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The New Rising Hatred Against Israel in the United States
Jews are a relatively small group of people compared to the whole world. Israel is a tiny, little nation. They are a couple of gnats landing on a large person. Proportionally the Jews and Israel receive a very big, gigantic reaction from the rest of the world.
Admittedly, I notice the Jews every day even though almost all of my days now I speak to none, not a single Jew. I don’t have to go out of my way to ignore Jews. None live where I am.
On the other hand, during my time in California, on average Jews were more hostile to me than any other people. When I came to a door and saw a mezuzah shema (mezuzah means “doorposts”) on the doorpost, that meant a tough, very difficult situation was coming about 100 percent of the time. I want to have a good conversation with a Jewish person and it is very disappointing that most Jews treat someone like myself, who loves them, worse than anybody.
Even with the very poor treatment, I support Jews and Israel. My wife and I go out of our way to befriend Jewish people. I even understand their hostility. It isn’t merited, but it is understandable.
Why Israel and the Jews?
Maybe you have a hard time comprehending why so many people, especially young ones, right now are opposing Israel and the Jews. These are harsh and even dangerous times. It is widespread and many times violent. Maybe even stranger, Jews themselves are part of the opposition. Quite often the stories or the narratives contradict. The two or more sides or factions tell clashing stories.
My main point of writing this post is to answer why so much hatred for the Jews and for Israel, What could this be? What causes this? Here it is and not necessarily in this order: The most prevalent reasons, I think, I will present at and toward the end, not the beginning.
Contrasting Theologies
Supercessionism
One, differing and contradictory theological positions cause the hatred. Many Jews don’t participate in the theology that brings the incendiary treatment of them. They don’t believe anything, but it doesn’t make any difference. This as a section could be a very long explanation and discussion, almost an entire book.
I don’t think theology figures the degree of hatred that explains the present reaction to Israel and the Jews. Those who see Israel replaced by the church, called supercessionists, don’t hate Israel because of that usually. They aren’t still blaming the Jews for crucifying Jesus. Some Jews may think this engenders hot passion, but most people, even if they’re supercessionists, don’t care about this. They aren’t going to do what we see happening, just because of this theology. These people haven’t even heard of supercessionism.
Supercessionism could describe a theological position that forms a premise for violent activity against the Jews, but it doesn’t provide the main impetus for hostile activity against them. It can provide a kind of positional justification, but not the reason. I remember getting slapped in the face by a Sophomore, when I was a Freshman in high school, while on a field trip, looking at leaves for Biology class. When I asked him why, he said, “Because I wanted to.” Several reasons contributed to the slap I took from him.
Allegorization
The supercessionist allegorizes scripture. He can twist scripture by not taking it literally. Dozens or hundreds of positions arise from spiritualizing what God’s Words say.
A moderated form of supercessionism exists that supports Israel and the Jews. Those who take the attenuated position will support Israel, despite their Roman Catholic or Protestant ecclesiology. If someone is going to allegorize scripture, then he can take the direction of supporting Israel, despite thinking that God replaced Israel with the church.
Envy
Two, many unbelievers are flat-out envious of the Jews. They see Jews and Israel as a privileged caste. They’re jealous. On average they’re rich and successful by the world’s standard. Jealousy likes people losing what they have. Few to none are jealous of the Palestinians.
Satan’s Hate
Three, Satan hates Israel. This hatred manifests itself in Genesis 3 with the serpent bruising the seed of the woman. Sure, the seed is Jesus, but one cannot separate Jesus from the descendants of the woman and of Abraham. Satan gladly attempts sticking his thumb in God’s eye with the crushing of Israel and the Jews.
End Times
Four, we’re getting closer to the end. Let’s say that the future time when enemy nations surround Israel is December. The rising hatred of nations against the Jews is August. You’ve got to get to August to get to December. I’m not saying actual August and December, but a metaphor, like Thanksgiving coming before Christmas.
God’s Judgment
Five, God will bring more judgment on Israel. This goes back to Daniel 11-12. Israel didn’t want to go back to the land to rebuild the temple and the walls. They felt comfortable staying in captivity Yes, those people cried for the blame for Jesus’ death. The rest of history would give regular chastisement to Israel and the Jews. It would never be easy.
God is working His plan.with Israel to get the nation to the place where the enemies surround them. Now supportive nations like the United States hold back natural and supernatural world rejection of the Jews and Israel. More of that protection disappears, emboldening the opposition.
Woke Philosophy
Six, a woke philosophy dominates the education system. It’s a kind of zero sum game. Israel grabs and gets, and because it does, these other nations starve and diminish. It’s got a racial component to the darker skinned Palestinians. And there is a class warfare piece to it. Israel is upper class, getting favored status.
The idea too is that an international money cabal, led by the Jews, money grubbing and hungry, leaves other people without the privilege. The university types see themselves as with some revelatory enlightenment. They see through the deceit into the Jews. Jewish people join these in this, feeling ashamed to be a Jew. This is the main narrative being pushed to result in the widespread Jew and Israel hating.
A religious component enters from the Palestinian or Hamas, that accompanies the class envy. What they think is a true religion, Islam, Judaism discredits it. Their anger becomes its own self-fulfilling prophecy. And yet it hasn’t worked. Powerful nations try to annihilate the Jews and yet they go down in flames.
God Still Has a Plan for Israel
The Abraham and Davidic Covenants are still intact. They are operational. God still has a plan for Israel. Those who attack Israel do so against a warning from God. These nations haven’t been blessed and won’t, because they won’t accept these promises God made. They should favor God with favor for Israel, even if they don’t like what Israel believes and does.
Israel is not a threat to the world. Overall Israel provides great blessing to the world. I’m not saying Israel is saved. They will be. God will save Israel. In the meantime, we should hope Israel thrives.
My Take on the Complicated World Scene That Includes Ukraine, Russia, and Israel
Division Over Israel
What’s going on in foreign policy in the world is one of the most interesting variations of division that I’ve seen in my lifetime. Positions divide normal allies and unify former enemies. It’s a challenge even in theological circles with diverse interpretations of biblical prophecy. The event of October 7, 2023 with the brutal attack by Hamas on Israel also ratchets up emotions, making it more difficult to discuss.
When someone becomes settled, what I like to call “concrete,” in his position, he might take disagreement personally. Maybe very personally. It’s tough to talk issues when emotions run so high. Maybe you’ve seen various podcasts with arguments between an Israeli and a Palestinian. Heated doesn’t represent how hot the temperature gets. I’ve noticed very often, between school yard taunts and name calls, the same repeated accusations from both sides.
Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, and the Democrat Party
Perhaps you heard about the skirmish now between Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens. The co-founder of Daily Wire called his employee an “absolute disgrace,” caught on video in a private meeting and went viral. She then sits down to comment to Tucker Carlson in an explosive interview. Shapiro has done very angry high energy rants about the expressed position of Carlson. I couldn’t possibly list every prominent ongoing debate, there are so many.
One can witness the variated division between the remaining Republican presidential candidates. A divide also exists among Democrats between university-type leftists, Pro-Palestinian, and traditional Democrat Pro-Israel stances, especially represented by Senator Chuck Schumer and others.
The Animosity Toward Israel
Hatred of Israel across the world validates biblical prophecy. Despite propaganda-like support from Hollywood and in the mainstream media for the Jews and against genocidal treatment, hatred reaches a recent high everywhere. Based on its mere size, Israel would not deserve or receive this animosity, yet it does. Why and how? Two reasons.
One, Satan opposes Israel still. He wants to throw a wrench into the ongoing plan of God in the world. He has strong influence on the easily manipulated lost nations and their leaders. Two, God still fulfills prophecy with chastisement of Israel. Israel does not have a statute of limitations on God’s reprimands. I wish for open eyes for Israel, although I don’t expect it. Yet, God still isn’t done with Israel; hence the continued discipline.
As an example of division, many reading this nod “no” in strong opposition to what I write here. Many both amillennialists and postmillennialists see God done with Israel, replaced by the church. When I say “church,” I mean their version of God’s kingdom on earth, made up of Christendom. They see Israel as an unbelieving, rebellious people, who deserves no special favor against the Arabs in Palestine.
Candace Owens, who professes Christianity, married a Roman Catholic. Maybe she leans that way now. She can find support from Reformed evangelicals with a similar view of the world. You look at the history of Roman Catholicism and even the European Protestant state churches, and you see historical anti-semitism. Tucker Carlson grew up Episcopalian and he seems right now to return to some version of Christian nationalism, as seen in his interviews of foreign Christian nationalists. I see Vladimir Putin himself a kind of Christian nationalist, more interested in the survival of his nation and culture.
Jewish Anger toward Hamas and Palestine
What I’m writing in this post would require book or dissertation level analysis. I’m not going to write that, even though it’s an interest.
I understand Shapiro’s anger. Hamas killed 1,500 Israelites and took 240 hostages. The United States is 33 times the population of Israel and had 3,000 killed on 9-11. That means this is at least fifteen times worse, and it’s almost immeasurable with the way Hamas did it.
Remove the religious and ethnic component, and even as an international incident, if Israel acts like any other nation, it would react more harsh than it even is acting. When I hear Shapiro defend Israel’s reaction, I agree with him. I’ve heard both sides of the argument in all their iterations and I support Israel’s argument. The United States should just let Israel do its thing and not get in the way. I would advocate for U.S. backing and support if international escalation occurred from prominent Israeli enemies like Iran.
Varied Points of View, Yet Still Supporting Israel
Support without Foreign Aid
On the other hand, I like the idea of not sending money to Israel. I’m in the proto-Republican anti-intervention, quasi-isolationist camp. This is more in the realm of a fresh realization of the Monroe doctrine. The United States solidifies its own security and borders, solves its own very serious problems first. It follows the Pauline view of bearing your own burdens before you bear those of others.
As a companion to everything else, I like firming up freedom of speech. Some of this relates to a reaction to January 6 compared to Antifa and BLM riots and the denial of a rigged 2020 election and the denial of 2016 election seen in the Russian Hoax and Hunter Biden laptop. I understand the concerns over any even questioning of Israel policy as anti-semitic. White people in the United States, Israel supporters, have felt left out of the concern over racism from American Jews in comparison with silence over Antifa and BLM. Apparent first amendment supporters should allow free expression of these inconsistencies without pulling an anti-semitism card.
Democrat support of Israel comes with obvious strings attached. American money brings American supervision or control. When America attacked Iraq after 911, relatively little criticism came for collateral damage, death of innocent civilians. This is the cost of war for American retaliation. Hamas uses children as human shields and Israel must pause its offensive, perhaps leaving Hamas intact. The United States should consider not sending monetary support and just allowing Israel free reign on its own security. American Democrat politics affect Israeli security, bouncing Israel around like a political volleyball.
Hatred from Jews for their Own Supporters
It is tough to bridge historical support of Israel with the typical woke politics among Jews in the United States and Israel. Almost 50% of Jews in Israel self-identify as secular. They support same sex marriage and other forms of moral perversion, not operating according to objective truth. 62 percent of the 7.6 million Jews in the United States are secular. 79% voted Democrat in the 2018 midterm elections.
Pew Research did a study on American Jews in 2020 and 81 percent of Orthodox Jews supported Trump. On the other hand, the same study said 73% of all Jews opposed Trump. This describes the difference between a secular and religious Jew in the United States. Recently, secular Jew Barbara Streisand complained that she would not live in the United States if Donald Trump became president again. She would move to England — you know, the place where 300,000 pro-Hamas protestors recently gathered on the streets of London against Israel.
Shapiro himself sometimes plays, I believe, to the secular Jew. Perhaps a form of self-preservation innate from hundreds of years of persecution explains. As a professing Orthodox Jew, attaching himself to the Old Testament in a prominent way, he uses profane language and tells dirty jokes in public. Then when an Owens or Tucker, whom I would see as supporters of Israel, albeit in a lesser way, he reacts in a ballistic manner. When questioned on Trump in a secular crowd, he throws Trump under the bus in a harsher way than he would George Soros or Bill Maher.
Support of Israel and Milquetoast Response
Part of the Abrahamic Covenant, which is still intact, is that God promised He would bless people that bless Israel. Among other reasons, that explains a strong support of Israel in the United States, including welcoming those 7.6 million Jews in the United States. A majority of those Jews have been sharply antagonistic with their chief supporters, many expressing intense hatred for them. This communicates the peculiar situation this issue provides. You can greatly dislike the Jewish worldview while really loving and bestowing support for Jews and Israel.
No group provides as sharp and hateful rhetoric toward Christians in the United States like Jews do. Israel’s protection in the Middle East greatly depends on this group of people mainly hated by Jews in the United States. In a personal way, I’ve received no greater disrespect than I have from Jews and on many different occasions. I’ve never treated a Jew in a bad way, always in a loving way. A small percentage of the Jews I’ve known return that favor. Of course, they might explain that they don’t like the reason why we love them so much.
Many forms of contradiction occur over the issue of Israel and Palestine. A Jew easily can confuse a Catholic from a Protestant from an Evangelical. Even on this blog, in the comment section some attack Israel for Christian reasons while we defend Israel for Christian reasons. They both can’t be right, yet they both exist.
More to Come
What In a Salvation Presentation Is the Chief Factor Toward Someone’s Conversion?
The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky in his Complete Letters (1868-1871) wrote:
If someone proved to me that Christ is outside the truth and that in reality the truth were outside of Christ, then I should prefer to remain with Christ rather than with the truth.
Just know that if you remain with Christ, you also remain with the truth. Jesus said, “I am the truth” (John 14:6). That quote though makes it sound like something other than the truth is the main factor leading to saving faith. Others might echo the sentiment of Dostoyevsky, especially when one considers their methodology.
Three Categories
I will divide into three categories of argument or evidence for or vindication of the gospel message unto salvation. This answers, why should I believe the gospel?
Listening to professing conversion testimonies through my whole life, I heard different reasons for someone receiving the gospel. When I listen to apologists talk alone or in conversations with skeptics, I have heard them give varied reasons people will receive the gospel. People state epistemic, moral, and aesthetic arguments, evidence, or vindication. Thought leaders express these three, ranking them for their impact. People include them in their testimonies or salvation stories.
Epistemic
An epistemic presentation or epistemic preaching gives knowledge or information, makes intellectual arguments, trying to persuade the mind of a skeptic or lost person. This would include exegesis of scripture, using the Bible for elucidation of and authority for truth. It connects everything to history and will even show the compatibility of the scriptural account with history, science, archaeology, everything in the real world.
Moral
A moral presentation or preaching relies on the goodness of someone in the life of the skeptic or lost person. The moral quality of a friend, acquaintance, co-worker, or family member impacts him or her to the degree that they acquiesce to that influence. A person with a wrecked life sees this as the only way out. Maybe he sees it as the path away from drugs, obesity, alcohol or other harmful addictions. Perhaps he witnesses the quality and diligence of the efforts of a co-worker, making a moral impression upon him.
Aesthetic
An aesthetic presentation or preaching relies on the beauty or emotional effects of a personal testimony, a moving story, a fearful threat or warning, or just well-told, expressive anecdotes. It also may be the feeling of community or comradery of a group of individuals, how they get along, show friendship and solidarity, and experience satisfaction in all that.
Compelling Argument
Skeptics
Many skeptics would say that Christianity or the Bible doesn’t present compelling epistemic argument to persuade them. It does not provide enough knowledge to give up their present life to follow Jesus Christ. It is harder to believe that a man rose from the dead than to believe that men lied and said he rose from the dead, when he really didn’t. Even if they don’t possess great reasons for not believing the gospel account, they don’t have enough good ones either.
I heard one skeptic, still a skeptic though, report a frightening dream. He was on an airplane. The plane was crashing and in a semi-conscious state, he prayed to God for deliverance. When he woke up, it shook him. In his heart of hearts, despite his skepticism, he acknowledged the innate instinct or impulse to look to God for salvation.
Dostoyevsky
The profession of Dostoyevsky relates to either a moral or aesthetic urge or compulsion. Online Britannica gives some context to his quote that began this article:
In 1847 Dostoyevsky began to participate in the Petrashevsky Circle, a group of intellectuals who discussed utopian socialism. He eventually joined a related, secret group devoted to revolution and illegal propaganda. It appears that Dostoyevsky did not sympathize (as others did) with egalitarian communism and terrorism but was motivated by his strong disapproval of serfdom. On April 23, 1849, he and the other members of the Petrashevsky Circle were arrested.
Dostoyevsky spent eight months in prison until, on December 22, the prisoners were led without warning to the Semyonovsky Square. There a sentence of death by firing squad was pronounced, last rites were offered, and three prisoners were led out to be shot first. At the last possible moment, the guns were lowered and a messenger arrived with the information that the tsar had deigned to spare their lives. The mock-execution ceremony was in fact part of the punishment. One of the prisoners went permanently insane on the spot; another went on to write Crime and Punishment.
Dostoyevsky passed several minutes in the full conviction that he was about to die, and in his novels characters repeatedly imagine the state of mind of a man approaching execution. The hero of The Idiot, Prince Myshkin, offers several extended descriptions of this sort, which readers knew carried special authority because the author of the novel had gone through the terrible experience. The mock execution led Dostoyevsky to appreciate the very process of life as an incomparable gift and, in contrast to the prevailing determinist and materialist thinking of the intelligentsia, to value freedom, integrity, and individual responsibility all the more strongly.
1 Corinthians 1: Greek External Evidence and Jewish Experiences
I expressed here in other articles that men offer their reasons for not believing for which Paul accounts in 1 Corinthians 1. He says, Greeks seek after wisdom, Jews seek after signs. You could say that Greeks want intellectual arguments, something akin to their arguments in the Greek city states. They want external evidence.
Jews seek after signs. They tended in that day toward wanting further experiential proof. Something needed to move them in a personal way to prove reality. Even after the ten plagues in Egypt, most of the Jews still balked at listening to Moses and following what He said, that God told him to say. Scripture indicates that experience is not a basis of faith.
Faith Comes By Hearing the Word of God
The Bible provides the authority for what men need for salvation. In a simple way, it’s Romans 10:17: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” God will use the testimony of others, what they say and do. He might use a bad dream, smiting someone in his inner consciousness. God moves people with overwhelming beauty.
Hebrews 11:6 says that a person requires believing that God is a rewarder. Along these lines, Romans 2:4 says the goodness of God leads someone to repentance. Someone won’t receive Christ unless he thinks he’s better off with Christ as the Captain of his life.
Scripture does more than an epistemic presentation or preaching. It targets the mind, no doubt, but it reaches further than that. It affects the rebellion of a person in His will. Romans 1 says men know God (Rom 1:19). They suppress the truth though (1:18, hold the truth in unrighteousness). Their perverse natures rebel.
I believe scripture indicates in many places that the rebellion relates to human will or pride. People want their own way. They will choose their own way against their own self-interest. Men make choices that doom them, which they make so that they can stay in charge.
The Reach of Scripture
Jesus starts the sermon on the mount with, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). A person must understand his own spiritual poverty, that he is not the master of his own fate. He can’t even get what he really wants on his own. He doesn’t have anything to get there. That humility doesn’t just occur. God works in a person through His Word.
When Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word of God is powerful to divide soul and spirit, that goes further than the mind. The soul includes emotion and will. God works in an epistemic, moral, and aesthetic way, all three. However, it must start with the mind. Someone must believe the gospel is true. God sanctifies through the truth.
Even with the moving of personal testimony and some stirring of emotions, everyone must receive the truth, which starts with the mind. For a person to believe, he must understand the gospel. More occurs through the gospel than just the intellectual, but that must occur.
Today I see the emotional or experiential calls for salvation as the biggest problem in evangelicalism. Evangelicals think more about what people will like or how they feel. They do not want to tell the whole truth, because people won’t like it. God saves people through the truth, not by leaving out the hard parts. Jesus never did that. Let’s do what Jesus did and then all of His apostles.
Cohesion
Agreement
The moral and the aesthetic must agree with the epistemic, but salvation centers on the epistemic. All the events of the gospel happened. Jesus is Savior. He is Lord. It doesn’t matter how you feel about it.
Moral and aesthetic presentation must cohere with the truth. You cannot separate truth from goodness and beauty. People get their view of God very often if not the most often from the aesthetic. If the aesthetic contradicts the epistemic, someone will get the wrong God. He will imagine a different God than presented by scripture. This keeps him from salvation. Even if he receives this god, it isn’t God.
Effect
A good moral example alone doesn’t save someone, but a bad one can hinder or repel salvation though. This includes a lascivious lifestyle presented as a product of the grace of God. Furthermore, regarding aesthetics, someone gets a wrong understanding of God from false worship music. He associates God with lust and worldliness. The right music doesn’t save, but wrong music, false worship, hinders or repels salvation.
The moral and aesthetic are important, but we must focus on the epistemic. Give the whole plan of salvation. Target the understanding. Don’t attempt to persuade with emotions and experiences. Use your stories to illuminate the truth to persuade in the mind. Scripture and the Holy Spirit will take care of the rest.
Why Do Jews Get Special Favor from True Christians?
Based on what’s committed against the United States and people’s talk about Islamophobia, one might think Moslems would receive more crimes against them for their religion. They don’t. The FBI reports 227 Moslem victims in its last report in 2019 and 1,032 Jewish victims. Jews themselves also know that antisemitism grows rapidly.
For most of my life (born 1962), evangelical Christians were a very reliable ally of Jewish people and especially Israel. Yet, by far I hear and read among evangelicals more anti-Jewish language and writing than I’ve ever heard. I did not grow up around Jewish people and don’t ever remember even meeting a Jew until I was in college, but I still heard on a very regular basis, “The Jews are God’s chosen people.” I thought that too.
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