“‘Til Kingdom Come”: Evangelicals, Israel/Palestine, and Messianic Politics

Resource

“‘Til Kingdom Come”: Evangelicals, Israel/Palestine, and Messianic Politics

co-sponsored by Jewish Currents on Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Transcript (PDF)

FMEP and Jewish Currents are pleased to host an in-depth this discussion of Christian Zionism, American Evangelicalism, and how they relate to Israel/Palestine. A new film, ‘Til Kingdom Come, takes a close look at the phenomena of these issues and how they impact and intersect with American politics. This webinar features the film’s director, Maya Zinshtein together with Sarah Posner, author of Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump, and FMEP‘s Lara Friedman in conversation with journalist Peter Beinart.  

From the film’s synopsis:

“Millions of American Evangelicals are praying for the state of Israel…They donate sacrificially to Israel’s foremost philanthropic organization, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, because they fervently believe the Jews are crucial to Jesus’s return….With unparalleled access, this film exposes a stunning backstory of the Trump and Netanyahu administrations, where financial, political, and messianic motivations intersect with the apocalyptic worldview that is insistently reshaping American foreign policy toward Israel and the Middle East.” 

Starting February 26th, the film will be available to stream here. 

For the resources shared during the webinar, please scroll down. 

Panelists

Lara Friedman is the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) and a leading authority on Israel-Palestine issues and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. She is published and cited widely in the U.S. and international press, is a Contributing Writer at Jewish Currents, and is a non-resident fellow at the U.S./Middle East Project (USMEP). She tweets @LaraFriedmanDC. 

Sarah Posner is a Reporting Fellow with Type Investigations. Her new book, Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Donald Trump, was published in May 2020. Her investigative reporting and analysis on the religious right in Republican politics has appeared in Rolling Stone, The New Republic, Vice, HuffPost, The Nation, Mother Jones, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The American Prospect, Talking Points Memo, and many other publications. Her 2008 book, God’s Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters, explored the unholy alliance between the Republican Party and prosperity televangelists. She tweets @sarahposner. 

Maya Zinshtein is an Emmy award winning Israeli documentary filmmaker and journalist. Among numerous prestigious awards, Zinshtein was named best director at the 2016 Jerusalem Film Festival for her acclaimed documentary “Forever Pure” which later went on to win an Emmy award for Outstanding Politics and Government documentary in 2018 (Independent Lens/PBS). For the last ten years she has directed and produced documentaries broadcast on Israeli TV and abroad including by Netflix, BBC, ARTE/ZDF, and PBS, and screened at over 100 festivals around the world. An alumna of Sundance Institute, she teaches at Sam Spiegel film school in Jerusalem and serves on the jury of Israeli and International film festivals. She tweets @MayaZinshtein.

Moderator

Peter Beinart is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, an Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and a CNN Political Commentator. He tweets at @PeterBeinart.

Resources shared during the webinar: 

Follow our panelists’ work: 

‘Til Kingdom Come, the film site → https://tilkingdomcomefilm.com/

Stream the film here → https://tilkingdomcomefilm.com/watch

For a great primer on Evangelicals & Israel/Palestine, listen to this conversation that Lara Friedman had with Sarah Posner in August 2020: From Washington to Jerusalem: Evangelicals, Israel/Palestine, and American Domestic Politics —> https://fmep.org/resource/webinar-from-washington-to-jerusalem-evangelicals-israel-palestine-and-american-domestic-politics/

Sarah Posner’s writing: 

NYTimes review of the film: “‘’Til Kingdom Come’ Review: An Unusual Religious Bond” –>   https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/movies/til-kingdom-come-review.html?referringSource=articleShare

NYTimes interview with Maya Zinshtein: “American Evangelicals, Israeli Settlers and a Skeptical Filmmaker” → https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/26/movies/american-evangelicals-israeli-settlers-documentary.html

Review of ‘Til Kingdom Come: “Maya Zinshtein explores the complicated “love” between Evangelical Christians and Israelis in “‘Til Kingdom Come”” → https://cinemafemme.com/2020/10/20/maya-zinshtein-explores-the-complicated-love-between-evangelical-christians-and-israelis-in-til-kingdom-come/