The government of Israel's social media account promoted an event called Pride Land, 'the biggest LGBTQ+ festival ever in the Middle East.' As might be expected, the right flipped out.
Senior clergy say outside agendas are fracturing Christian unity in the Holy Land and undermining their authority. Senior Christian leaders in Jerusalem have issued a warning against outside interference threatening the unity and future of Christianity in the Holy Land, singling out Christian Zionism and political actors linked to Israel. In a statement released on Saturday, the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem said recent activities by local individuals advancing damaging ideologies, such as Christian Zionism, mislead the public,
Even before it existed, Israel was on American minds. Colonial preachers called their new land Canaan; Herman Melville saw Americans as the peculiar, chosen people, the Israel of our time. In the Second Great Awakening of the late 18th and early 19th century, American Protestants became obsessed with the Holy Land, and it was perhaps in response that one Jewish preacher had called in as early as 1818 for Jews to establish themselves in Ottoman Syria.
Sen. Lindsey Graham stated that Israel has concluded it cannot achieve a satisfactory end to the war with Hamas without invoking severe military actions similar to those taken in Tokyo and Berlin.