The Fervent Embrace: Liberal Protestants, Evangelicals, and Israel

3. The Challenges of Statehood, 1948–1953

| 59 3 The Challenges of Statehood, 1948–1953 Israel’s establishment excited Americans. Israelis’ creation of their independent state in May 1948 was met with a generally positive reaction in the United States. In public opinion assessments conducted by the State Department leading up to, and after, the Israeli Declaration of Independence, more than 90 percent of “public comment mail” sent to the State Department concerned Palestine. The Department noted that most of the mail came from “organized pressure” groups in “areas of crucial importance in American politics.”1 Although noting that most of the organizations were Jewish, the Department repeatedly pointed out the influence of one non-Jewish group— the American Christian Palestine Committee—and its members on public opinion. Two years later its influence clearly remained strong. In a March 1950 public opinion assessment, the State Department noted that interest in the Near East had prompted the creation of an unusually large number of “specialized organizations” whose purpose lay in “appealing to public opinion and to press for certain policies in the region.” It continued: “Their interests and scope of activity are broad, and their ultimate influence is evidently pervasive and strong. They include the Zionist organizations, the American Christian Palestine Committee, the Nation Associates and others.” Although the report noted that opposition groups had “sprung up to press the interest of the ‘other side,’ in Palestine,” it concluded that “these have not had the influence that the Zionist-supporting organizations have had.”2 Opposition came mainly from business interests and from a small number of Christian groups who had close missionary ties in the Middle East and the Arab world.3 As is clear from the Department of State’s assessment, opinion among mainline Protestants appeared fractured over political support of Israel. But this chapter will show that for the first five years of Israeli statehood, proIsrael mainline Protestants continued to outmaneuver the anti-Zionist Protestants , providing crucial support for the nascent U.S.–Israeli alliance. 60 | Challenges of Statehood Mainline Protestants who had worked closely with Jewish Zionist organizations undoubtedly experienced a sense of relief and accomplishment. The celebrations, however, only served as a temporary respite. In the immediate aftermath of the Israeli Declaration of Independence and the war that followed, Protestant organizations dedicated to tempering American enthusiasm for Israel arose to remind Americans of the Palestinian plight, the dangers of ardent nationalism, and the importance of not alienating the Arab Middle East. Organizations arose in the 1950s, such as the American Friends of the Middle East, to counterbalance the politically powerful American Christian Palestine Committee, which continued its lobbying efforts on behalf of the new state. Other equally fierce pro-Israel mainline Protestant organizations emerged, such as Christians Concerned for Israel (CCI), which became the self-appointed watchdogs of American Protestant attitudes toward Israel. Israel’s establishment posed a theological stumbling block for mainline Protestants as they struggled to come to terms with new political and religious realities. Meanwhile, despite a far from unified response to the establishment of Israel, an emphasis emerged in the following two decades within the mainline churches on reevaluating traditional Christian theology toward Judaism. Scholarly investigations of antisemitism began an earnest effort to understand the connection between the Holocaust and Christian history. The urge to root out theological antisemitism from mainline Protestant theology , particularly the belief in supercessionism, informed these theological undertakings. Meanwhile fundamentalists, excited about the establishment of Israel, began to take an active interest in determining how and in what ways its establishment fulfilled prophecy. Fundamentalist prophecy watchdogs gradually abandoned their initial hesitancy to support the secular Zionist state, which, according to them, and in contrast to their interpretation of biblical prophecy, had been founded in “unbelief.” Gradually excitement built among these Protestants who began to view the new Jewish state with growing anticipation. The Truman Administration On the political front, Harry Truman became the first world leader to offer de facto recognition of the new country, despite bitter debate in his State Department. American Jews who had supported the Zionist efforts during Challenges of Statehood | 61 the war celebrated the victory of Israel’s establishment and the immediate recognition of the state by the United States. Historians have argued that Truman’s decision came solely as a result of pressure from U.S. Zionist organizations and stemmed from the fear of losing the Jewish vote, particularly in New York, and that Truman and those who...