Palestinian Christian leaders called out American Christian Zionists for ignoring the experiences of Palestinian Christians in Israel, claiming their interpretation of "biblical prophecy" doesn't align with reality in an interview with CNN on Sunday.
The leaders specifically encouraged evangelicals to visit Palestinian Christians in the West Bank and get a firsthand account of their experiences.
“Our experience has been when pastors and lay people come to Palestine, see the walls, see the settlements, meet with families struggling just to survive in their land - that’s when their eyes are opened,” Father Munther Isaac, the director of the Bethlehem Institute for Peace and Justice, told CNN.
Isaac said that Christians are under attack daily in Jerusalem, and by sticking with the argument that Israel belongs to the Jewish people, Christian Zionists are rendering their experiences invisible.
“Theology has been weaponized,” he said. “These are Christians who are funding and supporting the major threat on our existence in the land today.”
Father Bashar Fawadleh of Taybeh, the last fully Christian town in the West Bank whose population is steadily dwindling, told CNN that his congregants are afraid to harvest from their olive groves due to Israeli settler violence.
“If I have the opportunity to leave, I would leave and not stay in this town, because there is no future for me or my children,” one parishoner said.
Christian Zionism funds 80 Israeli communities in West Bank
The Christian leaders are also concerned over how much funding for Israeli settlement growth in the West Bank is coming from the Christian Zionist movement.
The faith-based groups Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and Christian Friends of Israeli Communities (CFOIC) both urge donations to support Israeli communities in the West Bank, highlighting Bible verses on their websites.
In their eyes, the Bible tells Christians to support Jews in the Holy Land to welcome a Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the end of the world, and an eternal afterlife.
Being a Christian Zionist means following God’s word as stated in the Bible that He gave the Land of Israel to the Jewish people," Kimberly Troup, director of the US office for CFOIC, told CNN.
However, Isaac asserted that this idealistic vision of Christians living in Israel is not the reality.
“Given the threat of settlers over our lives these days - an actual threat against our lives as Palestinian Christians - these are Christians who are funding and supporting the major threat on our existence in the land today,” Isaac said. “What this shows is, again, that we are not in their plan. They don’t think of us. They don’t see us.”
Isaac underscored that the goal of his community of Palestinian Christians is not to disconnect from scripture, but to read and interpret it in a more pragmatic way that takes on-the-ground experiences into account.
In his opinion, younger generations are more open-minded and willing to question the assumptions that have harmful impacts on Palestinian Christians. He told CNN that evangelicals seem to be "warming up" to his cause as he tours the US in an effort to raise awareness of the existence of his community.
Palestinian leaders say Christian Zionism is outdated
Palestinian Christian leaders say that Christian Zionism feels outdated, with Isaac poking fun to CNN about how Baptist minister turned US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is "living in the 7th Century BCE."
Huckabee responded to the jab, denying that people overlook Palestinian Christians.
"Evangelicals believe the Bible - ALL of it,” Huckabee said. “It’s not a cafeteria where we pick and choose what fits our own prejudices and desires. There is nothing ‘racist’ about believing what the Bible clearly says about God’s promises to the Jews, and the Jewish faith is the foundation of the Christian faith. I hope Rev. Isaac joins evangelicals in calling for an adherence to the authority of Scripture.”
Christian Zionism is broadly defined as a theological and political movement within Christianity that supports the return of Jewish people to a Jewish homeland in Israel, per Encyclopedia Britannica.
The movement has many streams, and modern American evangelical Christian Zionist organizations, such as the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), support the State of Israel through lobbying the US government and donating funds.