Good for the Jews? The Christian Zionists tackling antisemitism

On a quiet morning in Melbourne’s Jewish heartland, community stalwarts gather in a small room at Beth Weizmann to hear from an unusual champion: a Christian minister who believes ‘only Jesus’ can defeat hate.

Mark Leach is the leader of grassroots Christian movement Never Again is Now (NAIN), which aims to address and stamp out antisemitism across Australia.

NAIN is behind a campaign of public rallies in Australian capitals to raise awareness of antisemitism. A Sydney rally of around 10,000, headlined by former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, was held in February and a Melbourne rally is scheduled for May 19.

Leach is passionate about the dangers of antisemitism. His motivation to speak out stems in part from a “really scary” experience being chased by a group carrying a knife after he waved an Israeli flag during Sydney’s pro-Palestinian rally on October 9, he told the Beth Weizmann audience.

On antisemitism, Leach’s rhetoric is music to Jewish ears. “The time to nip this virulent antisemitism is before it takes root, before it takes a force of inevitability. We need to do something across the country to shift the willing. Standing for love and inclusion in the face of the hate that we see every day – that’s what will shift the debate politically,” he said.

He says he is surprised by the enthusiasm in the Christian community to oppose antisemitism.

“I seemed to have inadvertently started a national movement. I didn’t mean to,” Leach told the 40 Jewish community members who gathered to learn about their Christian champions.

Friends like these

NAIN has been embraced by mainstream Jewish community organisations including the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Zionism Victoria, and the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, who have welcomed this outspoken friend at a time of rising antisemitism.

But the broader context of the movement makes it, at best, a complex ally. NAIN is part of a global movement of Christians Zionists, including Christian Action Against Antisemitism UK and the US-based evangelical movement, which Donald Trump courted as president with his decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.

Supporters of the movement established the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem and bring thousands of Christian pilgrims to Israel each year. They declare their love for Jews and Israel but also believe Christianity is the only true path.

Leach himself embodies this ambiguity as he calls himself “both Christian and Jewish,” simultaneously declaring his Christian faith and embracing the heritage of his mother, "a Jewish Holocaust survivor”.

Large sections of the Christian Zionist movement are deeply conservative in their social and political values. Their natural alignment is with the most religiously Orthodox and the most politically nationalist of Jews.

Leach argues conservative Christians are the Jewish community’s strongest allies.

At Beth Weizmann, he spoke repeatedly about exposing the “destructiveness” of the radical left and of the need to align society with the “beauty and power” of the Bible and a "Judeo-Christian" worldview.

“The hard left will come for anyone with conservative values… it will come for the Orthodox Jews,” Leach said.

He views Islam as a hotbed of Jihadism and an inherent enemy.

“We have to be realistic about Islam. It’s unbelievably unpopular to talk about it. There is a group of people out there committed to the eradication of the Jewish people.”

For Jews who care about Israel but embrace progressive values and want to find Muslim allies, such discourse is, at best, unhelpful.

For those represented by the Jewish Council of Australia (JCA), who favour positioning antisemitism within a broader progressive agenda, it is counterproductive.

“It does not assist the fight against racism to treat antisemitism as different from other forms of racism and to conflate antisemitism with support for Palestinian human rights,” co-executive officer Max Kaiser told The Jewish Independent.

JCA argues that siloing antisemitism has allowed NAIN to promote organisations and speakers with “long histories of bigotry” against other groups.

“We are concerned about the way in which some Jewish representative organisations and the Israel lobby are willing to partner with Christian Zionists, many of whom hold antisemitic views, and people with long histories of bigotry and racism against Muslims, Arabs and LGBTQIA+ people,” co-executive officer Sarah Schwartz added.

Christian Zionism has other problems too. It often ignores Christian complicity in antisemitism and the Christian theology that enables it.

The Friends of Zion Museum has a flashy high tech exhibit devoted to a half dozen historical supporters of Jews but not a single word about the Crusades, the Spanish inquisition or the silence of Pope Pius XII during the Holocaust.

Many Christian Zionists still embrace problematic Christian beliefs that delegitimise Jewishness such as that Jews must convert to Christianity to fulfil the Christian prophecy of the “End of Days”.

But at a time when Jews have few allies, such concerns are being put aside. Jewish MP David Southwick expressed the general attitude of the Jewish community to NAIN when he described the rally “absolutely crucial” and encouraged Jews to attend.

“We need to be front and centre, we need to be present, we need to be vocal… what other choice do we have?” he said.

The Never Again Is Now rally against antisemitism will be held in Melbourne’s CBD on May 19.