Iranian election

[Alex]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

I thought Arabs and Jews making peace was a sign of the end times. Shows you what I know.

In the sense of a humorous response yes.

In the sense of there being a very significant strand of Christian Zionism among fundamentalist evangelical Christians in the United States (not all but a significant portion) that believes that total dominion over the Holy Lands by Israel is a necessary element to Jesus's return (and therefore any compromise reducing that territory is not acceptable and the human/civil rights of Palestinians are irrelevant). That's the minimum, some strands see actual conflict as being necessary.

In fiction, see the Left Behind series. More significantly see The Late Great Planet Earth (while maybe the biggest seller of these ideas it is hardly a lone voice in the wilderness in certain evangelical circles), which was the best selling work of non-fiction in the 1970s. Its position is Biblical prophecy says that re-establishing Israel was just the first step but the final step will be an apocalyptic battle between Islam and Israel (at Megiddo, recreating a 7th century BC battle between Egypt and Judea). The conclusion of which will see the return of Jesus to rule over the world.

Of course, once Jesus returns, all of those Jews in Israel will be converted or suffer the fate of all the other unfaithful. To non-believers (like me), the creepiest part of much evangelical support for Israel is that it is not offered altruistically but because it is seen as a step to ending the world.

Israeli politicians have not been at all shy about taking advantage of this strand of uncritical American support (see Netanyahu appearing at John Hagee's Cornerstone Church in San Antonio).