Mitch Glaser, president of Chosen People Ministries, one of the oldest and largest Messianic Jewish organizations in the United States, urged Christians to pray for Israel and a group of 60 people connected to his organization who are there as a new round of missile attacks from Iran killed at least eight people on Monday.
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We have a group of sixty faithful friends in Israel right now — including President Mitch Glaser, his wife, and other staff members,” a statement from Glaser posted on the organization’s website said.
“Iran has retaliated against Israel’s preemptive strike by sending missiles into Israel, killing and injuring civilians in Tel Aviv and surrounding areas, so please pray for the safety of Israel, the safety of its people, and the safety of our team at the dedication.”
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
Glaser and his team were in Tel Aviv to dedicate a new ministry facility, but it was unclear Monday if that event occurred. A spokesperson for the ministry did not immediately respond when contacted by The Christian Post on Monday.
In a post on X on Saturday night, Glaser said his team was evacuated from their hotel at least twice due to the threat of missile attacks from Iran.
The Israel-Iran conflict erupted Friday after Israel launched an attack on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure using warplanes and drones to kill top generals and scientists.
Since then, 24 people have been killed in Israel and 592 wounded, while 224 people have been killed in Iran, according to CNN.
In an earlier statement Friday, Glaser said Israel was forced to act because they were “under incredible threat” from Iran.
“They say they were not manufacturing nuclear bombs. However, they were in fact manufacturing the material that could be used for nuclear bombs, and so Israel was under incredible threat. And so they had to act, and so Israel took out some of these factories. They took out some of the leaders of the Revolutionary Guard that were in charge of strategies that could probably destroy the little nation of Israel. And we just couldn’t let that happen, and so the attack went off and everything went fine,” Glaser said.
“Pray for us. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, pray for a Jewish person, a Jewish friend that you know that doesn’t know the Lord. Go to a Jewish friend or relative or workmate, fellow college student and let them know that you care about them and the nation of Israel and then remember to pray for Chosen People Ministries staff in Israel in particular,” added Glaser.
The ministry notes that less than 1% of Jewish people around the world believe in Jesus.
“Though they are suffering along with all Israelis because of these difficult circumstances, they continue to serve the Lord and lift up the Messiah to Jewish people, particularly to Jewish Israelis,” Glaser said of the members of his ministry team trapped in Israel.
In a statement on X Monday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi slammed Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “wanted war criminal” and “con man who has duped successive U.S. Presidents into fighting his own wars for almost three decades..”
“By all indications, the purpose of Netanyahu’s criminal attack on Iran—killing hundreds of innocent civilians, including women and children—is to scuttle a DEAL between Iran and the U.S., which we were on the right path to achieve. He is playing yet another American President, and ever more American taxpayers, for absolute fools,” Araqchi argued even as it was reported that Israel had wiped out a third of Iran’s missiles.
“Our powerful Armed Forces are making clear to the world that the war criminals hiding in shelters in Tel Aviv will not go unpunished for their crimes. We will continue to pummel the cowards for as long as needed to make sure that they are no longer firing at our people.”
Araqchi also argued that President Donald Trump could stop the ongoing war with a phone call to Netanyahu.
“If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential. Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue. It takes one phone call from Washington to muzzle someone like Netanyahu. That may pave the way for a return to diplomacy.”
The Israeli Military said in statements published on social media, however, that it would continue strikes.
“Today, the Israeli Air Force conducted a precise strike based on intelligence targeting a communication center that was being used for military purposes by the Iranian Armed Forces. The building was used by the Iranian Armed Forces under the guise of civilian activity, covering up the military use of the center’s infrastructure and assets,” the Israel Defense Forces said in an operational update. “Prior to the strike, the IDF provided an effective advanced warning to the civilian population, including phone calls, to mitigate harm to civilians as far as feasible.”
Contact: leonardo.blair@christianpost.com Follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair Follow Leonardo Blair on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost
