Concerns for Israel

In this article John Atkinson looks at the confusion associated with this subject and attempts to come up with a “working policy” for those who are concerned about the well-being of the people in the land of Israel.

There are few places on the globe as politicised as the Middle East. There are few situations where the debate is as polarised as the current situation in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

If you are accustomed to reading articles about the region you will be able to pick up very quickly which side of the debate the writer is on simply by the terminology used. For instance, does the writer use the term “Occupied”  or “Disputed” Territories? Are the priorities, according to the writer, security or justice? 

Then there is the issue of history. The point in history at which one begins the debate tends to determine the outcome, and history in this debate is often a relative concept. Neither side is usually prepared to look at the other’s history empathically.

So the endless process of point scoring continues while the conflict grinds on.

The international media has been less than helpful in the situation with sound bytes of news that seldom give an accurate picture of the complexities of the context. Editorial policies often reflect the doctrine that the one who suffers the most, or the loudest, is always in the right.

Christians and Israel

The Christian witness to Israel leaves a great deal to be desired.
In Israel the constant bickering of the established denominations over rights, land and properties is so far from the gospel ideal of unity and love that it is often an embarrassment rather than a witness. Many Christian groups have allowed themselves to become so polarised in the situation that they range from an anti—Israel stance that it is simply a new face for anti-Semitism, to a support for Israel that is uncritical to the point of sycophancy. 
Joseph Frankovic expresses the situation as follows;

Christians who embrace Super-cessionalism and incline toward Replacement theology will find themselves leading candidates for assimilating the pains and prejudices of the oppressed Palestinians. On the other hand, Christians who have a keen interest in eschatology and endorse a radical, Christian Zionist agenda run the risk of behaving more like lobbyists for a political platform than ambassadors for Christ.

This situation has urgent implications for the people of the region and the Church worldwide.

First, the attitude of the Church to the Jewish people is a barometer of our own spiritual health. Any singling out of a population group Jews or otherwise, for generalised condemnation or contempt demonstrates a poverty of spirit which has been all too familiar throughout church history. How could the Holocaust take place in Christian Europe only sixty years ago? The answer is complex, but at the heart of the matter we must acknowledge a poverty of spirit amongst European Christians that bred a silent acquiescence to the status quo.

Second, the witness of our own Scriptures.
Thankfully, current Biblical scholarship is moving away from the supersessionism (replacement theology) which was a central feature of so much of the church’s teaching from the period of the church fathers onward. Many Christians are beginning to see that when the Almighty made an everlasting covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendents he meant what he said. The idea that Israel was an unfaithful witness and so the Lord turned to the Gentiles can only be sustained if one ignores Church history in which the Gentile Christians have outdone Israel’s rebellion on every count.
Nehemiah prayed, “I beseech You, O LORD G-d of heaven, the great and awesome G-d, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now…”. [2.] He knew that the Almighty would be faithful to he covenant even though the people had rebelled. The witness of Scripture is that when Hashem makes an everlasting promise he is true to his word.

The descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have a special place in the heart of the Lord and we would do well to respect this witness from the Hebrew Scriptures that unaltered are part of our own canon.[3.]

Third, the demands of the gospel.
The Jewish people have a special place with regard to the gospel. The Apostle Paul (Shu’al) describes the good news as addressed to “the Jew first and equally to the Gentile…” as David Stern so helpfully translates. [4.] To put it another way the gospel is like a circular letter addressed primarily to the Jew and including the Gentiles in the postal distribution. A gospel which ignores the spiritual needs of the Jewish community cannot be the authentic gospel. If Yeshua is not the Jewish Messiah he can hardly be the Gentile’s Christ. Jew and Christian are theological bedfellows whether we like it or not.  

Fourth, the root and foundation of the Christian Faith.
Christianity began as a Jewish sect. Its theology is based on the revelation of the Hebrew Scriptures. The New Covenant stands squarely on the Abramic and Sinaitic covenants of the Hebrew Scriptures. The identity of Yeshua is unquestionably Jewish as are most of the Apostles. Without these identifiable characteristics the Christian message is relegated to a pale shadow of itself. Rootless and at the mercy of every cultural whim in the world the Christian Faith becomes the creation of every culture reflecting not the glory of the Almighty but its own image.

The relationship between the Jewish People and the Christian Community is important for both our sakes.

Eschatology and Justice

Christian Zionism is an expression of support for the right of the Jewish people to live in the ancient land of Israel within secure borders and with normalised relations with the neighbouring states. This is view with which Messiah’s People fully subscribes. There is, however, a broad spectrum in Christian Zionism. 

The views that Christians hold on the end times concerning Israel are often the determining factor that orientates their attitudes towards the people of the region today. While we may be inspired by our interpretations of the last days they can never absolve us from the biblical commands concerning justice and reconciliation. Christians who consider the rights of Palestinians, or of the Jewish People for that matter, unimportant because they do not fit into their eschatological schema have placed eschatological theory above the ethical demands of Scripture. The language of this kind of heartless Christian Zionism is full of love and concern for the Jewish people while harbouring a complete disregard for anyone else living in the region. This is a scandal that responsible Christian leaders must address for the sake of the gospel.   

Christians and the Arabs

The polarisation and attitudinal problems do not begin and end with the Church’s attitude to the Jewish People. Christian groups inside and out of Israel have often fallen into the absolutism of a polarised position vis-à-vis the Arab population. My personal experience of the Arab population in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank has been generally good. I have witnessed overwhelming hospitality and kindness and, on the same day, a display of testosterone which almost leads one to despair. Like the Jewish population in Israel the Arabs are not all the same. There is great diversity which makes generalisations inaccurate at best and dehumanising at worst.

At one end of the attitudinal spectrum (the right?) I have noticed two forms that this  polarisation takes.
First, involves a complete disregard for the Palestinian and Israeli Arab populations. A form of indifference to their suffering and their needs. Despite the fact that the indigenous presence of Christianity is represented by them. The willingness to ignore the rights of Christian and Muslim Arabs living in a Jewish State with all the complexities that the situation creates is a sad reflection on the Church.
The second form at this end of the spectrum is even worse. It involves the demonisation of the Arab and/or Palestinian community. Many Christians who support Israel this way are undermining the Christian gospel and causing greater harm to the people of the region.
“Standing with Israel” should never mean a negation of the rights and needs of other people. Neither should it mean that we are silent in the face of injustice or oppression of any kind. A true friend of Israel will be a priest as well as a prophet. To comfort Israel in her sorrows and the remind her of the Lord’s faithfulness to be sure, but also to exhort her to justice and to the standards of Torah.

At the other end of the spectrum (the left?) are the Christians who see no good in the Israelis and fail to see any wrong among the Palestinian and/or Arab communities. These Christians willingly support anti-Israel campaigns and happily march along side supporters of suicide bombings and corrupt institutions. What this group has in common with their counterparts at the other end of the spectrum is a breathtaking naivety about the people and context of the middle east. They strain out every gnat of Israeli injustice while a marauding caravan of Arab camels stampede by unnoticed.

Perhaps this group should look at the rights of Christians living in Arab countries at the same time to achieve some perspective on the situation.

This raises the issue of the selective nature of the critique against Israel.

Israel Critique just and unjust.

Given the size of Israel both in terms of land and population it attracts an inordinate amount of attention. The intensity of this interest has increased with dispersion of Islam in the West the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe.

In summary it can be said that the threatening nature of the situation, in particular for the Jewish communities, arose because in most of the countries monitored the increasing number of anti-Semitic attacks, committed frequently by young Arabs/Muslims and by far-right extremists, was accompanied by a sharp criticism of Israeli politics across the entire political spectrum, a criticism that in some cases employed anti-Semitic stereotypes. [5.]

Certainly some of the criticisms of Israel’s policies are well-founded and reflect criticisms that are expressed by many Israeli’s themselves. With most policies there are advantages and disadvantages both of which must be acknowledged in a balanced approach. The security fence in Israel is a good example of this. It certainly has disrupted the lives of many Palestinians in Israel. On the other hand the incidence of suicide bombings has decreased dramatically. When I asked an Israeli Jerusalem resident for his impression on the fence his reply summed up the situation.

Building fences between people is not something I easily support. Remember that we Jews have been fenced off from the communities in which we lived many times in our history. So when I think of the fence I am not happy that it is there.

My children catch Jerusalem buses to get to school and back every day. Every time there has been a suicide bombing we have waited hoping that our children were not on the bus. So when I think of my children travelling to school I am happy that there is a fence. [6.]

On the other hand there is a propaganda war against Israel that is unrelenting. Israel is damned by association accused of being an “apartheid state”. Zionism is equated with racism and the historic link that Jews have with region is denied.

What is most disturbing about these claims is not so much their lack of veracity, which can be fairly easily demonstrated, but the number of Christian leaders who have adopted them.

The Presbyterian, Anglican and Church of Christ in America are in the process of promoting a campaign of disinvestment from Israel which is regularly associated, by its promoters, with an earlier disinvestment campaign against Apartheid South Africa. No doubt more Christian denominations will follow suit.

This opposition against Israel takes the Christian Church dangerously close to its position of disregard of Jewish suffering before and during the holocaust. The anti-Israel brings its Christian supporters into company with a wide array of people whose values and attitudes are anti-Christian and anti-freedom. Many of those who protest against Israel are from countries whose human rights records and tolerance of Christianity leave a great deal to be desired.

The West and Islam

Another area of concern is the West’s ignorance of the language and worldview of Islam.

Professor Moshe Sharon, [7.] who occupies the Chair of Islamic history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem describes the situation as follows;

All of a sudden we see that the greatest interpreters of Islam are politicians in the western world. They know better than all the speakers in the mosques, all those who deliver terrible sermons against anything that is either Christian or Jewish. These western politicians know that there is good Islam and bad Islam. They know even how to differentiate between the two, except that none of them know how to read a word of Arabic. [8.]

The worldview and vocabulary of Islam are different than those of the West whether Christian or secular. This is a fact that is seldom grasped when interpreting events in the Middle East.

A Working Policy

In South Africa the church has had to find a way of relating to the governing party in good times and bad. Through the struggle for political change from Apartheid we developed, and have maintained, a relationship of critical support with the ruling party. This policy means that we seek to support what is good and speak out when we believe that the government’s policies are morally questionable.

I believe that Christian organisations would serve the interests of all the people of the Middle East, and themselves, a great deal more if we adopted a policy of critical support and were actively involved in the ministry of compassion and reconciliation. Standing for the right of Jewish People to live in peace and security within the State of Israel need not be a blank cheque to the Israeli government neither should it be a negation of the rights of non-Jews in the region.

End Notes