Why, we might wonder, has this administration gone overboard in its support of Israel. The answer is not hard to find. Among Trump's most fervent supporters are white evangelical Christians. Over 80 percent voted for him. Furthermore, his vice-president, Mike Pence, and his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, are both born-again Christians, converted from Catholicism, and converts are the most zealous of believers. And Evangelical Christians are the most ardent supporters of Israel, even more so than American Jews.
Indeed the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee avoided praising the decision, simply declaring it does not take a position on settlements. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the Union for Reform Judaism, urged Trump to reverse course, saying it would cause "long-term threat to Israel's status as a Jewish and democratic state" while Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of liberal Jewish advocacy group J Street, accused the Trump administration of "trampling on the rights of Palestinians."
Not all Christians were happy about the decision either. A representative from the National Council of Churches said that it "stands by its long-stated position that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank are clear violations of international law." The Presbyterian Church called the rejection of established policy "yet another occasion where the Trump administration is disregarding international law."
Trump’s declaration doesn't affect international law, of course, but it will encourage an expansionist Israel, and make a just settlement for the Palestinians and peace in the area that much more difficult. But to evangelicals the return of the Jews to the Holy Land is a prerequisite to achieving the millennium, the golden age, and ultimate salvation. And they are the ones at Trump's elbow; thus their church dictates the policies of the Trump state.
1 comment:
The Liberals have broken ranks with Washington on this one. I expect that was a cynical political cost/benefit calculation.
Canadians are abysmally uninformed on how Canada has sided with Israel against Palestine in the General Assembly. A former ProgBlogger, Alison at Creekside, monitored these votes and produced tallies of Canada's performance.
Washington, Ottawa, and a handful of 'bought and paid for' island states from the Central Pacific routinely vote against the rest of the world, the EU, the Middle East, Asia and South Asia, South America, the lot, to support Israel. It matters not that the General Assembly passes resolutions with huge majorities. The US simply vetoes any action at the Security Council.
However reluctantly, Canada still comes down on the side of international law - not that it makes the slightest difference. As for the rest of it, it's see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
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