by: David R. Parsons, ICEJ Senior Vice President & Spokesman

This has been an intense week here in Jerusalem. It started out with the Iranian regime seemingly on the brink of being toppled by mass street protests and perhaps US military intervention. Meanwhile, certain Patriarchs of the historic churches in Jerusalem issued a statement last Saturday denouncing Christian Zionism, setting off a firestorm of debate within the Christian world about the biblical and moral basis of our support for Israel. This forced us at the Christian Embassy to graciously but firmly ‘defend the faith’ (1 Peter 3:15; Jude 3).

Coming out of two years of war in Gaza and on other fronts, it seems there is now a clear dividing line over Israel. Post-October 7, Christians are being forced to decide which side you are on! Are you willing to stand with Israel and risk being the target of scorn and perhaps even violence?

Before the Patriarchs’ statement came out, the words of the prophet Isaiah had already leapt out that this was going to be a “year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” (Isaiah 34:8/KJV) The debate over Israel, especially among Christians, is going to get very heated this year, and yet God will vindicate those who stand with the Jewish nation and people.

And indeed, the lines were emphatically drawn this week as Christians around the world lined up on one side or the other of the Patriarch’s statement. However, due to the cryptic nature of their statement and some faulty media reporting, nearly everyone was missing some key facts and background in making their cases.

The Missing Cleric
The vaguely worded Patriarchs’ statement was issued on January 17 under the title “Unity and Representation of the Christian Communities in the Holy Land”. It apparently was intended to correct certain unnamed local parishioners who were meeting with Israeli and foreign officials to discuss religious issues that the patriarchs insisted were within their exclusive domain. The pronouncement also took aim at Christian Zionism, referring to it as one of the “damaging ideologies” being advanced by the local offenders to “mislead the public, sow confusion, and harm the unity of our flock.”

From the start, it was unclear exactly who had drafted and issued the Patriarchs’ statement. It was unsigned but was released on a special ecumenical letterhead that normally signals it is a consensus view of all the Patriarchs and Bishops of the historic churches in the Old City of Jerusalem. But that is apparently not the case here. A couple Patriarchates did publish the decree on their official websites, signalling their approval. But the highly-important Latin Patriarchate has yet to publish or endorse the statement and its disparagement of Christian Zionism. And that is a key fact which quickly got lost in this week’s raging debate.

Within days, the issue of the Patriarchs’ statement had exploded in the US when conservative supporters of Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens plastered it everywhere online in support of their ongoing assault on Christian Zionism (remember how Carlson called it a “dangerous heresy” and a “brain virus”). Many of these antisemitic right-wingers brashly claimed this was now the official position of the head of the Catholic Church in Jerusalem, which was completely untrue.

In fact, the current Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, has resided for many years here in Israel as the former head of the Franciscan Custos which oversees Catholic biblical sites in the Holy Land, and he has always been very circumspect about airing in public any criticism he may have of Israel or its Christian supporters. During the recent war in Gaza, he quietly worked with the IDF to protect the small Christian community in Gaza City, and he even offered to take the place of Israeli hostages.

Further, he knows the statement’s blanket rejection of Christian Zionism as a ‘damaging ideology’ would run contrary to the Vatican II reforms and papal statements on how Catholics should view Israel and the Jewish people today. For example, in 2015 Pope Francis equated anti-Zionism with antisemitism. And since both Francis and John Paul II consistently condemned antisemitism as a grave sin against God, we can therefore conclude that the papacy considers anti-Zionism to be a sin!

The Missing Context
There also was much confusion over why the statement came out at this time, and who are the unnamed offenders the patriarch(s) were correcting. Some reports mistakenly claimed it was triggered by the recent solidarity mission by some 1,000 American Christians to Israel.

However, the French Catholic news site Terresainte.net was the first media outlet to correctly unravel the ambiguous statement by identifying an Israeli civic association led by a retired senior IDF officer who is seeking to better integrate indigenous Arabic-speaking Christians into Israeli society. Similar efforts in recent decades did manage to gain official Israeli recognition of the distinct Aramaean community, which they had sought to distance themselves from any Arab identity. But this latest initiative has sought to take these integration efforts even further, and is doing so without the supervision or agreement of the Jerusalem patriarchs. The campaign seems to have gained momentum in the wake of October 7 and the growing communal sense among many native Christians that their future lies in accepting fully their Israeli citizenship, with all its civic rights and duties – including army service.

When the association’s leader recently posted a photo on social media of a meeting he held with US Ambassador Mike Huckabee – an avowed Christian Zionist – this set off alarm bells among some of the senior clergy in the Old City of Jerusalem, thus prompting the Patriarchs’ statement on unity among Christians in the Holy Land and condemning Christian Zionism.

All this shows how easily truth can get trampled and how quickly the debate can escalate over Christian support for Israel. And neither side should trust the media to help us carry out this discussion among the brethren in public with grace and truth.

Amb. Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher, is thus to be commended for his thoughtful, genial response to the controversy. Taking to social media, he stated that while he respected “the traditional, liturgical churches,” he disagreed that “any sect of the Christian faith should claim exclusivity in speaking for Christians worldwide or assume there is only one viewpoint regarding faith in the Holy Land.”

“Personally, I’m part of a global and growing evangelical tradition that believes in the authority of Scripture and the faithfulness of God in keeping His covenants. That includes His covenant with Abraham and the Jewish people.”

Huckabee added that the term “Christian Zionism” has been wrongly turned into a “pejorative” label used “to disparage free-church believers”. He also questioned “why everyone who takes on the moniker ‘Christian’ would not also be a Zionist.”

Meantime, the ICEJ released a response on Tuesday of this week unequivocally defending the biblical basis of Christian Zionism, which stated in part:

“The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem takes issue with the recent Statement from the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem … concerning its charge that Christian Zionism is among the ‘damaging ideologies’ being advanced by unnamed local individuals to ‘mislead the public, sow confusion, and harm the unity of our flock.’”

“As Christians, we adhere to a Zionism that is purely biblical in origin, belief, scope and practice – reflecting our sincere faith convictions and not shifting political objectives. The promised restoration of Israel in modern times enjoys ample biblical credentials in both the Old and New Testaments. The Jewish return to the Land of Israel both reflects and affirms the faithful nature and character of God to always keep His sworn covenant promises, thereby strengthening the Christian faith rather than damaging or undermining it.”

“Further, the promised Jewish return to Zion has been taught and embraced by many devout Christians throughout the Church age, from the original Apostles and some of the early Church fathers to medieval clergymen, right up to the modern-day Protestant and Evangelical church movements. Christian Zionism thus predates Supersessionism and will survive its passing.” “The respected Catholic prelate Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, Archbishop of Vienna, once expressed his support for Biblical Zionism, maintaining that it was doctrinally important for Christians to recognize the Jewish people’s deep connection to their ancestral homeland, and adding that Christians should rejoice in the Jewish return to the Land of Israel as a fulfilment of biblical prophecy. We could not agree more.”

Cover photo: Shutterstock / Mishella