Friends of Zion building $100 million social network campus
FOZ founder Dr. Mike Evans has worked to mobilize his base to advocate for Israel, fighting media, economic and ideological wars facing the Jewish state and its people.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFMike Evans, founder of the Friends of Zion Heritage Center in Jerusalem.(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
A global initiative by the Friends of Zion Museum recently surpassed 51 million members, making it one of the largest pro-Israel sites in the world.FOZ founder Dr. Mike Evans has worked to mobilize his base to advocate for Israel, fighting media, economic and ideological wars facing the Jewish state and its people.Evans founded the Friends of Zion Heritage Center in Jerusalem as a portal to fight global antisemitism and to stand strong against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel.FOZ educates and activates millions of people about the State of Israel and how to combat antisemitism in today’s world. The growing campus will include an “Ambassador Institute,” a communications center, and the first Christian Zionist think tank focused on uniting hundreds of millions of millennials globally.Since its opening in 2015 by Israel’s ninth president, Shimon Peres, the museum has hosted more than 200,000 visitors, including 127 diplomats, 64 ambassadors as well as several presidents and prime ministers.When US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence came to Jerusalem during the US Embassy opening ceremony, Evans plastered the city with over 200 massive billboards – some of them more than four stories high – thanking Trump for being a “Friend of Zion” and helping to “Make Israel Great.”Following the historic US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Evans hosted a gala event attended by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, senators Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz, along with numerous diplomats.Evans presented Trump with the Friends of Zion Award in the Oval Office in an event attended by Pence, Kushner and Ivanka Trump as well as faith leaders representing over 150 million Christians globally.Previous recipients of the prestigious award were former president George W. Bush, Crown Prince Albert II of Monaco, and former president Rosen Plevenliev of Bulgaria, for their unwavering support for the State of Israel and Jewish people.In the coming months, Evans will present newly elected President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro with the award to thank him for his decision to move the Brazilian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Later this month, Evans will receive the Jerusalem Post Award at the paper’s Diplomatic Conference in Jerusalem on November 21.
