Does Israel still have a biblical claim on the Middle East?

That’s the title of a recent article in which a prominent Christian theologian disqualifies himself from his own argument by putting forth a pack of half-truths, innuendo, and outright lies as the foundation informing his biblical interpretation of Israel’s claim to its land.

I’ve also attended services at an evangelical church in Jerusalem, and neither going in nor coming out were we 'spit on' or accosted in any way.

Christian theologians definitely disagree on Israel’s role in the end-time and its relevance to us today.

That’s OK. We don’t have to agree on everything.

What’s not OK is undergirding your “biblical interpretation” with ignorant lies.

Michael Horton is a theology professor at California’s Westminster Seminary, and he believes the answer to the question is no; Israel has no biblical claim in the Middle East.

Honestly, I’m not going to address his biblical interpretation (see: above, “We don’t have to agree on everything”).

However, this article slyly uses almost every Jew-hating talking point to build a foundation for Horton’s point.

I’m going to talk to Mr. Horton here.

'Terrorists'

The only time you use the word “terrorist,” Mr. Horton, you’re referring to Israeli settlers, who can be unpleasant but have yet to dip into pastimes such as raping women or slaughtering children in the most hideous ways imaginable (see: October 7).

Why can’t you bring yourself to apply the word where it absolutely fits — the ongoing campaign of terrorism the Palestinians have inflicted on Israeli citizens?

Instead, you share a whopper like this:

“Since 1948, Israel has fought for its own existence, while Palestinians have also defended their homes. The only way forward was a two-state solution, which was very close in the 1970s and '80s, but is being brought to a forever-impossible point with the current Israeli government.”

Whew, that’s a lot to unpack.

So what the Palestinians have been doing since 1948 is simply “defending their homes”? How do we explain the existence then of security checkpoints and walls near freeways and all manner of other anti-terrorist setups in Israel? Were those crazy Jews just imagining the suicide bombings and knife attacks and rocks being pelted at cars? Surely you’ve heard of terrorist attacks on Israeli soil, sir?

Nor do you mention that when a two-state solution has been close, it has always and forever been nixed by the Palestinians. All they have to do is agree to stop killing Jews and live in peace. And that, Mr. Horton, has always been unacceptable to them.

And you turn this on its head, by blaming the “current Israeli government” and, later in your piece, “Christian dispensationalists.” It’s never the Palestinians’ fault. They’re the victims, and not once in this piece do you even hint at their own responsibility for so much bloodshed and hatred.

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'Horrible atrocities'

The internet is full of outlandish tales of Christians supposedly being persecuted in Israel, so the Candace Owens/Tucker Carlson fans are afraid to travel there for fear of being “spit on” at best and tortured in a dungeon at worst. You play into this nonsense by claiming you’ve talked to pastors in the Middle East (you notably don’t say where in the Middle East) who tell of “horrible atrocities” by the Israeli soldiers and the Israel Defense Forces.

Surely you are not unaware of the people who have it IN THEIR CHARTER to wipe out the Jews? The people who train their children to hate Jews? The people who pulled off October 7? Is there no place in your seemingly measured discourse to condemn actual “horrible atrocities”?

I know many Christians in Israel, and I have visited there, including non-tourist places. I’ve also attended worship services at an evangelical church in Jerusalem, and neither going in nor coming out were we “spit on” or accosted in any way, because the vast majority of Jews could not care less. The church live streams its services for Pete’s sake. It’s not an underground or persecuted church. Not to mention that the number of Christians in Israel is growing unlike any other Middle Eastern country.

'Genocide'

Of course you had to use the g-word, even though Israel has never, ever called for genocide. It is, however, precisely what the Palestinians explicitly call for (regularly, and in Hamas governing documents). But you said it is Israel’s far-right Kahanist party that is “demanding genocide wherever Palestinians now live.”

That is simply not an accurate description of Kahanism. Meir Kahane and his Kach Party advocated the forced expulsion — or “transfer” — of Arabs from Israel and the territories under its control. Whatever you want to call that policy, it is not in any way "genocide."

Words mean something, Mr. Horton.

I also grow weary of the demonization and complete mischaracterization of “dispensationalist” churches. You again:

“In the dispensationalist churches of my youth, the whole Bible centered not on Christ but on the nation of Israel, especially its reconstitution in 1948.”

Yeah. I grew up in dispensationalist churches, too. And at no time, in no way, did the nation of Israel displace Christ as the center of the Bible or anything else. I have heard this nonsense so many times lately, that Christian Zionists or dispensationalists “worship Israel.” It’s not true, outside of some weird sects that may exist, and it is frankly sinful to besmirch fellow believers in this way.

The soft-pedaling of the Palestinian/Islamic worldview that is in fact genocidal toward Jews (and the West in general) is galling. You describe what you call “horrific acts of ultra-orthodox violence” and then sympathetically offer this: “As is too often true in families and national histories, those subject to extreme violence seek revenge through a similar dehumanization of the other.”

So it’s the Israeli settlers who are extremely violent? Poor Hamas has no choice but to burn families alive in their homes? After October 7, I simply cannot see how a professed Christian can twist truth this way.

Whopper after whopper

Let’s finish with one more of your whoppers:

“Christianity in the West Bank, including Bethlehem, is being erased by ultra-orthodox settlers under the protective umbrella of the Israel Defense Forces.”

There is a kernel of truth here. There have been documented incidents of extremist Israeli settlers harassing and attacking Palestinian Christians, vandalizing Christian property, and encroaching on Christian-owned land.

But you take those incidents and spin them into something much larger: a story in which Jews are “erasing” Christianity from the West Bank under the “protective umbrella” of the Israeli military.

Where is the evidence for that sweeping claim?

And just as striking is what you leave out. Palestinian Christians have also faced documented harassment, intimidation, violence, and property disputes involving Muslim Palestinians, including incidents in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Christian communities have been shrinking across the Middle East for decades, including in places where there are no Israeli settlers and no IDF.

That Horton blames Jews for “erasing” Christianity in the West Bank, when said erasure precisely patterns the erasures in every Muslim country — well, it’s just the same old libel: anti-Semitic libel.

Perhaps you didn’t mean to lie. I hope so. I also hope you consider that you approached this all wrong, and you need to try again.