Following is an informal translation of an article originally written in Arabic. The original version can be read here.

By: Dimitri Deliani– President of the National Christian Gathering in the Holy Land

When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, he clearly stated: “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36), declaring a complete break between his spiritual mission and any political project on earth. These words are the cornerstone that separates religious faith from political projects that seek to exploit religion as a cover to justify hegemony. However, what is known today as Christian Zionism seeks to do the exact opposite, turning theology into a political tool and employing it in the service of Israel’s colonialist settler project, ignoring the teachings of Jesus Christ and the spirit of the Gospel.

The roots of Christian Zionism are rooted in the transformations of European religious thought since the 16th century, when the Protestant reforms coincided with the rise of new interpretations of biblical texts. With the disintegration of traditional papal authority, a number of interpreters began to reread the Bible from a literalist perspective, influenced by Old Testament texts that speak of a “chosen people” and a “promised land.” This literal interpretation, coupled with the geopolitical conflicts of the time, gave rise to ideas of “sending the Jews” to Palestine as a condition for the fulfillment of biblical prophecies according to their skewed interpretations.

By the nineteenth century, these ideas crystallized in Britain and America into religious movements that were both missionary and colonialist in nature. Among the most prominent theorists of this current was Lord Shaftesbury in England, who considered the “return” of the Jews to Palestine a theological and strategic necessity to strengthen British influence in the Middle East. By the beginning of the twentieth century, this religious ideology merged with British colonial interests, culminating in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which gave the political dimension of Christian Zionism an unprecedented momentum.

Since its inception, Christian Zionism has been based on the idea that the rebuilding of the Third Temple in Jerusalem is a condition for the return of Jesus Christ and his second coming. However, traditional Christian theology, as it has crystallized over the centuries, emphasizes that Christ himself is the new temple and has eliminated the need for any physical construction. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19), explaining that the true temple is not silent stones, but the incarnation of the Lord in man. Therefore, any attempt to rebuild a physical temple is not only a departure from Christian doctrine and a denial of the Gospel, but also an attempt to use religion for political projects that have nothing to do with the Christian spiritual message.

Moreover, the traditional Christian understanding of salvation is not tied to a specific geography, but rather transcends national and ethnic boundaries. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, we find a clear affirmation of this principle: “There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28). This means that the idea of a “chosen people” has a symbolic meaning in Christianity, not a racial mandate that gives one group of people the right to dominate others.

Today, Christian Zionism is one of the main drivers of the West’s unconditional support for Israel’s colonial settlement project on the land of Palestine. Since the mid-20th century, evangelical groups in the United States have played a key role in promoting the idea that the establishment of the Israeli occupation state in 1948 is a “fulfillment of biblical prophecy” and that supporting it is therefore a religious duty. This trend has become more extreme in recent decades, no longer limited to supporting the Israeli occupation state, but extending to supporting policies of settlement expansion, demolishing our homes, displacing us, and even justifying the mass slaughter and genocide committed by the occupation state in Gaza, Jerusalem, and the rest of the occupied West Bank.

Today, the most extremist political leaders in the Israeli occupation state, such as recognized fascist Bezalel Smotrich and convicted terrorist Itamar Ben-Gvir, enjoy unlimited support from Christian Zionist movements in the United States, who see Israel’s colonial settlement as a step towards the fulfillment of their alleged prophecies. Some evangelical Zionist leaders do not hesitate to consider the massacres committed by the Israeli occupation state in Gaza as a “divine will.” !!!! This discourse is in complete contradiction to the teachings of Jesus Christ, who clearly said: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9).

The attempt to portray the conflict in Jerusalem and the rest of occupied Palestine as a religious conflict between Jews, supported by Christians who support the Israeli occupation state, and Muslims who are hostile to it, is a misleading simplification of the reality. The truth is that what is taking place is a colonial and settler colonial project that has been going on for more than a century, aimed at uprooting the Palestinian people, with all its components, from their land and imposing a new demographic reality that serves the Israeli occupation state’s expansionist agenda. Occupied Jerusalem, which is intended to be the “eternal capital of Israel,” is the center of a long-term plan to completely Judaize it by confiscating land, demolishing homes, and expelling the original Palestinian Christian and Muslim inhabitants.

Christianity does not espouse racial or religious superiority, nor does it justify injustice in the name of religious prophecy. If there is a moral lesson to be drawn from the Gospel, it is that standing with the oppressed is an indisputable moral obligation. Christ did not come to establish a political kingdom, nor did he need a “temple of stone” to be his temple. The attempt to drag Christianity into a settler-colonialist project is not only a perversion of Christ’s teachings, but also a distortion of the reality of the conflict imposed by the Zionist project in Palestine.

Christian Zionism is a political perversion of Christianity that exploits religious texts to legitimize settlement and violence. Those who espouse this criminal and perverted path serve a colonialist political project that has nothing to do with spirituality. Palestine, which witnessed the birth of Christ, remains today a witness to a conflict between those who call for justice and peace and those who adopt an ideological perversion that seeks to justify domination, oppression, massacres, and ethnic cleansing.

Anyone who believes in Christian values must ask themselves: Can a project based on occupation, extermination and ethnic cleansing be part of a divine vision? Or is Christian Zionism just another attempt to use religion as a weapon in the game of politics?

The writer is a Jerusalem activist and head of the National Christian Forum in the Holy Land