It’s not a Christian issue

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing the US to enable Israel to annex land in Judea and Samaria on the assumption that Donald Trump’s Christian Evangelical base is pushing equally on the other side of the Atlantic.

But Evangelical leaders and insiders said Netanyahu may be acting on a false assumption.

They said the question of whether or not Israel will annex part of the West Bank in July has little or nothing to do with Evangelical Christians or their love of Israel.

“The term ‘annexation’ is a misnomer... as it commonly denotes the forcible taking of the territory of another,” the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem said in a statement. “Here, Israel already held a legitimate historic right and claim to Judea/Samaria even before it came into possession of these areas in an act of self-defense in 1967. The question now facing Israel is whether to fully assert its sovereign title to certain of these territories by simply extending its laws there.”

Conservative Evangelicals see settlements in this area as the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies. It says in Jeremiah 30:3, for example: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will bring my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them to the land I gave their ancestors to possess.” In Jeremiah 33:7 it is written: “I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before.”

For Christians, the prophets promised that the children of Israel would return and rebuild Jewish cities and Jewish towns.

And that is what’s happening now, with around 400,000 Jews living in the biblical heartland – whether Israel “annexes” the territory or not.

“The Jewish people’s claim to the historic Land of Israel was recognized...at the San Remo Conference in 1920 and in the League of Nations’ mandate decisions in 1922,” wrote the ICEJ.

“This was not the granting of a new right to the land, but recognition of the Jewish people’s pre-existing claim as an indigenous people seeking to reconstitute their national sovereignty in their ancestral homeland.”

But for Christians, these promises are not for today. Rather, they are for when the messiah comes. While Christians believe that Jews returning to live in the land will help usher in the messiah, what Evangelical insiders say they want now is a secure and peaceful Israel – not a bigger country.

Rather, the question of applying Israeli law to the territories is one that most Christians believe is meant for the Israeli people and its leaders to decide.

SECRETARY OF State Mike Pompeo has already said that annexation is an Israeli decision. And while Netanyahu will likely be looking for support from the administration – and Trump is unlikely to stand in his way – one should not jump to the conclusion that the president is pushing Israel to make a move that might be against its best interest to score some points with his voter base.

Pro-Israel Evangelicals already believe Trump is the most pro-Israel president to date and there’s little he can do (or needs to do) to add to that sentiment.

Moreover, there is a chance that annexation could actually harm Trump’s re-election. If a third intifada erupts; Jordan or Egypt break their peace treaties with Israel; or Israel faces international sanctions or is put at risk in another way, annexation could then appear to be “another reckless move” by Trump, said an Evangelical insider.

Meanwhile, there is a crisis of historic proportion in America right now: Coronavirus has killed 115,000 Americans; the George Floyd “Black Lives Matter” riots have killed at least five people, injured scores and caused millions of dollars in damage; and much of the US economy is shut down.

“There is little attention being given to this issue except at the highest levels by a few key prominent Evangelical leaders,” said Messianic Jewish leader Joel Rosenberg.

Come November, if little changes, Trump will be judged on these issues, not annexation.

Finally, while some settler leaders claim to have the ear of top Evangelicals, who they say will lobby against the Trump peace plan in Washington, “most conservative Evangelicals are much more loyal to Trump” than the settlers, said Rabbi Tuly Weisz, the founder of Israel365, which connects Christians with the land and people of Israel.

It is possible that Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan or Jordan Valley Regional Council head David Elhayani have close political and grassroots ties with Christian leaders. However, it is unlikely these friends are going to support anything they feel is antiTrump right now.

Evangelicals will stand with and support Israel if it chooses annexation. But annexation is a domestic issue – so don’t blame Trump or the Christians if the government decides to go ahead with it.