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in Romans 11:18, saying, “Do not boast
against the branches. But if you do boast,
Nativity scene with Baby Jesus' crib draped in a Palestinian keffiyeh, Vatican, Dec. 7, 2024.
remember that you do not support the
root, but the root supports you.”
Many with this view contend that
the State of Israel is not the Israel of the
Bible. Of course, technically speaking
the ‘State’ of Israel in its current form as
an independent, democratic state is not
in the Bible! Does that delegitimise it?
No. Israel in the Bible is a nation. It is a
people – the Jewish people – and the Land
of Israel was given to them as an eternal
inheritance; to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and
all their descendants in an everlasting
Land contract. It has more historical
and legal validation than most existing
modern states in the world. To deny that
Israel today is not the same as Israel in
the Bible is completely flawed. Not only is
the nation of Israel in the Bible facilitated
today by the State of Israel, but Israel is
also spoken of prophetically in the Bible
in the context of the future, both in the
Old Testament and likewise in the New
Testament.
Placing spiritual-attainment conditions
on supporting Israel and their right to the
Land is a religious spirit of superiority. It
ignores God’s compassion for His people
and the promises that He has made in
His Covenant, including the possession
of the Land. It is also uncomfortably
judgemental of the Jewish people and
their faith. In fact, it is not dissimilar to
the basis of much of the antisemitism
done in the name of Christianity over
two millennia. For example, during the
time of the Spanish Inquisition, it was the
Catholic Church in Spain and Portugal
that persecuted the Jewish people for
refusing to convert to Christianity. God-
fearing Christians today rightly insist this
sinful act was not practised in the name
of true Biblical Christianity; but it was
not the only instance of antisemitism
carried out by the church at the time, and
it remains in the consciousness of the
Jewish people. Just as this historic wrong
should be condemned by Christians,
the same vigorous rebuke of conditional
attitudes towards the Jewish people
today should likewise be rejected.
The Palestinianization
Approach
There is a deeply distressing movement
among some churches in the West that have
adopted Replacement Theology and are
actively pro-Palestinian. Unlike the previous
three attitudes that do not necessarily attempt
to be anti-Israel, but stumble into being so
through the misinterpretation of Scripture,
there are churches in our midst that have been
infiltrated by a rebellious, antisemitic spirit.
Their view isn’t necessarily based only on a
misinterpretation of the Bible – rather, they
have chosen to turn against the Bible. They
begin with the fundamental belief that Israel is
evil, and Replacement Theology conveniently
accommodates their worldview.
Israel is rarely the only topic that these
churches are misguided in. Palestinianism has
become part of their manufactured identity.
This identity has been placed above the Bible
and is idolatry. Their favourite verse is “From the
River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,” which
incidentally cannot be found in the Bible.
For many years, these churches were
engaged in supporting Palestinian humanitarian
work in the seemingly palatable context of
‘social justice’. Their efforts might have been
sincere and not intentionally antisemitic, but
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