You’ve probably seen the headlines.
Heard the debates.
Watched people pick sides.
But maybe, like a lot of people, you’re not sure why everyone’s arguing.
You don’t understand the history of Israel and Palestine.
You don’t get why Christians in America support Israel no matter what.
And maybe—just maybe—you’ve started to ask whether there’s something deeper going on here.
Something theological.
Something political.
Something that feels… off.
Today, we’re diving into that tension.
Into a conversation that many people are too afraid to have.
Not to tell you what to think.
But to help you understand how we got here—and what’s at stake when we stay silent.
This is Zion’s Shadow.
SECTION ONE: WHY THIS MATTERS
It’s hard to speak about Israel and Palestine in any public way without being accused of antisemitism, betrayal, or worse. But silence is not neutrality. And for people of faith, especially those who follow Jesus, silence in the face of injustice isn’t just cowardice—it’s complicity.
The modern state of Israel was founded in 1948, and with it came the mass displacement of over 750,000 Palestinians in what they call the Nakba, or “catastrophe.” Since 1967, Israel has militarily occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Since 2007, it has maintained a blockade on Gaza, with cooperation from Egypt. That blockade has turned Gaza into what many describe as the world’s largest open-air prison—cut off from basic needs, employment, and freedom of movement.
This matters not just politically or geopolitically—but theologically.
Because the way American Christians have supported Israel hasn’t just shaped foreign policy.
It’s shaped faith itself.
SECTION TWO: FROM ZIONISM TO STATEHOOD AND WAR
Let’s start with Zionism.
In the late 19th century, Theodor Herzl, a secular Austrian Jew, proposed the idea of establishing a Jewish homeland. After centuries of European antisemitism and pogroms, Zionism was a nationalist movement rooted in survival—a reaction to relentless persecution. Herzl’s vision gained traction after the Dreyfus Affair in France, which revealed the depth of European antisemitism.
The British Balfour Declaration of 1917 promised support for “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine—despite the fact that 90% of the population in Palestine at the time was Arab. That tension exploded in 1947 when the UN proposed a partition plan. War followed. When the dust settled in 1949, Israel had been established—and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had become refugees.
In 1967, during the Six-Day War, Israel seized even more territory: East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights. And while Sinai was returned to Egypt in 1982, the rest remained under Israeli control—either through occupation or annexation.
SECTION THREE: GAZA, THE BLOCKADE, AND THE BIRTH OF TERROR
In 2005, Israel pulled out its settlers from Gaza. But in 2007, after Hamas won Palestinian elections and took control of Gaza, Israel and Egypt imposed a land, air, and sea blockade. The blockade restricted access to clean water, electricity, medical supplies, and construction materials. Over 80% of Gazans now rely on humanitarian aid.
This is the context in which violence erupts.
And here’s a hard truth:
Terrorism is often born in the vacuum of power.
When people are stripped of dignity, cut off from justice, and locked behind walls, they don’t have tanks or missiles. What they have is desperation. And desperation, history shows us, breeds violence.
This isn’t to excuse acts of terror. But it is to understand them.
Remember the Irish Troubles?
Before peace came to Northern Ireland, groups like the IRA used asymmetric violence against a much larger British power. That’s what marginalized, occupied people often do when all other means are cut off.
SECTION FOUR: THE BIBLE AND THE PROMISE
Many American Christians believe that Israel is divinely entitled to the land of Palestine.
That it’s a matter of biblical prophecy.
That to question the modern state of Israel is to go against God’s will.
But that theology is not as ancient—or as biblical—as some think.
Yes, the Hebrew Bible describes a covenant with Abraham in which God promises land to his descendants.
But that promise is later reinterpreted in the New Testament. Paul, in Galatians 3, writes that those who belong to Christ are Abraham’s offspring—not defined by ethnicity or geography, but by faith.
“There is no longer Jew nor Greek… for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
– Galatians 3:28
In early Christianity, the idea of the “promised land” became spiritualized. The land was no longer a physical inheritance—it was something fulfilled in Christ, open to all people.
SECTION FIVE: THE SCOFIELD BIBLE AND THEOLOGICAL COLONIALISM
So where did this obsession with Israel and end-times prophecy come from?
Much of it traces back to the Scofield Reference Bible, published in 1909. It embedded a theology called Dispensationalism directly into the biblical text through annotated footnotes.
Dispensationalism—popularized by John Nelson Darby—divided history into “ages” and interpreted scripture through a lens that emphasized a literal return of Jews to the land of Israel and an imminent apocalypse.
This theology wasn’t common before the 1800s. It wasn’t taught by the early church. And it wasn’t rooted in historical Judaism.
But it became wildly popular in the United States—especially among fundamentalists. It influenced everything from popular culture (Left Behind series, anyone?) to foreign policy.
The irony? It was deeply colonial.
A theology imported from the West that projected its own vision onto an ancient land, ignoring the people already living there.
SECTION SIX: WHEN THEOLOGY BECOMES EMPIRE
Christian Zionism didn’t just shape theology. It reshaped empire.
Groups like Christians United for Israel (CUFI) now have millions of members and exert enormous influence on U.S. foreign policy. Politicians from both parties invoke biblical language to justify billions in military aid to Israel—while often ignoring Palestinian suffering entirely.
And while antisemitism is real and evil and must be condemned—critiquing a nation-state is not the same thing as hating a people.
If we’re going to be consistent in our ethics, we have to ask:
What happens when theology is used to justify bombs?
When Bible verses are used to rationalize occupation?
Because that’s what’s happening.
SECTION SEVEN: THE COST OF SPEAKING OUT
In recent years, voices who dared to critique Israel or call for Palestinian rights have been fired, blacklisted, or labeled antisemitic.
CNN fired contributor Marc Lamont Hill after he used the phrase “from the river to the sea” in a speech at the UN.
Ben & Jerry’s faced massive backlash for simply refusing to sell ice cream in illegal settlements.
Pastors have lost pulpits. Ministries have been silenced. Denominations have split.
But silence, again, is not neutral.
We need to be able to say:
• That Jews deserve safety, dignity, and the right to live free from hate.
• That Palestinians deserve safety, dignity, and the right to live free from occupation.
• That land theft, blockades, and apartheid are not “defense.”
• That violence against civilians—by any side—is a moral tragedy.
SECTION EIGHT: A CALL TO LOVE WITHOUT EXCEPTION
Let me say this clearly:
Palestinians exist.
Not just as headlines.
Not just as casualties.
As human beings—with names, stories, dreams, families, and dignity.
Among them are Palestinian Christians—followers of Jesus who are grieving and surviving under bombardment.
But there are also Muslims. Secular Palestinians. Children who’ve never known a day of freedom.
If your theology only makes room for people who believe like you do—
it’s not the gospel of Jesus.
It’s just tribalism in religious clothing.
Jesus didn’t ask, “Who is your brother?”
He asked, “Who is your neighbor?”
And then told us: everyone.
CLOSING PRAYER
God of justice and compassion,
We ask not for easy answers,
but for the courage to sit with hard truths.
Open our eyes to see every person as your image-bearer—
regardless of race, religion, or nationality.
Teach us to reject violence,
To confront systems of oppression,
And to love even when it costs us something.
Let our hearts break with what breaks yours.
And may we never mistake silence for faithfulness.
Amen.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
• Human Rights Watch: hrw.org
• B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights: btselem.org
• Jewish Voice for Peace: jewishvoiceforpeace.org
• Kairos Palestine: kairospalestine.ps
• IfNotNow: ifnotnowmovement.org