Misrepresenting the Jews

The problem of Palestinian Christian Anti-Zionism

In April, Tucker Carlson surprisingly interviewed Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, Academic Dean at Bethlehem Bible College and Director of Christ at the Checkpoint Conference, a figure who usually receives attention from the far left, not the far right. Introducing him, Carlson said: “How does the government of Israel treat Christians? In the West, Christian leaders don’t seem interested in knowing the answer. They should be. Here’s the view of a pastor from Bethlehem.” Much of the controversy focused on Isaac’s analysis of events in the region since October 7 (including his earlier statement “We were perhaps most shocked by the strength of the Palestinian man who defies his siege”), but of even more interest are his theological ideas, as well as those of other figures associated with Bethlehem Bible College, whose goal is “to contribute to equipping Christian leaders and promoting Palestinian theology locally and internationally.”

Much of Isaac’s efforts are devoted to rebutting evangelicals who argue that the creation of the State of Israel – and the later conquest of the West Bank – is part of God’s plan. “I must ask,” he said in an interview, “what is this telling me as a Palestinian? Because if the creation of Israel is a sign of God’s faithfulness to the Jewish people, it is a sign of God’s what exactly to the Palestinians? Does that mean that God is against us? Is God judging us? Where is the gospel, the good news of Christianity to the Palestinians if what happened to us in 1948 is simply a divine act?”

In search of an answer to this reasonable question, Isaac also takes aim at how, since the Holocaust, Christianity has grappled with its antisemitic past. In his book The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope, he writes:

In this new, “post-Holocaust theology,” the Jewish people began to hold a distinct place in Christian theology. Many Christian theologians began talking about a two-covenant theology, in which God has two separate yet parallel plans, one for the Jewish people and one for the nations. At the same time, many evangelical Christians around the world came to believe that God will, at the end times, restore the Jewish people and bring them to the Promised Land that that all of this will lead to the second coming of Christ.

The problem, then, isn’t simply evangelical support for Israel, but also the idea that Christianity should relate to the Jews differently than it does other peoples.