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OPINION

Antisemitism Must Be Kept Away From Prayer Breakfast

a manaquin head wearing a blindfold labeled antisemitism
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Paul Miller By Tuesday, 28 January 2025 12:56 PM EST Current | Bio | Archive

The National Prayer Breakfast, to be held this year on February 6 in Washington, is not normally known as a source of controversy.

According to its stated vision, the annual event seeks to “promote and share the idea of gathering together in the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth, adopted by the Senate and House Prayer Breakfast Groups in the United States Congress.” It also seeks to provide a platform where not only Christians but “people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs can join together, encourage and promote forgiveness and reconciliation.”

Congress itself sought to maintain the breakfast’s status as a bipartisan, spiritual, and uplifting event in 2023 by taking control of the event away from the International Foundation, a secretive evangelical Christian group that ran the gathering for decades.

But this year, the National Prayer Breakfast again stands at risk of subverting its very purpose. That is due to its invitation of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the leader of a nation whose ideals and policies fly in the face of the event’s objectives.

On January 14, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) revealed in its latest global index on antisemitism in more than 100 countries that 57% of Armenians agree with negative stereotypes about Jews and harbor elevated levels of antisemitic attitudes. To put that in perspective for a moment, only 49% of survey respondents in Iran, arguably Israel’s greatest enemy, espouse the same attitudes.

Armenia is also a country where Nazi collaborator Garegin Nzhdeh is honored through a monument in the capital of Yerevan, a statue in Gyumri, and street names in nearly 20 municipalities. On New Year’s Day in 2024, the Armenian antisemitic movement Husnak marched with the Nazi flag to celebrate Nzhdeh’s birthday, while its members gave the “Sieg Heil” Nazi greeting.

In the U.S., the Armenian Diaspora is rife with similar expressions of antisemitism. Professional poker player and social media influencer Dan Bilzerian repeatedly declares “f*** Israel” on X, and persistently posts vehemently antisemitic statements such as “Jewish supremacy is the greatest threat to America and the world today.”

Alex Galitsky, policy director for the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) lobby, has called the establishment of the State of Israel “a crime that never ended” and claims that Armenians were forced out of Israel during the 1948 War of Independence “by the forces of nationalism & colonialism.”

Aram Brunson, a Massachusetts native charged with a scheme to cover up bomb-making at the University of Chicago, was active in an Armenian Youth Federation chapter named after Nzhdeh.

Pashinyan himself continues to deepen ties with Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, including as the patron of Hamas to the south of Israel and Hezbollah to its north.

On January 15, Pashinyan posted on social media that “our relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran are more substantive than ever before. These relations are based on natural interests, which is the most reliable basis for cooperation and guarantee for stability.”

Ideally, Iran should not be confused with any notion of “stability” in the Mideast region. But Pashinyan said that expanding relations with Tehran has the impact of “balancing foreign policy” in Armenia.

Yerevan’s courtship of Tehran is nothing new. In fact, Armenia has a history of helping Iran skirt international sanctions.

In 2012, Reuters exposed how Armenian banks facilitated illegal transactions banking that enabled Iran to “obfuscate payments to and from foreign clients and deceive Western intelligence agencies trying to prevent it from expanding its nuclear and missile programs.”

In 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Armenia-based Flight Travel LLC for its connection to Iranian Mahan Air, which is linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an American-designated foreign terrorist organization.

Now, in advance of the 2025 National Prayer Breakfast, evangelical Christians as well as the members of Congress who are involved in organizing the breakfast must ask themselves: Is the prime minister of Armenia — a nation characterized by chronic antisemitism among its population, a history of glorifying the Holocaust, and increasingly close ties with Iran — fit to attend this event? The answer should be self-evident.

As the evangelical community prides itself on staunch support of Israel, the only appropriate decision would be rescinding Pashinyan’s invitation, thereby refocusing the National Prayer Breakfast on dignitaries who truly embody the event’s spirit of tolerance, acceptance, and peace.

Paul Miller is a Chicago area political consultant. He is the founder and President of the news and public policy group Haym Salomon Center. His commentary has been published in USA Today, New York Daily News, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek and The Hill. Follow him on X @pauliespoint. Read More of Miller's posts Here.

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PaulMiller
The National Prayer Breakfast, to be held this yearon February 6 in Washington, is not normally known as a source of controversy.According to its stated vision, the annual event seeks to "promote and share the idea of gathering together in the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth,...
antisemitism, prayer breakfast, armenia
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2025-56-28
Tuesday, 28 January 2025 12:56 PM
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