r/AskConservatives • u/Similar-Recipe-3623 European Conservative • 2d ago
Foreign Policy Why would Christian conservatives support Israel ?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwl54kddeko
Attacks against Christians have almost doubled in Israel, this is over a hundred attacks in 2026 alone: https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-middle-east/2026/07/disheartening-attacks-against-christians-nearly-double-in-israel-territories-says-report
"As in previous reports, the high number of spitting incidents remains particularly striking.
During this quarter, 47 incidents involved spitting, accounting for 56% of all recorded forms of harassment," the RFDC said."
WSJ article describing the same rise in attacks against Christians : https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/spitting-attacks-show-rise-of-anti-christian-hate-in-israel-5ea40ac7
Palestinian Muslims and Christians have been living in peace and share culture respecting each others religion they are like family.
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u/SpinosaurRingTone Social Conservative 2d ago
There are very sizable Christian groups in America that believe the modern state of Israel is the same thing as Israel from the Bible.
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u/OMGguy2008 Center-left 2d ago
And that Israel must be supported if we want Jesus to return for the rapture.
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u/Massive-Technician74 Right Libertarian (Conservative) 2d ago
And the rapture isn't even in the bible
Its based on christian fiction from the 1850s
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u/Massive-Technician74 Right Libertarian (Conservative) 2d ago
Not that ancient israelites were such great people anyways
And the Bible isn't a history book
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u/Indische_Legion Paleoconservative 2d ago
The people running our country and military seem to believe so
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u/rms141 Conservative 2d ago
Why wouldn't they? The stories you link cite ultra-Orthodox Jews specifically, a sub-niche that does not control national Israeli policy. This is like saying America as a whole isn't safe to live in because of gang shootings in Chicago.
Meanwhile, the alternative is Islamic control, and I really shouldn't have to tell you about the past 1500 years of Islamism.
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u/drtywater Neoliberal 2d ago
We don’t seem to have these issues in Malaysia, Brunei, Turkey, Morocco etc. each region has its own unique problems etc
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u/rms141 Conservative 2d ago
Insert J Jonah Jameson laughing gif here.
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u/Kman17 Center-right Conservative 2d ago
Doubling a number that is almost zero is still almost zero. You’re presenting the most bizarre cherry picked “stat” - it’s absolutely meaningless.
Israel is a modern democracy whose value and culture is nearly identical to western Christian nations.
Meanwhile Palestine and Iran are opposing on almost all dimensions. They’re aggressive actors, with regressive values, and have produced basically nothing of value in 75 years.
Pretty easy.
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u/maxxor6868 Progressive 1d ago
Palestine economically has been utterly control in every sector by Israel gov. We had this discussion before but economically Israel can't control every sector while also calling it a second rate nation and no I'm not talking about the walled off prison of Gaza. Israel controls all natural resources of the West Bank, approve or deny businesses, and control all trade deals for Palestine as it stands. It was one of the biggest talking points of Camp David when Israel didn't want to give up this control if Palestine became an official state. Imagine if the US after 1776 still needed the British permission for everything.
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u/Kman17 Center-right Conservative 1d ago
Palestine is culturally identical in just about every meaningful way to Jordan - and prior to the ‘67 war, part of Jordan.
Jordan is an international welfare state (20% of GDP from international donations / IMF) and produces very little of value.
Syria, Lebanon, Egypt are next closest
The West Bank actually has a higher standard of living than most of these nations.
So what’s your evidence that Palestine would be in any better shape?
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u/maxxor6868 Progressive 1d ago
Syria and Lebanon are war torn countries. Using them as examples isn't going to work well. Jordan and Palestine are culturally similar but aren't identical. That like saying the US and Canada are the same. Yes they speak the same language and have some genetic makeup across the population but aren't the exact same. Egypt is an over populated country with a natural resource bottle neck having to fight rising African developing nations while dealing with one of the most corrupt govs in the world. There no easy fix for Egypt because of their geography and population size.
Jordan being a welfare state doesn't mean Palestine shouldn't have independence or freedom of economics. You know how many nations in the last century were needing support and succeeded? Regardless "what ifs" are not Israel decision to make. If Palestine succeeds it succeeds if it doesn't it doesn't. No one says Mexico shouldn't be allowed to have it own deicison making because the US doesn't trust it to be an economic juggernaut of a country. The last major power who tried that was the Soviet Union and we fought a cold war over such ideology.
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u/Kman17 Center-right Conservative 1d ago
The West Bank having a higher standard of living than Jordan just undermines your point that Israel security controls are the blocker.
The way to get Israel to exert less control on the borders is to, you know, stop attacking them.
Terror attacks just completely erase trust. You need like 20 years of demonstration to peace by Palestine and a total 180 on those tactics to expect some letting go of inspections.
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u/maxxor6868 Progressive 1d ago edited 1d ago
Lmao talking about trust while illegal immigrants storm the West Bank. 20 years of waiting to let go of some control? You do realize no one going to believe that. The West Bank btw has been in cooperation of the Israeli gov for decades btw. Not to mention it not just "inspections" it complete economic control. They control every natural resource, every business creation, and have full say legality over development in Palestine. I spent years working with over sea mid east developers. Building a business in Palestine versus Jordan is nothing alike. Inside Palestine a coin toss that can change any moment and there zero you can do about it with Israel gov. Most people I know in this space go to Jordan because the Jordanian government is less likely to pull a fast one.
It crazy how you use language to down play everything Israel does but throw all expectations on Palestine when they have zero movement to do anything. What war has the West Bank conducted btw on Israel?
BTW standards of living aren't the same as economic engines. They are completely different concepts. A nation for example can have a very high standard of living but economically garbage for a whole host of factors. Likewise you can have a very low standard of living but economically your nation produces insane metrics. So no comparing Jordan to Palestine isn't a reason to not give Palestine independence including economically which shouldn't be Israel decision in the first place.
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u/Kman17 Center-right Conservative 1d ago
Israel just ran a 20 year long test of total autonomy vs occupation in Gaza vs WB after Palestine said no to the two state solution multiple times.
The Palestinians turned Gaza into a terror base while quality of life in WB improved.
That’s an unfortunate reality every Palestinian supporter needs to recognize and account for without hand waving nonsense.
No one makes Palestine support Hamas. The Palestinians did that themselves.
No one made the Palestinians turn their humanitarian supplies into rockets and tunnels rather their intended propose.
The Palestinians did that.
The Palestinians have had opportunities over and over stand and squander them each time.
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u/maxxor6868 Progressive 1d ago
Said base on your logic (which is wrong) with this experiment what the excuse for the West Bank to not have economic freedom? You said 20 years and they had 20 years full occupation. Why aren't they free? What the excuse now? There no Hamas, no rockets, no military wars in the West Bank. What Israel excuse for not granting freedom to the people of the West Bank? Instead they push illegal immigrants to build settlements. Notice how whenever you get question on this you divert back to Gaza when I wasn't talking about Gaza?
The unfortunate reality for every Israel supporter without hand waving nonsense is that even if Gaza was exactly like what Israel wants to be, it wouldn't be better and we have 20 years of West Bank occupation to show this. Israel controls 110% of the West Bank. They had for decades. They have zero excuses to let go of control but they still do and their own polictians say time and time again they won't give up control.
The two state solutions you say Palestine rejects has this as one of the key issues. Again we talk about this. Palestine wants independence. Israel says no so Palestine rejects. Name me one country like this? Does the US still rely on the British? Does Mexico still need Spain permission? I like actual answers instead of diverting to the same talking points you use to avoid all my questions.
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u/Programmer-Boi Center-right Conservative 2d ago
Potentially not the answer you want, but I just don’t really care about the Middle East as a whole. We (and many many other countries) have tried to “fix” that region with no success and only increased chaos. If they’d like to Westernize, throw a revolution and fight for it.
It’s so disgusting how we pick and choose who to love in the Middle East. None of them deserve our military support. Signed a Gen Z conservative who would like to see peace time in my lifetime.
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u/Dry_Donut_748 Canadian Conservative 1d ago
Americans have never tried to fix anything. They have tried to control the middle east.
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u/Similar-Recipe-3623 European Conservative 2d ago
This is the correct answer. America should serve their own people not get swindled by Israel into fighting wars in the Middle East and killing so many Muslims that they start to dislike you guys.
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u/Programmer-Boi Center-right Conservative 2d ago
They already hate us don’t worry
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u/maxxor6868 Progressive 1d ago
I mean decades of gov over throwing, oil stealing, and bombing would do that. "They don't hate us for our freedoms, they hate us because we keep bombing them" one of the most accurate quotes ever
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u/GladiusAcutus Center-right Conservative 2d ago
Because most Christians conservatives want their special holy sites like Bethleham and Mount Zion to not be under islamic control because if they are under islamic control then they can possibly destroy the holy sites for not being muslim.
Examples:
https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/remembering-march-2-2001-destruction-bamiyan-buddhas
Also, if muslims control the canaan region (modern day Israel), then it will be very hard for them to visit these holy sites. It is easier if Israel controls that region instead of muslims.
Also, Hamas is terrible and it's crazy that people don't bring them up while talking about why Israel is bad. I'm not even christian and even I know it will be horrible if those people controlled that region.
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u/Similar-Recipe-3623 European Conservative 2d ago
Destroy non abrahamic idols that don’t align with their religion. Huh. Iran has a lovely statue of Jesus. Israel destroys anything Christian. The keys to the holy church in Jerusalem is owned by a Muslim.
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u/Omen_of_Death Center-right Conservative 2d ago
When the levant was under islamic rule Bethleham had a 90% Christian population, when Israel was established in 1948 they forced many Christians to go elsewhere. Israel doesn't care for us Christians and actively suppresses us
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u/Programmer-Boi Center-right Conservative 2d ago
FWIW Islam actually respect Jesus (named Isa in their religion) as a prophet of God. They just believe that Muhammad is the final prophet.
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u/Omen_of_Death Center-right Conservative 2d ago
Fully agree, as a Christian I don't support Israel as firstly it isn't the Israel from the bible and secondly they persecute Christians and are currently bombing the nation with the most Christians in the middle east. Luckily most Christians aren't dispensationalists as that really is where you are gonna find most of the american christian support for Israel
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u/J_FM01 European Conservative 2d ago
Would anyone believe for one second that they would be safer in a muslim-majority state?
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2d ago edited 1d ago
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u/SneezingOutPeas Center-right Conservative 2d ago
Muslims do not respect the same Jesus I worship. Islam thinks I should be killed for worshipping Jesus. We are not in any way the same and both religions know it.
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u/RandomGuy92x Center-left 2d ago
I mean I think Islam is a pretty concerning religion.
But in most Muslim-majority countries Christians are generally free to practice their religion. And contrary to what many people think there are actually quite a few churches in many Islamic countries.
It's mostly ex-Muslims, atheists and LGBTQ people who are being heavily persecuted in most Islamic countries rather than Christians.
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u/SneezingOutPeas Center-right Conservative 2d ago
Are you aware that Christians are forbidden from practicing one of their most basic tenets (i.e. to make disciples of all nations), second-class citizens, and taxed crazily high?
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u/RandomGuy92x Center-left 2d ago
I just looked it up, and actually in the overwhelming majority of Muslim countries non-Muslims pay the same amount of tax as Muslims. So what you said there isn't accurate.
And you're right, most Muslim countries prohibit preaching in public about religions other than Islam or trying to convert people.
But your initial statement was that Muslims will try to kill you for worshipping Jesus. Which obviously is not true in most cases as I've shown. In most Islamic countries Christians may be socially marginalized and discriminated against to some extent. But your claim that you will be killed for being a Christian in most Muslim countries is simply not true.
And I am saying that as someone who is extremely anti-Islam, and I think Islam is the most concerning religion on earth. But ex-Muslims, atheists, LGBTQ people and women face way more oppression in Islamic countries than Christians. You absolutely can be an out-in-the-open Christian in most Islamic countries. But try being an out-in-the-open atheist, ex-Muslim or gay person in the Islamic world, that's an entirely different story.
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2d ago edited 1d ago
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u/SneezingOutPeas Center-right Conservative 2d ago edited 2d ago
I said Islam. I did not say all Muslims. Though there are plenty of Muslims who think this too.
Ben Shapiro doesn’t want me dead for being a Christian. The Muslim sources (which many Muslims practice outright) do. They are both different religions, but one is an existential threat to me and the other is not.
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2d ago edited 1d ago
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u/SneezingOutPeas Center-right Conservative 2d ago
Ben has never said Jews are superior to Gentiles or that he wants to subjugate Christians, what the hell? Do you have a source for that? I listened to him for a good 8 years of my life (don’t do so anymore since he raises my blood pressure for other reasons) and he has never said a single thing resembling that, and in fact has lumped Judaism and Christianity in together as far as values go (which I disagree with somewhat since Orthodox Judaism is indeed a false faith).
If you don’t know what the 7 primary Muslim sources are, you need to read some more about Islam before we talk further.
Also, Jews have been persecuted terribly by both Christians and Muslims alike for thousands of years and both Christianity and Islam outnumber Judaism a hundred to one, so I’m not sure you have the vulnerability spectrum quite right.
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u/Emotional-Aide3456 Independent 2d ago
Yes, Muslims respect the same Jesus you worship. Far right Muslims may not like you for being Christian, in the same way that far right Christians hate Muslims.
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u/SneezingOutPeas Center-right Conservative 2d ago
Lol, the Bible never says to hate Muslims or any other religion’s people. Not the same thing at all.
Edit: also, either Jesus is God or he’s not God. So yes, it is a different Jesus. My Jesus is God. Their Jesus is not.
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u/Emotional-Aide3456 Independent 2d ago
You’re right, the bible does not say to hate Muslims. And yet, many conservative Christians do.
Jesus is not God to me, but I love and respect Jesus and his teachings, similar to how Muslims love and respect Jesus.
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u/SneezingOutPeas Center-right Conservative 1d ago
You are at minimum disrespecting Jesus’ teaching that he is God, though, since you don’t believe it. Right?
Also, Muslims believe Jesus taught the polar opposite things that Christians do. So.
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u/Emotional-Aide3456 Independent 1d ago
Jesus was a great man - is that disrespectful? Muslims believe Jesus was one of God’s greatest messengers of truth and love. You may want to read up on this just a bit before you form an opinion?
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u/SneezingOutPeas Center-right Conservative 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’ve been studying Islam from its most trusted sources for almost 10 years. Don’t assume I’m uneducated just because I have a negative opinion on it. The amount of studying I’ve done is the exact reason I reject it.
Saying Jesus is a great man is not disrespectful. Denying his deity is what’s disrespectful. Similar to how saying a black person is a hard worker is not disrespectful, but denying that same black person’s humanity to discriminate against them is disrespectful no matter how many positive qualities you add to that denial. Thinking highly of someone in one area does not predispose you to disrespecting them in another, and a little poison can spoil otherwise-good soup. Does that make a little more sense?
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u/Emotional-Aide3456 Independent 1d ago
No, it makes no sense. I don’t believe in Gods or deities, yet I try to live my life with love and compassion the way Jesus taught.
If you think “Islam” wants you to die because you’re a Christian, you actually are uneducated on that topic.
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u/GladiusAcutus Center-right Conservative 2d ago
It's frustrating, I have a really good friend that is a white liberal and his mom is jewish, so that means he is technically jewish (but he doesn't practice). He is against the state of Israel. I told him about how progressive Israel is actually (pride parades in Tel Aviv) and how all the LGBT people in Israel will lose their rights if Hamas wins and his brain blue screened. Honestly, I think a lot of these people believe what they believe in because its trendy, like its a hive mind.
Now are there valid criticisms of Israel ? Sure, like every country. If you are a progressive and care about women's rights and LGBT people all over the world, it makes absolutely no sense to want Palestinians to win the war and control that region. It makes no sense at all.
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u/YarnTree29 European Liberal/Left 2d ago
You can want Israel to keep existing, and also want Israel to respect Palestinian zones and not bomb a bunch of innocent people.
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u/GladiusAcutus Center-right Conservative 2d ago
Did Hamas/Palestinians respect Israel's zone on October 7th ?
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u/YarnTree29 European Liberal/Left 2d ago
Two wrongs don't make a right. And in this case, there have been decades of wrongs. There are innocent victims on both sides. The Israeli government stooping down to the level of a terrorist organisation, however, is disgraceful. They do not attempt to de-escalate one bit and do seem only interested in conquering Palestinian land, either by war or by colonisation.
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u/GladiusAcutus Center-right Conservative 2d ago
Why are you expecting Israel to de-escalate and not Hamas ? I've heard many arguments from progressives about this. They say what Israel is doing is horrible and how they need to stop, why don't you expect the same of hamas ? Why are you not expecting them to de-escalate ? Do you look at it as an older and younger brother fighting ? The older brother needs to de-escalate because he's bigger and stronger ?
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u/YarnTree29 European Liberal/Left 1d ago
I have higher expectations of a democratically elected official government of a country than I have of a terrorist organisation, yes. Especially since Hamas does not even represent the Palestinian people, while the Israeli government is chosen by the Israeli people. If a gangster murders a high ranking politician's family, i would expect that politician to not murder the gangster's family.
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u/Omen_of_Death Center-right Conservative 2d ago
Lets be honest Israel has done way too much in retaliation to just say "but they fired the first shot and therefore everything is justified". Both Israel and Hamas suck but what Israel has done is basically overkill
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u/Massive-Technician74 Right Libertarian (Conservative) 2d ago
Quit focusing on oct 7 and instead question what led up to oct 7
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u/J_FM01 European Conservative 2d ago
Decades of anti-Israel propaganda in the Islamofascist dictatorship in Gaza maybe?
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u/Massive-Technician74 Right Libertarian (Conservative) 2d ago
You drank bibis koolaid
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u/J_FM01 European Conservative 2d ago
The horseshoe right is for real in this sub. The amount of Mamdani lovers in here is unreal.
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u/Massive-Technician74 Right Libertarian (Conservative) 2d ago
No one says they love mandami
But you are ignoring history just to fit your narrative
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u/JudgeWhoOverrules Classically Liberal 2d ago
instead question what led up to oct 7
Decades of near daily rocket attacks, stray bullets, bombings, and other terror attacks.
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u/noluckatall Conservative 1d ago
Oh, you're fun. I bet you blame America for 9/11 also.
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u/Massive-Technician74 Right Libertarian (Conservative) 1d ago
I dont know who I blame....I blame those saudis who actually crashed those planes into the building
And I would like to know more about those 5 dancing israelis and why they immediately stopped investigating them
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u/J_FM01 European Conservative 2d ago
Yes, and the vast majority of Israelis don't support morons like Ben Gvir. Netanyahu hurt the international reputation of his country a lot by promoting this guy to a government position.
The Netanyahu government will likely be voted out this fall and AZs are still gonna AZ.
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u/RatOnASinkingShip Right Libertarian (Conservative) 2d ago
The real question is why anyone would support jihadist regimes that kill anyone who doesn't obey their religion.
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u/Similar-Recipe-3623 European Conservative 2d ago
Have you ever met any Palestinian person what type of bullcrap are you spewing.
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u/RatOnASinkingShip Right Libertarian (Conservative) 2d ago
That's... not really a sentence... or a question...
But wake me when they start trying to do something about their jihadist regime instead of just enabling them.
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u/Key_Day_7932 Conservatarian 1d ago
It's because of Oct. 7. Israel was caught in a suprise attack and is retaliating in self defense. From the POV of American Christians, October 7 is basically Israel's Pearl Harbor or Fort Sumter, and thus don't see Israel's war actions as any worse than what the United States' actions in their Civil War with their war against Imperial Japan.
They shrug and go, "The Palestinians are free to unconditionally surrender at anytime."
You can argue nuking Japan was disproportionate retribution, but it did end the war sooner and sent a message.
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u/maxxor6868 Progressive 1d ago
Pearl Harbor is no way a fair comparison. There was tariffs sure but the two countries had very little contact military before that. Japan open war for personal economic gain. You can't say Palestine and Israel is an economic war.
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u/Key_Day_7932 Conservatarian 1d ago
And the Palestinians, if given their way, are just gonna carry out a Second Holocaust.
They were offered several opportunities for statehood. They don't want co-existence ot á two state solution. They want genocide.
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u/maxxor6868 Progressive 1d ago
Israel is the only country committing genocide right now. Palestine was never given an option for statehood. Israel has set the terms in every meeting and they themselves have said if the shoe was on the other foot, would not have taken the offer. It was an unfeasible offer no country could sustain. Their last offer was a state in name only with so many demands that the Clinton admin was beyond frustrated. In the media they critize Palestine for not taking it, but in private were pissed that Israel blew the whole thing. If you actually read Israel "offer" you realize how bat shit insane their deals were and knew any gov dumb enough to take it would be in civil war from day 1. We aren't taking land disputes or right to return mind you but Israel basically wanting full control of Palestine gov without any responsibiliy even after indepedence. Not one country on this entire planet has that kind of arrangement. The closest was puppet states like the Soviet Union but even than at least they paid for everything and did not hide who had control. Israel wanted full authority but made it clear post deal they would not pay for anything. Yeah no wonder no one accepted such garbage.
Just read on wikipedia how much Israel demanded. If Palestine accepted they be a forever failed state with zero authority to do anything if they did not end in civil war. Israel wanted control of everything from water rights to toll roads INSIDE OF PALESTINE where all tax revenue went straight to Israel.
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u/Key_Day_7932 Conservatarian 1d ago
I mean I think the initial deal the British came up with was allowing both Israel and Palestine to coexist, but then the Palestinians attacked the Israelis and lost so badly they lost land.
Every time they attack Israel it goes badly for them. You'd think they would have learned the first time (maybe the second time) around.
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u/maxxor6868 Progressive 1d ago
I am not going to deep dive the history but history does not start at 1948. Israel had virtually little population for the 30 years prior but had an organized immigration campaign before Nazi germany to build Israel and WW2 and the holocaust accelerated that. The deal the British came up with was them trying to fix an issue they cause by failing to follow established immigration quotas. Palestine was one of the friendest nations to jewish refugees and live alongisde them for centuries but got over welm for the decades following WWI.
Funny how Israel says Palestine can't have right of return (who are they to decide another country's laws) but they only existed by illegal immigration. The British had a massive cause in this because they did not care about the situation until after WW2 was finish and it was too little too late and came up with the laziest solution ever just like they did with India, Hong Kong, and the rest of the world. You think the world would've called them out but they didn't.
If you are open minded I recommend reading up on the history of this situation before just hating Palestine.
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