Pence faces a hostile reception from Christians of Middle East
Trump’s Jerusalem decision highlights divide between Evangelical supporters in US and their Arab brethren
MIKE PENCE, the US vice president, describes himself as “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican – in that order”. But when Donald Trump’s deputy arrives in the Middle East this week, he cannot expect a warm welcome from his fellow Christians.
Both Egyptian and Palestinian Christian leaders attacked Mr Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The decision highlighted the stark divide between US Evangelical Christians – who overwhelmingly support Israel and Mr Trump – and their Arab Christian brethren who largely oppose the White House’s decision.
Church leaders in Jerusalem wrote to the US president begging him not to go forward with a move they said would “increase hatred, conflict, violence and suffering”, while the pope of Egypt’s Coptic Christians told Mr Pence he would refuse to meet him in Cairo as a result.
By contrast, polls have shown that 82 per cent of white American Evangelicals believe that God gave Israel to the Jewish people – more than twice the proportion of American Jews who believe the same thing.
Many Palestinian Christians suspect that US Evangelical support for Israel is underpinned by a millenarian agenda: a belief that Jesus will return to the Earth only after the Jewish people have returned to the land of Israel and rebuilt their temple in Jerusalem.
“They think that the Israelis have to own Jerusalem in order to have their apocalyptic city and their apocalyptic dream,” said Ashraf Tannous, a Palestinian pastor in Beit Sahour, a Christian town next to Bethlehem.
“These people are extremists and their agenda is like the agenda of Daesh. They don’t mind killing people in order to reach their imaginary, apocalyptic city.”
Laurie Cardoza-moore, the founder of Proclaiming Justice To The Nations, a Christian group that supports Israel, denied that Evangelical support was about the Messiah’s return.
“That is a prophecy that will be fulfilled eventually. But is that what motivates us from doing what we’re doing? No,” she said. “We are here to uphold God’s word.”
Diana Butler Bass, a US historian of Christianity, said it was a powerful motivator for some of Mr Trump’s Evangelical Christian supporters.
“For certain Evangelicals, this is the climax of history,” she wrote on Twitter after Mr Trump’s announcement. “They’ve been waiting for this, praying for this.
“They want war in the Middle East. The Battle of Armageddon, at which time Jesus Christ will return to the Earth and vanquish all God’s enemies.”
US supporters of Israel often claim that the Jewish state is the only place in the Middle East where Christians can live safely, arguably overlooking Jordan’s affluent Christian population or the Christians of Lebanon who hold
‘They want war in the Middle East. The Battle of Armageddon, at which time Jesus Christ will return...’
many powerful positions, including the presidency. But those Arab Christians living inside Israel are far more critical of the Jewish state than the Evangelicals in the US.
A 2016 survey found that 79 per cent of them opposed Israeli settlements in the West Bank while 72 per cent said they did not believe Israel could simultaneously be a Jewish state and a democracy.
In both Israel and the West Bank, Christians have found ways to voice their frustration with the White House and the feeling they are not being listened to.
In the Israeli city of Nazareth, where Jesus is said to have been raised, the Christian mayor cancelled parts of its Christmas celebrations in protest at what he called Mr Trump’s “wretched” decision.
And in Bethlehem the writing was literally on the Israeli-built wall which separates the city from Jerusalem. “Mr Pence: you are not welcome,” someone wrote in red graffiti.