Video, transcript, and key quotes from the talk by Professor Reverend Mitri Raheb at the ICSZ webinar “Intransigent power & mass uprising for Palestine” in November 2023.
Mitri Raheb is the founder and president of Dar al Kalima University in Bethlehem. The most widely published Palestinian theologian to date, Dr. Raheb is the author and editor of 50 books, including Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, The People, The Bible, In the Eye of the Storm: Middle Eastern Christians in the Twenty-First Century, The Politics of Persecution: Middle Eastern Christians in an Age of Empire, The Cross in Contexts: Suffering and Redemption in Palestine, Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes. His books and numerous articles have been translated so far into 13 languages. He’s the founding board member of the National Library of Palestine and founding member of Bright Stars of Bethlehem, a US 501C3 nonprofit, and a multiple award-winning scholar.
The key to understanding Christian Zionism is not so much biblical interpretations, but rather the lobbying aspect in support of Jewish settler colonialism of Palestinian land.
When the U.S. looks in the mirror, it doesn’t see itself, but rather Israel. When it looks at Israel, the U.S. sees itself. Both are settler nations who occupy the lands of native people and push those people into small enclaves. And, if we ask really, what is the metanarrative for American Christian Zionism? It is American nationalism.
You can view the transcript of the talk here.