Exactly how many is hard to estimate. Mordechai Inbari, a professor of religion at the University of North Carolina, Pembroke, found of the estimated 80 million U.S. evangelicals, between 50% to 70% support Israel.
By contrast, there are close to 8 million Jews in the U.S. Those Jews tend to be far more liberal and vote Democratic. Far-left U.S. Jews have been among the most passionate critics of the war in Gaza, calling for a cease-fire in petitions and protests.
Christian support for Israel has often been rooted in beliefs about the end times. For some evangelicals, the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and its ability to capture the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Six-Day War, reinforced the belief that Israel is the culmination of prophecies recorded in the Bible and may presage the second coming of Jesus.
However, that belief seems to hold less sway in the current conflict than larger claims about God’s promises to Israel.
“The most common argument right now would be that God made a covenant with Abraham and his offspring and this is why they need to support Israel,” said Inbari, the co-author with Kirill Bumin of “Christian Zionism in the Twenty-First Century.”
During NRB, several speakers cited a passage from the Book of Genesis where God tells Abraham, one of the patriarchs of Israel, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.” A similar claim is found in the Book of Numbers.
But younger evangelicals are more skeptical about ties to Israel and have become more supportive of Palestinians. In three waves of a survey that examined evangelical views of Israel, Inbari and Bumin found that among evangelicals aged 19-29, support for Israel dropped by more than half, from a high of 69% in 2018 to 29% in July 2021.
With declining evangelical support among young evangelicals and growing global condemnation of Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza, where the death toll is reported to be approaching 30,000, Israeli leaders are working to strengthen evangelicals’ advocacy for their country.
“Firming up support for Israel among the evangelical community is really essential, and (Israeli leaders) see that as playing a key role in maintaining U.S. government support for Israel,” Waxman said.
Laurie Cardoza-Moore, a longtime activist for Israel based near Nashville and founder of the pro-Israel group Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, spent last week interviewing survivors of the Hamas attacks and other Israelis for her “Focus on Israel” podcast and connecting with supporters at a booth in NRB’s massive exhibit hall.
The images from the Oct. 7 attack were shocking, said Cardoza-Moore. But the stories of survivors bring the attack closer to home.
“When you meet the people and you hear the stories — that’s what changes people’s hearts,” she said.
