The Antisemitism Driving Evangelical Support For Israel

As Israel’s siege of Gaza raged on in March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made time for a meeting in Jerusalem with a delegation led by Mario Bramnick, a Florida-based pastor with close ties to former President Donald Trump who has become a leading figure in a theocratic movement dedicated to bringing forth the end of the world. “They want to turn Jews into Christians, and ever since the Crusades and earlier, that kind of Christian opposition to Judaism, that Christian desire to annihilate Judaism, has been a large part of the antisemitism Jews have faced,” said Ben Lorber, a senior researcher at Political Research Associates and author of the book “Safety Through Solidarity: Fighting Antisemitism and Winning a Just World.” “It’s very kind of unnerving to see Christian Zionist leaders who say they support Israel now, but they hold that kind of intense agenda kind of under wraps,” Lorber said. “But that’s really a large part of what’s motivating them, and it’s very disturbing.” Lorber said Israel’s relationship with these Christian Zionists could ultimately be a devil’s bargain: What does it mean, after all, that figures like Netanyahu who claim that the war in Gaza is in defense of Jews across the world are forming alliances with Christians who want Jews to no longer be Jewish? “Our heart is to bless the Jewish students, to worship and to pray.” HuffPost then witnessed one of the rally’s pro-Israel attendees tell a Latino pro-Palestinian protester: “I look forward to you delivering me my food on DoorDash.” And later, pro-Israel protesters yelled through the gates at pro-Palestinian students, “Go back to Gaza!” Fox News’ coverage of the Columbia protest did not mention these incidents, nor did it focus on how many of the pro-Palestinian students on campus were Jewish, instead describing them as “pro-Hamas,” referring to the militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7. “The Bible says Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel and that God gave this land to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” During the March trip to Israel, Bramnick led the delegation as its members met with a slew of far-right Israeli political figures, including Yossi Fuchs, Netanyahu’s chief Cabinet secretary; Yossi Dagan, an influential activist who leads a settler community in occupied territory; Ohad Tal, an Israeli parliamentarian; and Rabbi Yehudah Glick, a former Knesset member who once fondly memorialized Rabbi Meir Kahane, the extremist founder of the Kach political party in Israel, which both the U.S. and Israel later designated a violent terrorist organization.