http://www.1984produkts.com/donkeyhottie/wordpress/archives/2005/01/07/i_look_like_jesus_so_they_say/

Hell, most fundamentalist Protestants believe that they’ll be gone from planet earth when the Jew-killing starts.

This is why I think that certain elements in Israel (some Likudniks, renegade Orthodox eschatologists) have no problems allying with people who say, “We have to support your nation so that your people can be slaughtered by the antichrist to bring back Jesus.” After all, if you are convinced that no antichrist is going to show up, you really don’t have to worry about allying with people who believe that this mythical figure is going to kill you, do you?

You’re right about the fundamentalists being “gone.” Yet I was attempting to draw attention to what I perceive to be an inclination to root for what they see as prophetic fulfillment while they’re with us, and to perhaps even legislate or make policy to that end.

I have to quibble with your statment about the Dome of the Rock and the razing of the Temple Mount being evil, though. Many fundamentalists don’t have a firm grasp on Islam, the significance of the Mount Complex, or any of that–most of Islam’s glory days occured during the history hiatus of 33-1948 CE., and many just aren’t too interested in that period. Many know that a goodly chunk of Arabs dislike Israel, that Israel’s existence is necessary for Christ’s return, many Arabs are Muslim, and the Temple’s rebuilding is a precondition of the Second Coming. Therefore, to keep the clock ticking, they think F the Muslim Arabs and their mosque. They get what’s coming to them for being in the way.

Also, I’m not sure about alliances between ultra-Orthodox Israelis and American fundamentalists. Nationalist settlers in the West Bank, many of whom are Orthodox, have some ties. But among the Haredic and Hasidic schoools there is a serious, and as yet to my knowledge unsettled, debate as to whether Israel ought to exist at all. A chunk of the ultras believe that the secular and Zionist nature of Israel is a blasphemy, and only Meshalom himself can establish true Israel.

Indeed, the creepy thing about all of these attitudes is the indifference to most of the actors involved (Jews, temple, etc.) as anything but game pieces on a board that bring about Christ’s return. Oddly enough, there’s a similar attitude towards Russians, since Russians are one of those other groups of people who need to get slaughtered in wholesale lots to bring about the Second Coming.

All in all, I find dispensationalist exegesis to be deeply, deeply disturbing.

On a final note for clarification, those religious Jews who cooperate with fundamentalist Christians seem to be a very small minority and usually work with equally fringe groups of Fundamentalist Protestants. It’s this small fringe that believes that they can give the End Times that necessary push to get things rolling that are really scary.