Some evangelical Christians’ interest in Israel reflects an interpretation of the Bible’s prophetic passages that’s known as premillennial dispensationalism. It maintains that the End of Days can play out as God intends only if Jews govern Israel and have reconstructed a temple on the Temple Mount, where there’s now a mosque.

But just a subset of evangelicals subscribe to that. Others are motivated by their belief, rooted in scripture, that God always intended Israel for Jews and that honoring that and keeping Israel safe is a way of honoring God. God’s blessing of America, they feel, cannot be divorced from America’s backing of Israel…

It’s common for large evangelical congregations in the United States to organize tours of Israel for their members. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist pastor and probable candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, has been running something of a side business as a guide for American evangelicals with Galilee and the Garden of Gethsemane in their sights. “The man is just nuts about Israel,” William Booth wrote in a Washington Post story two weeks ago about Huckabee’s tours. Huckabee told Booth that he visits Israel as often as four times a year.

The attacks of 9/11 and the spreading threat of Islamic extremists have further strengthened American evangelicals’ sense of kinship with Jews in Israel, whom they see as crucial partners in fighting butchers who have recently singled out Christians for slaughter.