Interview: Dr. Jeff Myers on Why Christians Should Support Israel

Dr. Jeff Myers is the president of Summit Ministries. He is also an educator, author, entrepreneur, and an authority in youth leadership development. You can access his new book, “Should Christians Support Israel,” on his website. This interview was edited for clarity and conciseness.

Ari: Why did your book need to be written?

Jeff: After the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, I was shocked to see a poll from the Harvard Center for the Advancement of Political Studies reporting that 51 percent of young adults in the United States of America — voters 18 to 24 years of age — believe that Hamas’s cause is justified because Israel is an oppressor state.

These supporters are aware that Hamas is an apocalyptic rape and death cult that targets innocent men, women, and children. I couldn't believe the poll results or that — even more unbelievable — in December, support for Hamas actually increased to 60 percent.

I wrote an op-ed for The Daily Wire titled “Congratulations America, You've Raised A Generation of Terrorist Sympathizers.” That got quite a reaction. But it effected an opportunity to join a small group of leaders on a trip to Israel, to the battlespace, where I interviewed Jewish and Arab journalists, IDF soldiers, Palestinian educators, hostage families, survivors, and intelligence officers.

I brought hard questions that Gen Z young adults in the United States are asking. As I prepared for media interviews upon my return, I realized this needed to be published in book format. So, I wrote “Should Christians Support Israel.”

Ari: How does your book speak to the non-religious youth in America?

Jeff: A lot of people believe there's no such thing as truth. You have competing narratives, and you should believe whichever narrative seems most compelling. That is not true in my experience with Gen Z. I find that, regardless of where somebody comes from in their faith, facts can be used to persuade them.

An example is a recent poll we conducted with polling partner Scott Rasmussen. We asked what young adults believe. We oversampled Gen Z voters 18 to 24 years of age and asked questions like “Do you think Israel's military might and wealth makes their cause against Hamas unjust?” The majority said yes.

Then we asked, “Given the fact that Hamas leaders have all become millionaires and billionaires by skimming off international aid destined for destitute Gazans, do you think that Hamas’s cause is unjust?” They switched their views with just one question after realizing that Hamas is committing an injustice and average Gazans are being hurt.

My takeaway was that if you give people facts, they'll be persuaded — not all of them, but probably half. The half which was initially anti-Israel changed viewpoints, or moved away from certainty that Israel is bad to being unsure what their responses should be. Facts win the day. “Should Christians Support Israel” documents everything, with more than 200 footnotes for a short 120-page book, because I wanted the facts made public.

Ari: What is the importance of Christianity in terms of the political conflict in Israel?

Jeff: Christianity can inform the political conflict and bring solutions where they seem impossible to find. One way is by recognizing that the Middle East conflict is better described as a theo-political conflict rather than a geopolitical one.

Whenever there’s a foreign conflict, we're accustomed in the United States to thinking that if we throw enough cash at it and redraw borders slightly, we can solve the problem. This is not one of those problems. It’s an epic battle of worldviews.

Before believers approach the question of whether or not we should support Israel from a faith perspective, we need to recognize that Hamas is fighting because they embrace an apocalyptic view of Islam. These are not everyday Muslims. They are Islamists. They believe Western civilization must fall.

These individuals decided that Israel must be annihilated for them to achieve their aims. This is especially true of the Iranian Islamic group, Shia Muslims. Shia believe the 12th Imam, Mohamed El Mahdi, will return when the State of Israel is annihilated and will force the entire world to become Muslim. If you don't understand that, you'll never understand why Hamas does what it does.

In writing the book, I was so surprised that people weren't familiar with the basics: what groups like Hamas and Hezbollah stand for. They've been very clear, precisely describing their beliefs and aims — both politically and religiously — in their charters.

People of faith need to recognize that Israel today was intentionally organized as an extension of ancient Israel dating back 3500 years. Many residents of Israel are secular and do not claim to be religious in their Jewish orientation, or even in their Muslim orientation. Two million Israeli citizens are ethnically Arab.

Israel began with Abraham and his entire household. They were foreigners — not Jewish. Abraham was, in the sense that we think of Abraham as the father of Judaism — yet they were all called into a covenant with God.

A covenant, instead of a legal contract, was a common way of making agreements. A covenant involved sacrificing an animal and dividing its carcass in half. Both parties to the covenant would walk between the carcass halves, symbolizing, “If I break this covenant, may what happened to this animal happen to me.”

God put Abraham into a deep sleep, and God alone passed through the halves of the carcass. We call it the Abrahamic covenant, but technically it was God making a covenant with Himself on behalf of Abraham.

Covenant language in scripture is always related to the land. It is about the people in the land. I believe modern Israel is a fulfillment of prophecy from long, long ago about the restoration of a people.

Amos, chapter nine is a key passage. It references rebuilding and inhabiting habitats, ancient cities, essentially turning desert into garden in those places. A lot of Jews today, even those of a secular inclination, see modern Israel as the fulfillment of something in progress for thousands of years.

Ari: New figures like Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes embrace a rhetoric combining a passion for Catholicism with a very strong anti-Israel sentiment. Where do you think that is coming from, and how do we respond?

Jeff: I don't know Nick Fuentes; I know of him. I know that Candice Owens is a relatively recent convert to Catholicism. Though she claims a Catholic faith, Candace Owens does not speak for the Catholic Church.

It’s important to understand that the Catholic Church's policy toward Jews was negative for a very long time. During a period in history, Catholic believers were the primary persecutors of Jews, even more so than Muslims. The Church repented. In the 1960s and 1970s, several popes apologized to Jews for their past treatment and acknowledged that they are brothers in God.

So, why would today's Catholics hold that view? I have some theories. One is that Catholics believe suffering purifies you. Therefore, those who suffer most are most pure. If they overlay faith with an oppressor versus oppressed mindset, which comes from a Neo-Marxist view, they conclude that Palestinians are more righteous.

The second belief that may predispose them is that Israel isn't part of God's plan because the Church replaced Israel as God's people. That belief evidences a woeful misunderstanding of the concept of covenant. Scripture is clear, especially in the writings of the apostle Paul, that God's covenants last forever. Jewish people today are as much a part of God's covenant as Jewish people thousands of years ago.

Ari: People are noticing the absence of the Christian values the country was founded on. Do you think we're in the midst of a revival?

Jeff: I see revival breaking out, especially among college students who have become dissatisfied with the materialist-naturalist perspective that says only the material world exists; we're destined to fulfill evolutionary impulses without free will. Students push back, and they should. There's no relationship between that view and what it takes to have a meaningful, purposeful life.

Seventy-five percent of young adults today say they don't have a sense of purpose that gives meaning to their lives. More than half admit they regularly struggle with anxiety and depression. That group is ripe for change. What I hope for isn't mere revival, but rather a reformation.

The Latin term Ad Fontes means “Back to the fountains” or “Back to the source.” Young adult Americans would be wise to look back at the ideals on which America was founded — rather than looking at the mistakes America has made, because we've made plenty and continue to make them.

Interestingly, America's founders looked very closely at the Hebrew republic of the Old Testament in developing principles on which the Constitution was ultimately based. If I say America is a Christian nation, people immediately think “You're a Christian nationalist.” No, it means that the founders of the United States scrutinized history, much of which was biblical, to discern the true principles of humanity and the possibility that a society could be developed which avoids monarchy on the one hand, and avoids mob rule on the other.

Ari: If you could talk to a group of Christian college students who grew up secular, what would you tell them?

Jeff: My best strategy for sparking good conversation and thoughtful reflection about faith is to ask people I'm talking with to give me a list of difficult questions they have about God, the Bible, and faith as they've seen it play out in their personal experience. When I begin with those questions, I can help them develop the foundation of a biblical worldview.

A biblical worldview is important because you're not claiming to have 100 percent of the answers on any given topic. You're following patterns of ideas. What you believe about God will determine what you believe about the nature of reality itself, which, in turn, determines what you believe about right and wrong, what kind of society is best, what kind of political structure is best, what kind of economic structure is best, what kind of legal structure is best, and so forth.

Then, I want them to see that there is no such thing as neutral. The dictionary definition of religion is “Any set of beliefs about the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe.” Everybody lives as if a certain set of beliefs is the true answer. In that sense, everyone is religious. The question is whether your religious impulses are based on facts and evidence, as well as your emotional state.

Ari: What are the biggest takeaways from your book and in general?

Jeff: To develop a coherent political viewpoint you have to base it on something you know to be religious. As you look at civilization, you realize there are three spheres of influence — the state, the church, and the family. Those three spheres have to interact and still maintain their sovereign boundaries.

People realize that government today has far exceeded its natural boundaries. In a poll I referenced in a previous book, 55 percent of Americans said government is too big. Only seven percent say it's too small. Recognition is strong that something went wrong. What and why are fundamentally religious questions.

I want people to understand via the book that if you can acknowledge that truth exists — even if it’s hard to find — you can find hope for the world and a sense of personal resilience. Resistance leads to resilience.

Facing difficult times … is that bad or good? If you're involved in a sport and you work out hard, you don't consider that bad because you're developing strength and skill necessary to succeed in your sport. Likewise, do we look at the times in which we live and say, “Wow, everything has gone to hell. There's no point in being involved.” Or do we say, “This is very difficult. I’m being prepared for something more significant.”

Ari: When you talk with Christians who do not support Israel about the religious and fact-based sides, are they more quick to come around?

Jeff: We're susceptible to propaganda today because we've decided that we alone can form our own truth. It’s like wandering around in the wilderness with a compass and believing that if the red needle always points toward you, you’re on the right track. You would always be wrong because the entire point of having a compass is that it points to a truth outside of you.

If we recognize that truth exists, we can engage in strong dialogue. If you’ve ever interacted with someone involved in a cult, those kinds of conversations are rarely possible because cultists are so convinced of the “truth” they’ve been fed that they're unable to consider the possibility that it might be incorrect. So, conversations just go round and round. It's posturing rather than thinking.

I'm calling on people to be more thoughtful. If people read “Should Christians Support Israel” and conclude that they shouldn't, at least they've considered some very strong arguments about facts relating to Israel's history, what it means to be Jewish, the nature of anti-semitism, just war, and so forth.

Ari: Is there a baseline of facts to understand what’s happening in Israel? How should one’s religious perspective factor in terms of understanding right and wrong? Or should it not?

Jeff: We need perspective on right and wrong informed by reality itself. As a Christian, I take to heart what Jesus said in the book of John chapter eight, verse 32. “If you follow my teachings, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus is not saying hone your instincts. He's not saying seek your truth or speak your truth. He's not even saying just follow my teachings and we'll all get along and have a better day. He said, if you follow my teachings, reality itself will open up for you. Immediately following that statement, he said, “And the truth will set you free.”

“Truth will set you free” is the motto for different institutions. It translates: if you understand reality, you might find it uncomfortable. However, you're better off knowing reality than building a fantasy world around your own perspective.

Obtaining reliable facts and evaluating them is an ascertainable aim. It is possible to know the difference between persuasion and propaganda, or the difference between fact and a propaganda-based attempt to assert a “fact.” An easy way to differentiate is to ask, “How do you know that?”

An example related to Israel is Hamas’s very specific charter. They believe ruling Gaza is not for the benefit of Gazans, not for the benefit of Palestinians, but a platform from which to bring about the annihilation of the State of Israel. If you know that truth, and Hamas very clearly states that it’s so, then you can effectively evaluate the “facts” that Hamas asserts.

The Hamas health ministry gives us death numbers, but they won't tell us how many Gaza deaths were Hamas terrorists because they don't distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. They don't distinguish because Hamas believes no one is a combatant. If Gazans fight Israel, they are involved in legitimate resistance using legitimate self-defense.

When Hamas terrorists run through the streets shooting AK-47s and get killed, each person counts as a martyr — not a combatant. You hear media sources saying the Hamas health ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. But I have never heard anyone in the media ask why. If you know why, you might realize that a lot of innocent people die in every war, but you can put that into perspective.

You can also put it into historical perspective. Typically, in urban warfare, nine civilians are killed for every one combatant killed — nine. Israel has limited civilian casualties to about one civilian for one combatant. John Spencer, the leading expert in the United States of America on patents in war time, says Israel has done a better job protecting non-combatants in Gaza than any other army in history, including American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ari: In freeing four Israeli hostages, 200 Palestinians were reported killed. How would you dissect that situation from a factual basis and from a Christian perspective?

Jeff: A professor of statistics from the University of Pennsylvania, one of America's top universities, analyzed Hamas’ claimed death numbers and determined they are incorrect. Hamas consistently lies about the numbers of people who died. If they were telling the truth in this situation, it would be against a backdrop of lies for the past eight months.

How many people died? First, ask how we would know. Media outlets in the West don't have reporters in Gaza. Reporters there are under Hamas sponsorship, or they’re local Gazans who report what Hamas tells them to report. Otherwise, they are embedded within the Israeli army. During the recent raid, there weren't any reporters embedded with the IDF, to my knowledge.

The death count is reported by a group that produces false statistics. How many people killed were combatants? Hamas will never say, since no one is considered a combatant. Is it bad that civilians die in wars? Yes, it’s tragic. The fact that war is evil doesn’t mean you can't pursue a just outcome in the midst of the evil.

I spent time with the IDF in Israel. These are citizen soldiers — not professional soldiers. They’re everyday people who took time off from their jobs to fight on behalf of their tiny country. I asked them specifically how they know who the terrorists are? Their response was, “The terrorists are the ones who shoot at us.”

It's crazy if you think about it. Israel binds itself to rules of engagement that no other country in the world would honor. The United States would never order its soldiers to “wait until they shoot at you before you shoot them.”

Again, I'll emphasize that war is evil. But that does not mean you can't have a just outcome. The fact that crime exists doesn’t mean you can't have law enforcement. The fact that corruption exists does not mean you can't have justice. You have to fight harder for it.

Christian theorists who wrote about a just war, going back thousands of years — all the way back to Augustine and to Aquinas — did not believe death is the worst consequence of war. Everybody eventually dies. They believed the worst outcome is a shameful peace in which evil is allowed to reign.

Ari: That's powerful. Is there anything else you would like share?

Jeff: A requisite in our society today is inoculating ourselves against false propaganda. That means knowing the difference between persuasion and propaganda, something I discussed at length in “Should Christians Support Israel.” We need to recognize that people with agendas want to control our behavior, our access to information, our thoughts, and our emotions.

We are enslaved to bad ideas. If you meet enslaved people, no matter what facts you present, they won't change their minds. You have to assume a posture of caring concern. Learn to ask questions. “What do you mean by that? How do you know that's true? Where did you get your information?” The beauty of a good question, Ari, is that it keeps on asking long after the conversation is over.

Ari: How can our readers find your book?

Jeff: Your readers can get the book at www.summit.org/israel. I'll send it for free, and they will be asked in the course of ordering it if they want to pitch in for shipping. I’ll send the book for free because I especially want 18- to 24-year-olds reading it. And even slightly older millennials. I want them to glean ideas from the book that they wouldn't learn by reading media reports or watching TikTok videos.