Israel taking risk embracing support of Evangelists - scholars
Historians to policymakers: You need to think about Zionism and the State of Israel, not only the Evangelical help
By ILANIT CHERNICKA panel discussion on Brazil, Israel and USA International Relations during a conference at Haifa University.(photo credit: ILANIT CHERNICK)
“This [Israeli] government is using the [support of the] rising Evangelical movement of the world in a way that is destroying local Jewish communities and splitting them, using the far Right of the Jewish communities and destroying the very idea of the Jewish people as a global people,” according to Marcos Silber of the University of Haifa’s Jewish History Department.He made the comments to The Jerusalem Post during a three-day Politics and Religion in Brazil and the Americas conference held at the university. It highlighted the importance of understanding the role of the Evangelical Church in Brazil and the Americas and its relationship to Judaism, Israel and Zionism.Silber organized the conference together with Michel Gherman of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.Panelists examined the history of Evangelical Christianity and relations between the movement in Brazil, the United States and Israel.“The Evangelical community could be used as political support, but it’s very, very risky,” Silber said. “On the one hand, we are gaining some support, and we are receiving votes in the United Nations. But on the other hand, we are losing even the essence of this state as being Jewish.”Creating a partnership between ultra-Orthodox Jews in the Diaspora and Evangelical Christians “is very dangerous,” he said.“In this way, it is creating another kind of Judaism that is completely different,” Silber said. “It is completely detached from the Diaspora, as they exist today.”Gherman said: “It’s an illusion if we think we’re talking about Brazil here. We are talking about Jewish people. We are talking about Israel, and we are talking about Zionism. We are talking about these dangers that Marcos [Silber] just said… We are seeing a situation where the Evangelical people seem to be more important to a specific type of Zionism than the Jewish people.”In Brazil and the US, Silber said, “we are seeing a wave where Evangelism is growing. But I’m not sure the next government will be Evangelist in this way” and continue to be united with Israel.”“The problem is what we are destroying now,” he said. “It will be very hard to reconstruct and rebuild.”Gherman said the growth of Evangelical Christianity could trigger an antisemitic backlash.“Every time you talk about [US President Donald] Trump, there is an after Trump,” he said. “We’re not talking about if it’s going to be good for the Jews. We’re talking about if it’s going to be good for the Jews [in general] there [in the Diaspora], not here.”Silber said this situation was a tragedy and placed blame on the Israeli government.Silber and Gherman believe dividing the Jewish people and the Jewish community is anti-Zionist.“By using the Zionist rhetoric, they are destroying Zionism” they said in a press release. “Using the rhetoric of Jewishness of the Jewish state, they are destroying the essence of the Jewish state.”According to Gherman, what inspired them to put the conference together was seeing the effect the rising Evangelical movement was having on Israel and Zionism.“It’s not so researched,” the press release said. “It’s sort of a terra incognita, and we came here together with some elite scholars from around the world to discuss this point. This is the very first conference about this in the world.”They said people were enthusiastic about this subject but unable to accept all the proposals.“We were expecting to receive two or three papers, but we got 73,” Gherman said.Silber said: “We are putting this on the table, and the policy makers are the ones who have to make a decision about what to do next. I am very skeptical that our leadership will take this seriously and not just see it as a tool to get more votes in the UN or a few more dollars.”Gherman said he met with members of some of the country’s political parties last week, and they were beginning to understand that “something is happening – and not in a good way.”Silber said they are putting “our data and our analysis on the table, and we are trying to share it with the broader public and policy makers.”As historians, “we in a decade will give our opinion on their decision,” he said.“You need to think about Zionism and the State of Israel, not only the Evangelical help… You need to think about the risks and this idea of adopting these kinds of streams without having second thoughts,” they said in the press release.
