February 4, 2002
Israeli government seeks to shore up evangelical support
___By Mark O'Keefe
___Religion News Service
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--Hoping to solidify its relationship with American evangelicals, the government of Israel has launched initiatives that include expenses-paid trips to the Holy Land and strategy sessions with the Christian Coalition and other conservative groups.
___The objectives are to revive Israel's sagging tourism industry and strengthen grass-roots political and other support in the United States. The target audience is America's estimated 98 million evangelicals, but especially a subset of that group, Christian Zionists.
___These Christians believe Jews are God's chosen people, with a divine deed to their contested land, in accordance with a covenant described in the first book of the Bible.
___But Christian Zionism is about more than private belief. Its "anything-for-Israel" theology has the potential to affect American foreign policy in the same way the Christian right has influenced domestic issues through political pressure.
MALCOLM HEDDING (left), executive director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, celebrates the Feast of Tabernacles with Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last October. An annual event, the feast brought more than 3,000 evangelical Christians to Jerusalem last year and injected an estimated $10 million into the country's struggling tourism industry.
___"If I felt the administration or anyone in Congress was moving away from support of Israel, believe me, I'd encourage people to pick up the phone and tell their legislators, 'Don't you dare!'" said Janet Parshall, who hosts a weekday show syndicated on evangelical radio stations across the country.
___One intriguing question, posed frequently in Israeli government and American evangelical circles, is whether President Bush, who has been outspoken in his evangelical beliefs, privately holds Christian Zionist views.
___"It's one of the common explanations (of) ... why and how Bush is sympathetic to Israel and its cause," said Moshe Fox, Israel's Washington-based minister of public affairs. "I haven't had a chance to talk to the president about this, but that view is out there and it is quite common."
___White House spokesman Ken Lisaius would not comment on whether Bush's religious beliefs might affect his actions toward Israel. "The president makes policy decisions based on policy factors," Lisaius said.
___It is clear, however, that Israel considers American evangelicals a vital constituency.
___"Are we increasing our efforts this year? Yes," said Rami Levi, Israel's New York City-based tourism commissioner for North America. "But we've been increasing our efforts for many years. What we know is evangelicals are very supportive of Israel. They see all of Israel--not just our tourism, but our economy, our national interest--as a love. It's their spiritual belief that that is the way it has to be. We can always rely on them."
___The number of visitors to Israel plunged 55 percent in 2001, compared to the previous, record-breaking year, according to the Jerusalem Post. The drop is blamed on fear of terrorism and other violence.
___In a marketing plan dated December 2001, TouchPoint Solutions, a Colorado Springs, Colo., consulting agency hired by Israel's Ministry of Tourism, describes how to reverse that trend by appealing to American evangelicals. Highlights include:
___Persuading the top 30 evangelical Zionists, through face-to-face meetings, to visit and promote Israel. Those named in a separate TouchPoint document, titled "Who are the Christian Zionists?", include religious broadcaster Jerry Falwell, Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson, Texas pastor John Hagee, best-selling author Tim LaHaye, and Parshall.
___
___
___TouchPoint President Butch Maltby described tourism as more than an economic matter.
___"It's also a political tool," he said. "Every person that comes to Israel becomes an ambassador to Israel. Every tourist becomes a public relations person."
___The blurring of the lines among piety, politics and public relations was evident at a Jan. 8 meeting at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. Two representatives from the Christian Coalition were among 18 evangelical leaders attending.
___Each participant received "Why Christians Should Support Israel," written by Richard Booker, a Texas-based Christian minister. The booklet quotes Genesis 17:7-8 in its argument that God made an eternal covenant in which he gave "the land in which you are a stranger," modern-day Israel, to Abraham and his descendants.
___Jews and Muslims both see Abraham as their patriarch. But Christian Zionists contend Muslims are the descendants of Abraham's illegitimate son, Ishmael, who doesn't share in the promise of land. Jews are seen as the descendants of Isaac, Abraham's legitimate son.
___Thus, only Jews are regarded as holding a rightful claim to the land that has been a source of international conflict ever since Israel became a state in 1948.
___End-times theology also plays a central role in the perspectives of Christian Zionists.
___They generally believe certain conditions must be met in Israel and among the Jewish people before Christ may return to Earth.
___
Get printer-friendly version of this story
Send this story to a friend
News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!/ Signup for FirstLook
