US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said it is "possible" that President Donald Trump was sent by God to save Israel from Iran.
In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network during a high-profile trip to Israel, he said it was his faith that made him believe that.
He also praised US efforts to "make sure that this democracy in the Middle East, that this Jewish state, remains".
The comments came on a Jewish holiday celebrating rescue from genocide.
The holiday, Purim, commemorates the biblical rescue of the Jewish people by Queen Esther from the Persians, as the interviewer noted to Mr Pompeo.
What did Pompeo say?
He was asked if "President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from an Iranian menace".
"As a Christian, I certainly believe that's possible," said Mr Pompeo, a former member of Congress for Kansas and CIA director.
"I am confident that the Lord is at work here," he added.
Mr Pompeo came under fire during his tour of the Middle East for holding a conference call and only inviting "faith-based" members of the media to join.
How often do US officials invoke religion?
Mr Pompeo is not the first Trump official to suggest a divine will behind Mr Trump's actions: In January, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told a religious television network that God "wanted Donald Trump to become president".
Vice-President Mike Pence and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions have also referenced Christianity or bible verses in official remarks.
His administration is also the first in 100 years to have a Cabinet member bible study group - of which Mr Pompeo was a member.
[links and bolding in original] Then what about Beelzebub for Natanyahuish election destiny, or perhaps Bibi reaching for ultra right-wing Knesset help just being Big B. simply enjoying a good laugh?
And, Moloch being behind the Kushner 666 Fifth Ave. shenanigans?
Sinclair Lewis wrote of folks like Trump's circle. And these people are not the first highly placed DC species of big-time biblical bullshitters.
Vice.com carries the same Pompeo story, a partially expanded version:
President Donald Trump is many things: U.S. president. Wealthy businessman. Father of Tiffany Trump. A Gemini. A biblical savior.
Well, that last one is up for debate, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said it’s at least a possibility, in an appearance Thursday night on the Christian Broadcasting Network.
“Could it be that President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace?” host Chris Mitchell asked Pompeo.
“As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible,” Pompeo replied.
“I am confident that the Lord is at work here,” he added.
Pompeo’s interview coincided with Purim, a holiday that celebrates the salvation of the Jewish people from genocide under Haman, the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who works as a minister in the Persian empire. In the Old Testament, Esther, the wife of Persian King Xerxes I, persuades her husband to rescue the Jews.
Pompeo also visited Israel on Thursday, where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s running for re-election despite facing criminal charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust related to gifts he allegedly gave to foreign billionaires. Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that the U.S. should “fully recognize” the Golan Heights as an Israeli territory, but Pompeo made no reference to the president’s words. The Golan Heights are a Syrian territory that Israel captured during the Six-Day War in 1967.
Netanyahu called Trump’s statement a “Purim miracle.”
An image, twin sons of different mothers:
Image source, JPost.com: " Is Donald Trump campaigning for Netanyahu? Benjamin Netanyahu, facing a credible challenge on April 9 from Benny Gantz, is about to get a cascade of earned media thanks to Donald Trump. By RON KAMPEAS/JTA March 21, 2019 17:20".
_____________UPDATE_______________
Trump's Golan Heights bit, timed as it is before April elections in Israel may be a Purim miracle to Bibi, it's his status at risk in the election and he likely expects like minded "Purim miracle" responses at the Israeli ballot boxes; but otherwise the Trump stunt fails to pass muster; failing big time; see, e.g., here, here, here and here. Bibi interferes in our elections, Trump interferes in Israel's, and the band plays on. Now that Mueller's run out the budget on sniffing at Russia, what about Ukraine and Clinton? The band playing on has to master a new tune, eh? The whole Russia thing began because Clinton would not admit losing the election to Trump was simply her own damned bad campaigning helped that way by Podesta's choice of email password simplicity - truth hurting but the Mueller thing plays out like Hamlet deciding at the end of the play to do nothing but to accept a status quo and collect antiques as a hobby into old age. Ending not with a bang but a whimper, as T.S wrote? How it is with hollow men.