SAN ANTONIO – On the heels of announcing a national pro-Israel ad campaign, Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the largest pro-Israel organization in the US, brought 51 pastors – one from each state and the District of Columbia – to Israel for a four-day solidarity trip.

The group, which departed on Monday, plans to meet with senior Israeli officials, offer encouragement to Israeli soldiers defending the Jewish state, and donate blood to help the wounded.

Church leaders joining the trip include Todd Burpo, author of Heaven is for Real and senior pastor of Nebraska’s Crossroads Wesleyan Church, Dr. James Garlow, senior pastor at Skyline Church in San Diego, Billye Brim, head of Missouri-based Billye Brim Ministries, Lynne Hammond, senior pastor of Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, and Waxer Tipton, senior pastor of One Love Ministries in Honolulu.

“While Israel’s been at war, our pastors and leaders have wanted to do something concrete to demonstrate their support and solidarity. So in addition to our recent DC Summit and our national advertising campaign about Hamas, we’re taking 51 pastors – one from every state in the union plus the District of Columbia – on a solidarity mission to Israel,” said CUFI executive director David Brog.

“Each of these pastors represents those of our 1.8 million CUFI members who live in their state.  We will give blood.  We will visit the wounded.  We will tell everyone we meet that those shouting “death to the Jews” on the streets of Berlin and Paris do not represent all of us.  And, perhaps most importantly, we’ll share what we see and learn with our members back home,” Brog said.

CUFI’s national, multi-platform advertising campaign is part of an effort to educate Americans about the true nature of Hamas.  Full-page ads ran in Thursday’s print editions of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times.On Friday, full page ads ran in USA Today, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Denver Post, the Chicago Sun Times, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Simultaneously, CUFI is running web-based advertisements on several top news and Christian websites including Fox News, the Christian Post, and Beliefnet, among several others.