WASHINGTON, June 19 — A massive interfaith lobbying campaign
StopTerrorNow.orglaunched today to rally millions of U.S. Christians to urge President Donald Trump and Congress to put political and economic pressure on Qatar, including sanctions, if necessary.
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (The Fellowship), representing tens of millions of North American Christians supporting Israel and the Jewish people, launched the campaign following recent actions by other Gulf States, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen, as well as non-Gulf Egypt, which have dramatically cut ties with Qatar for “sabotaging the region” with foreign policy incursions, its diplomatic relations with Iran, and its notable support for extremist Islamist groups, including Hamas, the terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip.
The campaign is running a full-page open letter from The Fellowship’s founder and president, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein to President Trump in the national edition of USA Today as well as a digital advertising takeover of the USA Today website today, June 19. The publication has nearly one million in readership with 3.7 million people reading the publication online daily.
Letters from Rabbi Eckstein will also be delivered to every member of Congress today. The
StopTerrorNow.org website will help individuals send their own letters to the president and their senators and representatives in Congress.
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews currently:
- Reaches more than 1.6 million Christian donors in North America and throughout the world
- Reaches over 1.5 million Facebook followers with more than 21 million monthly impressions
- Has amassed a grassroots record-breaking annual income of $140 million from donors whose average gift is $76
- Receives more than 7,000 donations each business day
- Reaches 3,042 radio outlets on five continents by airing five different radio programs in two languages (English and Spanish), with a weekly potential listenership of 25.4 million
- Airs television programming and spots daily on 119 TV stations nationwide with a potential reach of 90 million homes
The campaign aims to capitalize on the mutual understanding between Jews and Christians that Qatar’s support for radical Islamist groups is duplicitous and damages U.S. and international efforts to build a reliable coalition to combat extremism in the Middle East.
“Although it is a military ally and strategic partner of the United States, Qatar has offered its political and economic assistance to a variety of Islamist extremist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood and its Palestinian branch, Hamas, as well as the Taliban and even elements of al-Qaeda,” Eckstein said in his letter to Trump.
Eckstein also applauded the president’s visit to Saudi Arabia and Israel and his new vision for fighting Islamist extremism. “The Qatari government, which is now embroiled in a diplomatic crisis with its neighbors over its support for a variety of radical causes, has long played a duplicitous role in the region,” Eckstein wrote. “We hope that, as part of your bold new approach to the Middle East, you will use the considerable influence of your office to compel such changes.”
