Israel is God's chosen people,
always have been God's chosen people,
always will be God's chosen people.
In my last video, I walked through Bethlehem’s walled-off streets and
met Palestinian Christians fighting to stay on their land.
But I kept thinking about how some of Israel’s biggest supporters back home
are not necessarily American Jews
but evangelical Christians.
- Most Christians will tell you, "Well
we love Israel because God says, 'I will bless those who bless my people.'"
So why do American evangelicals support a state that directly hurts Palestinians,
including their fellow Christians?
You have my sisters and brothers who are supposed to be my support
actually doing all their best to support the ones who are oppressing us.
And it makes me angry.
Here’s something that might surprise you:
White evangelical Christians in the U.S. are more than twice as likely as American Jews
to believe that “God gave Israel to the Jewish people.”
Now, not all evangelicals believe this, but the ones that do –
their voices are often the loudest and most influential.
The title deed to the land of Israel is recorded in the Bible,
which gives the Jewish people a clear and unclouded title to that land forever.
It belongs to them, and it belongs to them only.
People that share this view are called Christian Zionists.
They believe the Bible commands them to support and defend the modern-day state of Israel,
regardless of what this means for the Palestinians who live under its occupation.
They point to one biblical verse in particular – Genesis 12:3 –
that they believe references the modern state of Israel.
- Genesis 12:3 - here it is in the very beginning of the Bible.
“I'll bless and I'll curse those who curse her.”
I met Sharon Sanders in Jerusalem.
She’s an American Christian who moved here from Illinois in the 1980s,
out of a deep religious sense of mission to support Israel.
She and her husband founded the charity Christian Friends of Israel,
which aims to help people from recent Jewish immigrants to Israeli soldiers.
- It's just simply kindness of the heart to say
thank you for protecting us.
Thank you for taking care of the land.
Her charity is one of several foreign, Christian-led organizations
that have flourished in Israel in recent years.
It’s estimated that every year, evangelicals give around $200 million to Israel.
Worldwide donations from the Jewish community far surpass that,
but Christian contributions continue to rise and show no signs of slowing down.
And some organizations specifically raise money for Israeli settlements
in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
We're talking about millions of dollars and political support
that is used to continue my oppression.
That’s Munther Isaac, a Palestinian Christian pastor who lives in Bethlehem –
the city where Jesus is believed to have been born
that’s now surrounded by this massive wall.
It’s one of the most imposing parts of Israel’s military occupation of Bethlehem
and other Palestinian territories –
an occupation that’s now over 50 years old,
meaning several generations of Palestinians have never known freedom.
When you support a specific state
who has racist policies and is enforcing an apartheid state,
that would be unbiblical in my mind, right?
That wouldn't be loving thy neighbor as yourself.
You know, we read the same Bible,
but then they are using the Bible as a weapon against me.
You know, we Christians call the Bible "Injil" - "the good news."
So they've turned the good news into our nightmare.
Why is their read of the Bible so different?
Evangelicals read the Bible in a very literal and simple way.
They believe that you have to bless Israel so that God blesses you.
So it's like Israel becomes the gauge of whether you receive blessing from God.
You know, it makes me wonder what kind of God they are meeting in the Bible.
The God I meet in the Bible is a God of love, is a God of peace.
They see in it an image of God, who's a tribal God,
who favors one nation over everyone else
based on a promise that's thousands of years old.
But for Christian Zionists like Sharon, that promise is prophecy.
Many believe that the establishment of Israel in 1948,
which displaced the majority of the Palestinians who lived there,
was all part of God’s divine plan.
- We see all over God's word
that the Jewish people at a certain point in history
would begin to find their way back home,
and we know that happened in May 1948
when the state became a real nation.
And ever since then the Jewish people have been coming home.
It's a miracle.
And we've been living in Bible prophecy ever since.
Do you think Jesus, who preached love thy neighbor,
would be OK seeing a wall dividing people like that
and cutting off people from their land?
He probably would've quoted Genesis 12:3 and said,
“I’ll bless those who bless my people.”
When you're talking, I feel like there's a lot of support
and elevation of the Jewish people having Israel,
but doesn't that contradict the principles
of equality that Christianity preaches?
Well then I think we'd have to go back to God
and ask him why he chose the Jewish people.
He chose them to be a light to the nations, according to his word,
he chose them to bring the Messiah through.
I think the key is
study what God says, not what man says.
To be clear, not all American Christians read the Bible like this.
In fact, in the last few years, several prominent U.S. churches
have come out in support of Palestinian rights,
even endorsing the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement
targeting Israel.
But even so, the people who do believe in this prophecy have a huge following.
And for them, it all culminates into a biblical grand finale, called "the end times."
Somebody said, "I want to understand the end times."
Well you just need to look at three things.
You look at Jesus,
you look at the Jews
and you look at Jerusalem.
Many evangelicals believe that once Jews fully control the land,
Jesus will return to Earth and rapture Christians up to heaven.
To believers, it's going to be a time of ecstasy and joy
and excitement and glory.
But to those who do not know him,
it's going to be a day of judgment.
If you're a Christian, you will not be around for the tribulation period.
You'll be safely in heaven.
And this tribulation period, some believe,
is a violent and bloody war for those who remain behind.
Jesus Christ will speak the word and he will summon,
in the most dramatic act of warfare in human history,
he will bring about the slaughter of those who reject him.
And in some interpretations they believe that two-thirds of the Jews will die.
So these Christian Zionists – not all of them believe this specific theology,
but many of them do – you’re promoting them to come to a specific location
in order for them, or two-thirds of them, to die.
It doesn’t sound like a holy alliance.
It doesn’t.
But this alliance is powerful.
Millions of Christians
in America and around the world
now stand with Israel.
OK, pause.
We’re going to come back to Sharon, John and Munther in a bit.
But first, let me tell you a bit more about this guy.
Because to understand how influential Christian Zionists have become,
you have to understand John Hagee.
This Texas pastor is the founder and leader of
Christians United for Israel, or CUFI,
an organization that claims to have 10 million members.
That makes Hagee influential outside the movement too,
with lots of big-name friends in politics.
Even though, in several sermons,
Hagee had claimed that Hitler was actually sent by God to force Jews to move to Israel.
Then God sent a hunter.
A hunter is someone who comes with a gun and he forces you.
Hitler was a hunter.
Why did it happen?
Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people
is to get them to come back to the land of Israel.
Wild, right?
If that sounds cynical to you,
well, it actually underpins Hagee’s beliefs
when it comes to Israel.
For example, this dedication to protecting and defending Israel
includes denying the internationally acknowledged fact
that the West Bank and East Jerusalem are occupied territories.
As we saw earlier, Hagee and many of his counterparts insist the Holy Land
is actually promised to Jews by God.
And so they want to see the West Bank remain under Israel’s control
because it’s a necessary step for Jesus Christ’s return to Earth.
But neither the Hitler comments nor his viewpoint on the apocalypse
have made Hagee a political pariah.
Even Israeli leaders applaud and court the support of Hagee’s movement.
Now there are millions and millions of devout Christians
who stand with Israel.
So I want to thank you on behalf of all the people of Israel.
One group that is less welcome at the CUFI conference is journalists.
We sent a producer and cameraman to meet some of the attendees at the 2022 conference,
but before they could speak to anyone, they were kicked out by security.
Still, I wanted to know,
why do so many Christians support the ongoing oppression of Palestinians?
I attended a church service in Bethlehem.
And I interviewed a pastor there who's really upset
at American evangelical Christians for supporting Israel.
What would you say to someone like him who's upset with you?
Well, I'm sorry for that,
but I've also lived here and I also have seen
why sometimes rules have to be strong.
Why?
To prevent terrorism, to prevent death.
You know, if you have to build a wall, if you have to build a fence,
if you have to do whatever it takes to keep those who want to harm you or hurt you,
then you do that to save life.
Sharon’s thoughts mirror the Israeli government’s position.
But in reality, the International Court of Justice has asked Israel to tear down that wall,
because it goes so deep into Palestinian territory - a land grab.
So I'll say that Christian Zionism, in general,
is a very colonial way of reading the Bible
and also a very white supremacist-type of viewing of the Bible.
It becomes easier to oppress the "bad ones,"
"because they deserve it, because they brought it upon themselves.
We can build the wall and lock them on the other side
because they are the ones who are enemies of democracy and freedom."
Whereas, ironically, all we are asking for is our freedom.
And for the Palestinian Christians who would say to you,
“We are actively being oppressed by the state of Israel. We're persecuted here.”
What do you say to them?
I would say,
take a look at the scriptures and love them and be a blessing in any way you can,
even if you're being persecuted. What did Jesus say?
He said, “Turn the cheek.”
You think they should love their oppressor?
I don't believe that Israel is oppressing them.
The injustices Palestinians are suffering under Israeli military rule are impossible to deny.
I witnessed and experienced many of them firsthand
while reporting this series in the West Bank.
There’s some hope things are changing back home:
Recent polling suggests that young American evangelicals
are more supportive of Palestinians than older generations.
But so long as this powerful alliance between Christian Zionists and Israel endures,
the hope of justice prevailing in the Holy Land
remains elusive.
Hi everyone, thanks for watching.
Let me know what you thought about
this evangelical Christian love for Israel,
and make sure you watch my entire series
filmed in the occupied West Bank.