Image Source: Orthodox Christianity
World – Palestinian theologian Samuel Munayer warned that Christian Zionism poses a profound and growing danger not only to Palestinian Christians but to African churches and liberation movements across the continent.
Munayer, co-editor of The Cross and the Olive Tree: Cultivating Palestinian Theology Amid Gaza, explained that Christian Zionism frames the establishment of Israel as divine fulfilment, making political support for the state a matter of religious obligation.
Mainline Christian denominations widely regard the movement as heresy, and Munayer said it carries devastating consequences for Palestinians on the ground.
“It is a theology that understands the birth and existence of the state of Israel as fulfilment of biblical prophecy. The nation state that is Israel, which was created in 1948, is a divine act by God and therefore is a project that, if people want to join the will of God, need to support. In turn, that also means the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Palestine.”
Palestinian Christians Bear the Brunt of a Spiritual Catastrophe
Munayer explained that Palestinian Christians have borne a particular burden under this ideology, experiencing what he termed a spiritual catastrophe alongside the physical dispossession of the Nakba.
He said Christian Zionist organisations actively target Palestinian Christians with financial incentives and promises of status, attempting to redirect blame for their suffering toward Muslim communities rather than the settler colonial project.
“What Palestinian Christians experienced throughout the settler colonial project of Zionism is one of spiritual Nakba, a spiritual catastrophe, not only a physical one. What happened with Zionism and this weaponisation of the Bible and Christianity is that our identity has been completely erased.”
Christian Zionism’s Growing Footprint in Africa
Munayer warned that the same theological logic enabling dispossession in Palestine has taken root in churches across Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, and Zimbabwe.
He said the movement is being used to reinforce existing colonial structures across the continent. He called on African Christians to stand in solidarity with Palestinians while critically examining how their faith is being shaped.
“It’s not what we’re looking at, it’s what we’re looking with. The message of the gospel, the message of Jesus, is to struggle with oppressed people, to proclaim liberation — that is the lens in which you need to understand the Bible and the Christian faith.”
