Several Christian Zionist organizations and congregations report increased support after the terrorist attack on 7 October, according to a survey carried out by the newspaper Our country.
One of them is the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (IKAJ), which states that it received 17 million in gift income last year, an increase of 600,000 from the previous year.
– A sign of growing support for friends of Israel like us, says general manager Dag Øyvind Juliussen of IKAJ to NRK.
– There are no other states in the world that have a greater legal right to Gaza than Israel, says the head of IKAJ Norway, Dag Øyvind Juliussen.
Photo: IKAJ
IKAJ is an international Christian Zionist organization that was founded in 1980 after many countries moved their embassies from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. They also help Jews from other parts of the world move to Israel.
– We help finance and help Jewish immigrants who move to Israel from various parts of the world.
He says that together with the other offices, they have worked to help over 170,000 Jews move to Israel since 1980.
According to Torkel Brekke, professor of religious history, Christian Zionism is a specific interpretation of the Bible in which the creation of the state of Israel is part of God’s plan.
Many Christian Zionists believe that the formation of the state of Israel is a prerequisite for Jesus’ return, which can only happen when the Jews have gathered in the Holy Land and been converted to Christianity.
Many Christian Zionists are therefore engaged in the work to gather the world’s Jews in Israel, in order to hasten the return of Jesus.
According to Ordet og Israel, the Christian movement now has more than 5,000 members.
Graphics: The Word and Israel
IKAJ leader Juliussen says that they now have more than 10,000 members in Norway alone.
It is not just IKAJ that is experiencing growth as a result of the terrorist attack on 7 October. The Christian movement Ordet og Israel also reports more support recently. They work to change Christians’ view of Israel and have several projects that help Jews in the area.
Gordon Tobiassen is a preacher in Ordet og Israel. He believes that the Bible says that these are areas God has given to the Jews.
Photo: PRIVATE
– The Christians in Norway have realized that they have to step in, says preacher Gordon Tobiassen in Ordet og Israel, about why they have gained more members recently.
That these organizations now receive more support worries the Church of Norway.
Warns against Christian Zionism
The Norwegian Church warns against Christian Zionism, which they believe legitimizes that the Palestinians are deprived of their rights by interpreting the Bible in a certain way.
ERETZ ISRAEL: Many Christian Zionists believe that the Bible has promised the areas marked in red on the map to the Israelites.
Photo: NRK
Christian Zionists are convinced that Israel was given to the Jews by God, and that the real Israel includes everything from the Nile in Egypt to the Euphrates in Iraq.
Many of them therefore do not believe that Gaza and the West Bank are occupied, and that Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory are not a violation of international law, as the UN and Norwegian authorities believe.
Today, almost 700,000 illegal Jewish settlers live in these areas.
Increasing support for Christian Zionist organizations worries Einar Tjelle, international director of The Christian Church.
Photo: The Church Council
– The promises in the Old Testament concerning the Jewish people and the land cannot be used to justify the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes. International law and human rights must be the basis, says Einar Tjelle, international director of the Church of Norway.
He says that these organizations stand for opinions that the Church of Norway strongly distances itself from.
– Christian Zionism is a distinctive form of support for Israel which we believe is morally reprehensible, says Tjelle.
A Palestinian man smokes a hookah. In the background you can see the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, built in the occupied West Bank.
Photo: HAZEM BADER / AFP
He believes that these organizations contribute to an increased level of conflict and greater distance between the parties in the conflict.
He further says that Christian Zionists do not contribute constructively to a peace process, but make peace even more unattainable with their support for illegal settlements in the West Bank.
Press in the Norwegian Church Olav Fykse Tveit speaks during the commemoration The Norwegian Church and several organizations organized in front of the Storting in October last year, where they asked for an immediate halt to the killing of civilians in Israel and Gaza.
Photo: Frederik Ringnes / NTB
Disagree with the criticism
Both IKAJ and Ordet og Israel are critical of the Church of Norway’s position on the conflict in the Middle East. The Norwegian Church has also been one of the co-organizers behind several of the Gaza demonstrations.
Tobiassen in Ordet og Israel thinks this is regrettable.
– The Norwegian Church should be more nuanced when it comes to the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The Norwegian church is wrong with its criticism of Israel, he says.
Tobiassen says that love for the Jewish people should come naturally to Christians.
– I think it is sad that the bishops and priests who read the Bible do not want to acknowledge that the Bible is a Jewish book and that Jesus was born in this country to a Jewish woman.
Tobiassen says that he himself has visited Israel more than 70 times during his life.
Photo: PRIVATE
– Gaza and the West Bank belong to the Jews
Both Juliussen and Tobiassen say that they sympathize with Palestinians and are concerned about the situation in the Gaza Strip.
At the same time, they believe that Gaza and the West Bank, which are part of historical Israel, belong to the Jews – according to their interpretation of the Bible.
– According to the Bible, Judea and Samaria are the biblical core areas. The Jews have specific land promises according to the holy texts. No one can deny that, says Tobiassen.
He therefore believes that the several hundred thousand Israeli Jews who have settled there should be allowed to stay.
– These are areas God has given to the Jews.
Most countries have condemned the Israeli settlements on land under Israeli occupation. The settlements are also seen as one of the biggest challenges in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The UN has previously condemned Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas, and has asked the Israeli authorities to halt further development.
Tobiassen also believes that it was wrong to evict the Jewish settlements in Gaza in 2005.
– No one has more right to Gaza than Israel
The leader of IKAJ Norway, Dag Øyvind Juliussen, believes that the expulsion of the Israeli settlements has not brought peace to the region.
– There are no other states in the world, based on historical decisions, that have a greater legal right to Gaza than Israel, says Juliussen.
He believes that both Gaza and the West Bank have been given as a homeland to the Jewish people by the international community and in the absence of a Palestinian state, no one else has more right to these areas than the state of Israel.
Many thousands turned up when the Palestine Committee organized a demonstration for Gaza and for a free Palestine in front of the Storting in November.
Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB
– No one can say that Palestinians have a right to their own state. There are thousands of peoples without a national state of their own, says Juliussen, who believes that there is no good legal basis for demanding a separate Palestinian state.
He believes that the creation of a Palestinian state will not necessarily bring peace.
– It will not create peace in the region. Look at Gaza. Look at the West Bank. Palestinian self-government does not mean peace in the region – on the contrary, he says to NRK.
At the same time, Juliussen points out that it is up to the parties to decide what takes place with regard to a future establishment of a Palestinian state.
2024-02-08 06:58:52
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