Why do Western Nations favor Israel over the Islamic World even though according to Matthew the Jews bore the bloodguilt of Christ?

Answer 1

There are several important assumptions in the question. The first assumption is that because Western countries are majority-Christian, they will naturally pursue political interests in-keeping with the values of that religion. Nothing could be further from the truth. Historically, European nations broke out of the idea of a united Christendom in the Renaissance and fought each other openly even though they had the same religion. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) showed a pivotal turning point when Catholic France sided with the Protestant Countries against the Catholic Countries led by the Spanish/Austrian Hapsburgs. The reason for this shift was geopolitical. From that period on, Western countries would be motivated primarily due to geopolitical concerns as opposed to religious ones. It is no surprise that Jews were beginning to see toleration during this period since Christian Anti-Semitism was giving way to commercial arguments in favor of bringing skilled Jewish labor into countries that had previously expelled Jews, like England and the Low Countries.

The second assumption in this question is that Western Nations do not show favor to the Islamic World. Saudi Arabia and the other oil-rich emirates are strongly protected and defended by Western countries. The United States led the call to defend Kuwait in the Persian Gulf War to stop the Iraqi Army along with the help of nearly every Western European country. The United States has not intervened militarily in any Israeli conflict, even those with multiple armies. (It is worth noting that the Soviet Union actually did send soldiers to assist Egypt in the War of Attrition.) The United States also gives a massive amount of aid to Egypt (making it the second-highest recipient of USAID after Israel). The United States has very close diplomatic and state relationships with Turkey and Jordan. It was discovered that the United States sent more priority CIA cables to Jordan than to Israel, indicating Jordan's important role in US foreign policy.

The final assumption is that the Church still holds to the line in Matthew where Jews take upon themselves the bloodguilt for the Crucifixion. The recent Popes, and the Catholic Church in general, have made clear that this part of Matthew (if not the whole book) is a polemic and that the truth is that Romans executed Christ. Many Protestant Churches (like the Lutheran and Episcopalian Churches) got there even sooner than the Catholics. Since Christian Leadership does not hold those lines in the Book of Matthew to be necessarily authentic or worth following, Christian Leadership does not even advocate for them.

However, even with all of these misconceptions, there is still clear support from the United States towards Israel in a way that is unique and different from the US interaction with the Islamic World. The United States support for the State of Israel comes from a variety of sources. Firstly, the two nations both have liberal democracies creating a similar cultural and political base. Israel has cooperated with the United States on diplomatic issues, military and intelligence exchanges, large amounts of trade, and significant technological investment. In addition, there a numerous Americans who support the State of Israel because of religious convictions on top of the already-listed reasons.