By Khalid Amayreh
“You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, and shall be cast out and trodden under the foot of men.” Matthew: 5-13
“They may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.”
Millions of Christian Zionists think that by blindly supporting Israel’s apartheid policies against the tormented Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians, they are upholding the truth and doing the right thing in the sight of God. Frankly, they are wrong; supporting blatantly unjust policies, including murder, persecution and theft, is never morally correct no matter how many verses one can quote from the Old Testament or any other religious text. Moreover, these pseudo-Christians, many of whom think they are following in the footsteps of Jesus, are convinced that they are doing his will by absolutely and unconditionally embracing evil actions which are in reality the antithesis of everything that Jesus Christ preached.
I am not talking about something about which I have scanty information or rudimentary knowledge. I have written a Master’s thesis on Christian Zionists’ distorted theology, met and spoken with some of their leaders, watched their TV antics and read their books. I heard the late Jerry Falwell on several occasions claim that “if you criticize Israel, you criticize God”, adding that the Almighty “treats nations according to how nations treat Israel”. Similarly, I heard and watched another demented evangelical, Pat Robertson of the 700-Club, who would invoke Old Testament atrocities to justify Israel’s modern equivalents, even those committed against Palestinians who are his fellow Christians. I also know that some evangelical preachers have called for applying the “Biblical approach” to the Palestinians and Lebanese people for resisting Israeli aggression. That “Biblical approach” is nought but a euphemism for genocidal ethnic cleansing.
Unfortunately, this scandalous distortion of Christ’s teachings is being promoted by wealthy Zionist circles that pay lip-service to Christianity, especially among Protestant communities and evangelicals, for purely political reasons, while maligning everything and anyone professing Christianity living in Israel. If anyone still has doubts about the veracity of this claim, let them ask some of the leaders of the Christian communities in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
This mindless infatuation with Zionism, an essentially Godless ideology that views religion including Judaism with contempt, is an expression of mental and spiritual sickness. What else explains the enthusiasm among such “Christians” for Israeli atrocities in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank? Christian Zionists claim to be following the way of Jesus. However, a brief scrutiny of their behaviour reveals people who are more concerned about pleasing Israeli-Jewish supremacists than pleasing Jesus. They have the audacity to claim that they love the Palestinians, Israel’s victims, while they quite happily give support to Israel’s criminal acts, such as demolishing Palestinians’ homes, bulldozing their farms, fields and orchards, even burning them with white phosphorus. What kind of “Christian charity and love” portrays evil as good in this way? Jesus would never have condoned the actions of Zionists as even a cursory examination of his ministry will reveal.
It is often understood that “love” rather than “justice” is the essence of Christianity. But is love compatible and consistent with supporting oppression and persecution against innocent people just because they happen to be non-members of a “chosen tribe”? In fact, it is only through the fair treatment of others that true love can be manifested and conveyed. In Islam, true love is called “Ihsan” which is an advanced degree of charity and forgiveness.
It is a positive sign that the erstwhile power and influence of the cult known as Christian Zionism people who support Israel right or wrong has been receding, especially in the United States. Nevertheless, we who are the victims of Zionism and America’s enduring embrace of Israeli criminality, want to see true Christians in America and elsewhere speak out and repair the damage wreaked by successive US administrations on an innocent people whose only “crime” is their determination to free themselves from the shackles of neo-apartheid.
It is easy to “prove” any argument with selective readings from sacred texts; taken out of context, such texts can be misused and this is what has happened with fanatical Bible-thumpers viewing the Lord as no more than a Tribal Chief or real estate-dealer. The reality is that, ultimately, God does not condone oppression, even if the oppressor is Jewish.
Any theology that condones and, indeed, endorses oppression against non-Jews (including Christians) by Jews is a theology devoid of morality, a theology which owes more to Satan than to true guidance from the Almighty.
I am not suggesting that Christians should become the enemies of any particular people; I am only challenging them to behave in accordance with the teachings of Christ. If that is done, we will see organisations called “Christians united for justice” rather than “Christians united for Israel”, because true Christians can never be instrumental in implementing oppressive policies.
Desertpeace 
THE UN-CHRISTIAN EMBRACE OF ISRAELI APARTHEID « Desertpeace said,
April 9, 2010 at 13:00
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Mike said,
April 9, 2010 at 18:25
The term “christian zionist” is an oxymoron of the first order! As a matter of fact, jewish zionists revel at the idea that their ancestors were able to have Jesus crucified. He was a radical, a revolutionary bent on offering the gentiles THEIR promise with god! So they subversively boxed him into a corner and demanded he be executed!
So all you “christian zionists” rejoice! You’re defacing your own god by taking on such an ignorant and moronic moniker!
mike said,
April 10, 2010 at 17:33
christians will always blame Islam but they will never see their own faces they are not followers of Jesus they will never follow…. look at the treatment of their own bishops towards innocent children
CrazyComposer / Aufzuleiden said,
April 10, 2010 at 17:57
Excellent article, Khalid, excellent. You are absolutely correct about Christo-Zionists: they are an anachronistic ideal that need to come to their senses and stop following the abomination of Zionism in the false belief that it aligns itself with the will of God. True Christianity cannot abide the violence and horrific treatment that the Palestinian people have been subjected to under the rule of the Zionist State of Israel, regardless of what the Zionists say about the Land of God – this is not about the land, this is about people.
If you want to make an argument based on the Word of God, I’ve got no problem with that either: did the Lord God Almighty promise the land that we know of today as Israel to the Children of Israel? Yes. Okay … shouldn’t that answer the question … shouldn’t they ‘inherit the land’? In a word … NO.
Why? Simple: disobedience. When Moses led the Children of Israel through the desert they came to the place where Moses could go no further; because of Moses’ transgression he was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land and died and was buried and Joshua became the leader of the people and was charged with leading them into the Promised Land. He was given very specific instructions regarding the taking of the land: cleanse the land – get rid of all of the inhabitants of the land. In other words, don’t leave anyone behind.
Now, that doesn’t sound very nice – and it isn’t – but this isn’t about then, it’s about now. The Children of Israel did NOT obey the directions of the Lord – they made a COVENANT with the people living in the LAND – a COVENANT that was then agreed to by God, a covenant that carried ramifications – those being that they (the Children of Israel) would not be able to have full possession of the land.
Disobedience has ramifications. Newton. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This is simple science: you don’t follow the rules, you face the ramifications of your actions. They didn’t ‘cleanse’ the land, they don’t get to ‘keep’ the land in the way it was promised to them.
Now, why is that story not preached very often? For the simple reason that it doesn’t glorify the ‘stiff-necked’ people that the Jews are – and have been throughout the Old Testament. Remember – this is the people that God wanted to wipe off the face of the earth after Moses went up to get the commandments – it was only after the intercession made by Moses that God relented and refrained from committing Hebicide in the desert and starting from scratch. Disobedience is something that the Jews have had great practice at mastering – failing to take possession of the Promised Land as they were directed was not only recorded in the Word, it was expected by the prophets. This is why the Jews are referred to as a ‘stiff-necked’ people, ‘having ears to hear, and not hearing; having eyes to see, and not seeing’; ‘my people die for lack of vision’. (I’m not providing citations – Google them if you desire)
There is no reason on earth why anyone claiming to be a Christian should be believing that any aspect of Zionism is true or in anyway aligned with the teachings of Jesus. The distortions that have entered into that which has become Christianity has, alas, created a situation in which many of the churches and organizations that claim to be ‘Christian’ have absolutely nothing to do with our Lord and Saviour – they may call themselves by His name, but they do not know him. Ironically, this is also something that was prophesied in the New Testament – alas, it doesn’t make the fact any less tragic. Deception is a difficult pill to swallow.
Someone seeking to be a true Christian and looking for their relationship to Israel need only ask themselves the following questions: What would Jesus say, think, and do? Would Jesus fire weapons of mass destruction into an unarmed community of civilians who are sequestered behind gates and cannot escape the falling bombs and artillery? Would Jesus deny access to health care and food to women, children and men who are unable to get to their jobs because they cannot cross the checkpoints out of their refugee camps? Would Jesus fire a gun at someone who threw a stone at him?
What would Jesus do?
Would Jesus live next to a Muslim?
Would Jesus talk to a Muslim? Would he invite him to dinner?
Of course, if you have read any of the Gospels of the New Testament – and are honest – you know that Jesus would not have done anything violent – even if that meant dying himself (oh, it did mean him dying!) – and he regularly met with people who did not believe his message – that was how he persuaded them.
True Christianity is not about the force of violence, it is about the force of the Holy Spirit, a far more powerful force. When people allow the power of God to flow in their lives and are aware of the power of discernment they can easily recognize the inherent evil that permeates the messages of people like Falwell and John Hagee – Christo-Zionists who hope that their support of Israel will usher in the return of the Lord and an advancement of the eschatological time line. Nothing could be further from the truth, but this is not the time for eschatology.
Wie viel ist Aufzuleiden!