Journal of journal of religion in europe 10 (2017) 351-360 Religion in Europe brill.com/jre

Book Reviews ∵

Elvira King The Pro-Israel Lobby in Europe: The Politics of Religion and Christian in the European Union (London & New York: I.B. Tauris, 2016), 288 pp., isbn: 9781784532383, £69.00 (hardcover).

The European Coalition for Israel (eci) was launched in Brussels in 2004 as a Christian Zionist lobby in the eu. Whereas the activities of pro-Israel Chris- tian pressure groups and lobbyists in the us are well-known, little research has been done so far about Christian support for Israel in Europe. In her study of the eci, Elvira King analyzes whether and, if so, how a religious group can influence—or fail to influence—decision-makers in the eu. King describes Christian Zionists as an umbrella of Christian groups and organizations from a variety of traditional and contemporary denominations that support Israel out of spiritual, practical, and, in the case of the eci, also political reasons. Contrary to the American variant, she regards European Christian Zionism as more heterogeneous, less apocalyptic in their hermeneu- tics, as pragmatic, and not exclusively connected to right-wing parties. She also emphasizes that, true to its Christian Zionist convictions, the eci hopes that Jews will eventually recognize the Messiahship of Jesus Christ, but does not advocate the active proselytization of Jews (p. 118). This is also important since Jewish lobby groups are seen as important partners in Brussels. The structure of the eci, which is financed by its members only, is described is a small lead- ership group. Also, the numbers given about its membership are vague: King mentions, e.g., 8,000 Facebook friends and 13,000 people on the mailing list (pp. 148–149). Focusing on the German and British branch of the eci as its two most ef- fective strands, King discusses their aims, strategies, and success in Brussels. In the following, I will focus on the two most central themes: (1) the defense of Israel; and (2) the fight against anti-Semitism among Muslims in Europe. As pointed out in the study, Christian Zionists view Islam as a rival religion as well as a political ideology that seeks to establish its primacy in Europe,

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352 book reviews and, consequently, as making a decisive impact upon contemporary religious identity (p. 82). The eci regards the political values of Islam (i.e., Sharia law) as diametrically opposed to the values that underpin and sustain Western de- mocracies. At annual policy conferences, ‘alarmists,’ such as David Littman and Bat Yea’or, were invited to warn of an Islamization of Europe. To prevent Europe from this dangerous development, the eci concluded that Europe has to rediscover its Judeo-Christian values “that in the past made Europe so great” (p. 126). Though the eci condemns all forms of anti-Semitism, anti-Semitism within Islamic organizations such as , Hamas, and the Iranian gov- ernment, as well as anti-Semitism in Muslim communities in Europe, is seen as particularly problematic. King does not discuss how the eci (and she herself) defines anti-Semitism, but gives the impression that resurgent anti-Semitism is seen as an old hatred of Jews and Israel similar to the 1930s, a view that is not based on serious research and very much challenged by many experts in this field. Contrary to Islam, Judaism is regarded as an integral part of Europe. Fur- thermore, European identity itself is seen as “inseparable from Hebrew scrip- tures and Jewish suffering, and so, by extension, Europe’s Christian Zionists are actively seeking to ensure that Israel, as a Jewish state, forms an important part that defines Europe’s identity” (p. 82). Especially in Germany, this posi- tion is explained in terms of Christian guilt, as a form of belated reparations for having failed during the Holocaust (p. 137). Thus, King points out that the eci’s greatest achievement in its advocacy was its influence on the institution- alization of the Holocaust Memorial Day in the eu in 2005. In this context, she mentioned that the Holocaust Memorial Day is also used to “highlight the cur- rent resurgence of the same hatred” (p. 138). Concerning the influence on the eu’s policy on the Israel-Palestine conflict, King regards the strategy of the eci as hardly successful. Though the eci is (be- cause of practical considerations) not explicitly against the establishment of a Palestinian state, it supports the idea of an undivided Jerusalem and justifies Jewish settlements in the , referred to as Judea and Samaria. Accord- ing to the eci, Jews are guaranteed “the right under international law to settle anywhere in western Palestine—the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea” (p. 1). This idea of a Jewish state is justified with the San Remo Initiative, better known as the San Remo Conference, which took place in and was attended by the prime ministers of Great Britain, France, and , and by representatives of Japan, Greece, and Belgium. Among other­ issues, the League of Nation mandates in the —and thus the British mandate in Palestine—were addressed. Using the San Remo Confer- ence to underpin the contemporary occupation, the eci not only ignores the

journal of religion in europe 10 (2017) 351-360