Paul Calvert spoke with Ilan Scolnik, from the Friends of Zion Museum.

Ilan Scolnik

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that without Christian Zionism, the modern State of Israel would not exist today. In 2015 the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem launched, to give Christians worldwide a home in the modern State of Israel. Paul Calvert spoke with Ilan Scolnik, Director of Marketing and Sales at the Friends of Zion Museum, about the Jewish/Christian relationship, what people will experience at the museum and their future plans for the Ambassador Project.

Paul: What is the Friends of Zion Museum?

Ilan: The Friends of Zion Museum, is a museum that takes the concept of righteous gentiles from the Holocaust that we all know so well, and it expands it over 200 years leading up to the State of Israel. It celebrates those who stood by the Jewish people in creating the State and helping the Jewish people with their Zionist dream.

Paul: Shimon Peres was the International Chairman of the museum wasn't he?

Ilan: Yes he was. Also on our board sit former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz, the former Head of Mossad Danny Yatom, General Yossi Peled, the person who composed Hallelujah, Kobi Oshrat, and many more. The consensus and participation both in Israel and overseas has been overwhelming.

Paul: When were you opened and why were you opened?

Ilan: We opened with a soft launch in April and the official opening was September 8th 2015. We opened with two major goals. One is for Christians worldwide to have a home in the modern State of Israel. We found that Christians went all over the State of Israel to the holy sites, but they lacked a connection to the modern State of Israel. This museum gives them that connection. It connects the Bible to the modern State.

On the other hand, we wanted to create a centre that acted as a beacon and a bridge between Israelis, Jewish people and Christians. We wanted to show Israelis that there are many people who support them around the world, especially in a time like now, where we have BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) popping up all over the world and we have all sorts of negative media. It is so important for Israelis to know that people support them.

What we discovered, is that Israelis not only loved the museum because they found the people support them, but their message of the museum, the connection of the biblical to the modern is something that was very needed in the Israeli society.

We have security forces that come to the museum, school children, people from all over Israeli society, both in the religious Jewish world as well as secular Jewish world. They say time and time again that the connection with the modern State is so necessary through the Bible, otherwise why are we here?

Paul: How many people have come so far?

Ilan: A little over 60,000 people have already come through the museum. About half of them are tourists from around the world and the other half are Israeli local people. We are very proud of that number.

Paul: What can people see when they come to the museum?

Ilan: The museum is a one hour experience. You can also see the entire content of the museum on our website in a 3D virtual tour. The virtual tour is on the home page and you can see all of the exhibits in English. It's the latest technology.