Why do American Christian evangelists support Israel’s genocide in Gaza?

At this time of year many Christians express ‘tidings of comfort and joy’ toward their friends, family and even complete strangers. Good for them. No doubt it’s just what we need in these increasingly troubled times.

There are some noteworthy exceptions to this upsurge of generalised fellow feeling, however. Something like one in eight Christians in the United States describe themselves as evangelical protestants. If for no other reason, the fact that over 40 million people have similar views about key issues makes them a potentially election winning voting bloc. The unshameable president elect recognised how important this could be when he declared that he loves God and loves his church.

Apparently, there is much rejoicing in heaven when sinners repent. To judge by Trump’s behaviour, though, it’s not too uncharitable to think he may not be an entirely reformed character. To be fair, he’s not the only political leader to take an entirely transactional attitude toward the church¾so does his pal Vladimir Putin. The question is why do apparently sincere people have confidence, even faith, in someone who is a convicted felon, serial confabulator and all round loathsome human being?

Like many of their Jewish counterparts, evangelical Christians derive their understanding of the world and its possible divine significance from sacred texts. Neither of these groups are alone in this, of course: over 80 per cent of the world’s population identify with one religious grouping or another, even if they often have very different interpretations and explanations of God’s famously mysterious ways.

In the case of evangelicals, some of the beliefs are, well, beyond belief and neither charitable or inspiring. A key tenet, drawn for the Book of Revelations, is that the Jewish people must possess their own country in the Holy Lands before the second coming of Christ can occur. As a result, 64 per cent of white Protestant evangelicals believe that that Israel’s actions in Gaza are justified as it is acting in self-defence and fulfilling biblical prophecy.

Perhaps 15 million Americans, enough to swing an election, think this means the ‘end times’ heralding Christ’s return in which the Jews will convert to Christianity. I don’t think President Netanyahu, finance minister Bezalel Smotrich or security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir will be amongst the elect, however, as they’ve all cited the Torah as vindication for their racist and genocidal policies. Indeed, Ben-Gvir has twice been convicted of supporting a terrorist group because of his support for the ‘vile racist’ the late Rabbi Meir Kahane.

Not that this has dampened the ardour of many of the truest believers in the evangelical community, however. On the contrary, ‘the percentage of white evangelical Christians that say Israel was given to the Jewish people by God is on par with the percentage of ultra-Orthodox Jews who say the same (82% and 81%, respectively)’.

It’s not hard to see why cynical, self-serving and corrupt politicians like Trump and Netanyahu might want to exploit such non-negotiable beliefs for their own advantage. Trump’s contentious decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, for example, played well with their respective and often overlapping supporters, and drove another nail into the coffin of the peace process and the two-state solution, according to former US to Israel ambassador Martin Indyk. That’s one prophecy that’s come true, at least.

Indeed, since Israel’s assault on Gaza began in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks a little over a year ago, at least 6,000 women and 11,000 children have been killed by the Israeli military. This would be appalling at any time, of course, but it is – or should be – especially hideous, unjustifiable and difficult to accept when Christians are supposedly celebrating the arrival of another child in the world.

One of the advantages of being an agnostic is that at least I don’t have to try and reconcile the possible contradictions of my firmly held beliefs. I don’t have any, although I am definitely in favour of cheek turning, converting swords into ploughshares, even AUKUS submarines into social housing, or any of the other ideas I naively thought were part of Christian best practise.

Perhaps it’s best not to but too much faith in ancient texts in which even God didn’t seem to behave terribly well. There was an awful lot of smiting going on in the Old Testament, after all. Whatever, you think of the biblical account of Christ’s life after his seemingly miraculous appearance, he does seem to have grown up to be a nice chap on the whole. His current generation of admirers might like to keep that in mind when they’re celebrating his first incarnation – especially as he also seems to have been a Palestinian.

https://johnmenadue.com/peace-on-earth-goodwill-toward-men-and-women-unless-theyre-palestinians-of-course/

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