Gentile American Zionism? Yes, It's True

Why has America so predictably, consistently and substantially supported Israel since its creation in 1948? So often we read or hear from certain quarters that it is because our politics and policy are so disproportionately influenced by Jewish interests, the so-called "Israel Lobby." It is surely true that such interests have always been afoot, and wielding as much political influence as they can, no doubt. But this article in Foreign Affairs, "The New Israel and the Old," by Walter Russell Mead, affirms that the broader American gentile public has always deeply sympathized with, related to, and supported Israel and its interests.

Widespread gentile support for Israel is one of the most potent political forces in U.S. foreign policy...Over time, moreover, the pro-Israel sentiment in the United States has increased, especially among non-Jews. ...The increase has occurred even as the demographic importance of Jews has diminished. In 1948, Jews constituted an estimated 3.8 percent of the U.S. population. Assuming that almost every American Jew favored a pro-Israel foreign policy that year, a little more than ten percent of U.S. supporters of Israel were of Jewish origin. By 2007, Jews were only 1.8 percent of the population of the United States, accounting at most for three percent of Israel's supporters in the United States...These figures, dramatic as they are, also probably underestimate the true level of public support for Israel.

This article explores the history and reasons for this unique relationship--and the references go all the way back to founding father John Adams. There is the shared Judeo-Christian religious foundations in the Bible's Old Testament, the shared sense of coming to America and it's "promised land" experience, the importance of Israel's future to certain Christian groups and their prophetic biblical interpretations related to the second coming of Christ--and more!