Rep.-elect Gabe Evans (R-CO), a Colorado state House member and Army veteran, is set to bring personal experience as a service member in the Middle East, under fire from Iranian rockets, to Capitol Hill in January.

Evans, as a helicopter pilot in the Colorado Army National Guard, operated in nine countries in the Middle East in support of the Afghanistan war — though he never personally deployed inside the country.

He told Jewish Insider in a recent interview that working with U.S. partners and allies in the Middle East was a key element of his time in the region, as was working to prevent Iranian-backed terrorism and destabilization and maintain stability and governance in the midst of the Arab Spring. Having personally facing a threat from Iranian missiles, Evans told JI “we cannot live in a world with a nuclear Iran.”

The Colorado Republican called Israel “hands down, bar none” the United States’ “most critical ally in the Middle East,” citing its status as the only democracy in the region and the eliminationist threats it faces from around the region.

“Standing by Israel is absolutely critical for me, not just from a geopolitical perspective and from a foreign policy perspective, but as a Christian,” Evans said. “It really goes to the core of my faith.”

“If you want to have peace with Israel, the beginning point of the conversation is Israel has a right to exist,” Evans said.

He said that, for him, key elements of standing with Israel include ensuring that Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon, that Israel maintains its qualitative military edge, that Israel “has the ability to chart its own peace” and that Israel has the international support it needs and the ability to address threats to its existence and territorial integrity “in a decisive and dynamic manner.”

He said that the U.S. and Israel should make clear that it’s “unacceptable” for anyone to invade Israeli territory or attack Israeli civilians, and called for “an overwhelming response” to such incidents.”

“If you want to have peace with Israel, the beginning point of the conversation is Israel has a right to exist,” Evans continued, before referencing the Palestinian Authority’s payments to terrorists who carry out attacks against Israelis. “Stop attacking them and some of these pay-to-slay policies.”

He said that the U.S. needs to protect Israel from “pressure from interests that are unfriendly to Israel to try to settle for anything less than [that] Israel has an absolute right to exist in peace and security.”

That includes not dictating to Israel the potential terms of a peace agreement with the Palestinians, he said, adding that whether to agree to a two-state solution is “up to Israel.”

Evans said that the U.S. should use “every lever of national power to be able to put [Iran] back in their place.” That includes stricter sanctions enforcement and stopping sanctions waivers, he said.

He said the U.S. needs to “ensure that Iran knows we’ve got new leadership in the United States … we have to project consistent American strength in that region because that’s something they do understand and grudgingly respect.”

He added that the fall of the Assad regime in Syria “does have the potential to be a a setback to Iran,” and that the U.S. must be “flexible and adaptable” as it tackles the new reality in Syria, keeping in mind that the new government in Damascus may not have “the very best of intentions.”

“Those of us that do stand by Israel, we had to walk across to the Senate chambers to make sure that we show our respect and show our support and our solidarity with our Jewish neighbors and with the Israelis abroad,” Evans said, “and then also loudly condemn the blatant antisemitism of the Colorado state speaker of the House who refused to let these Jewish families into the State House chamber.”

Globally, Evans linked outbreaks of conflict and instability to the U.S. “projecting weakness across the globe” and predicted that “consistent American strength” will lead to “a situation where we’ll still have to stand by our allies but a lot of these hot spots are going to start to simmer down a bit.”

Evans said that as a state representative, he met with families of some of the hostages being held in Gaza when they visited the state capital, blasting the Democratic House speaker for revoking an invitation to the hostage families to appear on the House floor. 

“Those of us that do stand by Israel, we had to walk across to the Senate chambers to make sure that we show our respect and show our support and our solidarity with our Jewish neighbors and with the Israelis abroad,” Evans said, “and then also loudly condemn the blatant antisemitism of the Colorado state speaker of the House who refused to let these Jewish families into the State House chamber.”

He said he’ll take a similar approach in Congress, being a “consistent, firm voice standing up in opposition to any form of antisemitism, and then finding ways to actually hold either institutions or organizations that promote that antisemitism … accountable.”

He expressed specific support for recent legislation in the U.S. House that would make it easier for the Treasury Department to strip the tax-exempt status from charities that support terrorism, emphasizing that legislation and policy are necessary to counter antisemitism, in addition to public rhetoric and expressions of support.

Addressing the three House votes earlier this year on U.S. foreign aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, Evans described the Israel vote as “the most clean-cut,” noting that most of the U.S. aid to Israel is spent in the United States and that Israel’s use of U.S.-produced and co-produced systems such as Iron Dome provides valuable intelligence and data to improve its own edge.

He said he looks at Ukraine somewhat differently, explaining, “we cannot reward [Russian President] Putin in any way, shape or form. Appeasing dictators just never works out.” But he said that the U.S. has a “pretty substantial national deficit” and that “we have to make sure that any aid that goes to Ukraine is used efficiently and effectively, and unfortunately we did not see that under the Biden administration.”

He said that the Biden administration provided aid too slowly and in insufficient amounts, such that Ukraine was able to continue fighting but not able to gain a “decisive advantage.”

He also raised questions about corruption in Ukraine, potentially involving President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.

Evans said he looks at the situation in Taiwan in a similar way.

As with aid to Israel, most of the U.S. military support for Ukraine and Taiwan comes in the form of weapons produced domestically, which proponents say helps American industry, as aid to Israel does.

Evans, whose grandparents were military veterans, said that love of country and service were instilled in him from a young age, which ultimately led him to join the military. He said his service took him both to the Middle East and on missions in Colorado like fighting wildfires and search and rescue.

After his time in the military, Evans became a police officer and saw crime rates in his state skyrocket, an issue he blamed on “far-left, defund-the-police, pro-crime politicians” who “decided to handcuff law enforcement and empower criminals.” 

That led Evans to run for the state House, where he said he saw how regulations were killing the state economy and affordability, which prompted him to mount a congressional bid. He beat first-term Rep. Yadira Caraveo (D-CO), a pro-Israel moderate.

His seat was the only one that Republicans flipped in a state that President-elect Donald Trump lost. He attributed his victory to widespread understanding in the district of issues with public safety, border security and inflation — ”I didn’t have to convince people that there was a problem.”

Evans, who says those issues will be at the top of his list in Congress, was recently assigned to a slot on the Energy and Commerce Committee.