Jews and Christians on the same side for a change

Jews and Christians have traditionally been religious antagonists thru out the ages but things are different now. A rather incredible phenomenon is being played out all over evangelical communities in the US.  The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates 85 million evangelicals believe God tells them to support Israel -- more than six times the world's Jewish population.

These evangelicals and religious Zionist Jews have a very basic belief in common. The return of the children of Israel to the land of Israel will herald the messianic era. This means that every place the children of Israel or Jews settle has great significance. This large group has great clout on American foreign policy and those who make the critical decisions on that policy. In addition they give huge amounts of money to Israeli settlements over the green line and to other charity organizations in Israel.

There are some complicated ideological underpinnings to all this that are always conveniently played down. The obvious one is the disagreement on who would or could be the Messiah when it comes. It was mostly decided to push off this disagreement till that event unfolds. Some on the Jewish side feel that taking money from groups who hope to convert all the Jews at the end of days is unethical if not downright forbidden from a Jewish perspective. They seem to be in the minority however as money is constantly flowing from this group into the settlements.  

Many Israelis are both baffled and confused by this support as it is looked at outside influence in Israelis foreign policy. Others see it as a breath of fresh air that Jews and Israel have genuine friends in the world.

What is clear is that this evangelical support is gaining strength and has wide grass roots support in the US and also other parts of the world.

It’s a funny world