KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Age-old tensions behind current affairs: Fixated on week-to-week developments, we often lose sight of decisive factors shaping them from behind the curtain. End-of-times-oriented, messianic Christian Zionist movements in the U.S.’ Evangelical communities are among them.
- Christian Zionism’s impact on U.S.–Israel relations: Evangelical influence is driving unyielding U.S. support for Israel, reshaping U.S. foreign policy with strategic consequences for the Middle East.
- Geopolitical implications: U.S. evangelical backing for Israeli expansion, especially in contested areas like the West Bank, challenges international consensus, complicating peace efforts and raising regional risks.
- Global evangelical influence: Christian Zionism’s reach is expanding beyond the U.S., gaining traction in emerging markets like Brazil and Nigeria, adding a new dimension to Israel’s international relations strategy.
- Is peace on the table? Shifts in U.S.-Israel policy influenced by Christian Zionists, particularly under a potential Republican administration, affect regional stability and the very prospect of peace and stability in the Middle East.
- Tensions within Israel: Christian Zionist support intensifies internal Israeli debates on balancing its Jewish identity with democratic values, influencing both political and business environments and all-but-excluding the possibility of a U.N.-mandated two-states solution.
To understand the bipartisan U.S. commitment to supporting the State of Israel, a crucial factor must be consideredbeyond Realpolitik. Currently, the Republican candidate Donald Trump has intensified his support for Israel, driven by the overt and explicit influence of Christian Zionist evangelical movements and pressure groups (e.g., Pastor John Hagee and “Christians United for Israel”). International and geopolitical developments highlight “theoretical” issues such as Christian Zionism as having far more practical implications and complications than might initially appear. These include the nature and pedigree of Christian Zionism, which is indirectly yet decisively tied to Israel’s inherent tensions between its nature(s) as a national, Jewish, and secular state.
In the United States, Christian Zionism has become particularly influential through the rise of the evangelical movement, especially since the late 20th century. Advocating for unwavering support for Israel based on a theological mandate, often urging policies that align with a literal interpretation of biblical prophecy, including the expansion of Israeli settlements in contested territories and the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The policies proposed include an explicit messianic aspect, which revolves around a theological belief that the return of Jews to (Greater) Israel is essential for fulfilling biblical prophecy. Christian Zionists see this return as part of the apocalyptic events leading to the Second Coming of Christ. For them, supporting Israel is not only about political or religious solidarity but also about advancing their eschatological timeline: about prompting a much-desired Armageddon. This belief encourages the notion of Israel playing a key role in a final, apocalyptic battle, positioning Israel within a divine narrative for the end of times. While this support provides political backing, it is controversial—first and foremost among non-Israeli Jews—because it frames Israel as a means to a theological end, raising concerns about the consequences for Jewish communities, both in Israel and worldwide.
The influence of Christian Zionism in the U.S. is not limited to the religious right but has extended into mainstream Republican politics. Donald Trump’s administration, for example, made significant overtures to Christian Zionists by moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the (occupied, under international law) Golan Heights, actions that were celebrated by evangelical leaders as fulfilling biblical prophecy. This political alliance between Christian Zionists and Republican leaders has led to a shift in the U.S. approach to Israel, moving away from the more cautious, balanced strategies of previous administrations toward a more unequivocal and ideologically—if not religiously—driven support for Israel.
Yet whence did this current originate? Christian Zionism, as distinct from Jewish Zionism, has deep roots in Protestant theology, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon world. Emerging long before political Zionism took shape in the late 19th century, Christian Zionism can be defined “as a theologically motivated belief that the Jewish people have, by divine grant, the right to possess and inhabit the land promised to them in the Hebrew Bible and that it is therefore the duty of Christians to support this claim”, or more simply as “Judeo-centric restorationism” (Andrew Crome, Christian Zionism and English National Identity, 1600–1850, pp. 9). This theology was especially influential in the English-speaking world, beginning in the 16th century with figures like Thomas Brightman, who advocated for the restoration of the Jews to Palestine as part of God’s plan for the end times. Such ideas were later embraced and further developed by evangelical leaders like John Nelson Darby, a key figure in dispensationalist theology, which viewed the establishment of Israel as a necessary precursor to the Second Coming of Christ.
This theological conviction did not remain confined to the religious realm but quickly found its way into political discourse, particularly in Britain. In the 19th century, influential British leaders, such as Lord Shaftesbury and George Gawler, lobbied for Jewish resettlement in Palestine, not merely for religious reasons but also as part of Britain’s imperial interests. This early alignment of Christian Zionism with political goals was a precursor to what would become a broader, more complex alliance between Christian Zionists and the Zionist movement in the 20th century. In this context, the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which expressed British support for a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, can be perceived as a product of this confluence of religious conviction and political strategy. The conundrum intensifies when this home and state aspires to be, at once, Jewish, secular, democratic, and national. One of the central challenges Israel faces is how to reconcile its Jewish identity, and its concomitant spectrum from the religious to the national, with democratic values. While Israel is officially a secular state, Jewish religious law (Halakha) plays a significant role in areas such as marriage, divorce, and public observance of religious holidays. This creates friction between religious and secular Israelis, as well as between Jewish and non-Jewish citizens. For example, the 2018 Nation-State Law, which defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, has exacerbated these tensions by explicitly prioritizing Jewish identity over the state’s democratic character. Critics argue that this law undermines the equality of non-Jewish citizens and further blurs the line between religion and state. The law also aligns with the agenda of religious Zionist groups, who advocate for a greater role for Jewish religious law in Israeli governance, often at the expense of democratic principles.
The strong U.S. support for Israel, particularly from Christian Zionist groups, intersects with this complex and often contradictory nature of Israel’s four-fold identity. Since its founding, Israel has grappled with the tension between being a homeland for the Jewish people and a democratic state for all its citizens, including its significant Arab minority. This tension is further complicated by the influence of religious and messianic Zionism, profoundly represented in today’s Knesset and Netanyahu government, which views the modern state of Israel not merely as a political entity but as a fulfilment of biblical promises to the Jewish people.
The growing political power of religious Zionists in Israel, bolstered by predominantly American Christian Zionist support, has intensified the debate over the future of Israel’s democratic and secular character. Religious Zionist parties have become key players in Israeli coalition governments, often pushing for policies that challenge the secular foundations of the state. For example, the push to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank is not just a political issue but also a theological one for religious Zionists, who believe that these territories are an integral part of the biblical Land of Israel. This dynamic has also created tensions between Israel and the broader Jewish diaspora, particularly in the United States, where many Jews identify as secular or liberal. These Jews often view Israel’s increasingly religious policies with concern, particularly when it comes to issues like religious pluralism, the rights of non-Jewish citizens, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The alliance between Christian Zionists in the U.S. and religious Zionists in Israel only deepens these divisions, as many American Jews are uncomfortable with the theological motivations behind Christian Zionist support for Israel.
Christian Zionism’s influence is not limited to religious or political ideology but has significant geopolitical implications, chief among which is the virtual exclusion of any possibility of a two-state solution (as, time and again, prescribed by the U.N.) should this tendency continue to predominate, thus further exacerbating tensions in the region with no end in sight. Christian Zionist support for Israel’s settlement policies in the West Bank has also contributed to the erosion of international consensus on the issue, making it more difficult for the U.S. to play a mediating role in peace negotiations.
Moreover, the global reach of Christian Zionism via Evangelicalism beyond the U.S., particularly in the Global South, has strengthened Israel’s geopolitical hand among certain players. As Christian evangelical movements gain influence in countries like Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria, and South Korea, Israel has found new allies in regions where it had previously been isolated, thus attempting to counterbalance its relative isolation in international organizations like the United Nations.
There are three morals to this story. Firstly, background matters. Concomitantly, issues that at first glance seem to be unrelated to current international, security, military, and geopolitical developments—“theoretical” issues—may very often prove to be at the heart of the vicissitudes unfolding. Thirdly, Realpolitik may very well be thrown out of the window as soon as end-times-related, messianic ideologies occupy the driver’s seat.
* Dimitris B. Peponis is the author of The End of the Great Deviation: From Ukraine and the Pandemic to the Shaping of the New Global Order (Topos books, in Greek).