In what could be seen as nothing less than a confession of its subversive influence on the Catholic Church, the Israeli government has publicly stated its intention to step up its outreach to American Catholics as part of a campaign against antisemitism.
Its method? By cultivating Catholic organizations and influential figures whom officials hope can strengthen sympathy for Israel and combat narratives about “antisemitism” considered hostile to the Jewish state.
On August 31, EWTN News reported that Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs “tapped” the Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism (CCAA), a lay-led American organization founded in late 2023 by Simone Rizkallah, as a partner in this effort. The CCAA says it is opposed to antisemitism and that it supports the conviction that the modern State of Israel is essential to Jewish security.
In its article, EWTN noted that the CCAA has “emerged as a leading resource in the Government of Israel’s outreach to American Catholics.”
Tammy Ben-Haim, who heads religious and interfaith affairs for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, was quoted as desiring to expand the initiative by involving “young up-and-coming Catholic leaders and influencers.”
“I was so impressed by Simone and the vision she had for the organization to combat antisemitism,” she told EWTN.
The relationship between the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the CCAA has already gone considerably beyond polite inter-religious dialogue. Following Rizkallah’s meeting with Ben-Haim in Washington in May, the Israeli government sponsored a week-long visit by thirteen American Catholic “influencers” drawn from educational institutions, media organizations, think tanks, and lay apostolates to meet with Christians in the region, and to visit sites and to hear about “existential threats” to Israel.
Peter Wolfgang, President of the Family Institute of Connecticut Action, announced on X this week that he participated in the trip and that he was “honored” to attend.
EWTN noted in its report that many signatories of the CCAA’s statement against antisemitism work for prominent organizations such as the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the Institute on Religion and Democracy, the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, the Family Research Council, the GIVEN Institute, Tepeyac Leadership, Benedictine College, and Franciscan University of Steubenville.
Relatedly, Montse Alvarado, whom Leo XIV tapped to be the new head of the Vatican’s communication department, was a founding member of Rizkallah’s CCAA and has served as the president and COO of EWTN since 2023. Some Traditionalists have argued that her “kosher” outlook is influencing the network’s philosemitic coverage of Jewish-related stories.
As previously reported by Integrity, the CCAA announced in July that it was launching a new chapter at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. The group had previously been embroiled in a controversy over alleged “antisemitism” at Benedictine College in Kansas in May.
The Dispatch
It is important for Catholics to observe with appropriate concern news that a foreign government has recognized the American Catholic world as an important “constituency” and that it is proactively cultivating Catholic influencers in the United States to spread talking points in pursuit of diplomatic and political objectives. A report released by Responsible Statecraft earlier this year found that the Israeli government was paying Western influencers to push propaganda on social media as well.
Ultimately, it seems that opposition to so-called “antisemitism” is being used to cloud Catholics’ independent judgment on the matter and to minimize the impact of Catholic critics of Israel and its policies, which is not necessarily “antisemitic,” just as opposition to Palestinian policies should not be seen as anti-Arab prejudice.
Other news that broke this week illustrated just how deep the roots of “Catholic-Jewish engagement” go.
As if it were not scandalous enough that the Catholic Biblical Association of America (CBAA) recently elected Amy-Jill Levine — a self-described “Jewish feminist”— as its president for the coming year, Bishop Joseph Bambera of Scranton, Pennsylvania has come out to defend her against what the Associated Press labeled “antisemitic backlash.”
Bambera, the head of the U.S. bishops’ committee on ecumenical and inter-religious affairs, expressed solidarity with Levine, describing her election as a “historic moment” and a fitting expression of the “interfaith character” of biblical scholarship.
In truth, her promotion is deeply troubling given that Levine belongs to an Orthodox synagogue and denies Jesus as the Savior of Mankind while viewing the New Testament as entirely unworthy of belief. Simply condemning “antisemitism” cannot settle the underlying questions surrounding the election of a non-Christian scholar to preside over an explicitly Catholic biblical association. Describing those who are worried over her tenure as bigoted evades rather than addresses the real issues at play.
Ironically, the Israeli government’s enthusiastic courtship of Catholic organizations to further its own aims seems to be a one-way relationship.
While Israeli officials seek stronger Catholic advocacy abroad for its regime, Christians within Israel and Jerusalem have reported increasing harassment. The Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue documented a substantial increase in incidents during 2025 involving spitting, verbal abuse, assaults, and attacks on Christian property.
It was also reported earlier this week that Christian schools in Jerusalem suspended classes on Tuesday, September 1, after Israeli authorities failed to renew entry permits for more than 70 West Bank-based teachers and staff. The General Secretariat of the Christian Educational Institutions of Jerusalem said the move affected more than 8,500 students and followed a sudden decision that left employees unable to reach their workplaces.
Moreover, news broke last week that a 36-year-old Jewish man in Jerusalem was acquitted by an Israeli court despite video footage showing he pushed a Catholic nun to the ground, injuring her head. So much for being America’s “greatest ally.”
