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BY ITZHAK RABIHIYA

Millions of Evangelical Christians around the world are waiting on news from Israel, and are fearing a second wave of COVID-19 in Israel. 

Ward Simpson, the CEO of GOD TV says that in the last season, there's an increase of viewing of news from Israel. According to him, millions of Evangelical Christians and Pilgrims are tuning in every day to hear reports of the current COVID-19 situation in Israel, out of a desire to hear something encouraging, comforting, And are praying and hoping to return to visit Israel, as soon as the flights are renewed. Moreover, Simpson emphasizes, he, and the GOD TV channel encourage the viewers to connect with Israel, while simultaneously to condemn every act of antisemitism, especially when it comes from the BDS movement, towards Israel. By Ward Simpson's estimates, when the flights to Israel will renew, millions of Evangelical Christians and Pilgrims will go and visit Israel. They will volunteer to assist Israel and continue praying for her well being and safety. 

From the data that was collected from the GOD TV stations around the world, it is apparent that because of the COVID-19 epidemic and the desire to find comfort in God’s presence, there was an increase of viewers and of hours viewed on GOD TV and other religious stations, by millions of Christian believers. According to Ward Simpson, viewers of GOD TV and other religious stations express their desire and hope to visit the Western Wall, the City of David, Jewish settlements and the holy places, to volunteer and aid the IDF and the collective settlements, to aid the Holocaust survivors around the country and more. This desire, according to Ward, was also expressed in many Evangelical conferences that took place lately around the USA, where there were preachers and leaders of churches calling believers to pray for the safety of the state of Israel, and they promised to come and visit Israel, as soon the COVID-19 crisis ends and the flights to Israel renew. 

Ron Cantor, the spokesman of Shelanu TV from Israel, which is aired on HOT (channel number 182) A new channel for the Arab Christian and Messianic Jewish communities in Israel, said that he sees a rise of interest in religious channels and COVID-19 news. "We look forward to the day where millions of tourists will come back and visit Israel." 

From data that was collected by the channel, and by the estimates of the 'Incoming Tourism Survey', around 250,000 people, who consider themselves Evangelical Christians, fly to Israel every year. More than 90% of them visited the holy places in Jerusalem. Half of them came as part of organized groups, and the other half came independently. Many Evangelical church members come to Israel through organized tours of small communities, led by the local leader of the community. 

The 'COVID-19 Effect' is also expressed through many Jews around the world who want to make 'Aliyah' to Israel. According to the estimates of the Jewish Agency, it is expected that after the end of this epidemic, around 60,000 new immigrants and foreign residents are expected to come to Israel - a major increase when compared to yearly average of 30,000 immigrants. "Those of us in Israel and even throughout the world, see that Israel is viewed as a country that is handling the COVID-19 situation relatively well, and I hope we can maintain this." - Ron Cantor summarizes.