Prisoners of prophecy.. Why does America sacrifice its strategic interests for the sake of Israel?

Over the past two days, many striking statements have been made by some senior American politicians, including Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, who said in a press statement: “ Israel is a vital ally of ours. I think most people understand the necessity of this funding ($26 billion for Israel). They are fighting for their existence…for us believers, there is a directive in the Bible to stand by Israel, and we will do so without a doubt and they will be victorious as long as we are with them.”

This statement linking American policy towards Israel to the Protestant Christian faith as commanded by the Bible – according to their belief – was not the first of its kind these days. At the same time, a member of the US House of Representatives from the Republican Party, Rick W., was questioned. Elaine, President of Columbia University, of Egyptian descent, Nemat Shafik.

Allen seemed very serious when he asked Nemat: “Why doesn’t Columbia University support Israel enough? Let’s be clear, this is a covenant that God made with the Prophet Abraham, and this promise is very clear: If you bless Israel, I will bless you, and if you curse Israel, I will curse you.”

He added, “In the New Testament (the Bible) it was confirmed that all nations will be blessed through you. So didn’t you know this? University President: I heard it before but it has been explained better now. Him: Good that sounds familiar to you. Do you want Columbia University to be cursed by the Lord of the Bible? She replied: “Absolutely not.”

Observing these statements linking the American policy towards Israel, which is biassed towards it, with the teachings of the Bible, by the most important and largest American political elite, it seems a strange matter coming from the citadel of secularism and global capitalism , and it raises many more questions than it gives conclusive answers about understanding this established relationship between the United States and Israel. .

Back to the roots

Richard Cortez, a retired US State Department employee and editor-in-chief of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, once wrote about the amount of official and unofficial US aid that America paid to Israel from 1948 to 1995, saying: “We, the taxpayers, give to The small state of Israel receives more than $6 billion in foreign and military aid per year.”

 Cortez continues, “Over the past 46 years, US taxpayers have provided Israel with a total of $62.5 billion. This means that we have given one of the world’s smallest countries as much financial aid as we have given to the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean combined, the total aid.” To these countries, it is estimated at about $40 per person, while aid to Israel is equal to $10,775 per person.

ortez not only mentioned this, but also confirmed that there are other American private and Christian organisations that provide donations to Israel that are not subject to taxes, so that the total amount of money reaches the equivalent of 83 billion dollars in the period between 1948 and 1995, which is the equivalent of more than 14 thousand dollars. Annually from America for every Israeli person.

Because of this huge financial and moral support from Britain and the United States for Israel, and in the face of evidence and evidence that can hardly be missed by the observer, American journalist Grace Halsall, who worked as a writer with former US President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s in the White House , asked about the secret that drives her country to sacrifice its strategic interests. This far for Israel?

In order to answer this question more deeply, and in the face of the successive evidence that Grace saw for herself, she decided to research, read, travel, and meet everyone who had an answer to her inquiries. This long journey resulted in her two books: “Prophecy and Politics: Military Evangelicals on the Road to Nuclear War.” And “Hand of God, why would the United States sacrifice its interests for the sake of Israel?” They are two important works that reveal to us an essential aspect of the American strategic mind’s push towards Israel with all enthusiasm, and sometimes even with strategic blindness.

This mind overlooked many of Israel’s crimes, not only against the Palestinians and Arabs, but also against America itself, when Israel struck the American spy ship Liberty, which was anchored in the eastern Mediterranean during the 1967 war , and killed 34 American sailors on board, in order to fully achieve its goals. In the occupation of Sinai, the Golan, the West Bank and Gaza at lightning speed, American politicians, led by President Johnson, remained silent about this crime and swallowed it.

The secret of secrets

The main reasons go back to the revolutionary relationship brought about by the religious reform movement in the 16th century in the heart of Catholic Christianity in Europe, when the German priest Martin Luther stood up to the papacy in Rome, calling for a deep and revolutionary reform movement in the face of the church’s political and theological dominance, especially with its monopoly. To understand the Holy Text, and not accept its translation or interpretation into local European languages, and then practices that do not match the spirit of the Holy Bible, most notably the forgiveness of sins in exchange for financial instruments.

The book written by Martin Luther in 1523, entitled “Jesus was Born a Jew,” was a reconsideration of the Jewish heritage in Christianity after 16 centuries in which hostility was inherent between the two groups. Luther saw that “the Holy Spirit revealed all the books of the Bible through the Jews alone… The Jews are the children of God, and we are the foreign guests.”

Although Luther retracted his views in this book, the Protestant movement became saturated with them, especially with the Frenchman John Calvin, and as these views spread in Anglo-Saxon geography and took root until the British Evangelical Church separated from Rome in 1534.

With the discovery of the Americas at the end of the 15th century and the bloody conflict that took place between the English, French, Spanish and Dutch over North America, and then the almost absolute British control over America, this led to the migration of Protestants in huge numbers towards the new continent, which they took as a home, until the Americans declared their independence from Britain at the end of the century. 18, while the religious faith remained the same.

Some historians of Protestant religions describe it as a movement of “broad Judaization of Christianity,” because they considered that understanding and assimilating the New Testament “the Bible” cannot happen without reading and understanding the roots found in the “Old Testament” (the Torah), in contrast to the ancient Christian reading before the Reformation era, which was You see that Christianity is the heir to Judaism and is more worthy of carrying the trust that the Jews abandoned until they crucified Christ according to their belief.

Grace Halsall takes this thread to delve into the real reasons that made America ignore its strategic interests in favour of Israel to such a scandalous extent. She finds the answer in her religious biography, especially the one she went through from childhood until adulthood.

As a child, she used to listen to evangelists as they linked the stories of the Bible to the enemies of God, and the evangelists, especially the one who was listening to them intently, focused on the specific signs of upcoming world events. “It contains prophecies that shake the world. The battle of Armageddon (Wadi Majidon) is in its location, and it could happen at any time.” “A time for the fulfilment of Ezekiel’s prophecy. It is ready to happen. The United States falls into this passage of Ezekiel’s prophecy, and we are ready.”

In order to understand this doctrine that shapes the contemporary American political mind, Halsall travelled several times to the Megiddo Valley, which is located in northern occupied Palestine today, as part of religious groups of new rightists who were received by Israeli shepherds with a decent reception. In those groups, she met many American citizens who appear to be “ordinary” but at the same time imbued with and passionate about Bible prophecy.

According to this prophecy, the coming of Christ to save the world at the end of time will not happen except in light of the battle of Armageddon, and this battle, which some believe that Christ, peace be upon him, will lead, in which about 200 million people will be killed, will not happen except after the Jews return to Palestine and establish their national state, and it will be Its spark was the construction of the Temple on the ruins of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock Mosque, because Muslims will not remain silent in the face of these events.

Grace noted that the main reason that led to the strong spread of these ideas in the last two centuries lies in the emergence of the “deterministic” Christian evangelical movement, which interpreted world events in a fatalistic, fatalistic way that God wants and commands.

The culmination of these ideas appeared at the hands of the American evangelical priest Cyrus Scofield in 1921, who introduced his interpretations and observations into the Bible and came up with the name “The Reference Bible.” Since 1909, this Bible has become one of the best-selling Bibles in the world, and in it he saw that the events of the end of the world centred entirely. About “bringing Israel back to existence, the Jews must do what they must do until Christ returns . ”

If we look at the Jewish literature that seeped into the Protestant evangelical faith, we will find that it focused on three basic points, which are the foundations on which “Jewish Christian Zionism” was built in our present time, which are:

The Jews are God’s chosen people and that they are the preferred nation over all nations.

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• ·   And that there is a divine covenant linking the Jews to the Holy Land in Palestine, which is an eternal covenant.
• ·   He linked the Christian faith to the return of Jesus Christ, and his return will not take place except with the establishment of the State of Israel, that is, the gathering of the Jews in Palestine.

Jewish Christian Zionism

In his book “Christian Zionism 1891-1948,” Professor of Religious and American Studies “Paul Merkley” chronicles the first meeting between representatives of the two most famous groups in 1896, that is, between the founder of the Zionist movement, the Austrian Jew Theodor Herzl , and the British Evangelical priest of German origin, William Henry Hechler, the embassy chaplain. British in Vienna.

Hechler met Herzl for the first time in March of that year, and he introduced himself to him in a strange way by saying: “Here I am,” to which Herzl replied: “I can see that, but who are you?” Hitschler replied as follows: “You will be puzzled to know that as long ago as 1882 I predicted your coming to the Prince of Baden (in Germany), and now I am coming to your aid.”

Herzl was influenced by this Evangelical priest, by his style and speech, and by his strong relations with the German princes because he was a teacher to the Prince of Baden and his sons, and therefore he was the one who would open closed doors for him to reach them, and his arrival to them would enable him to convince them, and they (i.e. the Germans) were allies of the Ottomans controlling Palestine.

Herzl later visited Pastor Hechler in his home, and saw from him unparalleled enthusiasm for the return of the Jews to the Holy Land. Herzl wrote: “Yesterday, Sunday afternoon, I visited Pastor Hechler… The room I entered (in his house) was covered with books from the floor to the ground.” The ceiling, nothing but the “Gospels” books.

Herzl continues by saying, “Mr. Hechler showed me his written treasures and the map of Palestine at the end. It is a large military staff map consisting of 4 pieces that covered the entire floor of the room when it was published. He showed me the place where our new temple should be located according to his calculations. It is the site of Bethel. Because it is the centre of the country, he also showed me models of the ancient temple, saying: We have prepared the land for you . ”

Paul Merkley believes that this meeting is the early basis for the emergence and alliance of contemporary Jewish-Christian Zionism in the last years of the 19th century. It is a meeting that has its consequences. Senior British and later American politicians were influenced by these ideas and sought to implement them. We have seen Britain’s support for the immigration of Jews to Palestine and provided them with weapons and equipment throughout the years of their occupation from 1917 to 1948 and beyond.

Even the current Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, gave a speech in February 1985, and he was Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations at the time, in which he acknowledged this fact, saying: “The writings of Christian Zionists, both English and Americans, directly influenced the thinking of historical leaders such as Lloyd George ( British Prime Minister), Arthur Balfour (British Foreign Secretary), and Woodrow Wilson (American President) at the beginning of this century (the twentieth century).

Netanyahu continues, “The dream of the great meeting lit the flame of the imagination of these men who played a major role in establishing the political and international foundations for the revival of the Jewish state. There was an ancient longing in our Jewish tradition to return to the Land of Israel, and this dream that has been haunting us for 2,000 years exploded through Christians.” Zionists.”

American presidents and priests in the service of Zionism

In her book “Prophecy and Politics,” Halsall monitors the extent of the penetration of the biblical prophecies related to Gog and Magog and their interpretation among contemporary evangelicals as “Russia,” and the “battle of Armageddon” that will take place in the Valley of Mageddon in northern occupied Palestine under the leadership of Christ against his enemies, as well as the concept of “enemies of the Lord” or “ “Enemies of Israel” and other religious terms used by the American political elite, led by Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and others.

For example, as early as 1986, after the bombing of an American passenger plane over the Scottish village of Lockerbie and the involvement of the regime of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at that time, Halsall says: “Libya became international enemy number one for Ronald Reagan … Reagan hated Libya because He saw her as one of the enemies of Israel mentioned in the prophecies and therefore an enemy of God.”

As Halsall narrates, quoting former California Senate President James Mills, who was brought together by his meeting with Ronald Reagan in 1971 AD before he became president of the United States, “Reagan suddenly began talking to Mills about Biblical prophecies, and about the inevitability of our fighting the Soviet Union (Gog and Magog) in Bible”.

Mills mentions this incident in the August 1985 issue of San Diego magazine and says: “Reagan told him with a firm confirmation: In chapter 38 of the chapter of Ezekiel there is a text that says that the Land of Israel will be subjected to an attack launched by armies belonging to countries that do not believe in God.” She says Libya will be among them. Do you understand what that means? Libya has now become communist and this is an indication that the day of Armageddon is not far away.”

Halsall also points out that in some of US President Jimmy Carter’s speeches we will find the same influence on the prophecies that Reagan believed in after him when he says: “The creation of Israel in 1948 means finally returning to the Promised Land from which the Jews were expelled hundreds of years ago. The establishment of the Israeli nation is the fulfilment of biblical prophecy and its essential fulfilment.”

In her other book, “The Hand of God,” Halsall monitors the most prominent right-wing evangelical Christian groups in the United States and their manifestations of support for Israel financially, rhetorically, and politically, and the strong lobby they have established with Israel and American Jews.

She believes that the relations between the two parties were becoming stronger over time, and this was evident in the weekly church and television meetings held by the most famous American priests at that time, led by Jerry Falwell in 2007, to whom the Israelis presented a jet plane in the 1970s, and hosted him. In the Golan, they created a forest in his name.

Halsall explains that Falwell, in return, supported them completely with his speeches, books, and even collected donations for them, and his role became so great that Israeli prime ministers, such as Netanyahu, were keen to visit him whenever they visited the United States.

The author also monitors their political organisations that have permeated the various American elections in recent years, and ultimately concludes that biblical prophecies have come to overshadow the issue of “Christ” and his centrality in the “deterministic” Christian thought that has come to dominate the American political and religious scene.

From the above, we can understand the question of our article about the underlying reasons that make the United States political elite ignore its vital interests in the Middle East in order to support Israel absolutely. The truth is that this answer does not stop at the dimensions inherent in the close religious relationship that brought together Christian Zionism and Jewish Zionism, as we have seen. But it is also brought together by the convergence of political, strategic, economic and historical interests, which are matters that cannot be overlooked.