The selection of perspectives on church history in this section — Church and Empire — has been guided by three factors: (1) to demonstrate that Christianity has not been a “white man’s religion”; (2) the study of empire as a recurring motif in Scripture by recent biblical studies scholars; and (3) explorations of biblical Christian ethics on issues of power and polity, to understand how Christians were faithful to Christ or not.  Christian relational ethics continues a Christian theological anthropology that began with reflection on the human nature of Jesus, and the human experience of biblical Israel.

This page explores the experience and activities of Christians under the State of Israel.

The Bible in the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Introduction

The Israel-Hamas War from October 2023 reignited old questions. Who “owns” the holy land? When Netanyahu calls Hamas “Amalekites,” does he mean a genocidal holy war? Is that what the Bible meant? Why did God have a chosen people and defend them from enemies? Does Israel need another temple? Why is Christian Zionism a Protestant phenomenon?

The Bible in the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Chapter 1: Land

Does someone “own” the Holy Land? Most people rely on claims about the past: who has more right to settle the land now, based on a claim about being in the land first, or for most of the time, or in 1948 when the modern State of Israel was constituted, or in 1967 when the Six Day War was fought. Some people make historical claims using the Bible. Some people make historical claims about who suffered most, and who deserves a peaceful homeland. Claims about the past, however, tend to be not just selective, but quite exclusive. But the Bible itself does not always look to the past, but to the future.

The Bible in the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Chapter 2: Enemies

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls Hamas “Amalekites.” He deploys this trope from the Bible as a justification for pursuing a policy of full extermination of Hamas, *which is not what the biblical text meant*. Nevertheless, Netanyahu has clung to power as Prime Minister, striking an ironic and troubling similarity to the biblical King Saul, who also wanted to remain in power after toying with the life of King Agag and then offering to kill him when challenged. Seen in this light, Netanyahu’s appropriation of the biblical “Amalekites” for this purpose is highly self-serving, dubious, inappropriate, and yet strangely confessional and self-revealing.

Why did God create ancient Israel to begin with? And why did God protect and defend them? What happened to those people who died?

The Bible in the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Chapter 3: Temple

In the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament, the Jewish temple was and is thought to be a particular reversal of the exile because it was a meeting between heaven and earth, a point of special reunion between God the Creator and the creation He made. As such, human beings had special responsibilities regarding the temple, at the temple, and towards the temple.

Should Christians help the State of Israel build the “third temple” in Jerusalem? We do not think so. And if the opposite of the temple-presence of God is “exile,” what does it mean to embrace an ethics of exile and pilgrimage?

The Bible in the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Chapter 4: Protestantism

Why did Christian Zionism generally and dispensationalism specifically arise from Protestants as opposed to Orthodox and Catholic communities, and why are these views sustained and funded by Protestants? Military power in the UK and US, sure.

But Protestant Zionist understandings of Israel preceded both imperial and even domestic power. German Protestant Reformers beginning in 1526 interpreted the apostle Paul’s hope that “all Israel will be saved” to mean that the Jewish people will return to the holy land. While other Reformers such as Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli rejected this exegesis, Calvin’s successor Theodore Beza (1519 - 1605) taught it during his long tenure as a teaching faculty, Peter Martyr’s 1568 Commentary on Romans helped disseminate it to the English-speaking world, and the idea took hold among many English and American Puritans. This notion was connected with the geopolitical aspiration that the Muslim Ottoman Empire, which had conquered Christian Constantinople in 1453 and established itself in “Europe,” would be brought low. This relationship between Zionism and anti-Islamic geopolitics is not by happenstance.

How did Protestant biblical interpretation fuel Protestant Christian Zionism?

General Information

Richard H. Curtiss, Truman Adviser Recalls May 14, 1948 U.S. Decision to Recognize Israel. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May 16, 1991. President Harry Truman, seeking reelection, followed the advice of Clark Clifford; he said, "I'm sorry, gentlemen, but I have to answer to hundreds of thousands who are anxious for the success of Zionism: I do not have hundreds of thousands of Arabs among my constituents." U.S. support for Israel is thus conditioned on the Zionist lobby domestically. It is significant that Truman was a Southern Baptist and Clifford a Methodist; Clifford in particular believed the Bible authorized Jewish right to the land. Michael Berger, Religious Zionism. Center for Israel Education, Jul 12, 2019. An important historical overview of religious Zionism through the thought of one spokesman, Rabbi Tsvi Yehuda Kook. One follower renounced the beliefs of Kook after the assassination of Yitzak Rabin. Bassem Youssef, How European Christians Exiled Jews Out of Europe. Piers Morgan | RightGeist, Nov 3, 2023. Former heart surgeon and now comedian Bassem Youssef debates Piers Morgan after the Hamas-Israeli exchange following October 7, 2023; explains why Arabs see Israel as a European problem. Vox, Settlements Part I: Israeli Settlements, Explained. Vox, Sep 19, 2016.  Vox, Settlements Part II: Why Israeli Settlements Don’t Feel Like a Conflict Zone. Vox, Sep 26, 2016.  Vox, Settlements Part III: The Fight for Jerusalem. Vox, Oct 6, 2016.  See also Thomas Morton, Why Evangelical Christians Love Israel.  Vice | HBO, May 15, 2018.  Morton notes that American evangelicals are four times larger than the worldwide Jewish community, and are the majority of support for Zionism.  Adar Weinreb, Debate: Israel-Palestine w/ Noam Chomsky & Rudy Rochman. Sulha, Feb 8, 2021.  Weinreb’s 75 min debate highlights the current political issues, and demonstrates how the discussion tends to move back to theories of origin and land claims. Saagar Enjeti, Zaid Jilani: Why Media Coverage Of Israel-Palestine Is Dangerous. Rising | The Hill, May 17, 2021.  Enjeti notes Palestinian non-violent protests happen weekly (yet is not covered by Western media. because of the slow seizures of Palestinian homes on the basis that the home was occupied by Jewish people a century ago; Israel’s government does not engage in nation-building attempts to win over Palestinians to an eventual peaceful civil society because they are engaged in nation-destroying. Amy Goodman, Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem: Israel Is Committing War Crimes by Killing Civilians in Gaza. Democracy Now!, May 18, 2021.  Goodman comments on Israeli media, and international law principles of the use of military force: distinction and proportionality. Krystal Ball, Palestinians Launch Historic General Strike Hailed Most Significant Action In Decades. Rising | The Hill, May 19, 2021.  Ball discusses the Likud Party’s settlement policies over the last 2 – 3 decades, and movement towards the right. David Doel, Geraldo Defends Palestinians And Schools Fox News On The Crisis. The Rational National, May 19, 2021.  Doel discusses the plight of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Joseph Krauss and Jack Jeffery, Jailbreak Shines Light on Mass Incarceration of Palestinians. Associated Press, Sep 24, 2021.

Best Articles on Biblical Theology

Munther Isaac, Palestinian Christian Response to Christian Zionism. Christ at the Checkpoint Conference 2012, posted Feb 2015. Colin Chapman, Christian Zionism and the Restoration of Israel: How Should We Interpret the Scriptures? Cascade Books | Amazon page, Mar 2021. This book is Chapman’s response to critics of his first book, Colin Chapman, Whose Promised Land?: The Continuing Conflict Over Israel and Palestine. Lion Books, 1983 (1st edition) and 2015 (latest edition). See interview by Duane Miller, Rev. Colin Chapman on His New Book on Christian Zionism. Duane Miller, Aug 3, 2021. See also Colin Chapman, The Employment of the Prophecy of Ezekiel by Christian Zionists. Bethlehem Bible College, Apr 11, 2019. N.T. Wright, Critique of Dispensationalism and “Christian Zionism”. cubanker, Sep 7, 2019.  Wright’s 8 minute video critiques Darby, the dispensational framework, which views 1948 as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, and equating the State of Israel as biblical Israel.  Gary M. Burger, Why I’m Not a Christian Zionist. Banner, Dec 16, 2019. Burger explains the difference between dispensational theology and Reformed covenantal theology. Mitri Raheb, Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible Through Palestinian Eyes. Amazon book, Jan 17, 2014.  Raheb, a Palestinian Christian theologian, explores how “empire” shapes the biblical story and modern day experiences and challenges in the Middle East. See also video lecture Mitri Raheb, Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible Through Palestinian Eyes. Yale Divinity School, Apr 17, 2014.  Yohanna Katanacho, A Palestinian Baptist in the Bombarded Gaza Shares His Thoughts and Prayer Requests. Come and See: a Christian website from Nazareth, Jul 12, 2014.  See also Yohanna Katanacho, Christ is the Owner of Haaretz. Christian Scholar’s Review, date unknown.  Ramzy Baroud, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinian Christians that Nobody Is Talking About. Jacobin Magazine, Oct 31, 2019. “Israel is keen to present the ‘conflict’ in Palestine as a religious one so that it could, in turn, brand itself as a beleaguered Jewish state in the midst of a massive Muslim population in the Middle East. The continued existence of Palestinian Christians does not factor nicely into this Israeli agenda.”

Kairos USA (website) a collaboration of American churches and a curriculum calling attention to the plight of Palestinian Christians under the State of Israel

Al-Bushra (website) a blog dedicated to exploring Christianity in the Middle East, often calling for support for Palestinian Christians; links to many other Christian and human rights organizations.

David Hirst, Pursuing the Millennium. The Nation, Feb 3, 2004. “The Zionist-colonial enterprise has always had a built-in propensity to gravitate towards its most extreme expression.”

Jim Lobe, Israeli License to Cheney-Linked Energy Firm on Golan Heights Raises Eyebrows. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Apr 2013.  And Michael Dickinson, Rupert Murdoch and the Israeli Genie. CounterPunch, Mar 27, 2015.  This is a significant development because of the white American evangelical tendency to support “dispensationalist” and Zionist positions

Mitri Raheb, Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible Through Palestinian Eyes. Orbis Books | Amazon page, Jan 17, 2014. Raheb, a Palestinian Christian theologian, explores how “empire” shapes the biblical story and modern day experiences and challenges in the Middle East. See also video lecture Mitri Raheb, Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible Through Palestinian Eyes. Yale Divinity School, Apr 17, 2014.

Al Araby, Christian Palestinians Reject Calls to Join Israeli Army. Middle East Monitor, Apr 25, 2014.

Yohanna Katanacho, A Palestinian Baptist in the Bombarded Gaza Shares His Thoughts and Prayer Requests. Come and See: a Christian website from Nazareth, Jul 12, 2014. See also Yohanna Katanacho, Christ is the Owner of Haaretz. Christian Scholar’s Review, date unknown.

Bethlehem Bible College, A Statement from Bethlehem Bible College Regarding the Current Crisis in Gaza. BethBC website, Jul 25, 2014.

Munther Isaac, From Land to Lands, from Eden to the Renewed Earth: A Christ-Centered Biblical Theology of the Promised Land. Langham Monographs | Amazon page, Oct 2015.

Andrew Doran, When Christianities Collide: Persecuted Churches of the East Need Dialogue With the West. The American Conservative, Jun 9, 2016.

Noam Chomsky, Why Does the U.S. Support Israel? Chomsky’s Philosophy. Jul 2, 2016. An 8 minute video. First, the religious reasons: Christian Zionism in the UK preceded Jewish Zionism. Second, colonialism: to build up a settler-colonialist state. Third, geo-political and strategic reasons: to have a military ally in the Middle East.

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, Evangelicals Side with Israel. That’s Hurting Palestinian Christians. Washington Post, Dec 23, 2016.  Cites a Pew study showing that 80% of American evangelicals believe that God gave the land of Palestine/Israel to Jewish people, despite passages inclusive of non-Jewish people like Ezekiel 47:22 - 23, Isaiah 56:6 - 8 and 66:20 - 21, while only 40% of American Jews believe the same.  This points to the conflation of white American evangelicalism with the nation-state, stemming from early Protestant nationalism and the secular Enlightenment, without a corresponding Christian ethical reflection on political power.

M.J. Rosenberg, Democrats Join Republicans In Bill Criminalizing Speech Critical Of Israel. Huffington Post, Jul 27, 2017.

Naim Stifan Ateek, A Palestinian Theology of Liberation: The Bible, Justice, and the Palestine-Israel Conflict. Orbis Books | Amazon page, Oct 12, 2017. Ateek recounts the historical roots of this struggle, including how memories of the WW2 Shoah placed Israeli claims and aspirations above those of the native inhabitants of Palestine, to the West Bank situation. Supported by many Western Christians, Israeli claims to the land rely on a particular exclusivist reading of the Bible. In contrast, a Palestinian theology of liberation responds with a counter-strategy for biblical interpretation, emphasizing the prophetic themes of inclusivity and justice.

Ali Younes, Israel Behind 'Christian Exodus' from Palestine. Aljazeera, Dec 27, 2017.  Younes cites a study done by a Palestinian university showing that Palestinian Christian emigration from the State of Israel is largely because of political and economic concerns, not because of religious intolerance from Muslims.

Miko Peled, De-Arabizing Jerusalem: Biblical “History” Underwrites Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing. Mint Press News, Aug 20, 2018. Subtitled, "The reality is that for seven decades Israel has been engaged in the crime of ethnic cleansing. If this crime is not immediately brought to a stop, the City of Jerusalem will lose its heritage forever."

Geoffrey Aronson, Trump’s Middle East ‘Deal of the Century’ Creeping Into View. The American Conservative, Aug 31, 2018.  About suppressing Palestinians.  See also Alexia Underwood, The U.S. Plans to End All Support for UN Agency That Aids Palestinian Refugees. Vox, Aug 31, 2018.

Avi Shlaim, Palestinians Still Live Under Apartheid in Israel, 25 Years After Oslo Accord. The Guardian, Sep 13, 2018.

Manfred W. Kohl and Munther Isaac, Christ at the Checkpoint: Blessed are the Peacemakers. Independently Published | Amazon book, Sep 2018.

Julian Gill, Texas Speech Pathologist Fired by School District for Refusing to Sign Pro-Israel Oath. Houston Chronicle, Dec 17, 2018.

Lee Fang, Texas Messianic Jewish Lobbying Group Builds Support for U.S.-Funded Ethnic Cleansing Plan in Palestine. The Intercept, Dec 16, 2018.  Jonathan Weisman, American Jews and Israeli Jews Are Headed for a Messy Breakup. New York Times, Jan 4, 2019.

Michelle Alexander, Time to Break the Silence on Palestine. New York Times, Jan 19, 2019. "Martin Luther King Jr. courageously spoke out about the Vietnam War. We must do the same when it comes to this grave injustice of our time."

Mehdi Hasan, There Is a Taboo Against Criticizing AIPAC — and Ilhan Omar Just Destroyed It. The Intercept, Feb 12, 2019.

Peter Beinart, Debunking the Myth that Anti-Zionism is Antisemitic. The Guardian, Mar 7, 2019. "All over the world, it is an alarming time to be Jewish – but conflating anti-Zionism with Jew-hatred is a tragic mistake"

The Young Turks, Republicans Vote Against 'Anti-Hate' Measure. The Young Turks, Mar 7, 2019. in response to Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar's comments about being asked to have an allegiance to Israel; explores anti-Semitism in the U.S. being disguised by a pro-Zionist and pro-Netanyahu posture. See also The Young Turks, Ilhan Omar Demolishes Republican Haters. The Young Turks, Aug 28, 2019. about pledging loyalty to a foreign country, and how Republican leadership does so to Israel. See also Zak Cheney-Rice, Alabama Republicans Vote to Remove Ilhan Omar After Endorsing Roy Moore. New York Magazine, Aug 28, 2019.

Adam Wren, Meet the Group Trying to Change Evangelical Minds About Israel. Politico, Mar 10, 2019. “Telos keeps a low profile, but its ambitions are biblical in proportion”

Colin Chapman, The Employment of the Prophecy of Ezekiel by Christian Zionists. Bethlehem Bible College, Apr 11, 2019.

Daniel G. Hummel, Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations. University of Pennsylvania Press | Amazon page, Jun 2019.

“Hummel emphasizes the institutional, international, interreligious, and intergenerational efforts on the part of Christians and Jews to mobilize evangelical support for Israel. From missionary churches in Israel to Holy Land tours, from the Israeli government to the American Jewish Committee, and from Billy Graham's relationship with Richard Nixon to John Hagee's courting of Donald Trump, Hummel depicts modern Christian Zionism as an evolving and deepening collaboration between Christians and the state of Israel. He shows how influential officials in the Israeli government, tasked with pursuing a religious diplomacy that would enhance Israel's standing in the Christian world, combined forces with evangelicals to create the vast global network of Christian Zionism that exists today.”

Michael Berger, Religious Zionism. Center for Israel Education, Jul 12, 2019. Berger explains and defends the arguments and activities of religious Zionism.

N.T. Wright, Critique of Dispensationalism and “Christian Zionism”. cubanker, Sep 7, 2019. a short 8 minute video critiquing Darby, the dispensational framework, viewing 1948 as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, and equating the State of Israel as biblical Israel

Ari Lamm, Israel’s Political Mythology. First Things, Oct 10, 2019.  Lamm examines the political and cultural role played by the Idumeans among the Jews at the time of Jesus; suggests that “Jewishness” is more complicated and permeable than simply “ethnicity,” and/or that the State of Israel has the potential of being more tolerant towards people who do not identify as “ethnic Jews”

Sheldon Richman, To Be or Not to Be a Jewish State, That is the Question.  CounterPunch, Oct 28, 2019. a summary of legal and policy issues resulting from the separation of “citizenship” and “nationality” in Israel.

Ramzy Baroud, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinian Christians that Nobody Is Talking About. Jacobin Magazine, Oct 31, 2019.

“Israel is keen to present the ‘conflict’ in Palestine as a religious one so that it could, in turn, brand itself as a beleaguered Jewish state in the midst of a massive Muslim population in the Middle East. The continued existence of Palestinian Christians does not factor nicely into this Israeli agenda.”

Rashid Khalid, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017. Metropolitan Books | Amazon page, Jan 2020. See interview by Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017. Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Mar 6, 2020.

Jack Sara, What is the Big Deal? Why Palestinians reject “the Deal of the Century”. Bethlehem Bible College, Holy Land Tales, Feb 27, 2020.

“Now, we have been offered a deal from the Trump Administration which the president calls “The Deal of the Century.”  This plan is basically asking for another huge compromise from the Palestinians; allowing Israel to annex about 30% of the West Bank (which is in itself only 22% of our original homeland) and pushing us increasingly into the margins. Trump’s plan cuts all throughout the Palestinian territories, making it look like Swiss cheese—with the disconnected “holes in the cheese” being Palestine.  The non-contiguous land will be connected by tunnels and “safe roads” which will be controlled mainly by Israel.  It is a future of more checkpoints and closures, our freedom micromanaged by another people.”

N.T. Wright, Paul’s First Letter to Corinth, Lecture Four: 1 Corinthians 3:1 – 17. Udemy Course.  Wright argues that the dispensationalist reading (primarily of Revelation 11), that the modern State of Israel must rebuild the temple in order to set the stage for the return of Jesus, is wrong. Wright comments on 1 Cor.3:16 - 17:

“Paul is here saying here about the Spirit what he’s said about Jesus. That when we look at Paul’s teaching about the Spirit, we find that the Spirit has come to dwell in the hearts and lives and communities of those who are in Christ. And this is the reality towards which even the great temple in Jerusalem was a forward-looking signpost. Many people, because they haven’t really taken this on board, imagine that perhaps God wants in our day to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, to restart the sacrifices and all that stuff. That’s a total misunderstanding. In the Messiah, and in the Spirit, we have the reality towards which the temple was an advance signpost.”

Munther Isaac, The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope. InterVarsity Press | Amazon book, Jun 2020.  

Isaac “gives the perspective of Palestinian Christians on the other side of the separation wall surrounding most Palestinian West Bank cities today… holds out hope for a just peace and ways to befriend and love his Jewish and Muslim neighbors. In contrast to the dominant religious and nationalistic ideologies and agendas for the region, he offers a theology of the land and a vision for a shared land that belongs to God, where there are no second-class citizens of any kind.”

Colin Chapman, Christian Zionism and the Restoration of Israel: How Should We Interpret the Scriptures? Cascade Books | Amazon page, Mar 2021. This book is Chapman’s response to critics of his first book, Colin Chapman, Whose Promised Land?: The Continuing Conflict Over Israel and Palestine. Lion Books, 1983 (1st edition) and 2015 (latest edition). See interview by Duane Miller, Rev. Colin Chapman on His New Book on Christian Zionism. Duane Miller, Aug 3, 2021.

Ali Velshi, On Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Right To Exist Goes Both Ways. MSNBC, May 15, 2021. An excellent and important 4 minute summary of how Israel prevents Palestinian access to goods, safety, medicine, etc. See also Ryan Grim, As Israel Attacked Gaza, It Heard Something New: Opposition from Congress. The Intercept, May 14, 2021. “Zionist fears of Democratic dissent have turned stale for years. The latest House speeches show that’s changing.” Significant because Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is Catholic, and Ayanna Pressley is Protestant.

Jonathan Brenneman and Aidan Orly, Progressives Can’t Ignore Role of Christian Zionism in Colonization of Palestine. Truthout, May 20, 2021. They write:

“Christian Zionism as a political movement gained traction as part of the 19th century “Fundamentalist Movement” in Britain and the U.S. when figures, such as Lord Shaftesbury, John Nelson Darby and William Blackstone, began proselytizing the End Times prophecy and conjuring up ideas of a Jewish homeland in Palestine decades before prominent Jewish Zionists called for the same. Britain’s Arthur Balfour, whose Balfour Declaration promised a Jewish homeland in Palestine, was himself a noted Christian Zionist, as was President Woodrow Wilson, who co-signed the Declaration at the encouragement of Jewish Zionist Supreme Court Judge Louis Brandeis.

Jewish Zionism is a newer development than Christian Zionism, but alliances were formed between the majority Ashkenazi Jewish Zionists in Europe seeking a Jewish state and the Christian Zionists who were located in the highest offices in the U.S. and British governments. Indeed, it was Christian Zionists who had the imperial and military power necessary to occupy and colonize Palestine at the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and it was the League of Nations, led by Western Christian-majority powers, who ultimately partitioned Palestine and Israel. No doubt, Christian Zionist leaders viewed the displacement of Jews out of Europe into Palestine as a convenient solution to the “Jewish question,” whereby the Jewish State would serve as a proxy for Western imperial interests in a geopolitically strategic region, and Jewish bodies used as a sword and shield against a centuries-old Muslim enemy. The colonization of Palestine is rooted in, and largely continues to serve, Western Christian imperialist interests at the expense of Palestinians, Muslims and Jews.”

Johnnie Moore and Tuly Weisz, Jews and Evangelicals Must Double Down on Their Zionism | Opinion. Newsweek, Jul 3, 2021. Rabbi Tuly Weisz is the director of Israel365.com and the editor of "The Israel Bible," the best-selling Tanakh highlighting the relationship between the Land and People of Israel. Reverend Johnnie Moore is the president of The Congress of Christian Leaders and the founder of The KAIROS Company. “A new generation must proudly embrace Zionism—not biblical Zionism or secular Zionism, not a Christian Zionism or a Jewish Zionism, but a Big-Tent Zionism that begins unashamedly with our pastors and rabbis whose belief in the Bible animates their support for Israel and the Jewish people.”

Mitri Raheb, The Politics of Persecution: Middle Eastern Christians in an Age of Empire. Baylor University Press | Amazon page, Sep 2021.

“Mitri Raheb charts the plight of Christians in the Middle East from the invasion of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799 to the so-called Arab Spring. The book analyzes the diverse socioeconomic and political factors that led to the diminishing role and numbers of Christians in Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan during the eras of Ottoman, French, and British Empires, through the eras of independence, Pan-Arabism, and Pan-Islamism, and into the current era of American empire. With an incisive exposé of the politics that lie behind alleged concerns for these persecuted Christians―and how the concept of persecution has been a tool of public diplomacy and international politics―Raheb reveals that Middle Eastern Christians have been repeatedly sacrificed on the altar of Western national interests. The West has been part of the problem for Middle Eastern Christianity and not part of the solution, from the massacre on Mount Lebanon to the rise of ISIS.”

David Doel, Israeli Forces Attack Funeral Of Slain Palestinian-American Journalist.  The Rational National, May 13, 2022.  Doel includes video footage, pointing out the incongruities of the Israeli authorities’ interpretation of the event, and some US media which “both-sidesed” the funeral attendees and the Israeli police force. From a media and political standpoint, this event and its news coverage indicates the inflkuence of white American evangelical dispensationalists, who tend to excuse this behavior by Israeli authorities.

AJ+, How Israeli Apartheid Destroyed My Hometown. Aljazeera, Oct 27, 2022.

“Segregated streets. Settler violence. Military harassment. This happens all over the occupied West Bank, but perhaps nowhere are these scenes more concentrated than in the Old City of Hebron. The once vibrant Palestinian cultural center is now ground zero of Israeli apartheid. It’s also where AJ+‘s Dena Takruri’s family calls home. In this deeply personal documentary, Dena spends a day in Hebron retracing the footsteps of her father, who was born and raised in Hebron. She talks to Palestinians who are subjected to daily harassment from the Israeli military and settlers. And she is guided through the city by former Israeli soldiers, who tell her why their conscience is now forcing them to speak out against the occupation.”

AJ+, Why Are Palestinian Christians Leaving Jesus’ Birthplace? Aljazeera, Dec 5, 2022.

AJ+, How Evangelicals Betray Christians in the Holy Land. Aljazeera, Dec 12, 2022.

Matthew D. Taylor, Messianic Judaism and Christian Zionism: Christians and the State of Israel. Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies, May 9, 2023. Class 2 in a series. When President Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, only 16% of American Jews approved in an unqualified way, where 53% of US evangelicals did. The opening ceremony featured Chabad rabbi Salman Wolowik and Southern Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress.

Jeffrey Slain, Are American Jews in crisis? A Conversation with Professor Jonathan Sarna. Religion News Service, Jan 11, 2024. “American Jewish weather report: increased chill in the air. A conversation with historian Professor Jonathan Sarna.” “Professor Sarna: Are we entering a new, and unsettling period of American Jewish history? Have we, like the German Jews of the 1920s and 1930s, been too complacent, comfortable, and even arrogant — to think that we, of all historic Jewish communities, would escape the cycles of history?”

Tonje Hessen Schei, Witness, Episode 1: Influence. Why Evangelicals Influence US Foreign Policy in the Middle East. Al Jazeera, Mar 19, 2024.

Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky, AIPAC Dumps $8 Million to Oust Cori Bush. Counter Points | Breaking Points, Aug 7, 2024.

Chris Hedges, The Middle East's Roots Lie in the Fall of the Ottomans w/ Eugene Rogan. The Chris Hedges Report, Aug 29, 2024. Eugene Rogan, The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East. Basic Books | Amazon page, 2016 notes that Britain sponsored and leveraged Zionism in order to gain leverage over France and Russia in the Middle East.