Zionism and me

As a Roman Catholic kid in the ‘60s, I took piano lessons from an Israeli pianist. On a couple of occasions, I was enlisted to perform in Youth Aliyah concerts at the local synagogue. These were fund-raising events to send kids to Israel. At the time, I had no understanding of the Zionist project in Israel. It was only many decades later that I learned that both of my paternal grandparents were born in the Pale of Settlement and immigrated to the US (not to Israel) from Ukraine in the first decade of the 20^th century.

It turns out that the intersection between Christianity and Zionism long antedates my personal experience.

“The idea of gathering the world’s Jews in their mythical homeland was advanced by evangelical Christians centuries before it was taken up by secular Jews at the end of the 19^th century.  However, religious Jews and the most distinguished Jewish scholars long opposed the idea of a Jewish state, especially one in the Holy Land —migration to which, according to Jewish tradition, should await the arrival of the Messiah. 

 

“Indeed, Zionism, to be more precise, “Zionism avant la lettre,” was not invented by Jews but by evangelical Protestants, starting in the 16^th century. They pursued two aims: to bring Christ back to this world and to convert Jews to Christianity. This deep affinity with evangelical Protestant beliefs helps explain the massive support the State of Israel enjoys today in the United States and other countries, where evangelical Protestants number in the hundreds of millions and form an impressive pro-Israel force. Christian Zionists view the State of Israel through apocalyptic lenses, viewing it as a tool to provoke Armageddon and hasten the End of Days.”

So the origins of Zionism were not in the preservation of world Jewry, but in the exploitation of Jews to satisfy an apocalyptic Christian mission.

“It was William Hechler, the Anglican chaplain of the British Embassy in Vienna in the late 19^th century, who greatly inspired Theodor Herzl, future founder of Zionism, to embark on the ingathering of Jews in Palestine. Hechler’s Christian influence played a significant role in the Zionist awakening of the irreligious Herzl. Herzl initially wanted to convert the Jews of Vienna to Catholicism and only later embraced the ingathering of the Jews, firmly guided by Hechler, who urged him not to abandon his mission.

 

“Pleas for the Restoration of the Jews were often accompanied with expressions of anti-Jewish sentiments. In the 19^th century, when antisemitism emerged as a popular movement, its partisans could be found among the most enthusiastic supporters of the Zionist project. Herzl, who finally spread the gospel of Restoration to the Jews, considered antisemites his movement’s best “friends and allies.” Significantly, Lord Balfour (1848-1930), the author of the Balfour Declaration, had imposed limitations on the immigration of Jews to Britain a few years before declaring his country’s support for the Zionist project. Antisemitism and Zionism, far from being mutually exclusive, actually reinforce one another. This was one of the reasons why most Jews rejected Zionism when it appeared in the late 19^th century.”

I categorically reject the conflation of criticizing the current Israeli government with anti-semitism. That’s lazy propaganda, like saying criticism of the Trump regime in America is tantamount to treason against America. It is my patriotic duty as an American to criticize my government when I believe it to be in the wrong. I would expect no less from Israeli citizens.

But champions of Israel, and even champions of the Zionist project in Israel, should be deeply suspicious of the Christian evangelical embrace of Zionism. 

https://www.juancole.com/2026/03/christian-zionists-column.html