Christians are not united for Israel
The Christian Zionist narrative linking faith to support for Israel is deeply flawed. Evangelicals are beginning to see it. The annual conference of Christians United
The Christian Zionist narrative linking faith to support for Israel is deeply flawed. Evangelicals are beginning to see it. The annual conference of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), one of America’s most visible pro-Israel Christian lobbying groups, is wrapping up today in Washington. It has offered three days of discussions and speeches focused on continuing unconditional support for Israel under the justification of obeying “the Biblical mandate to bless God’s Chosen”. The problem is not simply lobbying for specific policies. It is that CUFI and other Christian Zionist organisations elevate support for Israel from a matter of US foreign policy into a litmus test of faithfulness to God. As a Palestinian-American Christian born in the West Bank, I believe this claim is not only politically dangerous. It is theologically distorted and reckless. Once a political position is treated as divinely ordained, ordinary moral scrutiny becomes suspect. Questions about military aid, settlement expansion, the genocide in Gaza or the treatment of Palestinians are no longer treated as policy debates. In CUFI’s framework, they can be cast as rebellion against God. CUFI does not speak for all Christians; many Christians across traditions oppose its extreme positions. But its political influence makes its theology consequential. The issue here is not whether Christians should love the Jewish people. Christians are commanded to love all people. But love for the Jewish people is not synonymous with uncritical loyalty to the modern state of Israel. It is not the same as blessing a government or excusing policies that have massacred and dispossessed Palestinians, restricted their movement and made life increasingly unbearable for Christian and Muslim communities alike. The central flaw in CUFI’s rhetoric is that Jewish people, biblical Israel, the modern state of Israel and the current Israeli government are treated as one indivisible reality.
They are not. The Jewish people are a people. The modern state of Israel is a state, founded in 1948, with borders, elections, political parties and military power. Its government is a temporary political coalition whose policies can and must be judged. Treating all of this as biblical faithfulness is not faithfulness at all. It is political theology. Even if Christians believe the Jewish people hold a unique place in God’s purposes, that belief does not make any state, government or military campaign immune from moral scrutiny. To readers outside evangelical circles, it may seem strange that ancient biblical texts would shape American policy toward a state founded in 1948. But Christian Zionist theology reads God’s promises to Abraham and Israel as a continuing mandate to support the modern state of Israel. Genesis 12 is often invoked: “I will bless those who bless you.” Yet in the broader biblical narrative, the promise to Abraham was never a blank cheque for state impunity. Its purpose was to affirm that “all the families of the earth” would be blessed. The prophets did not bless Israel by ignoring injustice; they loved Israel enough to confront its evil kings, defend the vulnerable and warn against violence, arrogance and oppression. Jesus did not teach his followers to sacralise any nation. On the contrary, he called them to love their neighbours, bless their enemies and become peacemakers. Christians in the US and elsewhere are increasingly opening their eyes to the flawed logic of Christian Zionist theo-political narratives. A Pew Research Center survey published in April found that 60 percent of American adults now hold an unfavourable view of Israel. Among Christian respondents in the poll, 48 percent of Protestants and 61 percent of Catholics said they had a negative opinion of Israel.
The BriefWire