Press Statement by: David Parsons, ICEJ Senior Vice President & Spokesman

During its Feast of Tabernacles celebration in Jerusalem this week, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem hosted a special Israeli Guest Night on Wednesday evening featuring a stirring Sukkot holiday greeting by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, as well as addresses by Fijian Deputy Prime Minister Viliame Gavoka and Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel.

The evening kicked off with the colorful “Roll Call of the Nations”, as national flags from the dozens of countries represented at this year’s Feast were paraded across the stage at Teddy Hall in Jerusalem. More than 1,500 Christians from 71 nations have come to Israel for the annual Sukkot gathering, hopefully signaling an end to the significant drop in tourism to Israel due to the two-year war in Gaza and other fronts.

The Christian Embassy also honored the seven nations that have opened embassies in Jerusalem over recent years, including the United States of America, Guatemala, Paraguay, Kosovo, Honduras, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem was founded at the very first Feast of Tabernacles in 1980 to be a permanent representation of Christian support for Israel, and especially Christian recognition and respect for the status of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital due to the Jewish people’s 3,000 year-old biblical claim and connection to the city. Over the many decades since, the ICEJ has consistently advocated worldwide for the nations to return their embassies to Jerusalem. As a result, the Christian Embassy has been significantly involved in the decisions of at least four of the seven nations that have placed their embassies in Jerusalem. For instance:

>> The ICEJ delivered a strategy paper on moving the American embassy to US President Donald Trump early in his first Administration which was authored by its senior leadership, notably Senior Vice President David Parsons, who co-wrote the initial draft of the Jerusalem Embassy Act that was overwhelmingly passed by the US Congress in 1995. When President Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017, he expressly stated it was on the basis of that earlier act of Congress.

>> ICEJ-Guatemala National Director Dr. Luis Fernando Solares, the most prominent Evangelical leader in his country, was instrumental in urging Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales to quickly follow suit by establishing an embassy in Jerusalem just two days after the US embassy was opened in May 2018.

>> The ICEJ has had strong, active branches in both Papua New Guinea and Fiji for some 40 years now which have consistently urged their nations to give due respect to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The ICEJ’s long-serving Special Representative to the Pacific Island Nations, Victor Schlatter, also spent decades educating the peoples of Oceania on the central place of Israel and especially Jerusalem in their Christian heritage, which helped build the massive public support that has led the governments of Papua New Guinea (September 2023) and Fiji (September 2025) to open their embassies in Jerusalem.

In addition, Miguel Muñoz, who today serves as ICEJ-Honduras National Director, was the key Evangelical leader in his country to lobby Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández to open an embassy in Jerusalem. Hernández eventually appointed Muñoz to a special role as head of the new diplomatic mission in Jerusalem for two years before a full Embassy of Honduras was established in Israel’s capital in June 2021.

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President Herzog’s Address
International Christian Embassy Jerusalem
Feast of Tabernacles Event – 8/10/25

Dear friends and lovers of Zion, you have gathered together today, from more than eighty nations. Here in Jerusalem – city of prayer, city of peace, and city of God, whose name means peace. Faith and grace have brought each of you to touch this sacred ground, as living testament to the words of the prophets: “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations… shall go up… to worship the King… and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”

It is no coincidence, friends, that you have gathered here at a decisive moment in the history of this region. You, lovers of Zion, have arrived here at a crossroads in which the choice for blessing or curse, for life and liberty or death and destruction, is laid out before us.

Of course, your love for Israel is not new. For decades your embassy in Jerusalem, the ICEJ, has been a global voice of Christian friendship, solidarity and action for Israel. When others left Jerusalem, you came and said, like Abraham, Hineini, “We are here. We stand with the State of Israel, with the people of Israel, and with the Holy City.”

In our darkest hour, exactly two years ago, October 7th, you stepped forward with courage. You called on your hearts and on your faith to come to the aid of the people of Israel in the Land of Israel. And your caring reached so many and did so much good. Thank you.

Across the globe, you have stood up to antisemitism, countering lies and libels about Israel, you spread the truth about the Jewish State, you pray and fight for our hostages, who are suffering terribly, and allow a language of love to counter hatred.

In the name of the State and People of Israel, as the President of the State of Israel, I want to thank all of you. You are a source of strength, of comfort and of light in a period of overwhelming darkness.

Dear friends, over the days of this Feast, you will march through Jerusalem and bring life to the words of Psalms: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may those who love you be secure”. And, in fact, whilst we will always do what is necessary to protect people, and keep our country secure, our hands remain outstretched for peace. We will never abandon the vision of a region where the children of Abraham can live and dwell together in peace.

We that the words of the psalmist: “Seek peace, and pursue it,” are not only a dream, but a demand upon us – that we take every action to realize it. The historic Abraham Accords, brokered five years ago by President Trump, opened the door to a new future of tolerance, understanding and partnership in the region. Here and now, at this very moment, President Trump has put forward a comprehensive plan for an end to the war, the release of all of our hostages, and gave a horizon of hope for peace in this region. I am utterly grateful for that and I thank him.

I deeply believe that together with our greatest ally, the United States of America, and our friends and partners around the world, we can shape a future of peace and of blessing to the world.

I commend the negotiations teams in Egypt, and I pray they will broker a deal as soon as possible that will bring our sons and daughter, from Hell, back home.

I want to thank the ICEJ, its president, Dr. Juergen Buehler and his excellent team. And Christian Zionist communities around the world. And I want to thank you each of you who have made this pilgrimage of body, heart, and spirit to Israel. And those joining us now from around the world. May God bless you for blessing Israel. May He bless Jerusalem. May He bring our hostages home, as soon as possible. And may He spread His tabernacle, His canopy, His sukkah of peace, over all who love this land. Thank you.