On the one hand, the event’s Palestinian Christian organizers preach reconciliation, but on the other seek to delegitimize Israel. Their underlying message: Love Jesus, but hate Israel!
Bethlehem Bible College has hosted this conference since 2010. In Hebrew it is translated as “Yeshu Be’Machssom” and is heavily criticized. The Israel Foreign Ministry confirmed to Israel Today: “The conference is hostile to Israel.” In May 2018, it will be held for the fifth time in neighboring Bethlehem.
The Hebrew press is able to detect nothing but hate from Christ at the Checkpoint. Israel’s largest circulation newspaper, Israel Hayom, views it as an expression of Christian antisemitism. “The Palestinians play the role of Jesus, and we, the Jews, play the evil soldiers who, on Herod’s command, should murder the Savior in Bethlehem,” wrote Dror Ider. The Jerusalem Post regards the conference as “evangelical terror,” and the Hebrew daily magazine Mida described in a detailed article how the Christian Palestinian Awad family, which runs Bethlehem Bible College, was using clever “nuance” to advance an antisemitic agenda. According to NGO Monitor, Christ at the Checkpoint is trying to undermine Israel’s legitimacy among Evangelicals worldwide. “Previous conferences…advanced the Palestinian nationalist agenda within Evangelical Christian churches, while simultaneously reviving theological antisemitic themes such as replacement theology,” underscored NGO Monitor, which analyzes international non-governmental organizations in the country. The goal, of course, is to drive home the notion that God’s covenant with the Jewish people is no longer valid, especially as it pertains to this land.
In remarks to Israel Today, Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon called Christ at the Checkpoint a “hostile movement with a clear anti-Israel agenda.” He added that the government’s “attempts to talk to them were unsuccessful because of their hostile and unyielding attitude.” Israel’s military spokesman emailed us that “freedom of speech allows anyone to organize conferences, so long as what they’re saying doesn’t lead to physical violence.”
From Chicago, the former “Vicar of Baghdad,” Andrew White, spoke to Israel Today at length about this troubling conference. “This conference is one of the most dangerous I know. It is extremely anti-Israel and pro-BDS. I personally will have nothing to do with them. Their extremism is simply impossible. We have no other choice but to warn people that this group has no Christian backing. It is against everything Israel stands for [in regards to] protecting the Christian minority,” White explained, adding that the true intention of the conference “is to highlight Israel’s antagonism toward Christians. But the fact is that the only antagonism Palestinian Christians face is from the Palestinian Authority itself.”
While the majority of Messianic Jewish leaders in Israel oppose the conference and its theology, most refrain from open criticism.
The bottom line is this: If Christ at the Checkpoint is really about reconciliation with Jews, then why is hatred the only message Israelis can detect from it? These Palestinians, who call themselves Christians, are not spreading Jesus and his message, but are rather marketing themselves and their agenda. They exploit Jesus to serve the Palestinian struggle against Israel. This is a big problem, because in the eyes of Israelis it blurs the line between this Jesus of Replacement Theology and the true Jesus of the New Testament. Even if some of these Palestinian Christians mean well, the message coming out of Bethlehem and to Israeli ears is not one of love.
