Zionism
Zionism was nationalist political movement by East European Jews dedicated to reestablishing the Jewish state in the land of Israel, starting in the late 19th century. The goal was achieved with the independence of Israel in 1948, and the term term now connotes political support for the continued existence of this Jewish nation.
History
Although Jews have been returning to their homeland throughout the last two thousand years, the movement in its modern guise was started in the late nineteenth century by Theodor Herzl.
Opposition to Zionism
With few exceptions, Muslins around the world are hostile to Zionism and Israel, often to the point of promising the destruction of the state.
In the United States and Europe, until World War II the Reform Jews generally opposed Zionism. With the establishment of Israel in 1948 the opposition softened, and when the Six Day War in 1967 showed Israel was vulnerable to attack, most previously negative Jews became supportive. In the U.S. many leftist Jews are hostile to Israel--or, more exactly, very friendly to the Palestinian cause. In Israel a small minority of religious Jews, most prominently the Neturei Karta sect, are anti-Zionist for theological reasons.
The Palestinian Arabs, many of whom fled during the unrest that followed the reestablishment of the Israeli state are among those opposed to its existence, as are many other Arabs who are allied with them.
Zionism is sharply criticized in the U.S. and Europe by non-Jews who believe that Palestinians are poorly treated by Israel. In the U.S. other critics complain that pro-Israeli interest groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee have an excessive amount of influence over US policy.
In the often tendentious debates over the Arab-Israeli question many of these so called "anti-Zionists" claim that there is a distinction between opposition to Israel and Anti-Semitism.
Bible
Genesis 12:3, in which God speaks to Abraham, is taken as the scriptural foundation for their conviction:
| “ | I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. |
” |
Christian Zionists
Since the Reformation an interest in "the Restoration of the Jews to their Land" has been a constant theme in many Protestant denominations. This concern did not always translate into support for a specific Return to Zion. Between 1600 and the 1880s, scores of Christians advanced plans for settlement in Palestine. In a striking parallel, Jewish thinkers, beginning in the seventeenth century, advocated similar ideas and some embarked on small-scale settlement in Palestine. Among both Jews and Christians these settlement attempts increased at times of intense messianic speculation, especially around the year 1840. British, Dutch and American protestants were involved. One specific Christian restoration plan was Laurence Oliphant's 1882 "Gilead Plan" for a large Jewish colony under British auspices in eastern Palestine. The Christian proposals seem to have had little coordination with or influence on the Jewish plans.
From the early 1940s to the late 1960s American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr was the most eloquent of American Christian Zionists.
Dispensationalism
Zionism is a central element in Dispensationalism, especially the Plymouth Brethren version promoted by John Nelson Darby in the mid 19th century. Darby's ideas were spread by Cyrus Scofield in his Scofield Reference Bible (1909 and many later edition). It was most significant premillennialist book. In recent decades the popular expression of Dispensationalist ideas is to be found in Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth (1970) and especially in the Left Behind books by Tim LeHaye and Jerry Jenkins published in the 1990s and early 2000s. The series sold over sixty-five million copies. In each of the twelve "Left Behind" novels, Israel and Israeli Jews play a pivotal role.
The Dispensationalists argue from the Bible that before the Second Coming Christ is possible, the Antichrist must first set up a one world government and command himself to be worshiped as God in the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem. The Antichrist will persecute Jews but they will recognize Christ as their savior and repent. Believing Christians will be "raptured" before the global strife (Tribulation) begins. After Christ returns he will set up a millennial kingdom in Israel as the Jewish Messiah in literal fulfillment of such prophecies found in Ezekiel and Revelation. Until the 1940s Dispensationalists ignored the Middle East. The founding of Israel and, especially, the Six Day War in 1967 changed them radically, and they focused enormous attention on the region. In the 1970s they became politicized and started voting along foreign policy lines, with a strong preference for Ronald Reagan and his followers. The liberal notion that Palestinians rightfully should own the West Bank and Gaza (Judea and Samaria) is anathema to Christian Zionists.
Falwell
In 1981, the Israeli air force destroyed Osirak, Baathist Iraq's nuclear installation. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin called Reverend Jerry Falwell and asked for political support. Falwell replied, "I support Israel with all my heart." Falwell systematically rounded up evangelical support for Israel's military actions. The evangelicals from that point on increased their pressure on Congress to support Israel. Reverend John Hagee in Dallas was as enthusiastic as Fallwell, and pressured Congressman Tom DeLay to join the cause, which DeLay did with enthusiasm. By 2001, DeLay was the most powerful member of Congress, and his message resonated with the Bush White House.
Christian promoters
- Francis Kett (1547–1589) [1]
- Thomas Brightman (1552-1607) [1]
- Sir Henry Finch (1558-1625) [2]
- Isaac de la Peyrere (1594-1676) [1]
- Lewis Way (1772-1840) [3]
- George Bush (1796-1859) [4]
- John Nelson Darby (1800 - 1882)
- Anthony Ashley Cooper (1801 - 1885) [5]
- James H. Brookes (1830 – 1897)[6]
- William Eugene Blackstone (1841–1935)[7]
- Reinhold Niebuhr (1892—1971) [1]
- John C. Hagee (b. 1940)
Further reading
- Laqueuer, Walter. A History of Zionism (1972), basic history (but ignored the Christian Zionists)
Christian Zionism
- Brog, David. Standing With Israel: Why Christians Support the Jewish State (2006) 285 pp. excerpt and text search enthusiastic supporter
- Merkley, Paul Charles. Christian Attitudes towards the State of Israel (2001) 266 pp. scholarly study by a supporter Christian Zionism
- Merkley, Paul Charles. 'The Politics of Christian Zionism, 1891–1948' (1998)
- Weber, Timothy P. On the Road to Armageddon: How Evangelicals Became Israel's Best Friend (2004). 336 pp. excerpt and text search, somewhat hostile