The real reason Christians support Israel has nothing to do with Bible prophecy
Major news outlets have reported that Evangelical support for Israel stems from an eschatological belief in a supposed role to be played by Israel during the end times. The theory that Christian support for Israel will hasten the realization of stories in the Book of Revelation has been repeated often enough that it’s become a meme with a life of its own.
Christians do support Israel, though far from universally. According to a 2022 Pew Research Poll of 10,441 American adults, 74% of Protestants and 67% of Catholics hold favorable views of the Israeli people. The survey also found that 56% of Protestants and 50% of Catholics hold favorable views of the Israeli government. Each of those percentages ranks higher than the corresponding favorability percentage from the religiously unaffiliated.
The Book of Revelation does not mention a Jewish state. The only political entities in the Middle East it calls by name are “Babylon” and seven small towns in modern-day Turkey to whom the beginning of the epistle is addressed. Christian apocalyptic literature also makes no implications that the outcomes of political developments bear any influence over the Second Coming of Christ. Supposed dependencies between the existence of modern-day Israel and the symbolic events of Christian eschatology have no basis in the Apocalypse of Saint John the Revelator. If there are any Christians who support Israel out of a hope to hasten Judgment Day (Christians are, after all, a diverse bunch who believe all sorts of things), such beliefs don’t arise from familiarity with actual Christian scriptures. Even the “Evangelical Statement in Support of Israel,” signed by 90 pastors, does not hint at any expectation of fulfilled Bible promises.
If it were actually true that favorable Christian sentiment merely cloaked supersessionism in end-of-the-world speculations, it would be reasonable for Jews to keep the philosemite wing of Christianity at further-than-arm’s length. Nonsense misprisions of one of the New Testament’s least clear books has read into Christian support for Israel longstanding mistrust. However, neither recondite medievalisms nor esoteric theologies (of which most Evangelicals have never even heard) suffice to explain the support the state of Israel enjoys from American Christians.
Of those who do support Israel, it may be possible to identify one pillar in the words of the previous Bishop of Rome, Benedict XVI:
To go on pilgrimage is not simply to visit a place to admire its treasures of nature, art or history. To go on pilgrimage really means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where he has revealed himself, where his grace has shone with particular splendor and produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe. Above all, Christians go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to the places associated with the Lord’s passion, death and resurrection.
Christians account for a large percentage of the millions of tourists Israel welcomes every year. Referring to vacations in the Holy Land by the name “pilgrimages” has largely fallen out of fashion, but the top tourist destinations in Israel remain centers of religious significance.
A major Christian argument for supporting Israel rests on the access Israel grants to people of many faiths, keeping various holy sites open to Christians, Baháʼís and Muslims.
Compare this to Muslim-controlled holy sites, such as Saudi Arabia’s Mecca, where non-Muslims are forbidden to enter the city at any time. In Jerusalem, control over Islamic sites on the Temple Mount falls under the jurisdiction of the Jordanian Waqf, who exercise their authority to prevent Christians from entering the entire area during certain times of day or year.
Christians have also taken note of the developments around the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque. Originally constructed by the Byzantines as the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in the 4th through 6th centuries, the Turkish government revoked the building’s status as a non-religious museum in 2020 and converted it back into a mosque (as under Ottoman control).
Turkish authorities now prohibit the presence of Christian visitors during all prayer times. Five times per day, Christians and other non-Muslims are required to leave the premises for an hour: 30 minutes before prayer times begin until 15 minutes after prayer times end, during which time the historic portraits of Jesus painted on the former Church’s walls are covered up by thick, black curtains.
Today, debates continue on whether even tighter restrictions are needed. For example, Turkish politicians have proposed posting religious officials outside the entrances to all historic mosques (including the Hagia Sophia) to enforce Sharia modesty codes prior to granting admittance to tourists.
In Palestine, Hamas officials have announced they intend to repeat the attacks of October 7th again and again until Israel is destroyed. Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, said in an interview “Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove that country because it constitutes a security, military and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nations, and must be finished.”
The interpretation of Islamic Sharia law espoused by Hamas is far stricter and more extreme than what the Turkish government has implemented. If Hamas achieves their objective and seizes control of Jerusalem, Christians would likely lose their ability to visit and pay homage to the important holy sites of Christianity.
Christians support Israel because the government of Israel has proved itself a fair arbiter of pilgrimage access. The Israeli government has ensured Christian worshipers may freely visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Via Dolorosa, the Garden of Gethsemane, and other sites of significance to Gospel narrative. A Jerusalem controlled by Hamas, subject to Sharia law, would not avail Christians the freedom to visit Christian holy places of worship as they can today under Israel’s protection.
Another major reason Christians support Israel is its containment of a danger to world safety. The Hamas threat looms not only over Israel, but the broader world. Much like the Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL/ISIS), Hamas promulgates an internal eschatology of worldwide Islamic rule. Mosab Hassan Yousef, the eldest son of Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef, defected from Hamas around the time the group secured political rule over Gaza. The “son of Hamas” has since spoken publicly about the internal aims of the organization in which he formally marshaled influence. He has explained, “The destruction of the State of Israel is not Hamas’s final destination. Hamas’s final destination is building the Islamic khlifa (Caliphate) — which means an Islamic state on the rubble of every other civilization. These are the ultimate goals of the movement.”
Hamas has publicly stated they seek the destruction of Israel. Privately, they appear to have broader aspirations, with no intention to stop at the elimination of the Jewish state. If Hamas gains territory, power, and legitimacy, terror attacks against Christian, secular, and even other Islamic countries can be expected to follow.
Christian minorities dwell both in Israel and in Gaza, although far more of them in Israel. The Gaza Strip has a 0.2% Christian population with less than 2,000 Christians. In Israel, the population is 2% Christian, with roughly 180,000 Christian residents. Dismissing Christian support for Israel as crackpot fundamentalism overlooks the practical, self-interested reasons Christians prefer to preserve a Holy Land administered by a Jewish government.
