This past month, thousands of Christians took to their computer screens and smartphones to join over 700 invite-only attendees to this year's annual Christians United for Israel (CUFI) summit to celebrate and honor the life of Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg of blessed memory.

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The San Antonio rabbi passed away recently, two weeks shy of his 81st birthday. Besides leaving behind over 300 families who belonged to his congregation Rodfei Sholom, the Orthodox rabbi left behind over 10 million CUFI members, many of whom regarded him as their rabbi.

I first met Rabbi Scheinberg nearly six years ago, when I sat down with him and CUFI founder Pastor John Hagee for an exclusive interview about their friendship. Just a few months earlier, the rabbi and his community awoke to swastikas, Ku Klux Klan writings and other anti-Semitic graffiti spray-painted on their cars and homes.

When news of the anti-Semitic attack surfaced, the rabbi immediately received a visit from one of his closest friends, Pastor Hagee.

"As soon as I heard this had happened," Hagee said in our October 2015 interview, "my wife and I came down immediately to express our solidarity with the rabbi, with his congregation and the Jewish community of San Antonio. I want to say to all of the Christians in America, we stand with the Jewish people. An attack against this synagogue is an attack against Christians everywhere. We are united."

The bond between Pastor Hagee and Rabbi Scheinberg celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. It was 1981 when Pastor Hagee had the idea to support Israel and the Jewish people with the first "Night to Honor Israel." But to get his idea off the ground, he wanted the blessing of the San Antonio Jewish Federation.

Following Hagee's initial conversations with the Federation, Scheinberg met the pastor and was "convinced that it was worthwhile to give this person an opportunity. I told the Federation that I was very impressed with the pastor and we should give his idea a shot. At that point I think the community was ready to participate in a Night to Honor Israel."

"There would never have been a Night to Honor Israel or a Christians United For Israel that now has over 2.5 million members; and $95 million for humanitarian causes would never have been donated to Israel – if we hadn't been successful in that first meeting," said Hagee back in 2015. Six years later, CUFI now exceeds 10 million members and has donated over $300 million to Israel and Jewish causes. None of this support would have been possible if Rabbi Scheinberg didn't take a chance that Pastor Hagee was sincere about his support for Israel and the Jewish people.

Scheinberg told me that it was "G0d's plan for us" that brought us together. "In Jewish thought, we believe that you connect with people with your heart and soul and then your mind kicks in to process that relationship. When I met Pastor, it wasn't me saying let's give it a chance – there was something about him. I knew we were going places – I felt it. When I went back to the Federation it wasn't just to recommend that we give it a try. I told them that this person was going to do something wonderful for our people."

During their 40-year friendship, Pastor Hagee and Rabbi Scheinberg have visited Israel together dozens of times – leading congregations of Christians and Jews to the Promised Land.

Rabbi Scheinberg has also been a regular presence at CUFI events. From leadership conferences to the annual summit that draws crowds of over 5000 Christian Zionists, this year his attendance was greatly missed.

Due to Covid restrictions, this year's summit was held in Dallas instead of Washington, DC, and in-person attendance was limited to 700. But through the power of technology, thousands more attended the conference virtually. And Rabbi Scheinberg was, in spirit, still part of the festivities.
"It was truly a moment of destiny. From the moment they met it was love at first sight. Whether they walked shoulder to shoulder in their beloved Jerusalem or the halls Congress, they were friends they were partners, and they are brothers now and forevermore."

These are the opening words narrated by Pastor Hagee's wife Diana in a video tribute to Rabbi Scheinberg that brought tears to the eyes of many, this past Month when CUFI held their first summit after the rabbi's passing.

The video is a historical look through the years of the bond between the pastor and rabbi. From the beginning of their friendship to their many trips to Israel and events honoring Israel and showing solidarity with the Jewish people, CUFI reveals a partnership between two men who love Israel and cherish their friendship.

As stated in the video, Rabbi Scheinberg "changed the history of the Jewish-Christian landscape as we see it today."

"One of the great joys of my life has been to see how CUFI has enabled Christians and Jews to come together. We cannot heal the wounds of the past, but we can ensure that as friends, neighbors and spiritual brethren, we walk forward together," Hagee told the Haym Salomon Center. "

Rabbi Scheinberg made all of that possible by teaching me and countless others about Jewish history and moreover the modern Jewish experience and by personally exemplifying the open-minded approach necessary for Jewish-Christian relations to thrive on a personal level.

CUFI is currently the largest pro-Israel organization in the country – supporting the Jewish state, standing with the Jewish people and combating the growing scourge of anti-Semitism and its many faces. Through its legislative arm, CUFI Action Fund, the organization is one of the most influential voices on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures.

None of this would be possible if an Orthodox rabbi hadn't taken a chance on an Evangelical pastor.
"Without Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg, there would be no CUFI. He took a chance and opened his heart to me decades ago, thus enabling the first Night to Honor Israel to take place," explained Hagee. "We are all here today because Rabbi Scheinberg said, "yes." In the years since, his friendship and advice enabled CUFI's birth, growth and many successes.

"God has a special plan for Jews and Christians together to strengthen one another. We need each other and we can give strength to each other; and to me, that is one of the great miracles of our day – the unity of Jerusalem and the unity of Jews and Christians together" – Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg.

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The inauguration of President Joe Biden promised a clean break from his predecessor, now-former President Donald Trump, whose term ended on the heels of the Capitol riots and an unprecedented second impeachment. Coupled with the tumult in Washington, Biden's promise of swift action in his first 100 days to curb the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout likely means that foreign policy will take a back seat in the early stages of his administration.

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Yet despite the domestic upheaval, history may still look back favorably on some of Trump's notable foreign policy achievements such as the Abraham Accords, which featured a series of peace agreements between Israel and Arab countries.

Trump's strong stance against Iran, especially his decision to pull out of the Iranian nuclear deal in 2018, could have also helped usher in this new era of Israeli-Arab normalization. Through the continued pursuit of nuclear weapons, its ballistic missile program, and support for regional terror groups, Iran has served as a common enemy for Israelis and Arabs. In fact, many commentators have argued that former President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran was likely the key factor that drove Israel and the Arab states together. Iran's unrelenting aggression was likely the key factor that convinced most Arab leaders that Tehran, not Israel, is the true threat to regional peace.

Yet it appears that the Biden administration will ignore or downplay this new regional reality and return to Mideast policies with a proven track record of failure. Biden has appointed many veterans of the Obama administration to key foreign policy positions, including those who were instrumental in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal.

In light of this development, Iran has already begun to ramp up its nuclear program, announcing it would begin enriching uranium to 20 percent. While that percentage is below what is needed for a nuclear weapon, experts view Iran's move as a drive to improve its bargaining position vis-à-vis the incoming Biden administration.

Similarly, Iran is expanding its push to shore up allies in the region. In the wake of the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia last fall, which saw Azerbaijan regain much of its internationally recognized territory in Nagorno-Karabakh that Armenia had occupied for three decades, Iran has stepped up its effort to forge closer ties with Armenia.

Iran recently held high-level talks with Armenia. The mullahs have expressed "solidarity" with Armenia's continued occupation of some portions of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the two countries are focusing on growing bilateral and regional cooperation.

As a result of the war with Azerbaijan, Armenia cut off imports of Turkish goods and announced that it would replace Turkish commodities with Iranian products in its markets. The two nations have also discussed gas exports and potential gas-for-electricity barter.

For Iran, which faced stiff sanctions from the US under Trump and international isolation related to its nuclear program, the opportunity to expand trade to even a small country like Armenia is a significant breakthrough that could embolden the regime.

In fact, Israel is so concerned about differences with the Biden administration over an emboldened Iran that reports suggest the Jewish state is revisiting military options to strike Iran's nuclear program. And just this week, Israel launched a massive airstrike against Iranian-linked targets in Syria, sending a message that it will not tolerate continued Iranian aggression after Trump leaves office.

If history is any indicator, the Biden administration could be susceptible to overlooking enablers and proxies of Iran such as Armenia as it seeks to smooth over ties with the Islamic Republic, much like the pattern that played out during the Obama presidency.

While it remains to be seen how Biden will approach foreign policy issues, global pariahs like Iran will waste no time in continuing their aggression. As this new Iran crisis looms, Israel, the US, and the world are officially on notice.

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Here's the bad news about anti-Semitism in America: It's surging. According to a recently released FBI report, hate crimes against Jews rose 14 percent last year.

But here's the "good" news: The US government has agreed to designate the anti-Israel BDS movement as anti-Semitic, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced last week. This comes from the same administration which issued an executive order requiring the US to investigate anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses in accordance with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, an order that was put into action in November through a newly launched Department of Education investigation into anti-Semitism at the University of Illinois.

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However, the positive developments on policy toward anti-Semitism could be transient given January's transition in the Oval Office. Will President-elect Joe Biden and his secretary of state nominee, Tony Blinken, continue the Trump administration's efforts to combat anti-Semitism that's disguised as anti-Zionism?

The question is particularly relevant with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich) and others who've engaged in anti-Semitic rhetoric slated to speak in a Dec. 15 webinar sponsored by the political arm of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), a leading anti-Zionist group. JVP's strategy mirrors Tlaib's – masquerading as a critic of Israel when Jews are the real target.

It's not surprising that Tlaib, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants, would criticize Israeli policy. But the more telling aspect of Tlaib's outlook – and an important warning sign for the forthcoming Biden administration as it shapes its approach to anti-Semitism – is the Michigan lawmaker's hypocrisy on foreign policy. While Tlaib opposes the Israeli presence in the West Bank, she supports the Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

Although Azerbaijan regained significant portions of Nagorno-Karabakh in its recently concluded six-week war with Armenia, Tlaib's hypocrisy on territorial conflicts is part of a broader trend that's likely to persist on Capitol Hill. The double standard even extends to supporters of Israel like Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), a vocal opponent of Iranian aggression who remains silent on Armenia's empowerment of Iran.

During the war, pro-Armenian media commentators misleadingly claimed the conflict was driven by "Islamist aggression and expansion" into Christian land and represented a second "Christian genocide" of Armenians at the hands of Azerbaijan's ally, Turkey. Azerbaijan, a moderate Muslim-majority nation known as a beacon of interfaith coexistence that embraces its centuries-old Jewish community, plays no part in such activity. Framing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a religious war between Muslim Azerbaijan and Christian Armenia is a shameless propaganda tactic.

Commentators who attempt to inject Islamism into the Nagorno-Karabakh discussion ignore the strong ties between Armenia and Iran, the world's chief purveyor of Islamism. In the latest escalation, Iran was accused of serving as Russia's conduit for transferring weapons to Armenia. Such behavior is part of a longtime pattern that includes Armenia's role in helping Iran circumvent sanctions. Yerevan's rogue alliances in the Islamist world extend to Syria, where Armenia has partnered with Russia on military support of the Assad regime.

Meanwhile, Pashinyan made the unsubstantiated claim in an interview with The Jerusalem Post during the recent Armenia-Azerbaijan war that "[Turkish-backed Syrian] mercenaries, Islamic terrorists and Israel are now on the same side basically." Notably, media reports had perpetuated the myth that "Syrian mercenaries" were fighting against Armenians by publishing photos of Syrian fighters in Libya together with articles about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Armenia's hypocrisy was also evident in early November when Pashinyan tweeted following an attack on Jewish targets in Vienna, "#NagornoKarabakh has been fighting against the Azerbaijani-Turkish terrorist tandem for over a month now. I share the grief of the people of Austria, wish patience to the families of the victims, and a speedy recovery to those wounded."

Pashinyan's comments exploited the tragedy in Vienna for easy political points on anti-Semitism when in fact, Jew-hatred is embedded into the Armenian cultural fabric and is a central pillar of the country's religious warfare. Armenia has a history of glorifying Nazi collaborators, and according to the Anti-Defamation League, Armenians (58%) agree with anti-Semitic stereotypes at a higher rate than Iranians (56%). Simultaneously, Armenia persistently (and unsuccessfully) aims to disrupt the pioneering Jewish-Muslim ties between Azerbaijan and Israel, in October recalling its ambassador to Israel over Jerusalem's arms sales to Baku.

As the Biden-era policy on anti-Semitism takes shape, it's incumbent upon the incoming administration to identify and root out the under-the-radar sources of Jew-hatred such as Armenia and its supporters. In the absence of uncovering and countering hypocrisy and double standards, anti-Semitism is poised to continue surging on American soil.

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