Sun Tzu wrote, “All warfare is based on deception.” You have heard many stories about the Israeli government deceiving and manipulating U.S. officials, steering our country towards funding and even fighting their wars. Let me tell you one more: Israel exploits the religious beliefs of American Christians, fostering a certain flavor of fanaticism to empower a doomsday cult in a twisted effort to serve the interests of this increasingly genocidal apartheid state. I know this, because I was a central useful idiot in this psyop.
As the “Strategic Outreach Director” of the Consulate General of Israel to the Southwest United States, I spent the last eight and a half years betraying my country on behalf of the Israeli government, using theology as a geopolitical tool and simultaneously lost my faith in God.
Premillennial dispensationalism is the Christian end-times belief that all true believers will be raptured away to Heaven ushering in a seven-year tribulation period under the reign of the antichrist, where those left behind will endure unspeakable suffering before the day of judgement and an eternity trapped in Hell. Since “Israel” plays a central role in this apocalyptic fantasy, adherents of this view are required to foster unconditional support for the contemporary Israeli government which they view as the manifestation of biblical Israel. These adherents are in a very real sense rooting for Armageddon. Beliefs can be very powerful, and it doesn’t take a genius to grasp how this belief is a national security vulnerability of biblical proportions. One that has captured the mind of Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, and countless others in our government.
The evidence for this capture is overwhelming and undeniable. Ambassador Huckabee has placed a great deal of his political career in the service of this belief system and has made no secret of his views. He has said, “I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria… There’s no such thing as an occupation.” Notice the use of the Biblical term “Judea and Samaria” rather than West Bank. Huckabee has suggested that you can’t understand the geopolitical situation of the Middle East without understanding the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Recently, President Donald Trump tweeted a personal text from Huckabee, a text that Pastor Franklin Graham retweeted, suggesting that God spared Donald Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania because he has a special purpose for the president as some sort of American savior figure. It would seem this cult of personality surrounding Trump has become a full-fledged cult.
I personally met Ambassador Huckabee at a very impressive pro-Israel event he spoke at which I attended for networking purposes as a function of my former job. This event was organized by Michael Evans, a former Messianic Jew turned evangelical Christian. Evans is a long-time personal friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leads both the Jerusalem Prayer Team and the Friends of Zion Museum in Israel. Before he was kicked off Facebook, the Jerusalem Prayer Team had seventy-seven million followers. He is one of the least recognized and most influential individuals in the Christian Zionist movement.
Ambassador Huckabee has even referenced Genesis 12:3 in his official remarks, stating “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse… I want to be on the blessing side, not the cursed side.” This is the same verse that Senator Cruz, attempting to cite a book that is allegedly fundamental to his vision of the world, couldn’t quite remember when he was being dog walked in an interview with Tucker Carlson. This is the filter America’s foreign policy is being distorted through.
Over the course of my service to the Israeli government I utilized this verse countless times, incorporating it into all sorts of strategic communications and remarks that the Consul General would deliver or that I would deliver on behalf of the Consulate at dozens of events. These events in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas ranged from what were essentially pep rallies for Israel at megachurches and speaking at the Sunday service, to Holocaust remembrance events, to appearances on Christian television networks like Daystar and Victory Channel, to pastors’ luncheons where leaders representing dozens of congregations would be in attendance to hear briefings from Israeli diplomats. Among the headliners was former Israeli Ambassador to the United States and current Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, who would explain why congregation leaders should support Israel and get their flock to support Israel by voting in elected officials who will unquestioningly do the bidding of the Israeli government.
I even planned a delegation of pastors to visit Israel and specifically identified prominent leaders who had not visited the country before to go on a government approved holy propaganda tour. One of these pastors sits on the board of the large Christian organization Promise Keepers and leads the Houston Mayor’s Ministerial Advisory Board. Several occupy prominent positions in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America, whose leadership was recently embroiled in the systematized coverup of sexual abuse. Over my time at the Consulate we would directly engage with no fewer than four leaders who were accused of sexually abusing women or minors. Two of these cases we were aware of before reaching out, and this number would actually be higher had I not lied to the Consul General by saying that I reached out to some people they wanted me to, when I never did.
The U.S. Pastors Council and the Consulate’s support of the far-right Holy Land Redemption Fund “redeeming land” in the West Bank might be the most troubling thing we were involved in. This group led by Motti Isaak acquires land in the West Bank under dubious circumstances to move more Israeli settlers in and change “facts on the ground.” We met with Isaak at the Consulate, helped to coordinate meetings between him and prominent pastors, and even did an online event with the group. One pastor I helped to connect to this fanatical settler project in the West Bank was elected to the City Council of Houston. Another was Kenneth Copeland; you might remember him as the pastor who unsuccessfully beseeched God to give him the power to literally blow COVID away. Copeland is worth an estimated $300 million at least, making him likely the richest pastor in the world. Motti Issak told me that Kenneth Copeland has been a great donor to the Holy Land Redemption Foundation since we introduced them.
While there are many Israeli partners of these Christian Zionists who are fanatic themselves—consider Defense Minister Israel Katz’s recent post about bringing about a “Plague of the Firstborn”—many Israeli partners engage in this in a completely cynical manner. Larry Huch, pastor of New Beginnings Church in DFW, is a rockstar in the Christian Zionist Movement. He once remarked, “If we lose Jerusalem—what I believe with all my heart—if we lose Jerusalem, we will delay the coming of the Messiah. That’s why the enemy in the spiritual world [Satan] wants to get rid of Jerusalem. Because whether you think he’s coming for the first time or the second time, what everybody knows is he’s coming to Jerusalem.” Early on in my time at the Consulate I was traveling with Consul Daniel Agranov to one of these aforementioned pep rallies for Israel at New Beginnings church that was organized in partnership with the Israel Allies Foundation, a pro-Israel DC-based lobbying outfit. Consul Agranov, Pastor Huch, and Senator Cruz were all scheduled to speak. When riding in the car on the way to the church, I explained the premillennial dispensationalist theology that underpins much evangelical support for Israel to Consul Agranov. He responded “These people give me the fucking creeps. What happens when they go back to thinking their God doesn’t like us again?” This was about an hour before he would take the stage and say how grateful he was for Christian support while exclaiming “Israel prays for peace,” taken from the remarks I wrote. The last I heard, Daniel Agranov is still an Israeli diplomat.
The largest of these pep rallies for Israel is the annual “Night to Honor Israel” hosted by the founder of Christians United for Israel, Pastor John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio. The Consul General would speak at this event every year, usually delivering remarks that I wrote. Here is an example.
I can already hear the false charges of antisemitism coming my way. Consider Mohammed Ibrahim. He is an American 16-year-old who has spent over six months in an Israeli dungeon in the West Bank unable to speak with his family because he allegedly threw rocks in an empty street. It has been reported that he has lost twenty-five pounds and developed scabies. His cousin was beaten to death by Israeli settlers. They were supposed to spend this summer working in an ice cream shop in Florida, But just a few weeks ago, Tom Alexandrovich, an Israeli government official, was rounded up in a sting operation for soliciting sex from a minor. He was released on bail and fled back to Israel.
The juxtaposition on display is as jaw dropping as it is shameful. Israeli officials doing government work come here looking to rape American children in some disgusting act of sex tourism and are released. Meanwhile, American children rot in Israeli prisons with no meaningful due process. This goes on with indifference from your government as they funnel more and more of your money to God’s chosen government. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you are a bigot for being bothered by this state of affairs, and don’t let anyone ever tell you that this government speaks for all American Jews—or even all Israeli Jews for that matter.
I am not saying that you need to become an atheist like me (though I would encourage it). I am saying that if an entity can hijack your faith, they can use it to hijack your government. You would be wise to be on your guard.
