By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
The increasing commitment of evangelical Christians to the State of Israel, including the emergence of a Christian Zionist movement, has probably done more than anything else in recent years to strengthen the bond between the United States and the Jewish state. The phenomenon was exemplified by George W. Bush, one of the most overtly evangelical presidents in memory and arguably the most pro-Israel.
Indeed, despite American Jews' overwhelming support for the Democratic Party, outspoken support for Israel is more and more becoming the province of the GOP as the issue becomes ever more important to the party's evangelical base. Outspoken criticism of the Jewish state, meanwhile, increasingly emanates from the Democrats' left-wing base.
Which is why Vice President Joe Biden's address yesterday to the annual convention of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was so curious.
While it predictably included professions of the Obama administration's unyielding commitment to Israel—Democratic politicians, unlike many in the party's base, tend to be solidly pro-Israel—it also was sprinkled with allusions to Biden's own Christianity and to the bond between American Christians and Israeli Jews. It sounded as if the vice president were trying to break the GOP lock on the evangelical-Israel alliance, sometimes speaking in "Christianese."
Check out these lines from Biden's speech, and tell me if I'm imagining things:
l The bond between Israel and the United States was forged by a shared interest in peace and security; by shared values and to respect all faiths and for all faiths and for all people; by deep ties evidenced here today among our citizens, both Christian and Jew; and a common, unyielding commitment to democracy.
l I went to a Catholic grade school. When you got in trouble, the nuns would make you—I'd say, but, sister—and they'd make you write on the board a hundred times after school: The road to hell is paved with good intentions. All the good intentions of the last decade have not resulted in a more secure, more stable Middle East; a more secure, more stable Israel; a more secure, more stable United States.
l My commitment, though, to Israel did not begin with the friendships that I share on this stage. As the friends on this stage know, and some of you have heard me say, my commitment began at my father's dinner table. My father was what you'd refer to as a righteous Christian.
l There's an old expression . . . and it relates to Christianity. G. K. Chesterton once said, "It's not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting; it's been found difficult and left untried." Well, the truth of the matter is, the fact that peace has not occurred [in the Middle East] does not mean peace cannot occur.
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