How to Really Begin with Christian Zionism?

It's 4:29 PM, I am running off schedule because of a dental appointment that I didn't handle very well mentally or emotionally, though I did remember to pray a few times, and this is a quick note to keep the beat on my Monday morning Christian Zionism and my Monday afternoon UN Charter Navigation projects. My plan for this morning was to decide whether or not to start reading and commenting upon A Short History of Christian Zionism by Donald Lewis. I haven't been able to make a decision. On the one hand, it seems like the best and fairest place to really begin with Christian Zionism in earnest. On the other hand, it might be better for me to keep my focus on the interpretation of current events. I parted ways with Prime Minister Netanyahu on the strategic level back on 2 March 2025, but I've parted ways with him on other decisions since 7 October 2023, and for a while he was proving me wrong, which I frankly admired and took as a testament to the strength of Jewish national character. 

Now I still admire Jewish national character, but I just don't know what to think about the situation we face as Zionists and Christian Zionists. (I think it's fair to call myself a proto-Christian Zionist). Prime Minister Netanyahu is running completely afoul of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, which much of the world now see as a bastion of collective sanity against authoritarian go-it-alone spoilers, including on the climate front. To put it another way, Trump and Netanyahu have gone way out on a fragile international legal limb, and they've taken the reputation of Zionism and Christian Zionism with them. Should we be proud and determined to support them until total victory against Hamas is achieved, regardless of the human, political, and legal costs, or should we be terrified that they may have ruined the entire Christian Green Zionist dream? God saved Trump from an assassin's bullet to be a disruptive peace-making leader for America and for the world. I don't know what else he should do except maybe spend more time on his knees praying. I don't envy his position. 

I am torn. If Bibi overplays his hand, it only makes Hamas that much stronger, and blaming Australia et alia for prematurely recognizing Palestine doesn't help in the long-run, right or wrong as it is. The United Nations Secretary-General may be guilty of aiding and abetting UNRWA war crimes, including as a Gaza aid spoiler, and the ICJ and ICC may have gotten the law wrong (cf. FDD Morning Brief | feat. Richard Goldberg). Even if true (and I am not saying it is), this doesn't mean that an Israeli ceasefire and Israeli support for the Egyptian proposal or something like it isn't still the best way to go. Israel needs to let the Arab states do more of the work against Hamas. The Arab states have already agreed that Hamas needs to be disarmed. If Israel implements a unilateral ceasefire and then agrees to withdraw from Gaza all-at-once or by sector for every hostage returned, this will put Hamas on its backfoot and it will then be the international community's responsibility, led by the Arab group, to get that disarmament job done. Not what Bibi wants to hear? Not what Trump wants to hear? Does that make it objectively wrong? 

It could be wrong. I am not claiming infallibility. Bibi and Trump have proven me wrong in the past. They are forces perhaps beyond nature. Biblical characters, in their successes and in their failings. Maybe the Arab states should come down harder on Hamas regardless of Israel's apparent move to ethnically cleanse and annex Gaza because that's what Smotrich and Ben-Gvir want? No, that's not going to work. The President of the ICJ during that 2024 advisory opinion on Palestine is now the Prime Minister of Lebanon. The Arab states have no reason to turn on the ICJ. Except maybe in resistance to a climate change advisory opinion that is prejudiced against fossil fuels over land-use change, that ignores collective responsibility for post-1972 overpopulation, and that somehow believes it is competent to lock in 1.5 Celsius as binding international law regardless of the total social consequences and without a precise formula for attributing proportional state responsibility that takes land-use changes and overpopulation above a 1972 baseline into account. But I overstate myself. I haven't yet studied the 2025 ICJ climate advisory opinion. I am reacting to quick impressions from ten minutes of a YouTube webinar on the subject, and they could very well be mistaken impressions.

Maybe what I will do instead of starting to read A Short History of Christian Zionism is listen to a couple of YouTube lectures first:

• Discussion on the book " A short history of Christian Zionism" by Donald Lewis | WEBINAR SERIES
• The Historical Roots of Christian Zionism, its Theological Basis and Political Agenda

This should take me into September on the Christian Zionism front, although I do think I also need to address fairly early on the objection that Christian Zionism is an oxymoron (cf. Christian Zionism: A Major Oxymoron with Dr. Ali Ataie).   

Regarding UN Charter Navigation, which is complementary to Christian Zionism and grows out of Christian Zionism, as I see it, the basic question we need to ask as we look at the climate file is not whether President Trump is a climate genius. It's whether the Paris Agreement was fair and realistic. If it wasn't, is withdrawal the best US response? If it wasn't, what are the implications for the Trump cabinet down the road politically and maybe even criminally? Unfortunately, the Democrats seem bent (with most of Europe) on nuclear war with Russia, which most Americans plainly reject, so the Democrats are in the wilderness where they cannot lead on climate security (cf. Democrats have become the party of war. Americans are tired of it | US foreign policy | The Guardian).

On Ukraine, I support an immediate ceasefire and de facto partition of the state for the next five or ten years more or less along the current line of control while the conflict is resolved de jure. But I trust Putin, Trump, Zelensky, and European leaders probably need to accomplish more than this before a ceasefire can take effect and that they will probably come up with something better in any event.

Alright, it is 6:22 PM and I am late for dinner. God bless the peacemakers on all sides.