According to recent surveys, American evangelicals under thirty are far less likely than their elders to have positive attitudes toward the Jewish state. In part, writes Peter Wehner, the trend is due to changing attitudes toward eschatology, which lead younger believers to invest less importance in the role the Jews’ return to their historic homeland plays in the coming of the millennium. A more important factor, however, is that younger evangelicals are absorbing from the media and from activists the impression that Israel is cruel, oppressive, and brutal:
Among the most urgent tasks is to show why by their own standards—human rights, social justice, the advancement of human flourishing, a government that is accountable and based on the rule of law—Israel warrants their support.
Right now the critics of Israel are offering a narrative and imagery that are more compelling than are the supporters of Israel, at least when it comes to the younger generation of Christians. But it doesn’t have to be that way: no people has a more gripping and enthralling story to tell than the Jewish people, and that story needs to be retold in ways that capture the imagination of younger Christians.
Young evangelicals whose understanding of Israel is dominated by a narrative of Israeli misdeeds ought to be told the story of Palestinian misconduct, ethical transgressions, authoritarian rule, and horrifying anti-Semitism—and told it in a way that increases the chances they will hear it. Many of them should be stirred to action. For those who aren’t, then perhaps something other than solidarity with the Palestinian people is at play.
Engaging in good-faith dialogue also means not shying away from speaking truths that that may be unsettling, and in this case, it means [stating] that the Palestinian leadership, which has betrayed the Palestinian people at almost every turn, has made anti-Semitism a central, organizing principle of Palestine life—more central, even, than Palestinian statehood.
Read more on Bulwark: https://www.thebulwark.com/support-for-israel-among-young-evangelicals-is-falling-heres-why-that-matters/