I’m grateful for Israel’s Christian allies Where would we be without them? Don Feder
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/nov/25/im-grateful-for-israels-christian-allies/
A series of ads from the 1960s featured the slogan, “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s real Jewish rye.” They were illustrated with pictures of a choir boy, an Asian child, an Italian mother, an Irish cop, and other obvious non-Jews happily munching on the kosher product.
Given the outpouring of Christian support for what Muslim radicals call the Zionist entity, today, we could say, “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Israel.”
America’s 100 million Evangelical Christians are a bulwark of support in a raging sea – antisemitic mobs roaming our college campuses, much of the Democratic party going over to the Palestinians and crass celebrities, like Susan Sarandon, essentially telling Jews they have it coming.
Some 700 members of Passages joined the Nov. 14 March for Israel in Washington, D.C. The organization brings Christian students to Israel to explore the roots of their faith. In the wake of the Oct. 7 attack, its members visited synagogues throughout the United States in a show of support.
With an estimated 10 million members, Christians United for Israel raised $2.65 million for Israeli charities in the days following the Hamas massacre. As part of its Don’t Look Away Campaign, CUFI projected pictures of the hostages high above New York’s Times Square, along with images of rope-bound hands, a bloody pacifier and an empty wheelchair.
The Rev. Johnnie Moore, president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, promises, “Every time an antisemite spews hate, then we shall express our solidarity with the Jewish community.”
An Evangelical Letter in Support of Israel, signed by more than 2,000 pastors, theologians and educators, declared: “In the wake of the evil and indefensible atrocities committed against the people of Israel by Hamas, we, the undersigned, unequivocally condemn the violence against the vulnerable” and “fully support Israel’s right and duty to defend itself against further attack.”
Dr. Jurgen Buhler, president of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, explains: “God is a covenant-keeping God” who has “affirmed His promise to give Israel the Land of Canaan.”
Russel Moore, editor of Christianity Today, urges: “As Americans, we should stand with Israel because it is a fellow liberal democracy – and a democracy in a region dominated by illiberal, authoritarian regimes. As Christians, we should pay special attention to violence directed toward Israel – just as we would pay special attention to a violent attack on a member of our extended family.”
Catholic theologian George Weigel calls antisemitism “a gangrenous wound eating away at everything from higher education to politics.” The biographer of Pope John Paul II writes: “There is no excuse – none – for the wave of Jew hatred that has washed across the Western world like an acid bath. Antisemitism is usually a sign of social and cultural rot, and this ancient outbreak of an ancient social disease is no exception.”
Skeptics have tried to tie Christian support for Israel to prophesies of the end times to make it seem a self-serving affirmation of Evangelical theology.
For some, that may be true. But it’s far more likely that in supporting Israel and the Jewish people, Christians are re-affirming the roots of their faith. There could be no New Testament without an Old Testament. According to the Gospels, Jesus was not only a Jew but a descendant of Israel’s royal house.
Christian ethics are largely based on the Mosaic code, hence Judeo-Christian morality. While disagreeing on important points, there is so much that unites religious Jews and Christians, especially in the face of the neo-paganism that has captured our culture.
Both religions are under constant assault by a militant Islam bent on world domination, as they have been since the 7th century.
Hamas is an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was founded in Egypt in the 1920s. Then, the Brotherhood had a slogan: “First the Saturday people. Then the Sunday people.” First the Jews, then the Christians.
Consider the relentless persecution of Christians in Pakistan, Somalia, Iran and every other Muslim-majority country. Christians can’t live openly in Saudi Arabia, where Islam’s holiest sites are located, as if the presence of unbelievers would somehow pollute them.
In this civilizational war, Christians and Jews must be united.
Ingratitude is a grave sin. Jews are commanded to thank those who’ve helped us.
As a Jew, words do not suffice to express my gratitude for Christian support of the Jewish state and the Jewish people. Where would we be without them?
• Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.
Comments are closed.
