Back in October 2023, President Joe Biden visited Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet. During his address, the then-President — a practicing Catholic of Irish descent — stated: “I don’t believe you have to be a Jew to be a Zionist. I am a Zionist.”
Attendees seemed to grant their approval, but many members of the general public raised questioning eyebrows in the following days. Amidst loud media claims that anti-Zionism is equal to antisemitism, how could a non-Jew like the President be a Zionist? Other questions arose, such as: what even is Zionism? What do they believe, and who can be one?
This blog post won’t dive into the specifics of Jewish Zionism — you can read more about that at resources like this one — but it’s important to address the powerful, looming, and misunderstood behemoth that is Christian Zionism. Christian Zionists have played an extremely active role in the current Gaza genocide and in Palestinian oppression over the past 75-plus years, so ending the violence requires confronting a theological and political ideology that has deep roots in American foreign policy.
What is Christian Zionism?
According to Friends of Sabeel North America, Christian Zionism is “a political and theological ideology that misuses Christian texts to support the modern nation-state of Israel, believing it has a cosmic purpose in bringing about the ‘End Times’ and the return of Jesus.”
Most, if not all, Christians believe Jesus Christ will return to Earth as mentioned in multiple books of the Bible, but Christian Zionists believe this return will be particularly violent and apocalyptic in nature. Christian Zionist theology states that gathering all Jews of the world into the historic Holy Land will, quite literally, instigate the Second Coming, upon which the Jews will either convert — or die. Prerequisites for this said “gathering” include expanding the state of Israel’s territory and ethnically cleansing all non-Jews living there.
Wait — the Jews will either convert to Christianity, or perish? That sounds… antisemitic, doesn’t it? You’re not wrong. Christian Zionism’s priority is triggering what it believes will be a destructive supernatural event, not genuine Jewish safety.
The Christian Zionist movement maintains that God will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who don’t, according to an interpretation of the Book of Genesis. As such, if the United States does not “bless” Israel, the country as a whole will earn God’s ire. In terms of real policy, this “blessing” seems to constitute enabling Israel’s endeavors to ethnically cleanse Palestine of all non-Jews unconditionally (hypocritically ignoring that Israeli airstrikes have killed an estimated five percent of Gaza’s Christian population and have destroyed several of the region’s oldest churches).
A Brief History of Christian Zionism
Theodore Herzl founded the Jewish Zionist movement we know today in 1897 when he convened the First Zionist Congress in the city of Basel, Switzerland (and was subsequently elected the Zionist Organization’s president). Beliefs that the Jews needed to convert to Christianity to trigger the Second Coming go back centuries, but many Christian British politicians latched on to now-named Zionism’s ideology and began disseminating its message for their own ends. Such politicians included Lord Shaftsbury, Lord Palmerston, David Lloyd George, and, famously, Lord Balfour, for whom the Balfour Declaration of 1917 is named, when the British government made a formal pledge to establish a “national home for the Jewish people” in the land of Palestine. Writings from figures like John Nelson Darby helped promote Zionism amongst Christians in the United States in the early twentieth century.
In more recent history, figures like Jerry Falwell served to promote Christian Zionism’s interests. Falwell, a televangelist pastor and founder of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, once promised to sway 70 million Americans to favor Israel. The Israeli government even rewarded Falwell with a private Lear jet to help him accomplish his aims in 1979.
Christian Zionists began to exert even more significant influence on American politics during Ronald Reagan’s run for president the following year. Evangelical Zionists like Falwell, Hal Lindsey, and Pat Robertson (president of the Christian Broadcasting Network) eagerly endorsed Reagan’s campaign, and in turn, he invited them to participate in many White House events and granted Christian Zionists opportunities to promote their beliefs in the mainstream.
Christian Zionism’s Continued Rise and Today
In an article for Columbia University in 2004, William N. Dale writes:
“At the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) 1995 annual policy conference, an important link was forged in the development of Christian Zionism. Up to that time, many evangelical Christians tended to oppose Jewish organizations because they thought Jews tended to be too liberal and contributed to a lowering of the nation’s moral standards. The old belief that Jews were responsible for the death of Christ also persisted in some evangelical circles. However, at this juncture, Jewish leaders and supporters of Israel realized that to carry forward their own goals regarding Israel, they needed help from evangelical organizations… Relations between the two movements have become progressively closer since then, and they cooperate to prevent any governmental action that they deem contrary to Israel’s interests.”
The result is two movements with common aims but different motivations, each believing they are using the other. Christian Zionists have their own theological reasons for wanting a Jewish ethnostate, whereas Jewish Zionists accept financial, social, and lobbying support from Christian Zionists because, from their own religious standpoint, Jesus is not the Messiah and will not come again to bring about the End Times. Essentially, the attitude is that the Christians can believe what they want, Jewish Zionists have nothing to fear — and they can overlook antisemitism from Christian Zionists so long as they continue to provide said support (you can learn more about the relationship between American Evangelical churches and Israel in the documentary ‘Til Kingdom Come).
The largest and most powerful of these Christian groups dedicated to enabling Israel is the organization Christians United for Israel, or CUFI. Founded by another pastor and televangelist, John Hagee, CUFI has eight million members — ten times that of AIPAC. The Israeli government has directly funded CUFI’s efforts to lobby for anti-Palestinian policies in the United States. CUFI credits itself with:
- Pushing the US government to provide an additional $14.3 billion to Israel through lobbying for the 21st Century Peace Through Strength Act.
- Encouraging President Trump to sever all funding to UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), the largest international organization supporting Palestinians inside and outside Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
- Fighting for the United States to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which most of the international community still recognizes as belonging to Syria.
- Instigating many anti-BDS (the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement for Palestine) measures.
And many other bills, acts, operations, and measures that conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism, provide Israel with unconditional funding, and ensure Israel has unfettered access to US weaponry it uses to murder Palestinians.
Other prominent Christian Zionists include U.S. Representative Michelle Bachmann, who now serves as the dean of Regent University’s Robertson School of Government, and former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, who is currently Donald Trump’s appointed Ambassador to Israel. The Jerusalem Post identified both as two of the most influential U.S.-based Christian Zionists.
It’s also relevant to note that John Hagee published a book titled Jerusalem Countdown in 2005. Sarah Posner of The American Prospect detailed the following year that Hagee’s book purports “to show that the Bible predicts a military confrontation with Iran. He argues that the United States must join Israel in a preemptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God’s plan for both Israel and the West.” On Friday, June 13th, 2025, Israel did indeed launch an unprovoked attack on Tehran. While the extent of Hagee’s or CUFI’s direct influence on Israel’s actions is unknowable at this time (and can only be speculation), war with Iran is, indeed, part of Christian Zionism’s long game.
Project Esther
Another prominent right-wing organization with strong Zionist roots is the Heritage Foundation, famously responsible for producing Project 2025. A component of Project 2025 is Project Esther, which is specifically designed to combat the Foundation’s definition of “antisemitism” — that is to say, any and all criticism of Israel (while ignoring genuinely antisemietic groups or movements like the Proud Boys and QAnon).
According to Al Jazeera, “The authors of Project Esther have presented their report as a set of recommendations for combating antisemitism, but critics say the document’s ultimate aim is to ‘poison’ groups critical of Israel by painting them as Hamas associates.” The Project Esther document also claims that any groups or individuals advocating for Palestinian rights belong to what it dubs the “Hamas Support Network,” which does not exist. Project Esther is largely responsible for the US government’s crackdowns on protests, especially on university campuses, that call for an end to the genocide in Palestine.
Combating Christian Zionism
Christian Zionism is an incredibly widespread movement with a powerful influence over the US government’s approach to the Middle East. However, combating it is the furthest thing from impossible. Doing so requires recognizing a few (of many) truths:
One, Christian Zionism is antisemitic antisemitic, anti-Muslim, and anti-Christ. It abuses the teachings of Christ to inflict harm on both Jewish and Muslim communities. You can use the toolkit that Friends of Sabeel North America has provided for guidelines and tips for talking about Christian Zionism with your peers and in religious settings.
Two, Christian Zionism is not just a right-wing ideology. Many liberals and Democrats have espoused Zionist policies. You can learn which Democratic US government representatives have accepted money or lobbying from AIPAC through Open Secrets. President Biden himself accepted $4.2 million from pro-Israeli groups during his time in the Senate, the most of any Senator in history.
Three, it’s critical to stay educated. The Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism has many resources you can use to understand Christian Zionism’s influence, the nuances of its ideology, lists of Christian Zionist organizations to be aware of, and other ways to get involved.
And, as always, we encourage you to speak out however you can — on social media, with your friends and family, at work, in your local government, and more. Palestinian lives depend on our support.