Q&A: For every 1 Jewish Zionist, there are 30 Christian Zionists, and Netanyahu exploits this | TRT World |

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been using biblical references in his speeches while he continues his relentless bombing campaign in Gaza. Why is he using such references in his war rhetoric?

STEPHEN SIZER: Well, Benjamin Netanyahu knows that he depends heavily on the United States to veto any UN resolutions critical of Israel's behaviour. And he needs US military support to counter any threat from Syria or Lebanon. Egypt, you may know, is the second largest recipient of US aid after Israel. The stick is used against Palestinians, against the Lebanese, against the Syrians. The carrot is used in Jordan to placate the Jordanian regime and in Egypt to keep them compliant with a US-Israel policy of continuing to colonise Palestinian territories, subjugate the people and as we're seeing in Gaza, commit genocide and, as we anticipate, force the majority of Palestinians in Gaza into Egypt, another Nakba. So he's using the scriptures to resonate with his Christian Zionist supporters in the US.

What is Christian Zionism and is it different from the Zionist movement that was created by Theodor Herzl in the late 19th century?

STEPHEN SIZER: Christian Zionism is actually the dominant form of Zionism. It has been since before the Zionist movement emerged in the 1870s, 1880s - there were Christians calling for the restoration of the Jews to Palestine from the 1820s, 1830s and the Balfour Declaration with the demise of the Ottoman Empire that Britain's entry, if you like, into the Middle East having defeated the French was to colonise Palestine. And he saw the role of the Jews as serving the best interests of the British Empire. Christian Zionism predates Jewish Zionism by at least 50 years and today dominates the Zionist movement at least 10 to 1, probably nearer 20, 30 to 1. For every Jewish Zionist, there are 20 or 30 Christian Zionists and therefore Netanyahu knows he needs the Christian, particularly the Christian right in America, Canada, Sweden, Holland and in much of Europe in order to maintain his position and to continue the expansion of the Zionist agenda in Palestine.

So Netanyahu's use of these biblical references resonates with the Christian Zionist base in the United States and Europe?

SS: Yeah, he's quoting scripture. It doesn't mean anything to his Jewish constituents, but it does to those who believe the Bible is coming true. Christian Zionism - it predicated on the idea that the Jews are God's chosen people. They've been returned to the land in fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies that the Messiah is going to return soon. But there will be a war, a final war, an Armageddon, and it will be pitting Israel and its allies against the Arab world, against the communists, against those who have a different worldview to that of Israel.

When Netanyahu uses terms like the Amalek regarded as the staunch enemies of the Biblical Israelites, is he ascribing that term to the Palestinian Arabs?

STEPHEN SIZER: Yes, he is. The other one that's used quite a lot is the Philistines. The Philistines were the traditional enemies of the Jews or the Israelites. And so they are painted as the bad guys. The Samaritans again were the bad guys in Israelite history. And so it's no surprise the Samaritans today, those on the West Bank fulfil that negative role. So the Amalekites and the other Arab tribes that populated the coastal plain into which the 12 tribes of Israel were seeking to settle are seen as the enemy. So it's an easy, superficial, simplistic way. It's a kind of a dualism, Manichean worldview, the good guys and the bad guys, we are the good guys, God is on our side. And the bad guys are whoever we want to take out. So it's convenient in the genocide that's taking place, the ethnic cleansing in Gaza to demonise the Palestinians as either they're all Hamas or they are the embodiment of the traditional enemies of the Jewish people in history.

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