On social media and in interviews, anti-Zionists decried Evangelical support for Israel as insincere. They argued that for many such Christians, support for Israel hinges on views of a reconstituted Israel as instrumental in bringing about an apocalyptic final battle, and does not stem from any great love for Jews as such. The same anti-Zionists, meanwhile, ally with acolytes of Louis Farrakhan, while insisting they have Jews' best interests at heart.
"It's all about sparking Armageddon," insisted Rafael Shimunov, a New York activist. "Those Evangelicals don't actually like Jews or want to protect them. I don't know why Zionists think the support they get from Evangelicals is offered in good faith. Those Christians have an agenda, and it isn't a Jewish one. It's not like our allies in the pro-Palestine movement, who are sincerely concerned for human rights for everyone. Their love for Jews is genuine. The fact that Jews somehow never end up deserving the same rights as anyone else is all the Zionists' fault, really."
A minority of Evangelical Christian Zionists in the US do cite eschatological motives for their support of Israel. The statistics fall short, however, of demonstrating that Armageddon animates the Zionism of anywhere near a majority of the demographic. The dominant rhetoric in Evangelical circles regarding Israel invokes the brotherhood that they feel for Jews, the values they see upheld by the Jewish nation-state, and, in many cases, sympathy for many generations of Jewish suffering under Christian rule.
Palestine activism, on the other hand, offers its constituents the moral purity and consistency of deeming the civil rights and safety of Jews contingent on not conflicting with anyone else's desires. No hidden agenda lurks behind the activism; Palestinian leaders and their allies in the West make little effort to disguise their genocidal ambitions, even if they make the occasional rhetorical nod toward universal human rights, for which Jews somehow never qualify.
At press time, Mr. Shimunov had yet to respond to an inquiry as to whether he believed Armageddon will happen, which could explain any rational hesitation about accepting Evangelical support, or did not believe, in which case he was invited to explain why it matters at all.
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