As the US Elections Approach: On the Historical Origins of Christian Zionism

"Christian Zionism" (which is made up of Zionist Messiahs) is the name usually given to the belief of a group of Christians, often from fundamentalist Protestant churches, who believe that the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was an inevitable necessity because it fulfilled the prophecies of the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments. In their belief, the establishment of the State of Israel is a prelude to the second coming of Christ to earth as a victorious king for a thousand years, after a war that he will wage against "evil" in the world. "Christian Zionists" also believe that it is their duty to defend the Jewish people in general, and the Hebrew state in particular; they oppose any criticism or opposition to Israel, especially in the United States of America, where they form part of the pro-Israel lobby.
Christian Zionism has its direct roots in dispensationalism, the theological approach (read: system) that emphasizes the literal interpretation of biblical prophecy, recognizes a distinction between Israel and the church, and divides the Bible into different eras, and which emerged in England in the nineteenth century, thanks to the efforts of John Nelson Darby of the Plymouth Brethren, but some trace its origins back even further to seventeenth-century Britain.
As for "Religious Zionism", it was born at the beginning of the 20th century from the marriage of religion with political Zionism in an illegitimate marriage! It was supported by (Avraham Kook), the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community that existed in Palestine before 1948, who argued that the "secular Jewish national movement" constitutes a divine tool and a step towards final salvation at the end of time. Before his death in 1935, he agreed to the establishment of a secular Jewish state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, in which Jews would live under complete self-sovereignty, which laid the foundations for cooperation between the religious and secular wings of the Zionist movement. Religious Zionism differed from the "fundamentalist Jewish trend", which believes that the State of Israel should be established only upon the appearance of the Messiah, and that working to establish it before that violates Jewish law.
In the decades before the creation of Israel in 1948, the most prominent and politically active proponents of Zionism were American Christians: liberals and mainline Protestants, whose support for the movement was often not tied to their interpretation of the Bible.
These pro-Zionist “Christians” viewed Palestine as a necessary safe haven for Jews fleeing increasing persecution in Europe, and they often believed that their support for the movement was part of a broader effort at interfaith rapprochement. For example, the Pro-Palestine Federation, a pro-Zionist Christian organization founded in 1930, called for the promotion of “goodwill and respect between Jews and non-Jews,” and called on the British government to abide by the terms of the Palestine Mandate, which pledged to support the establishment of “a national home for the Jewish people.”
In the midst of World War II, and with their growing awareness of the Holocaust, American Jewish Zionists helped coordinate the creation of two non-Jewish Zionist organizations: the American Palestine Committee and the Christian Council for Palestine, which later merged into the American Christian Committee for Palestine (ACPC), which was largely composed of liberals and mainline Protestants; the leading American Christian lobby in support of the creation of a "Jewish state" in Palestine.
The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 gave a strong impetus to the adherents of Christian Zionism. The June 1967 war was for them a divine miracle in which the Jews were able to defeat several Arab armies simultaneously, and during which the Hebrew state tightened its control over the rest of the lands of historical Palestine, especially East Jerusalem and its holy religious sites. For the dispensationalists (referred to above), with Israel’s occupation of Jerusalem and the West Bank, the “prophecies of the Bible” were fulfilled. Indeed, these “divine” signs (!!!) encouraged other evangelical Christians to join the ranks of Israel’s defenders, and to push the United States to remain on the side of the “right side” in fulfilling these prophecies!!!

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The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 gave a strong impetus to the adherents of Christian Zionism, and the June 1967 war was for them like a divine miracle in which the Jews were able to defeat several Arab armies combined at the same time.