Christianity Today Gaslights Israel One Year after the October 7th Terrorist Attack
Christian Media Analyst- CAMERA’s Partnership of Christians & Jews
On the first anniversary of the most horrific attack on Jews since Hitler’s Holocaust, one would expect Christianity Today (CT) to provide its over 2.2 million online and print subscribers at least one article about the October 7th attack on Israel that acknowledged the 1200 murder victims, the 251 taken hostage, and the 1000s injured by Hamas terrorists.
But instead of remembering the atrocities committed one year ago, and that 101 hostages still remain captive in Gaza, Jayson Casper’s nearly 3600-word article, “Gaza War Strains Bible Scholars’ Model of Christian Conversation: How Hamas’ October 7 terror attack and Israel’s response exhausted a group of evangelical Bible professors pursuing unity on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” gaslights Israelis and Jews worldwide.
Published on October 7, 2024, this article appeared in the “News” section of CT, in spite of the fact that it does not offer news. Instead, Casper presented a summary of the emotional struggles of Christian professors who lamented among themselves over their disagreement concerning the conflict in Israel and the extent to which they can blame Israel for that conflict.
Rather than remind the Christian world of the horrors inflicted on innocent civilians one year ago, Casper blamed Israel’s efforts to neutralize Hamas’ ability to attack Israelis for the division among theologians who presumed they might resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. The theologians’ futile attempt to solve the historic conflict between Israel and enemies who seek to kill Israelis actually focused on how Israel makes its own enemies. According to Casper, Israel is to blame for the lack of peace—not the terrorists who started the current war. This is a classic case of gaslighting, or blaming the victims for the atrocities committed against them.
Casper’s article follows Christians in Conversation on the Middle East (CCME) and the theologians from various backgrounds who met to discuss the Israel-Palestinian issue. The participants in the discussion included:
- Darrell Bock – Senior Research Professor of New Testament, Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS)
- Rob Dalrymple – Course Instructor of New Testament and Biblical Interpretation, The Flourish Institute
- Alicia Jackson – Associate professor of Old Testament, Vanguard University
- Bruce Fisk – Former professor of New Testament, Westmont College
- Gary Burge – New Testament scholar, Calvin Theological Seminary
- Jack Sara – President, Bethlehem Bible College (BBC), Bethlehem
The theme for the meeting of CCME theologians was “Israel and the Church.” The discussion examined whether the gentile church was “getting political” in its outlook regarding the ongoing conflict. Participants also debated the extent to which Israel’s actions are justified when it comes to preserving the existence of the Jewish State.
The scholars used terms such as occupation, settler-violence, settler-colonialism, displacement, and disproportionate response in their narrative, thereby providing credibility to highly disputed – and false – accusations against Israel. Readers of Casper’s article find little to no discussion of the legitimacy of Israel as a modern state or its need to defend its citizens. Instead, a glaring lack of intellectual honesty, as well as biblical and historical evidence, makes this “news” piece a glaring example of false and biased reporting.
The lack of mention of tens of thousands of rockets fired into Israeli civilian populations between 2004 and 2024, as well as myriads of terror attacks in Israeli cities (let alone the events of October 7, 2024), denies the pain and trauma suffered by an entire people – no just over the last year – but in their collective memory. An acknowledgment of the history, as well as the thousands of rockets fired at Israel from multiple fronts just since October 7, 2023, is essential context for understanding Israel’s response to such attacks. However, Casper – and the CCME scholars – neglected to acknowledge any of these realities.
Furthermore, Casper – and the theologians he highlights – fail to address the humanitarian crisis of approximately 70,000 displaced Israelis (Jew, Muslim, Druze, Bedouin, and Christian) since October 7th, thereby ignoring the ongoing hardships experienced by a significant percentage of the population as a result of the attacks from Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north.
While some of the CCME scholars seemed to completely ignore the current Israeli experience, others downplayed its significance. Even more alarming was the admission by some that they were ignorant of a particular topic under discussion. For example, Bruce Fisk acknowledged that he had “not studied enough in Islamic theology to comment on the compatibility of Jewish and Muslim perspectives in the land.”
If Fisk has not studied theology and does not understand the compatibility – or the lack thereof – of different perspectives on the land, why is he even involved in this discussion? Certainly, a scholar should take the time to study this topic before he presumes to be qualified to participate in such a conversation.
Casper notes that Rob Dalrymple considers the position that Israel has no right to exist as “a minority voice” and calls the denial of the Jews’ historic connection to the land as “problematic.” In his commentary, Casper does not seem to understand that the delegitimization of Israel is no mere “problem” to debate and it is not just a “minority voice.” This is because, in reality, the delegitimization of Israel leads to a trajectory of genocide. One needs only to look at the chants and signage on college campuses, in city centers, and even in the United Nations to see that genocidal rhetoric presents an existential threat to Israel.
Casper also quotes the so-called Zionist, Darrell Bock, where he says: “Israel has not done enough to care for noncombatants, limiting food and humanitarian aid. The extent of destruction has been excessive, with not enough protection for civilian life.” Bock goes on to claim Israel’s overall response is “disproportionate” and actively contributes to a cycle of perpetual violence and deepens mutual animosity. This is a classic case of blaming the victim. In so doing, Bock fails to acknowledge the verified facts concerning the extensive efforts Israel takes to protect Gazan civilians.
Dalrymple adds fuel to the gaslighting by downplaying what Israel and Jews worldwide continue to endure following Hamas’ barbaric invasion. He said: “he [Dalrymple] has come to appreciate how Jews experience antisemitism, and Christian Zionists fear its spread. Advocating forcefully against systemic injustice can unwittingly trigger such feelings. He acknowledges some antisemitism in the pro-Palestinian camp.”
This statement completely misrepresents the reality in the world today. Jews are not just experiencing “some antisemitism.” They are being terrorized globally – in their classrooms, neighborhoods, synagogues, governments, and on the internet – on a daily basis!
The CCME group certainly has the right to lament among themselves concerning their disagreement over the extent to which they can blame Israel for a war started by terrorists. Gaslighters do have freedom of speech. But Casper did not need to provide them a featured “news” article, that instead of offering news, attempted to evoke sympathy for Palestinians from a Christian readership by presenting an inaccurate view of Israel on its most heart-breaking anniversary.
Christianity Today’s release of Casper’s article as “news” demonstrates an overwhelming lack of sensitivity, an alarming deficit of journalistic integrity and a severe case of bias against a people immersed in an existential battle for survival.
The post Christianity Today Gaslights Israel One Year after the October 7th Terrorist Attack appeared first on Israel365 News.
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