By Paul Tate
The Christian coalition in the US declared May 6th a ‘national day of prayer for Israel’. The date is the start of a month long rally across the US by evangelical Christian groups and begins at the White House where the bombed-out shell of Israeli bus no. 19 will be displayed for much of the coming month. In the run up to the US elections, the supporters of Israel are making their point loud and clear: hands off!
These groups backed by a whole infrastructure of churches, radio stations, websites and bible colleges teaching ‘Middle East history’ all share a common goal and a number one priority: the survival and expansion of the Jewish state. This is the one issue that unites evangelicals in the US. The welfare of a state 7,000 miles away is for them far more important than traditional domestic issues such as abortion, fornication and school prayer: this begs one question, why?
Well, since the late 19th century an increasing number of fundamentalists Christians have come to believe that the second coming of Christ is bound up with the political geography of Israel. However, in their literalist and selective interpretation of the Bible certain preconditions must be met before Christ will return. The first of these was the establishment of the State of Israel. Also included are Israel’s occupation of the rest of its ‘biblical lands’ and the rebuilding of the third temple on the site of the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques.
As the story goes, once these events have been completed the legions of the antichrist will then be deployed against Israel leading to the final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. The Jews will then be given a choice, not much of one but a choice nonetheless: either burn in hell or convert to Christianity. Finally, after all this has taken place the Messiah will return to earth. According to the most influential of the Christian Zionists, Hal Lindsey, the valley from Galilee to Eilat will flow with blood and "144,000 Jews would bow down before Jesus and be saved, but the rest of Jewry would perish in the mother of all holocausts".
So what’s in it for the Christian fundamentalists? Well, the true believers (those who ascribe to this lunacy) will be raised to heaven before the final battle commences and get to watch the whole gory spectacle from a seated grandstand at the right hand of the Lord. Sound crazy? But I jest thee not, this is what these people actually believe. What’s more, these are the people who are holding the Middle East peace process to ransom. These are the people who sponsor Jewish settlement in the occupied territories, who demand ever more US support for Israel, not because they love Jews, far from it; the whole drama is rather like ‘a five-act play in which the Jews disappear in the fourth act.’ The result of this drama is the genocide of the Jews.
Given that the end result of this creed is the end of Judaism and the death of thousands of Jews who refuse to accept Jesus as their saviour, one would think that the ever zealous Jewish lobby would be up in arms. Not a chance. Far from opposing this twisted ideology which legitimises oppression, theft and genocide in the name of religion, the Israeli government and Jewish lobby groups in the US have long since exploited the connections with far-right US Christian groups. Far from being outraged, the Israeli embassy in Washington actually holds weekly Christian Zionist prayer meetings – not something they like to shout about for obvious reasons. What’s more, Abe Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League, accepts their support, as does AIPAC.
These fundamentalists, for surely if anyone deserves this title these people do, are courted at all levels of the Israeli government and have access to key Israeli politicians. US churches are encouraged to form links with Jewish settlers via email and to support them through fundraising, which they do in abundance. While moderate Christians, such as the Palestinian Bishop of Jerusalem, find it almost impossible to get an audience with Ariel Sharon despite repeated requests, the door is always open to southern Baptists and TV evangelists. Sharon and the beloved Bibi (Netanyahu) are the ‘rock stars’ of this creed. The fundamentalists rightly view the right-wing Likud leaders as their best chance of witnessing Armageddon: they need Israeli warmongers to fulfil their eschatological fantasies. Strange isn’t it? That such an influential bunch of Armageddonite fanatics, who have the ability to determine the fate of the Middle East in general, and Palestine in particular, are so completely ignored by the mass media. The crazed world of Christian Zionism is unknown to the average man in the street.
Although we may laugh at these people and dismiss them as cranks and fanatics, we should certainly not under-estimate them. For in the US today, there are 45 million evangelicals who believe this nonsense and they represent a crucial block vote for born-again Bush. American Christian Zionists claim they are now a more important source of support for Israel than American Jews or the traditional Jewish lobby. According to the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who claims to speak for them all, “the Bible Belt in America is Israel’s safety belt.” If a significant number of them become sufficiently disillusioned to abstain from voting, it could cost Bush the election. “There’s nothing that would bring the wrath of the Christian public in this country down on this government like abandoning or opposing Israel in a critical matter,” Falwell says. The “Christian public” is, he notes, Mr. Bush’s core constituency.
So for the next month, the inhabitant of the White House will be waking up each morning to the shell of Israeli bus no. 19. And the message will be absolutely clear: if you want to win the election Mr President and get to sit at the right hand of God, you better back Sharon all the way. NOV 2004
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