When ‘Support’ Sounds like a Threat
When U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee threatened to label Israel as “unwelcoming to Christians” because the Interior Ministry is not rolling out the red carpet for evangelical missionaries, I was both offended and relieved. I was offended at the obvious audacity, but the relief was far greater. Christian Zionism, despite being framed as “support for Israel” has always come with an air of transaction: “in exchange for our “support”, give us access to your land and people.” That is not Zionism. My relief lies in the mask finally, and so publicly, slipping.
Zionism (real Zionism) is about Jewish self-determination in the Jewish ancestral homeland. It’s about sovereignty for the Jewish people, not buying support. Christian Zionism treats the Jewish state as a staging ground for the “end of days” fantasies of evangelicals. Jewish presence in the land is supported only insofar as it is a stepping stone for the “Second Coming”, at which point Jews are to either convert to Christianity or disappear. That’s not solidarity, that’s exploitation.
Ambassador Huckabee’s outrage stems from reports that the Interior Ministry has been slow, or unwilling, to issue religious visas to evangelical “clergy”, particularly those connected to organizations known for missionary work (such as the “Christian Missionary Alliance”, the activity being named in the title). Israel is a sovereign state, and like any other country, it has every right to control entry to its borders, especially when it comes to foreign missionaries seeking to convert its citizens (particularly when the majority of those citizens have a long historical memory of persecution and forced conversion). However, instead of respectfully engaging with Israeli authorities and officials at the Interior Ministry, Huckabee publicly lashed out. He warned that he may urge American Christians to reconsider their relationship with, and support for, Israel. He even floated the idea of “reciprocal” visa restrictions for Israeli citizens wanting to enter the U.S. (as if an Israeli techie heading to Silicon Valley is comparable to an American missionary coming to proselytize). In other words: “what a nice alliance America and Israel have. Shame if something happened to it…” If that’s the kind of support Israel is being offered, I think we need to seriously re-evaluate our relationships.
What’s rather galling to me is the mindset behind the tantrum. Huckabee and others treat Israel as if it owes its legitimacy and survival to the goodwill of a narrow slice of American society. They constantly reference donations, tour groups, and political support…and clearly expect something in return. This attitude reveals something deeper about the evangelical-Israel relationship: it’s not about mutual respect, it’s about access. And when access is denied (or even merely delayed), when Israel exercises its sovereignty and discretion over who enters its territory and why, Israelis are scolded like ungrateful children.
Israel should be seeking allies based on shared values, not prophecies. We should be cultivating our relationships with the progressive Jewish community, with liberal Christians, secular communities, Indigenous groups, and others who respect this country’s right to exist (not because it serves some sort of prophetic role in the end times, but because they respect the right of Jewish self-determination). Dependence on groups that threaten to withdraw their “love” when Israel exercises autonomy over its own borders (which is otherwise a staple of the president who appointed Huckabee to his role) is unsustainable.
It’s time for Israel to rethink the kind of support we seek, and the kind we should move beyond. For decades, the Christian Zionist movement, particularly in the U.S., has offered political benefits. But this alliance has always been transactional and is increasingly fragile: younger evangelicals are far less supportive of Israel than their parents and youth pastors, and their concerns (particularly about human rights and Palestinians) cannot be ignored. Our security cannot rest on the goodwill of one aging demographic whose vision of Israel is bound in end-of-times ideology.
A continued sustainable alliance with America cannot be religiously motivated; it must be motivated by shared democratic values, mutual interests, and respect for sovereignty. To achieve this, Israel must expand its network of allies, not double down on the one group whose worldview sees this country’s people as a means to an apocalyptic end.
