New from Pew: Israel in our Sights

In keeping with Tuesday's post, here's another breaking report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Senior Editor Robert Ruby anticipates the 40-year anniversary of the six-day war next week with forty years of statistics about Israel.

Or at least, America's opinions about Israel. Not surprisingly, Americans have consistently supported Israelis over the Palestinians, with minor fluctuations, for as long as the organization has been keeping statistics. Here's a sweet graphic for you:



Notice that it starts in 1967 with 4 percent of Americans supporting the Palestinians and 45 percent supporting Israel. The only time the opinion field comes close to evening out is in 1982 with the invasion of Lebanon.

America is nearly alone in this unwavering support, according to the report. In Europe, only Germany comes close to the same enthusiasm, and in some European countries (Great Britain, Spain) sympathy falls squarely with the Palestinians (in France the vote was tied).

Why? Of course America is home to the largest population of Jewish people outside of Israel. But Ruby doesn't see that as significant - only 2% of Americans identify as Jewish. However,

... support for Israel is especially high among white evangelical Protestants. They are also more likely than other Americans to identify their religious beliefs as the single largest influence in their support. In addition, substantial majorities of white evangelicals believe that Israel was given by God to the Jews (69%) and that Israel helps fulfill the New Testament prophecy of the second coming (59%). That greater support for Israel is also true of Hispanic evangelicals, compared with Hispanic Catholics and secular Hispanics.

Ah, the complicated alliance between evangelicals and the state of Israel.

In case you missed it, the NY Times did a piece last November following this complicated pas de deux during the last invasion of Lebanon (Israel 52%, Palestine 11%). "Many conservative Christians say they believe that the president’s support for Israel fulfills a biblical injunction to protect the Jewish state, which some of them think will play a pivotal role in the second coming."

For more on the endtimes prophecies, Timothy Weber wrote a book in 2004 called On the Road to Armageddon. Take a look at his story in Beliefnet for the highlights.