Religion: Christians and Israel

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During the war the governing board of the National Council of Churches demanded a Middle East arms embargo by the U.S. and U.S.S.R.—a demand that could influence only the U.S. "If the resolution had been taken seriously," complains Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum of the American Jewish Committee, "Israel would have been denied arms at the very moment the Soviet Union was pouring them in on the other side." Suggesting that Israel's presence was a permanent irritant to Middle East tranquillity, one top-ranking Protestant was far more brutal than Berrigan. "It is quite conceivable," he said, "that Israel may have to die for world peace."

Jewish leaders were also alarmed at the reaction of the World Council of Churches. Its general secretary, Philip Potter, issued a bland statement in favor of peace and the U.N., but avoided the issue of Israel's survival and did not mention the Arab attack. Jews argue that the liaison between the council and the Palestine Liberation Organization —intended to preserve a broker role in the conflict—impedes peace by encouraging the extremists. Moreover, the council has a growing number of churchmen from the Third World who actually support the Palestinian guerrilla cause. "The council has committed itself to a national liberation ideology," complains Tanenbaum. "It would help if they would see that Israel is also an instance of liberation for a people."

Eternal Pariahs. Some Christians make a distinction between Judaism as a religion or ethic, which they defend, and the secular state of Israel, which they reject or severely criticize. Most Jews eye the distinction suspiciously.

They question whether such criticism of Israel may not be a recapitulation—in a political guise—of the centuries-old belief that Jews are eternal pariahs.

Though now supposedly abandoned, that brand of dogmatism stressed that Jews were perpetual, persecuted wanderers because they had killed Jesus. In a special issue of New Catholic World, Religion Professor Eva Fleischner points out that the birth of Israel effectively contradicted that thinking: "If there was ever an example of history forcing the hand of theology, here it is."

Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants seem to sympathize more with the intense Jewish concern for Israel than do liberal Protestants. Pope Paul VI, of course, can still be critical of Israel. Just two days before the Yom Kippur War, when he received a new Syrian ambassador to the Holy See, the Pope complained that "The Palestinian people, living miserably, plead that their right to self-determination be recognized." Last week Paul also expressed concern over the fate of Jerusalem's holy places—a thorny political and religious issue that will involve intra-Christian negotiations as well as talks between Arabs and Jews.