Americans must wake up to the dangers of religious Zionists inciting violence in the Middle East

(Deification in Christ) — American media has not covered all that Israeli leaders, including former Israeli prime ministers, recently have said to warn us about Jewish extremists provoking further wars through terror campaigns in Palestinian territories.

On August 22, the Times of Israel reported that the head of Shin Bet [Israeli internal security ministries], Ronen Bar, warned basically that “Jewish terror carried out by violent settlers and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s actions on Temple Mount are doing “indescribable damage” to Israel[‘s reputation].”

The next day, the Defense Minister of Israel, Yoav Gallant, publicly agreed with Bar’s warning against extremist groups provoking Palestinians. These leaders of the Israeli people are hardly antisemites.

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The horrific terror attacks on Israelis by Hamas were October 7, 2023. Just one month before the attacks the Associated Press reported on September 6, 2023, that the former head of Israel’s Mossad warned that Israel had become an apartheid state:

“There is an apartheid state here,” Tamir Pardo said in an interview. “In a territory where two people are judged under two legal systems, that is an apartheid state.”

The former head of Mossad who retired in 2016 is hardly an antisemite.

Listen to the former Mayor of Jerusalem who also became prime minster of Israel from 2006 to 2009. In an opinion piece carried by Haaretz on July 12, 2024, Ehud Olmert writes:

I am warning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: The day is drawing near when arrest warrants will be issued against you for the crimes being carried out every day in Judea and Samaria by Israel, with the support of its government, while you intentionally turn a blind eye to it. The events in Gaza can be defended, because it’s possible to claim they are not a result of policy, order or intention by Israel, not even by you. In the worst case, as we all know, you are not really managing, leading or directing. After all, you’re not responsible for anything.

But these arguments won’t be available to you concerning events in Judea and Samaria. Here crimes are committed on a daily basis, not by soldiers and not against soldiers, but by rioters who are Israeli citizens, Arab haters, with the clear intention of expelling them from their homes and the villages where they have lived all their lives.

As prime minister, you know about all these events. If you choose to ignore them too, you won’t be able to deny you heard the warning of the head of the Central Command and other senior IDF commanders. I have spoken with a few of them and they are ashamed that these things are happening in areas under our control.

The former prime minister of Israel is not an antisemite.

It is due to these testimonies and previous testimonies of Israeli officials themselves that we need to speak up especially for the Palestinian Christians being murdered and having their homes taken by Jewish extremists who are “religious Zionists.”

Rejecting Jesus Christ and so not accepting the development of God’s promises since Jesus, “religious Zionists” and their movements believe they have the right to abuse non-Jews and Jews who disagree with them. They mistakenly believe God wants them to take back the physical land that He gave to the gentiles after Jesus was rejected and the Second Temple was destroyed 2,000 years ago. False religious zeal leads to the violation of human rights and dignity. It is leading to worse wars.

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Religious Zionists are set on illegally and violently stealing land from the Palestinians and in violation of current international law. Such activity is contrary to Jesus’s teachings and the entire New Testament. Christians in America who support such nonsense are misled. Even most Israelis don’t support the nonsense of “religious Zionists,” as proven in the above testimonies.

As Americans, we naturally support democracies, especially in the Middle East, so people have religious freedom. We are a Bill of Rights people in the Christian tradition. We don’t support religious zealots trying to return us to immature religion, race-based systems, and stone temples for animal sacrifices. We don’t support radical and fundamentalist Muslims who deny religious freedom and we certainly don’t support illegal Jewish settler movements which are provoking innocent Muslims.

You can find my article against religious Zionism and the podcast on this topic at Crisis Magazine. It elaborates on the distinction between religious and political Zionism.

Reprinted with permission from Professor Matthew A. Tsakanikas.