Ezra Taft Benson and the State of Israel - Brandeis Institutional ...

The American public, though divided, was largely supportive of Truman'sacceptance of the Jewish State. As discussed briefly in chapter two, this support wasrooted in various aspects of the circumstances of the late 1940s. Michelle Mart arguesthat beginning after World War II, Jews in the United States enjoyed much moreacceptance than ever before. She attributes this phenomenon to three changes inAmerican perceptions: post-war ecumenism, the looming threat of Communism, and thenotion that the gathering of the Jews to Palestine, and the subsequent creation of the Stateof Israel, was a sign of the second coming of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. 122She explainsthat, although Protestant ideals remained at the forefront of American thought, “postwardangers seemed so great [that] many Americans were motivated to seek religiousalliances outside of the Protestant faith.” 123 This resulted in a new “Protestant-Catholic-Jew” triad of religious identity that could serve to combat the rise of atheisticCommunism in Europe. Many evangelicals “shift[ed]. . . the central Antichrist focusfrom Jews, modernism, or Catholicism, to communism.” 124 They likewise saw thecreation of a Jewish state as a sign that the end of days was near, and that the children ofAbraham would have a significant role in that culmination. 125 Thus, Jewish-Christianrelations began to enjoy a new solidarity.Oren emphasizes a different aspect of American endorsement of the Jewish inPalestine. He quotes Sol Bloom who sees the Yishuv, or pre-state Jewish community inPalestine, as “the reincarnation of the old American West, the embodiment of the122123124125Mart, “Christianization of Israel and Jews,” 109.Mart, “Christianization of Israel and Jews,” 112.Robert Ellwood, as cited in Mart, “Christianization of Israel and Jews,” 115.Mart, “Christianization of Israel and Jews,” 115.44