Christian Zionists 'Unrequited Love'

The Jewish Agency for Israel (which helped found the Jewish state) has accepted a big check from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and given a seat on two of its "most powerful committees" to Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. Eckstein heads the Fellowship of Christians and Jews. This partnership shows an unprecedented level of alliance between evangelicals and Zionist Jews. This is a major sea change from a decade ago, when the Agency didn't want to be seen allied with evangelicals in any way, the Forward points out. Rejecting Christians today would mean losing a lot of greenbacks. Eckstein's group promises $45 million for the agency "over the next three years, almost all of it raised from evangelical Christians in North America." The article notes, "With a decline in funding allocations to Israel from American Jews, and studies showing declining emotional attachment as well, donations and political support from evangelical Christians have become essential to Israel." Today the loyalty of American evangelicals has become a crucial bloc in the Israel lobby. But many Jewish leaders don't even conceal their disgust about accepting Christians' help. The Jewish Week says this increased partnership with evangelicals--specifically between the Agency and the Fellowship--has built "an undercurrent of unease in Israel and North American Jewish leadership circles." One unnamed American Jewish leader called the agreement "an abomination." It was called "appalling" by Knesset member Colette Avital, former Israeli consul general for New York. Anti-Defamation League head Abe Foxman said he is "disturbed." Nina Penton, a Jerusalem municipal council member, called it "a national disaster" and claimed Christians are trying to "take [Jews'] souls." Jewish Week says angry Jews have tried to excommunicate Eckstein for collaborating with goyim--Christians, no less--and he was investigated by the New York rabbinical court. Notice I said New York, not Israel. Evangelicals appear unwilling to recognize Talmudic Judaism's hostility toward them. The more suspicious and spiteful many Jews behave, the more support Christians promise. Evangelicals have thoroughly digested the Zionist myth of Jewish victimhood, impotence, and of gentile (especially Christian) guilt. Evangelicals believe it's their responsibility to protect "little Israel" from annihilation. After 1900 years of dispersion and persecution, Jews enjoy unheard-of freedom and prosperity in America. Yet despite Jews' disproportionate enjoyment of wealth, prestige, influence and fawning approval from evangelicals-38 percent of American Jews believe there is "a great deal" of anti-Semitism in the US and 48 percent think "a moderate amount" still thrives here. American Jewish leaders trivialize evidence of their tribe's great affluence and prestige in this country. Always identifying new Hitlers, they promote the racist belief that all Gentiles are irrationally anti-Semitic and untrustworthy. This premise creates a dangerous separatism and hostility toward gentile Americans and especially Christians, who are increasingly blamed for millennia of anti-Jewish hatred, bigotry, persecution and evil. Christians must begin to recognize the danger that belief presents to them. Jews in the United States enjoy the most affluent, elite strata of society--they are hugely over-represented in government, media, business, and education. Jews in Israel enjoy staggering military advantage, possession of nukes, and an unbroken stream of financial support from Uncle Sam, and increasingly from Christians. When Israeli and American Jews express their bitter disgust toward partnership with Christians, that attitude should not be taken lightly. Jews are not the underdog on the international scene today. They have the power to do far more than suspiciously glare. Jewish antagonism to Christian values--and Christian evangelism--is public record. The Anti-Defamation League, creator of Christian-persecuting "anti-hate" laws, is rabid against the New Testament, Christian conversion efforts, and public expression of Christianity. In November 2005, Anti-Defamation League president Abraham Foxman criticized evangelical Christians as the "key domestic challenge to the American Jewish community." Many right-wing Christians were outraged, including Don Wildmon of the American Family Association who said, "The more [Foxman] says that 'you people are destroying this country,' [the more] some people are going to begin to get fed up with this and say, 'Well, all right then. If that's the way you feel, then we just won't support Israel anymore.' " But despite attacks from Jewish Zionists like Foxman, and the overwhelming liberalism of American Jews-- Christians don't publicly recognize that the Jewish left poses (in Foxman's words) a "key domestic challenge" to the Christian community! Like baby rabbits in spring, Christians literally don't know their enemy. For this reason, evangelicals can't respond effectively to liberal militant anti-Christianity in media, Congress, and Jewish "civil liberties" groups. By Harmony Grant