What has happened to the camps of sympathetic and understanding Christian traditionalists who had identified Israel, and its Zionist identity, as an ally against Islamism in the struggle against anti-Americanism in the world? Why are some leaving the cause? Why do others have doubts? And why are still others now turning virulently anti-Israel and anti-Zionist, dog-whistling Jew-hatred?
Is it an infection of xenophobic nationalism that can be argued, or is it a theological hatred that cannot be properly checked?
Back in April 2024, in a program ostensibly advocating for Palestinian Christians, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, also a political commentator and podcaster, repositioned the theme into an attack on Israel and America’s political support, as well as Christian support for the Jewish state. His guest was Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, a Lutheran pastor in Bethlehem and a well-known pro-Palestine propagandist who some refer to as “the high priest of antisemitic Christianity.” Coincidentally, it took place on April 9, Deir Yassin Remembrance Day.
On April 9, 1948, Zionist paramilitaries attacked the Arab village of Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, then part of British Mandatory Palestine, killing more than 100 Palestinian Arab villagers.
Carlson repeated the maneuver with Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos, a Greek Orthodox nun, who spewed forth lie after lie about so-called realities in Israel, and in Judea and Samaria.
Is Carlson, an Episcopalian, and far-right political commentator and podcaster Candace Owens, a Catholic and another promoter of such messaging, using religious identity to instrumentalize anti-Israel feelings? Are they using their clout to subliminally reframe an anti-Jewish narrative? Or are their politics of nativism and/or isolationism being clothed in anti-Jewish Christian traditions based on religious biases?
In a purely political sense, was the attempt to harness the thinkers of the nationalist conservatives unsuccessful? Or is that being too downcast and off the mark?
In a September piece in The Atlantic, American pundit Jonathan Chait observed that “a movement dedicated to restoring traditional culture or limiting immigration is not inherently doomed to devolve into antisemitism. But the post-liberal American right set out to destroy the guardrails that restrained antisemitism, without giving any thought to what might happen next.”
He further noted that at a National Conservatism conference, a project of the Edmund Burke Foundation, founder Yoram Hazony complained that the post-liberal right has shockingly been infiltrated by antisemites. Chait quoted him as saying, “I didn’t think it would happen on the right. I was mistaken.”
Lest it be misunderstood, Christian Zionism is very much alive and well. It is also expected to start a pushback to the ugly forms of anti-Israel thinking, identifying as “Christian” is taking. Nevertheless, ever since Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO Leadership Committee, declared in 2001 that “Jesus was a Palestinian” (although I recall her at the 1991 Madrid Conference saying that in my presence), along with the “Christ at the Checkpoint” conferences and the 2009 Kairos Document being published, a concerted effort has been addressed to rewrite parts of the New Testament as well as pro-Zionist history.
Indeed, a report at the end of September in World & Politics indicates that while evangelical support for Israel remains constant, a study by Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter has found that there may be a future generational shift. Indications point to only 29% of evangelicals under the age of 35 believing that Jews are God’s chosen people.
Undoubtedly, an important political and institutional section of the evangelical movement, as well as other Christian churches, especially in Africa and South America, remains quite unshakeable in its support. The coming danger is less the anti-Israel beliefs expressed, but rather, that some of these opponents of an Israel-American alliance promote their views using old-time hatred of the Jew, with vicious propagandizing tropes and memes.
While they may be few and far between, the outreach of the new Christian anti-Zionists via YouTube, podcasts and other social-media platforms, coupled with their standing within establishment political forums and bodies, provides them with a significant audience. The generational gap referred to above is also a decisive factor; evidence of that can be seen in the Young Republican leadership group chat, even if not specifically defined as “Christian.”
Another factor is the evolving Christian-Palestinian theology. An academic review article, in Hebrew, in the Van Leer Institute’s “Theory and Criticism,” provides an excellent—if sympathetic and relatively uncritical—overview of the ideas of Jamal Khader, Geries Khoury, Raheb Mitri, Rafiq Khoury and others who have been turning around Second Temple history, creating a new form of replacement thinking and identifying the personage of Jesus. And it is working for them.
There are those, both Jews and Christians, who are faithful to Zion and working to stem this tide. But more attention and more effort must be invested. Even a stout ally of Israel like the late Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was unsteady about rejecting alliances with the anti-Israel activists in his milieu.
It is a crucial front in the battle for Jerusalem. And it cannot be ignored.
