Pence, meanwhile, has said: "My passion for Israel springs from my Christian faith " It's really the greatest privilege of my life to serve as vice-president to a president who cares so deeply for our most cherished ally."
Sleeping giant awakensTrump's relocation last year of the US embassy to Jerusalem, pre-empting any negotiated settlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict, was designed to pander to his Christian Zionist base. Some 80 percent of white evangelicals voted for him in 2016, and he will need their support again in 2020 if he hopes to be re-elected.
Not surprisingly, the new US embassy in Jerusalem was consecrated by two prominent televangelist pastors, John Hagee and Robert Jeffress, known for their fanatical support for Israel as well as occasional antisemitic outbursts.
More than a decade ago, Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel, told delegates at a conference organised by AIPAC, Israel's main political lobby in Washington: "The sleeping giant of Christian Zionism has awakened. There are 50 million Christians standing up and applauding the state of Israel."
The Hagee group's activities include lobbying in Congress for hardline pro-Israel legislation, such as the recent Taylor Force Act that slashes US funding to the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinians' government-in-waiting. The group is also active in helping to push through legislation at the state and federal levels, penalising anyone who boycotts Israel.
For US evangelicals, and those elsewhere, Israel is increasingly a key issue. A 2015 poll showed some three-quarters believe that developments in Israel were prophesied in the Bible's Book of Revelation.
Many expect Trump to complete a chain of events set in motion by British officials a century ago and more and more of them are getting directly involved, in hopes of speeding along that process.
Closer ties to settlersIsrael's vision of an "ingathering of the exiles" encouraging Jews from around the world to move to the region under the Law of Return fits neatly with Christian Zionism's beliefs in a divine plan for the Middle East.
The efforts of extremist Jewish settlers to colonise the West Bank, the bulk of any future Palestinian state, also chimes with Christian Zionists' understanding of the West Bank as the "biblical heartland", an area Jews must possess before Jesus returns.
For these reasons, evangelicals are developing ever-closer ties with Israeli Jewish religious extremists, especially in the settlements. Recent initiatives have included online and face-to-face Bible studies programmes run by Orthodox Jews, often settlers, targeted specifically at evangelical Christians. The tutorials are designed to bolster the settlers' narrative, as well as demonising Muslims and, by extension, Palestinians.
The most popular course offered by Root Source, one such venture, is titled "Islam Insights and Deceptions". It uses the Old and New Testaments to make the case that Islam "is extremely dangerous".
A few months ago, Haaretz, Israel's leading liberal newspaper, published an investigation into the growing flow of evangelical volunteers and money into the West Bank's illegal settlements the chief obstacle to achieving a two-state solution.
One US organisation alone, Hayovel, has brought more than 1,700 Christian volunteers over the past 10 years to help in a settlement close to Nablus, in the heart of the West Bank.
Evangelical money pours inAn increasing number of similar initiatives have been aided by new rules introduced last year by the Israeli government to pay Christian Zionist groups such as Hayovel to advocate abroad for the settlements.
It is much harder to know exactly how much evangelical money is pouring into the settlements, because of a lack of transparency regarding US donations made by churches and charities. But the Haaretz investigation estimates that over the past decade, as much as $65m has flowed in.
Ariel, a settler town sitting in the very centre of the West Bank, received $8m for a sports centre from John Hagee Ministries a decade ago. Another evangelical outfit, J H Israel, has spent $2m there on a national leadership centre.
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