Israel Allies Foundation

The IAF describes its mission as equipping and empowering faith-based legislators who support Israel’s right to exist in peace within secure borders. It calls its model “faith-based diplomacy,” in which religious support for Israel is translated into political engagement.[5][6] The organization also promotes communication and information-sharing among legislators who share that position.[7]

The IAF describes its work in three broad areas: building a worldwide network of pro-Israel legislators, helping faith communities engage lawmakers, and establishing direct communication between the Israeli government and Christian leaders. It also provides decision-makers with information about issues affecting Israel.[2][5] Its activities include legislative briefings, cooperative initiatives, press conferences, interfaith events, and educational or diplomatic visits to Israel.[3][2] It reports having facilitated dozens of trips for political leaders.[2]

The IAF works through Israel Allies Caucuses established in national parliaments and other legislatures. Its member-nations page reports activity in 68 legislatures worldwide, spanning the Americas, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Africa.[4] Other published totals reflect different dates and measures. A 2013 report counted caucuses in 22 governments, and a May 2014 report said the network had reached 30 parliamentary caucuses.[7][8] A January 2024 report gave a total of 53 caucuses.[9] A current organization profile reports more than 1,600 legislators across 64 caucuses in 64 countries, while a July 2025 account gave a figure of 1,500 legislators; these are time-specific estimates.[10][6]

IAF Europe opened an office in the Netherlands as its European network grew. Its work includes preparing policy papers with international legal experts, sharing information, maintaining communication among legislators, holding annual network events, arranging visits to Israel, and coordinating experts or politicians for parliamentary events.[11] In the United States, the Foundation supports the bipartisan Congressional Israel Allies Caucus through education and connections with pro-Israel faith communities.[1]

The network’s precursor was the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, established in 2004 by Knesset members from across the political spectrum to build ties with pro-Israel Christian leaders and communities.[3]

The U.S. House of Representatives formed the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus in 2006 as a reciprocal partner to the Knesset caucus. Representatives Dave Weldon, Trent Franks, Eliot Engel, and Gene Green are named as its founders in one account; the Foundation identifies Weldon and Engel as founding co-chairs.[3][1] The IAF itself was formed to coordinate caucus activity internationally. Sources give 2007 as its founding year, while another Foundation-hosted article says it was founded in 2006.[6][12]

Orthodox Rabbi Benny Elon and his aide Uri Bank are identified as the IAF’s founders; both belonged to the right-wing Moledet party. Elon, who served as tourism minister from 2001 to 2004, used that position to strengthen ties with American evangelical leaders, and Josh Reinstein succeeded him as IAF president after Elon’s death in 2017.[6] Dave Weldon serves as chairman of the board, while Reinstein serves as president and director of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, which he has directed since its inception.[13]

The IAF and its associated caucuses promote a defined set of policy positions. The Foundation’s stated priorities include recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s united or indivisible capital and moving foreign embassies there, opposing BDS and the delegitimization of Israel, addressing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, preventing U.S. funding from reaching terror-connected entities, and seeking accountability for the United Nations and UNRWA.[3][5] Its congressional work has also concerned Jerusalem, antisemitism, BDS, the Taylor Force Act, and Israel’s secure borders.[1] A biographical statement submitted for a 2015 U.S. House hearing on BDS identified Professor Eugene Kontorovich as a consultant to the IAF.[14]

The Foundation’s grassroots campaigns include the Defeat BDS Campaign, which it describes as a hub for advocacy and public-policy organizing, and the Jerusalem Call, intended to mobilize faith-based political support for Jerusalem as Israel’s indivisible, eternal capital.[2] Josh Reinstein has also described the organization’s positions as including support for Israeli sovereignty claims, including over the Golan Heights, and opposition to anti-Zionist movements.[15] These positions are the organization’s advocacy priorities rather than neutral descriptions of the political disputes involved.[3][15]

The IAF has used conferences to bring legislators together around these themes. Its 2015 Jerusalem Chairman’s Conference brought 22 parliamentarians from 18 countries and addressed anti-Israel boycotts, the threat of a nuclear Iran, and Jerusalem. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Minister Gila Gamliel, and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat addressed the gathering.[16] Participants drafted and signed a resolution supporting Israel and pledging opposition to movements such as BDS; Minister Gilad Erdan accepted it at a press conference.[16]

The conference program also included a planned tour of the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria. The itinerary included a stop at a Rami Levy supermarket in Sha’ar Binyamin, where participants were to hear from Arab and Jewish employees, and a meeting with Bat Galim Shaer, the mother of one of the boys kidnapped and killed by Hamas during the previous summer’s war.[16]

A later Chairman’s Conference was included in the Feast of Tabernacles program for the first time at the IAF’s initiative, with participants from governments across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia.[17]

The organization has pursued advocacy beyond its conferences. In January 2024, it co-sponsored a Washington visit by rabbis and pastors who planned to urge members of Congress to provide Israel with funding and diplomatic support; the IAF’s U.S. director said the group would also speak for Israelis held hostage.[9] At a February 2024 conference in Jerusalem, more than 20 parliamentarians from 18 countries were expected to call for dismantling UNRWA, speak against Iran, and oppose the creation of a Palestinian state. The announced program included a visit to an agricultural community near Gaza, a tour of the biblical heartland, and meetings with Israeli leaders.[18]

In May 2024, Reinstein and Knesset member Matan Kahana joined the March of Life in Stuttgart, where about 1,000 Christians and Jews marched on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Kahana also met members of the Parliament of Baden-Württemberg to discuss efforts against antisemitism.[19] The IAF’s expansion in Africa included a September 2024 parliamentary summit in Addis Ababa, attended by more than 40 parliamentarians from 20 African nations, and the announcement of six new caucuses in July 2025: Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Lesotho, Seychelles, Gabon, and Guinea-Conakry.[20]

The IAF provides an institutional framework for cooperation between Israeli political figures, foreign legislators, and faith communities that support Israel. The caucus model gives participating lawmakers a channel for information-sharing, parliamentary events, and coordinated advocacy, while the Foundation’s programs seek to build relationships through direct engagement and travel.[3][2]

The network’s growth is reflected in reported caucus launches and geographic expansion. In May 2014, Latvia and Estonia launched Israel Allies Caucuses following efforts involving the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, World Jewish Congress Israel, and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem; the launches brought the reported network total to 30 caucuses.[8] In 2025, the Foundation announced six new African caucuses after the Addis Ababa summit.[20]

Reinstein has attributed a large share of Israeli diplomatic gains—including embassy relocations to Jerusalem, anti-BDS and antisemitism legislation, and Israel’s observer status in the African Union—to faith-based diplomacy. This is his assessment of the IAF’s influence, not an independently established measure of the organization’s causal impact.[6]

The IAF is an advocacy organization whose positions on Jerusalem, BDS, UNRWA, Israeli sovereignty, and the establishment of a Palestinian state concern contested political questions. Its descriptions of its mission and achievements should therefore be understood as the organization’s stated perspective rather than as independent evaluations.[5][2]

Sources differ on the Foundation’s founding year: one account gives 2007, while another gives 2006.[6][12] Reported network totals also vary by date and unit. The Foundation currently reports work in 68 legislatures, while a 2013 account referred to caucuses in 22 governments.[4][7] A May 2014 report counted 30 parliamentary caucuses, and a current organization profile reports 64 caucuses in 64 countries and more than 1,600 legislators.[8][10] These figures do not form a directly comparable series.