Til Kingdom Come

PBS Anti-Christian Zionist Show Distorts

Luke Moon on March 19, 2021

An upcoming PBS special documentary targeting the relationship between Christians and Jews manipulated former President Donald Trump’s statements to imply that the U.S. recognized the annexation of the West Bank. In fact Trump did not.

‘Til Kingdom Come from filmmaker Maya Zinshtein follows a group of Kentucky evangelical pastors supportive of the U.S. relationship with Israel.

At the 1:08 mark in the film Trump is seen supposedly saying, “The United States will recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory that my vision provides to be part of the State of Israel, including the West Bank described so vividly in the Bible.”

An excerpt from the documentary ‘Til Kingdom Come splices separate sentences delivered by former U.S. President Donald Trump, giving the misperception that the U.S. government endorsed Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

What Trump actually said at the unveiling of his peace plan in January 2020 was the following, “And the United States will recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory that my vision provides to be part of the State of Israel.  Very important. And, crucially, the proposed transition to a two-state solution will present no incremental security risk to the State of Israel whatsoever.”

Then much later in his remarks, Trump said, “But America cannot care more about peace than the stakeholders in the region.  There are many Muslims who never visited Al Aqsa, and many Christians and Jews who never visited the holy sites in the West Bank described so vividly in the Bible.  My vision will change that.  Our majestic biblical heritage will be able to live, breathe, and flourish in modern times.”

Somewhere along the way they picked up and inserted the word, “including.

It’s hard to take seriously a documentary that manipulates a key statement and not wonder how many other people in the film have had their words spliced together to say things they didn’t say to fit the film’s narrative.

Does the filmmaker manipulate the statements of the Rev. Boyd Bingham, a young pastor ministering in rural Kentucky? The film opens and closes with him preparing to shoot his guns. Fueling the negative stereotype of rural Americans as God and gun rubes obsessed with End Times prophecy. Maybe the filmmakers negatively edit the statements of Yael Eckstein, CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ). IFCJ uses money given by churches and Christians all across the U.S. to provide humanitarian services to Jews in Israel that are struggling to make ends meet.  

It is doubtful, however, that the filmmakers use such tactics on their ideological allies. Featured prominently is Laura Friedman, who runs the Foundation for Middle East Peace that funds many anti-Israel initiatives. It is also unlikely that Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac will find his comments spliced up. As pastor of Christmas Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem and academic dean at Bethlehem Bible College he is an expert in misunderstanding American Christian support for Israel.

The film is a typical hit piece on Christian support for Israel and the Jewish people. A church allows a film crew to document their support for Israel and gets shown in the worst possible light. A Jewish humanitarian aid organization built on the fellowship between Christians and Jews is seen as exploitative. The head of a Jewish settlement group is shown as manipulating Christians by quoting the Bible.

Just as Trump in his actual remarks offered a more multifaceted view of the Israel and Palestinian conflict, Christian support for Israel is more complex than what is presented by this film. The repeated reference in the film to Genesis 12:3 highlights a present motivation that undergirds the friendly alliance despite a divergent future.  In this verse God says to Abram, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” For the people in Binghamtown Baptist Church, blessing Israel is a way to receive a blessing from God. IFCJ and other Jewish organizations are beneficiaries of the financial blessings from the church and are therefore also blessed.

For some, this may seem overly simplistic, and while it does represent a reason Christians support Israel and the Jewish people it certainly does not represent all Christians. It does not even represent most. Consistently, polling done on Christian support for Israel and the Jewish people finds significant support and yet the majority of Christian support isn’t rooted in eschatology. 

The problem with the film is not just its editing. It also perpetuates the myth that Christian support for Israel is simplistic, opportunistic, and even antisemitic. It seems strange that in a world where Israel and the Jewish people seem to have few friends that an Israeli filmmaker would seek to undermine the relationship between Christians and Jews.

PBS should not participate in such propaganda.

Luke Moon is a senior editor of Providence and Deputy Director of the Philos Project. He previously served on the staff of the Institute on Religion & Democracy.

Update [03/25/2021]: Following direct contact from the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), PBS has stated the fabricated quote has been corrected in the documentary. Read more here.

  1. Comment by Jeff on March 19, 2021 at 3:18 pm

    Luke,

    Thank you so much for actually “doing journalism” with this excellent piece! (To be precise, it’s meta-journalism, i.e. journalism about journalism.)

    This product of your considerable talent is much needed in these times of depravity and corruption in our institutions, our “news media” being Exhibit A. May GOD bless you and favor the work of your hands.

    Blessings,
    Jeff

  2. Comment by Randy Thompson on March 19, 2021 at 6:33 pm

    I question this: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/world/middleeast/israel-west-bank-annex-sovereignty.html

  3. Comment by Pirate Preacher on March 19, 2021 at 11:32 pm

    President Trump was incorrect (in my opinion) when he called mainstream media “fake news.” They are simply bad at their jobs and that is worse. Many years ago I majored in journalism. “Fair and factual “ was a baseline standard. There are ALWAYS two sides to a story. No more. Now there is only one side: Fox News, CBN, Wash Times, or Wash Post, NYTimes, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC PBS, NPR. None offer unbiased reporting. I suppose that’s fine as long as those outlets report their efforts as political contributions (which they are.) So the fact that PBS misrepresented facts is not news. It’s simply part of the larger gulf that divides the country. Neither side believes the other is telling the truth and the media shares much of the blame. As the forth branch of government they are derelict in their duty.

  4. Comment by Al on March 20, 2021 at 9:28 am

    Nice work, Luke.

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