A common enemy—jihad—has brought many of us together. In my circles, that includes everyone from Pentecostals to secular Jews.

The strange times in which we find ourselves living almost demand that we link arms with others, despite differences in religion and in many cases, culture.

A byproduct of that linking is that it’s such a blessing to embrace new friends, as we get to know them as people.

Such a group, for me, is the America-Israel Friendship League, a New York-based organization that will celebrate its 40^th anniversary next year. Executive Director Alex Grobman is a personal friend, groundbreaking author, and one of the world’s top Holocaust scholars.

The AIFL (aifl.org) is dedicated to highlighting the wonderful uniqueness of Israel, sharing common values with the United States, and bringing individuals together: Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Primarily, the youth program Youth Ambassador Student Exchange (YASE) allows students from different cultures to visit each other’s countries and dialogue and soak-up the culture. It is a magnificent effort that will pay dividends in the future, as old antagonists die off and make way for perhaps more reasonable leadership.

Thankfully, there is also still remaining some reasonable current leadership, and no one personifies that more than AIFL Chairman Kenneth Bialkin. A delightful and accomplished gentleman, Bialkin was born in the Bronx, in the year of the great Stock Market Crash.

His immigrant grandparents kept a blue-and-white pushke (charity box) in their home, collecting money to help settle Palestine with Jews. As Christian supporters of Israel, we understand this effort quite well, and it not only resonates with us; it reaches into our being.

“The AIFL is a secular, non-partisan organization,” says Bialkin. “We have no political association.”

Bialkin, chair of the AIFL for the past decade, is making every effort to improve perceptions of Israel. His grandparents would be proud! The AIFL reaches out to anyone seeking peace and the improvement of our world, especially that volatile Middle East region.

This independence allows the AIFL to concentrate on building friendships and forging humanitarian bonds. The greatest benefactor of these remarkable efforts, of course, is Israel. The Jewish state has enough enemies, and too often we hear only negative talk about the country.

When American political, educational, and cultural leaders are able, though, to walk the streets of Jerusalem, taste Israeli food, and partake of the sublime music and art…a different picture of Israel emerges.

Christian Zionists often support a variety of causes. I invite you, enthusiastically, to check out the website of the America-Israel Friendship League, and consider how you might participate in this noble and important work. You’ll be glad you did.

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Originally published in Rapture Ready, Israel Watch. December 20, 2010

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