In a video encouraging his followers to join him at today’s March for Israel, Pastor John Hagee concludes, “If not now, when? If not us, who? I hope to see you in Washington, DC.” Appropriating a phrase core to Jewish ethical tradition, from Pirkei Avot 1:14, for Christian Zionist purposes, Hagee has mobilized members of Christians United for Israel (CUFI) to a demonstration led by the Jewish Federation and the Council of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
It might come as a surprise that Hagee, who has a long record of stoking antisemitism, is a key promoter of the event, but for those familiar with the long-standing alliance between Zionists and antisemites, this is entirely predictable.
CUFI self-identifies as the largest pro-Israel organization in the United States and boasts over 10 million members — more than the estimated 7.6 million Jewish Americans. But just as being critical of Israel doesn’t automatically make someone antisemitic, being pro-Israel doesn’t automatically make someone an ally.
In past sermons, Hagee asserted that Adolf Hitler was a “hunter” sent by God in order to get Jews back to Israel in accordance with biblical prophecy. As documented by historian Bruce Wilson, despite publicly condemning antisemitism, Hagee has promoted “some of the most influential and inflammatory anti-Jewish tropes of the modern era.”
Most anyone paying attention to the Israeli war on Gaza is filled with grief, horror, and heartbreak. For Christian Zionists like Hagee, though, different issues are at stake.
Christian Zionists view the genocide and broader conflict, which has already claimed over 12,000 lives, as a fulfillment of distorted interpretations of prophetic, anti-imperial scriptures sacred to Jews and Christians alike. Christian Zionism imagines that a Jewish religious revival in Jerusalem will bring about the battle of Armageddon — humanity’s last great war — as well as the long-awaited second coming of Jesus Christ. At war’s end, Jesus will rule the world from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and vanquish all evil for “a thousand years of perfect peace”. (This is precisely why many rightwing Evangelicals were so enthusiastic about former President Trump relocating the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018.)
In this “End Times” scenario, war is inevitable, foreseen by God, and cause for great celebration. For Christian Zionists, any de-escalation is antithetical to God’s will.
Christian Zionists believe that only those who accept Jesus as their savior will benefit. All “non-believers” — Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, etc. — must convert or else suffer the torture of eternal damnation. As religious scholar Sarah Posner puts it: everyone else is “collateral damage”.
Why, then, have march organizers welcomed Christian Zionists like CUFI and American Christian Leaders for Israel?
Because right-wing evangelical support for Israel helps guarantee billions of U.S. dollars for the Israeli military each year, and it sustains America’s largely uncritical diplomatic support for the Israeli government’s actions, even when those actions are genocidal.
Israel’s former Ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, has said, “For decades, America has been the backbone of Israel’s support in the world. Well, the backbone of that backbone is the support of millions of devout Christians across this great country. More than any other Christian organization, CUFI works year after year to make that backbone stronger and straighter than ever.”
March for Israel organizers claim to march against antisemitism but have embraced some of the most influential antisemitic Christian figures due to their pro-Israel stance. These are the same institutions that try to dismiss and defame Jews or decry, as antisemitic, Christians who dare to speak out against Israel’s genocidal attack on Palestinians.
Sophie Ellman-Golan, Director of Strategic Communications at Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ), poses these critical considerations: “Think about who benefits from pitting the causes of Palestinian freedom and Jewish safety against each other. Think about how many more people benefit from the solidarity between these causes.”
White Christian Zionists (and their Christian Nationalist cousins) benefit the most when we are pitted against one another and prevented from seeing each other’s humanity. They yearn for a world free of Jews, Muslims, and everyone who doesn’t subscribe to their End Times worldview.
What, then, can actual solidarity between Christians and Jews look like?
For us, it looks like all Christians showing up—across racial barriers—alongside Jews and Muslims, demanding a ceasefire, and doing deep organizing work to root out antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab racism in their communities. It looks like Christians challenging Christian Zionism embedded in their traditions. It looks like rejection of all efforts to divide us from one another and a collective refusal to concede our traditions to the death march of empire.
And when we succeed? Everyone moves closer to a truly lasting peace, where all people, regardless of what they believe or where they were born, may experience freedom, safety, and belonging.