wilkie was suspended for two months without pay and reinstated after undergoing equal-opportunity training.[5]

A British group called British Friends of Israel produced what became known as the October Declaration, referenced in a November 8, 2023, statement entered into the U.S. Congressional Record.[6] The initiative came from British public figures including journalists Laura Dodsworth, Allison Pearson, and Toby Young, legal scholar Francis Hoar, and think-tank head Emma Webb.[6] By the time of the Congressional Record statement, the declaration had gathered nearly 100,000 signatories.[6] The declaration included the statement: "We stand in support of British Jews and condemn acts of anti-Semitism."[6]

A further distinct entity, Friends of Israel Scouts, participated as a campaign partner — through its Garin Tzabar program — in a 2011 initiative to bring young North American Jews to Israel for Israel Defense Forces service, alongside Nefesh B'Nefesh, the Jewish Agency, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, and Israel's Immigrant Absorption Ministry.[7] Friends of Israel Scouts is a separate organization and is not identified with European Friends of Israel or any of the other groups bearing the "Friends of Israel" name.