(The Jason Jones Show) — The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem issued a momentous statement over the weekend, denouncing “destructive ideologies” that abuse and silence their flocks. It’s no surprise that the part of the statement that sent the powerful into convulsions was its matter-of-fact inclusion of Christian Zionism as one of those destructive ideologies.
“Recent activities undertaken by local individuals who advance damaging ideologies, such as Christian Zionism, mislead the public, sow confusion, and harm the unity of our flock,” they wrote. They warned that those who push the ideology of Christian Zionism “have found favor among certain political actors in Israel and beyond,” and that these bad actors are working together to “push a political agenda which may harm the Christian presence in the Holy Land and the wider Middle East.”
Of course, the blowback from Zionist leaders and influencers has been ugly. The propaganda machine of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime in Israel is in hyperdrive, with friendly donors pumping untold sums into American politics and Israeli officials even directly paying American PR firms to fund pro-Israel “influencers” on social media. They have a hideous and globally hated campaign of violence to run optics for, after all.
But what strikes me about the global response to the courageous statement of the Holy Land’s Christian leaders isn’t the loudness of the Zionists (that’s Netanyahu’s scandal). It’s the silence of Catholics. Our scandal.
READ: Holy Land patriarchs denounce ‘Christian Zionism’ as a ‘damaging ideology’
The silence is particularly inexcusable given the fact that our pope has been as outspoken about this as the Christians of the Holy Land are. Pope Leo publicly mentioned just this month that “in the Holy Land … despite the truce announced in October, the civilian population continues to endure a serious humanitarian crisis” and “there has been an increase in violence in the West Bank against the Palestinian civilian population, which has the right to live in peace in its own land.”
If America’s Catholics claim to be loyal to their pope and to his highest representative in the Holy Land, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa (a signatory on their latest statement), we’re doing a very poor job of showing it.
Tragically, after making their statement, what are these shepherds most likely to hear in response? The din of Christian Zionists – who are easily louder and more zealous and more eager for public influence on behalf of their strange cult than Catholics seem to be on behalf of the true Faith we claim.
Consider the dismissiveness and condescension of U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee’s response to the statement.
First of all, he called it “the statement of non-evangelical churches in Israel.” As if “non-evangelical churches” were a quaint and minor presence in the Holy Land and not the ancient, indigenous, and original apostolic presence planted in the Levant by the first followers of Our Lord in 33 AD – on top of being, in the case of those churches in union with Rome, leaders in what Western Catholics believe to be the Universal Church.
READ: Mike Huckabee says it’s ‘hard’ for him to understand why some Christians aren’t Zionists
Huckabee briefly mentioned how much he loves and respects the “views” of those who adhere to that universal Church – however he wasted no time in adding, “but I do not feel any sect of the Christian faith should claim exclusivity in speaking for Christians worldwide or assume there is only one viewpoint regarding faith in the Holy Land.”
He then reasserted Christian Zionism – with no mention of the very real threats the fathers had warned it poses to their flocks, and touted it as a “growing” movement with millions of adherents. More than that, without the Christian Zionist understanding of “Judeo-Christian” tradition, there “would be no Western Civilization,” Huckabee said, and “no America.”
“Labels such as ‘Christian Zionism’ are too often used in a pejorative manner to disparage free-church believers, of which there are millions across the planet,” he added. “Christians are followers of Christ and a Zionist simply accepts that the Jewish people have a right to live in their ancient, indigenous, and Biblical homeland. It’s hard for me to understand why every one who takes on the moniker ‘Christian’ would not also be a Zionist.”
As if there should be nothing remarkable or controversial about endorsing a violent takeover of the Holy Land by Jewish settlers.
Huckabee’s total refusal to acknowledge the pain Christian Zionism is inflicting on the Church in the Holy Land is chilling. It’s as though he’s totally ignorant of the ancient Christian presence there, or the fact that it is under an aggressive attack universally acknowledged to be illegal under international law and decried with one voice by the Holy Land’s Christians and the Vatican.
WATCH: Michael Knowles explains why he’s not a ‘Christian Zionist’
In the latest statement alone, the patriarchs and heads of churches spelled out how the “destructive” ideology of Christian Zionism is the fuel behind a horrific Israel-backed campaign of violence and intimidation by radical Jewish settlers – a push that many local pastors and laypeople have warned could drive Christians out of their homeland forever. Imagine a Christmas in Bethlehem without its Christians – many of whom are descendants of the first Christians, those who stood in the upper room with the Apostles at the birth of the Church!
These leaders have been calling urgently for our solidarity since the Netanyahu regime began its indiscriminate bombings in Gaza two years ago. They have also alerted the world to Israel’s illegal settlement expansions in the West Bank. In December, they issued a full report, including documentation of radical Jewish terror attacks in towns like Taybeh – the West Bank’s last remaining all-Christian village – and called for immediate intervention by the international community to save the Holy Land from being overtaken.
You would think that the leaders and spokesmen of the indigenous Christian communities of the birthplace of the Church would have the attention and the sympathy of Catholics throughout the world – again, especially since both the late Pope Francis and now Pope Leo have joined them in their regular calls for solidarity.
But when these leaders – our leaders – cry out for our aid in protecting their flocks and our own precious heritage in the sacramental land where Jesus was born, ministered, died, and rose again, do they hear us responding to the call? Can they hear us above the clamor of powerful, well-placed, and well-funded Christian Zionist responses?
Every Catholic apostolate in America, every bishop, every media outlet, and every public figure who claims to be a Catholic should be responding to these leaders in the Holy Land as warmly and as courageously as Pope Leo regularly does. If only because we should be unwilling to live with the shame of failing to do so.
After all, at their worst, Christian Zionists will hurl the most shocking disrespect and abuse at our shepherds in the Holy Land – such that it truly is a scandal and an unspeakable shame for us to fail to come to their defense. (I’ve encountered Catholics who, under the sway of Zionism, accuse these leaders of the persecuted Church of being terrorist sympathizers, liars, and traitors – all because they work for the interests of the vulnerable and of the Church rather than repeat absurd Israeli propaganda.)
I say “at their worst,” but their “best” is worse still, in a way. Their best might just be the dismissive gaslighting of Pastor Mike Huckabee. Or maybe it’s Catholics who represent the best asset Christian Zionism has going for it: the cowardly willingness of Catholics to give Zionists like Huckabee the last word.
Reprinted with permission from The Jason Jones Show.
