Pat Robertson's zeal for Israel

The man who once called the Prophet Muhammad a "terrorist" and Islam a "very evil and wicked religion" has done it again. This time, 'divine providence' has laid Ariel Sharon's massive brain hemorrhage at his doorstep, and Reverend Pat is not one to pass up such an opportunity.

"He was dividing God's land, and I would say, 'Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America...'"

This ardent support for Israel from the Christian camp is hardly new.

For many Jews, Israel is the fulfillment of national aspirations after thousands of years of minority status, of being alienated from their host socieities, and in many cases actually barred from becoming full citizens of the lands in which they lived.

Christian Zionism, on the other hand, is the belief that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, is in accordance with Biblical prophecy, and is a necessary precondition for the return of Jesus to reign on Earth. This is supposed to occur near the end of the world, a turbulent period known rather anti-climatically as the End Times.

As a specifically theological belief, however, Christian Zionism does not necessarily entail sympathy for the Jews as an ethnicity or for Judaism as a religion. Hal Lindsey has written in one of his books about the End Times:

"...the valley from Galilee to Eilat (a town in southern Israel) will flow with blood and 144,000 Jews would bow down before Jesus and be saved".

According to Lindsey, the rest of the Jews- an alarming two-thirds- will perish in a great conflagration called Armageddon.

So influential is this lobby in the United States, Daniel Pipes comments that Christian Zionism is probably Israel's "best weapon".

I disagree. Utilizing such 'assets' to cement Israel's position in the world might do more harm than good in the long run. Statements such as Pat Robertson's are the natural consequence of the set of End Time beliefs that is called 'dispensationalism', which many commentators say is a kind of self-willed fulfillment of prophecy.