US Ambassador Mike Huckabee and American evangelical pastor O.S. Hawkins were awarded the White Rose legacy prize on Tuesday.
The prize is given in memory of Christians who resisted fascism and fought against Nazi oppression during the Second World War.
Hawkins is the chancellor of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the former pastor of the historic First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. Huckabee is also an evangelical pastor, though he does not currently lead a congregation.
The presentation ceremony took place at President Isaac Herzog's residence in Jerusalem. It was the first time that the ceremony had been held in Israel.
What is the White Rose Society?
Founded by Jewish community leaders and philanthropists in the United States, the White Rose Society is a grassroots movement that recognizes non-Jewish individuals who exemplify moral courage and steadfast commitment to justice in standing with the Jewish People and standing up for them and for the State of Israel.
The Society honors the memories of a Munich University professor and a small group of university students who, in 1942, under the code name of White Rose, opposed the Nazi regime. Their courage and moral integrity cost them their lives.
The original White Rose resistance organization was founded by university student Hans Fritz Scholl and his professor Alexander Schmorell. Scholl was charged with high treason for distributing anti-Nazi literature and was executed by guillotine in 1943.
As a 12-year-old, he defied his father and became an enthusiastic member of Hitler Youth, but was quickly disillusioned as he realized that young people were being brainwashed into fanaticism and unconditional subordination to the Führer and his officers.
At Munich University, he was inspired by his professors and, after learning of mass murders by the Nazis in Poland and the Soviet Union, Scholl and Schmorell decided that the time had come to act and wrote and distributed anti-Nazi literature in telephone booths and other places all over Munich and at the University of Hamburg.
Hawkins noted that both he and Huckabee had been at several events where they had been honored, but this was the first time that the honor was not theirs alone but had been extended to all present, with President Isaac Herzog asking each person to introduce themselves and say a few words.
Huckabee made a similar comment.
There were also rabbis present at the interfaith event. One of them, Rabbi Yitzhak Aharon Korff of Boston, Miami, and Jerusalem, spoke about the Jewish philosophy of respect, which is related to honor.
When Christians first began to publicly stand up on behalf of the Jewish people, Jews were originally suspicious of their motives, but have come to know that they have sincere friends among the Christians, he said.
Wendy Selig, a senior member of the White Rose Society, praised the two honorees for showing up and standing up, adding that Huckabee has been a friend in moments of crisis and moments of calm, and that Hawkins has shown “extraordinary courage and devotion” in standing up for the Jewish people during a period of acute antisemitism.
”The Evangelical world stands with you,” said Hawkins. “For Zion’s sake and for Jerusalem’s sake, we will not be silent.
Huckabee was appreciative not only for being selected as a White Rose honoree but also for the friendship he and his wife Janet have experienced from Herzog and his wife Micha. “It is rare to get to know government leaders. You don’t even get to have a professional relationship, much less a personal relationship,” he remarked.
He was happy to share “an extraordinary moment” with Hawkins, who is a long-time friend. It was important to Huckabee to receive the White Rose, he explained, because of what it means historically, and how it honors those who risked their lives in World War II.
As a devout Christian, he said he saw nothing special about standing with the Jewish People and the State of Israel. “To stand with the Jewish People and the State of Israel is to obey God,” he said. “It’s not always comfortable, but it’s necessary.
“I can’t be a Christian without the foundation of Judaism,” Huckabee said.
Illustrating the need to stand up in the face of injustice, Michal Herzog, who has been at the forefront of the global campaign against using rape as a weapon of war, said that the reaction that had hurt most – as the silence of women’s organizations.
President Herzog, still smarting from the insult to his late father by the attempt to remove Irish-born Chaim Herzog’s name from Herzog Park in Dublin, was appreciative of the non-Jewish voices that had spoken up against such a measure.