Friends ’til The End
The Christian right’s support for Israel can not be taken as support for Jews. In reality, anti-Semitism lies at the heart of Christian Zionism and more Jewish leaders should loudly denounce it
BY Jesse Rosenfeld
Illustration by Todd Julie
At the core of the Christian right ideology in North America, nestled in with anti-queer and anti-choice politics, there is an unequivocal support for continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. Self-described Christian Zionists, whose leaders include the late televangelist Jerry Falwell, actively support the expansion of the Israeli state, as they believe the second coming of Christ will occur only after the Jews return to their biblical homeland—which includes the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Zionism has traditionally defended the displacement of the Palestinian people and conquest of their land, arguing that the Jewish state of Israel will provide liberation to the Jews and fi ght anti-Semitism; however, Christian Zionism is not derived from support for either objective. Rather, it comes from a theological interpretation of the role of a Jewish state and the migration of the world’s Jews to Israel in bringing about Armageddon in the End of Days. At this time, all will be judged and those who don’t side with the messiah and embrace Jesus will be damned, including all Jews who don’t convert. Despite this anti-Semitism inherent in the Christian right, Jewish Zionist leaders welcome the support of their political allies for the state of Israel.
The Christian Zionist movement is a powerful force, with the Christians United for Israel (CUFI), co-founded by Falwell, claiming over 40 million members, predominantly in the U.S. and Canada. Its grassroots have poured millions of dollars into Israel, pressuring the U.S. to advocate a staunchly pro-Israel policy that rejects returning Palestinian land, and sponsored the migration of thousands of Jews to Israel. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews holds an annual Day of Prayer, which draws support from 20,000 U.S. churches. Individual members have donated over $100 million in “humanitarian aid” for Israel.
This generosity is ostensibly the result of the Jews being God’s chosen people, but it’s a dubious honour since Christian Zionists believe that Jews who don’t accept Jesus will be condemned to eternal damnation while Christians ascend to heaven. It’s equally difficult to ignore the fact that many of the movement’s most outspoken leaders espouse overtly anti- Semitic views.
After Israel’s tourism dropped off in 2000 because of the Palestinian popular uprising, Pat Robertson travelled there and used his program, The 700 Club, to tell viewers it was still safe to visit. He has employed his Christian Broadcasting Network to raise thousands of dollars to send Jews to Israel. Robertson’s support for Israeli colonialism is so strong that when Ariel Sharon, then Israeli prime minister—whose government started Israel’s illegal separation barrier and expanded settlements in the West Bank—suffered a stroke in 2006, Robertson said it was God’s punishment for withdrawal of troops and settlers from Gaza. However, Robertson’s support for militant Israeli expansionism and a Jewish state should not be mistaken for support for Jews, especially considering he’s an American preacher trying to get American Jews to leave for Israel.
In his 1991 book, The New World Order, Robertson clearly displays his anti-Semitism, writing about an international conspiracy to control the world, funded by Jews. He contends the world is dominated by an international Illuminati, whose origin, he explains, is in an 18th-century group of Bavarian enlightenment theorists, and is bankrolled by Jews. He claims a tight-knit cabal, including the devil and the Freemasons, aimed to dominate the human race. “New money suddenly poured into the Frankfurt lodge, and from there a well-funded plan for world revolution was carried forth,” writes Robertson.
It is the late Jerry Falwell, however, who really pioneered today’s Christian Zionist movement. His Moral Majority, founded in the 1970s, had “support for Israel and Jewish people everywhere” as one if its four pillars, and he consistently advocated for Israeli expansionism through his television ministry until his death in May. Yet, Falwell also made anti-Semitic statements associating Jews with the devil. Most famously, at a 1999 meeting with a group of supporters in Tennessee discussing the appearance of the Antichrist, he said that “when he appears during the Tribulation period he will be a full-grown counterfeit of Christ. Of course he’ll be Jewish.”
Zionist leaders, however, are all too willing to overlook the anti-Jewish side of their allies’ motivations because the financial, moral and political support is essential to Israel’s self-preservation mission. Falwell enjoyed a close relationship with Israeli prime ministers Menachem Begin and Benjamin Netanyahu, and was instrumental in forging an alliance between the rightwing Likud party in Israel and the religious right back home. His relationship with Israel was close enough that in 1979 the Israeli government rewarded him with a private jet, and it has been widely reported that after Israel bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981, Begin called Falwell before he contacted thenpresident Ronald Reagan. The year before, Falwell received Israel’s Jabotinsky award for his support—ironically fitting, as Ze’ev Jabotinsky, a pioneer in the fight for the establishment of Israel, looked to Italian fascism as a model for a Jewish state.
For Jewish Zionist groups, the motives of their Christian counterparts are not important given the level of support they offer Israel, and the size of the stakes. “The End of Days project is no concern to me when Israel faces the threat of radical Islamic fundamentalism and nuclear annihilation,” says Frank Dimant, vice-president of B’nai Brith Canada, a Zionist organization committed to fighting anti-Semitism.
When Falwell died, the Israeli government and mainstream Jewish Zionist organizations in the U.S. flocked to eulogize him as a great friend of Israel. Morton Klein, the leader of the Zionist Organization of America, for example, told the greater New York Jewish newspaper The Jewish Week that “Rev. Falwell’s dedication made him invaluable.” He adds that “Jews should have appreciated his virtually unconditional support more than we did. We should also have appreciated that his deep support for Israel came from strong belief in the Torah, in the Bible.” At a time when leaders in the Jewish community had the opportunity to vocally denounce anti-Semitism at the heart of Christian Zionism, they instead chose to bolster their alliance with the Christian right and focus on the centrality of supporting Israel.
This alliance in support of Israel clearly has little to do with fighting anti-Semitism, but on a deeper level it also calls into question whether Zionism itself is really in the interest of fighting anti-Semitism or supporting Jewish liberation. Zionists contend that defence of Israel is defence of Jews, but their willingness to overlook anti-Semitism in pursuit of building settler nationalism in the Middle East suggests otherwise. Jewish Zionists are making a clear choice to ignore anti-Semitism around the world in support of reinforcing Israel. Despite the U.S. having the world’s second-largest Jewish population, the Jewish community is being told by its leaders that it’s supposed to accept and embrace an American-based, politically powerful and growing anti-Semitic ideology that theologically seeks to use Jews as cannon fodder in the quest for Christian biblical salvation.
If we are serious about fighting oppression and seeking liberation, we need to recognize that empowerment does not come from sending support to a state that allies with our enemies to oppress another people. It is clear that for Israel, building a settler state has taken precedence over fighting anti-Semitism. If we really want to find Jewish liberation, we must firmly tell Israel, our community leaders and Christian Zionists who seek to use us in a biblical game, “Hell no, we won’t go.”
