Weekly Update: Our obsession with “saving Israel in spite of herself”

In a recent column in Jerusalem Post David M. Weinberg argues that the foreign policy elite installed by the new Biden Administration seems likely to revert to the Obama Administration policies of seeking rapprochement with Iran and the PLO, and putting pressure on Israel to make concessions.

This mindset was not unique to the Obama era, it is not limited to Washington, and it is also not limited to those on the political left or right. In Europe, it has been the dominant view for decades, as reflected in EU policy dictated by Brussels. It is a mindset that clashes with the realities of the Middle East. In fact, it comes not from a realistic analysis of what the conflict is all about, or what is required to solve it. Rather, it has something to do with our own “Western” need to impose our sense of right and wrong on a “morally fallen Israel”.

Referring to several recent essays, Weinberg argues that it stems from a deep-seated moral compulsion to “save Israel despite herself”. It is the fruit of centuries of Western Christian replacement theology, and it sits deeply in our Western psyche.

The festival of Purim, which will be celebrated next week, reminds us of the harsh reality that the existence of the Jewish people as a nation should never be taken for granted. The spirit of anti-Semitism is, sadly, still very much present in the Middle East.

The Editorial team
Israel & Christians Today