KELLER, Texas — Theology that equates the modern state of Israel with the Israel of biblical prophecy has caused some evangelical Christians to let eschatology trump ethics when it comes to the Middle East, a Palestinian-American Christian told a recent interfaith gathering at a Texas Baptist church.
Speaking at the Global Faith Forum at NorthWood Church, Keller, Texas, Henry Mikhail rejected the notion that support for the Palestinian people makes a person anti-Israel.
“What I am against — and what most Palestinian evangelical Arabs are against — is not Israel itself, but unjust and oppressive Israeli policies,” he said.
The Jerusalem-born Arab now serves on a peace-and-justice work group of the Reformed Church of America’s General Synod Council.
Belief that God has a prophetic role for the modern nation of Israel has caused some evangelicals to turn a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians, Mikhail said.
“Because of American evangelicals’ embrace of the current state as the Israel of prophecy, they have supported policies that are harsh and oppressive — even against Christians, which is very ironic,” he said.
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