Christians living in the Middle East are expressing their unhappiness with President Donald Trump's attempt to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, which some see as a pandering to U.S. evangelicals.
With an overwhelming majority members of the United Nations roundly condemning the proposed move, the proposed shift of the embassy is also not popular in the region and has inflamed tensions both in the U.S. and abroad, according to the Washington Post.
Citing a poll stating that only 16 percent of Jewish Americans support moving the embassy to Jerusalem immediately, the Post contrasts that number with another poll showing that 53 percent of American evangelicals supported Trump’s decision.
As the Post notes: "The support behind the decision may be because some evangelicals believe that God made a covenant with the Jewish people promising them Israel, including Jerusalem (and the Palestinian territories)," with Brandeis University Israel studies fellow Walker Robins.
"For decades, evangelical supporters of Israel have argued that the United States and Israel are on the same side of fundamental global divides,” Robins explained.
That sentiment is not shared by Christians living in the Middle East, particularly in Palestine, where Trump's move to placate the Christian Right is making their lives a living hell.
“This is where it all started,” explained Lutheran Pastor Mitri Raheb who reside in Bethlehem. “The Bible originated in Palestine, not in the Bible Belt, but people in the Bible Belt read the Bible in a way that really makes our lives difficult.”
You can read the whole report -- along with poll numbers -- here.