Christian Zionism - an ideology of conquest

Jerusalem - Image: VFJ

On January 17, 2026, the heads of the Churches in the Holy Land published a statement criticising those who "advance damaging ideologies, such as Christian Zionism, mislead the public, sow confusion, and harm the unity of our flock."

A few days later, the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a noted Christian Zionist, commented in a Facebook page "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."

There are Christians who, for seemingly religious reasons, support the state of Israel as the state of the Jewish people. These Christian Zionists believe that the land of Palestine/Israel belongs exclusively to the Jewish people, referring to biblical texts in which God promises and gives the land to the biblical people of Israel. They define the Palestinian people who live in Palestine/Israel as "non-Jews" who must submit to Jewish rule and privilege, accepting discrimination and occupation. Many of them believe that the struggle for Jewish domination in Palestine/Israel is part of an end times' scenario that will bring about the return of a triumphant Christ. Furthermore, many Christian Zionists believe that the Jews, reconstituted in their biblical "homeland", will come to faith in Jesus.

Why is this ideology incompatible with Christian faith? Christian Zionists use biblical texts and religious language formulated millennia ago to justify the dispossession of the Palestinian people of their lives, liberty, property and homeland by the Israeli state and its institutions today. This is a perversion! For Christians, the Word of God is Good News for all. Using the Bible and theological concepts as a justification for discrimination, occupation and genocide is an abomination that is not compatible with Christian faith. Here are ten points to reflect on:

1. The Old Testament teaches that the land belongs to God. God says to the people of Israel, "The land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants" (Leviticus 25:23). The biblical people of Israel's possession of the land depends on their faithfulness to their covenant with God. The biblical text makes clear that contravening the covenant will lead to the loss of the land. And in the Biblical narrative, because they are not faithful, they are led into exile. "Indeed, Jerusalem and Judah so angered the Lord that he expelled them from his presence" (2Kings 24:20).

2. In the Old Testament, God, faithful to the promise of life, brings the exiles back to the land. Christian Zionists cite texts about this return in order to support the modern state of Israel as a fulfilment of these texts. However, their use of these texts is problematic for two reasons: a. They ignore the fact that the texts that speak of a return to the land refer historically to events in the sixth century BC, when King Cyrus of the Persians permitted the Babylonian exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it. b. They cite these texts partially, ignoring what Pope Benedict XVI refers to as "the gradual universalization of the land on the basis of a theology of hope… The land of the king of peace is not a nation state - it stretches from "sea to sea (Zechariah 9:10)" (Jesus of Nazareth, volume 1, 84).

3. In the Gospel, Jesus speaks very little about the bordered land of Israel. He teaches that the promise of land does not depend on conquest. "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (land)" (Matthew 5:5). Pope Benedict XVI commented on this beatitude. "Conquerors come and go, but the ones who remain are the simple, the humble, who cultivate the land and continue sowing and harvesting in the midst of sorrows and joys. The humble, the simple, outlast the violent, even from a purely historical point of view" (Jesus of Nazareth, volume 1, 83).

4. When Jesus rises from the dead, a new order is established in which borders that separate peoples from each other no longer divide them. The Good News of the resurrection spreads from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, bringing down dividing walls. The people of God is now composed of people from all nations. "Now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So, he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father" (Ephesians 2:13-18). An initial vision of this reconstituted people is described in Acts, which begins with the Risen Jesus proclaiming, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

5. From a Christian perspective, wherever men and women gather to create community in fidelity to Christ, is the land of promise, the land of holiness. The biblical lands continue to be venerated because they are a reminder of the events in the history of salvation culminating, for Christians, in the coming of Jesus Christ. Christians visit the land of Palestine/Israel, remembering the roots of our faith, refueling ourselves for continued service, and recommitting to build a realm of equality, justice and peace throughout the world.

6. Christian Palestinians, the descendants of the first Christians, live in this land (with Muslim Palestinians and Jewish Israelis), participating in the building of the Kingdom of God where Jesus once walked. They are a leaven, preaching equality, justice and peace in the midst of conflict. Christian Zionists who support Israeli conquest threaten the Church of Jerusalem, the mother of all churches, by supporting Jewish exclusivism and privilege. Attempts to align local Christians with Christian Zionism uproot Christians from Palestinian society of which they are an integral part and in which they have an important role to play.

7. Christian Zionist discourse often repeats Islamophobic tropes that demonize Muslims and ridicule Islam. This teaching of contempt echoes a teaching of contempt about Jews and Judaism. Christians must commit to purifying their discourse of all teachings of contempt, reaching out to work with all those, believers and non-believers, who are committed to the struggle for equality, justice and peace.

8. Christian Zionists are often motivated by an awareness of and a sensitivity to how Jews have suffered as minorities, particularly in lands where Christians constituted majorities. This suffering reached devastating proportions during the Second World War. Making amends for this suffering cannot be at the expense of those who had nothing to do with their suffering. It needs to be said that the attempts to alleviate Jewish suffering by supporting Zionism ignored the Palestinians in the past, and are complicit with the ongoing suffering of the Palestinians in the present.

9. Christians can respect the sense of attachment to the land of the Jewish people "which finds its roots in biblical tradition, without however making their own any particular religious interpretation of this relationship. The existence of the state of Israel and its political options should be envisaged not in a perspective which is in itself religious, but in their reference to the common principles of international law" (Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, "Notes on the correct way to present Jews and Judaism in preaching and catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church" (1985), VI, 1). Respecting Jewish attachment to the land must not contradict the fundamental right of Palestinians to live in the land of their ancestors, enjoy full self-determination and thrive there.

10. Some Jews are native to Palestine/Israel. Some Jews immigrated to Palestine/Israel over the centuries, respecting the local culture, learning the language and integrating into the society. Political Zionism, emerging at the end of the nineteenth century, however, has predominantly promoted conquest of Palestine/Israel, establishing a regime that posits an exclusive Jewish claim on the land. Zionist conquest of the land has devastated and continues to devastate an indigenous Palestine society, seeking to replace it with a society, promoting Jewish exclusivism and privilege. All ideologies promoting ethnic supremacy, racist discrimination, military domination and territorial expansionism are incompatible with being a disciple of Jesus Christ.