Why do evangelical Christians support Israel? | The Bottom Line

Hi, I'm Steve Clemens and I have a question: Why have American

evangelical

s become Israel's strongest

support

ers? Let's get to the

bottom

of it throughout the war in Gaza and for decades before that American

evangelical

s have been some of the most powerful voices in Israel, and that's saying something. Some 30% of Americans describe themselves as evangelicals. Conservative Christians are the backbone of the Republican Party's

support

for Israel, participating in national debates over abortion, immigration, education and even race. They believe that God made a promise to the Jewish people by designating Palestine. as their Homeland and see the creation of Israel in 1948 as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

This idea known as Christian Zionism goes back centuries, so with all the weight that conservative Christians have in the US, how many of these ideas are pushing Americans? politics in the Middle East and it is the catastrophic war waged by Israel in recent months in Gaza that has sparked a debate among the Christian churches in the country today we are speaking with Jonathan Katab, co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al Hawk board member of the Bethlehem Bible College and author of Beyond the Two-State Solution. Jonathan, thank you very much for joining us. I must admit that this area is one I don't talk about often, and you know, the religious dimensions of the conflict and the national interest say so.

Well, Christian Zionism is an ancient phenomenon and there are different types of Christian Zionists, but the broad thread that connects them all is a political position on Zionism in Israel based on some interpretations of the Scriptures, uh, some of them are far away, uh, some of them believe that it is the duty of Christians to support Israel, uh, because that helps Jesus return in the second coming, it is linked to their interpretation of the prophecies and the end times, of the ones you may have heard of. the Left Behind series or the late great planet Earth, these are very popular sensationalist expressions of Christian Zionism that say that the end of the world is near, the creation of the state of Israel is a harbinger of the second coming of Christ and that somehow Christians are supposed to support this state of Israel as part of God's plan for the world.

Now not all Christians believe that what they do believe is that somehow it is the duty of Christians to support the gathering of the Jews, and to support the state of Israel, they take a verse of Scripture in Genesis where God He says to Abraham, I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you through your seed, so all the nations of the world will be blessed. People say we need the blessing, we want the blessing, so we want to support the state of Israel because that is the way to get God's blessing.

The problem, of course, is that this is a totally false interpretation of Scripture because the New Testament says that the seed of Israel is used in the singular who Christ is, it is through Christ that all the nations of the world are blessed and not through through Netanyahu or the state of Israel. I find it interesting because I think it is about a certain current of the evangelical movement that has That speaks about the conflict that is developing today almost in terms of holy war that we have not seen with political power, but this does have political power.

Yes, this is actually a very fascinating thing and it doesn't just apply to Christian Zionists. The state of Israel and the Zionist movement have actually sought the support of well-known anti-Semites, as long as they are politically on their side, like Orban of Hungary, for example, like President Trump, people who are bigoted anti-Semites who hate the Jews but who are willing to support the state of Israel are welcomed by Netanyahu and his moose and John HEI is a perfect example uh in his theology he is actually very anti-Semitic at one point he says that God doesn't even answer the prayers of the Jews uh but but This strange political marriage between anti-Semites and the Zionist movement is also available to Christian Zionists.

You can hate Jews. You may think they are. You know God is going to curse them. Very recently I heard about a pastor. In a big mega church we were trying to ask them to pray for the children of Gaza and he said: no, no, no, no, I don't want to do that, I don't want us to create problems because, you see, I believe in the prophecy that all these Jews They are going to meet there and then with a big smile on his face he says that everyone is going to die because of Armageddon, everyone will be destroyed except those who accept Jesus Christ as their savior, so this guy who really doesn't like those Jews who think they are all going to be destroyed and will continue to politically support Zionism in the State of Israel, not because they truly love or care about Jews, but because it fits into their twisted theology.

I want to ask you in a moment, Jonathan, about the ideology of Hamas, just so you know, be fair and talk about the different corners of this equation, but anyway, another piece of the puzzle in this that confuses me is that Ambassador of Israel before the United Nations, Gilad um Eron, in fact it was. to the Cornerstone Church went to um Texas, where John Haggy is based and um uh, Christians United for Israel is based and made the following statement: He says that the ideology of Hamas is the same as that of Isis Al-Qaeda and the Ayatollah's regime.

In Iran, are you concerned to see a prominent Israeli statesman serving in the United Nations allied with John Haggy and this Christians United for Israel? Well, let's be very clear. I am not a Hamas apologist. His philosophy. His ideology. Islamist but it's a much softer form of Islamist certainly not Isis uh they certainly like the appeal of religion and I think one has to realize that with the failure of Arab nationalism throughout the Middle East uh there is a greater interest in a form Islamic politics, but Islam is such a broad spectrum, it is like Christianity, you can be a Christian Marxist, you can be a Christian, a Sufi, you can be a Christian mystic, you can be a Christian liberal, a Christian conservative or a Christian radical , so Islam is a very broad spectrum.

In general, it is not monolithic and, frankly, at least the people I know from Hamas are quite soft, quite moderate, quite, some of them are progressive, there are some crazy ones, of course, but then you find that in every religion and every political movement. I think the leaders of Hamas have made it clear that they are willing to accept some kind of long-term agreement with Israel, that they are willing to work with the PLO, the fat people and the nationalists, who are more religious in their political Doctrine, but They are not crazy fundamentalists, they are certainly not like Isis, and in fact they have been very protective of the small Christian minority in Gaza over the years.

Much of Hamas's rise was because people were very unhappy with fat people. and the Palestinian Authority, who are very corrupt and inefficient at best and at worst were serving the occupation and collaborating with it and controlling their people as subcontractors to the Israeli occupation, so of course, people would reject that uh and and and they would lean towards a more religious outcome and you have to understand that people in Palestine and throughout the Middle East are religious, but it is a soft type of religion, it is a deep faith that, ultimately, God is in control. You see people living in calamities and elevating their lives. raise your hands and say God, look what is happening to us, we seek your salvation, so there will always be a religious component in people's views on politics and everything else.

The question is what kind of religion, is it moderate or is it moderate? an intolerant fanatical religion, and my, at least, my own experience with ham, it's a fairly moderate form of Islam, it's almost like the Muslim Brotherhood, rather than Isis. I'm not saying that the Christian Zionist group in the United States is all powerful, but it has power. The US embassy in Israel moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in part because of this movement, so there is strength there and I am interested in your study of this group and to what degree I see Palestine in a future that may be fairer to both sides, frankly, well, the Christian Zionist movement doesn't deal with the Palestinians at all.

For them, the Palestinians either do not exist or are enemies of God because they are the enemies of the State of Israel. I think the appeal of Christian Zionism is very broad, but very weak, not very deep, not as fundamental to its identity as issues like abortion, for example, or homosexuality. For them, support for Israel is like a default position that they haven't thought much about because they were never asked, questioned or challenged about it. It is a default position. My interaction with Christian Zionists has been that they are very superficial, they don't really know. the facts for them is a fact that Israel because they read about Israel in the Bible and they equate the Israel of the Bible with the modern state of Israel, they equate the Palestinians with the Philistines who were being downright ethnically cleansed by the Hebrews.

The tribes in the Old Testament skip over 2,000 years of history and skip over most of the New Testament, so when you sit down with them and talk to them and quote the Bible to them, they are very likely to change their positions. but you have to speak to them in biblical terms, you have to quote the Scriptures to them, you can't quote international law to them, what does it matter to them? You can't cite to them the dangers of World War I, they say, go ahead, that's the end of times that's the second coming that's wonderful you have to talk to them about the love of Christ the compassion of Christ uh Christ being the Prince of the Peace uh Christ being open to all uh to Salvation because God so loved the world, not only the Jewish tribe that he gave his only begotten son so that everyone who believes in him would not perish but would have eternal life just when you speak in that language many Christian Zionists say we never thought about that maybe you're right maybe there's room for us to talk and argue The problem is that most people who oppose Christian Zionism don't use that language, they say: you know you're crazy, we can't live our lives, we can't run our politics based on what you say. because it's destructive and they say Okay, destructive, this is what we believe, this is what the Bible teaches, hey, God said it, I believe it, that settles it well, what's your opinion, Jonathan, how much it can affect Is this President Biden's view of the situation?

I know Biden is not a Christian Zionist, he is a Catholic Christian who believes in Zionism, but we shouldn't conflate those two, but how do you think Joe Biden is influenced by this conservative Christian framework? I think less than, for example, someone like Michael. Pence or Pompeo of the old administration were evangelicals and Christian Zionists. I think Biden is more of a politician. I don't think his Christian faith is really involved too much in his politics. He is Catholic like you. mentioned and the Pope has been very clear about what the Bible, what Christians really need to do regarding the current crisis in Gaza, so no, I don't think Biden is a Christian Zionist.

Zionist among white evangelicals who tend to be more Republican than Democrat, so Christian Zionism is a phenomenon more closely allied with right-wing Republican politicians, but there are people who are manipulative, these are politicians who really don't care. It matters, they don't care. I really don't think that's what motivates them, it's more about interests. One of the reminders to many Americans and around the world that there are Palestinian Christians was a horrific incident in which a mother and her daughter were shot by Israeli snipers while they were seeking refuge in a church in Gaza I would love to hear about Palestinian Christians and their view of this, their differences with the American Christian community, if any, I mean, I would love to see where they are on the map, how important are they in this equation right now?

Which is horrible, but they are there. You are one of them. Well, Palestinian Christians have always been an integral part of the Palestinian national movement, from the days of George Habash to the days of George Antonius. Even before one of the creators of the pan-Arab nationalist movement said: "So, Christians have always been part of the Palestinian nationalist movement, both because of their commitment as Palestinians and because of their belief in the separation of Church and State," we say. The country belongs to everyone, but my religion belongs to God, it is between God and me, what does it take with your work and that of others to elevate the notion that nonviolent movements, nonviolent protest and resistance can be a best answer while we are in you?

I know the horrors of war right now. I think what is needed is some wins. Palestinians are generally not a very militant people. We have a very militant vocabulary. We talk about blood and guts and power and right rights, but really most of the Palestinian political movement. From the 1930s to the present day there have been boycotts and calls for the United Nations protests organizing negotiationsAlternative forms hunger strikes for prisoners most of our activism has been non-violent but has not used non-violent rhetoric we have used very violent rhetoric armed struggle the gun Speak, no voice will rise above the voice of the gun, but In actual practice we have not been very violent in our fight against Zionism.

We have been largely non-violent, but we have not used the rhetoric, the language of non-violence, I mean, until the BDS movement, which in a way organized tried to use non-violence, but we have had the great March of Return in Gaza that we have had almost daily. non-violence activities in the West Bank protests strikes hunger strikes fasting raising slogans raising the flag even being shot for raising the flag working on human rights documentation we have been very active in non-violence but we have not normally used the language of Non-violence We have used the language of armed struggle uh sometimes very bloody violent we will make the ground burn under the feet of the occupiers very violent language but our activities have been largely non-violent what does your instinct tell you about where this is going conflict?

Well, we see that two things happened on October 7, one of them was military, the Hamas attacks were the first military, they broke the wall, they attacked soldiers, they attacked military installations, they took several military bases, they killed about 300 soldiers and They captured many of them. It was a military operation no one talks about it they also attacked civilians and took civilians hostage that was wrong that was a war crime in many cases taking hostages as civilian hostages was illegal under international law everyone focuses on that part of what happened on October 7th uh rather More than the military aspect and I think many Palestinians were fascinated with the military aspects.

Here comes a group that really crossed the wall. We tried to approach the wall non-violently and snipers killed 62 of us in one day. 62 unarmed Palestinians walking towards the Each of the walls were killed by snipers in one day, so people were attracted to the military aspects of the armed struggle which Hamas illustrated that even in the very difficult circumstances of the siege, they were able to do something militarily, in that sense. It really helped shift the balance of power that was so completely in favor of Israel. It created a little bit, I wouldn't say parity, but it somewhat narrowed the gap between Palestinians and Israelis, on the other hand.

It really increased the fears and traumas of the Israelis and therefore their reaction was simply massive, genocidal. I mean, they really did their best to try to recreate the deterrent, but they can never succeed in that regard. we will never be able to restore deterrence restore the element of fear that is not going to happen well we will have to leave it there thank you very much for joining us Palestinian human rights lawyer Jonathan Katab co-founder of the Palestinian human rights group Al Hawk really appreciates your candor, thank you very much, So what is the end result?

Evangelical Christians are a major force in societies around the world, but the truth is that they have helped supplant multi-ethnic and multi-religious communities operating around the world with sectarian divisions and religion-infused intolerance. Israel, the Jewish people have the support of many evangelicals because of the role that Jews play in the Old Testament of the Bible, in a way they see the Jewish people as part of their own history and conservative Christianity brings its political strength to the cause of Israel, particularly today in this war. In Gaza there is no doubt that religion is a determining factor on both sides of the Palestine-Israel issue and of all political issues, but the aspects of tolerance and empathy that are part of all religions are being drowned out by sectarianism and hatred of the belief that one religion ultimately prevails over others is dangerous and makes it much more difficult to have debates about how to bring justice and a better life to both Palestine and Israel, and that is the

bottom

line

.