The Republican Party’s powerful alliance with Israel — repeatedly reaffirmed during President Donald Trump’s second term — is rooted in conservative Christianity’s rise as a political force more than half a century ago. The Reverend Billy Graham’s relationship with President Richard Nixon helped bring evangelical politics into the White House. Graham later regretted his political entanglement, particularly after Watergate, but the opening remained.
In the late 1970s, Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority mobilised conservative evangelicals into a potent Republican constituency that Ronald Reagan incorporated into his conservative coalition. Israel became increasingly central to that identity, with many evangelicals viewing support for the Jewish state through a biblical rather than purely strategic lens. Leaders such as televangelist John Hagee and Christians United for Israel later built an institutional network that translated religious conviction into political pressure.
What began as evangelical access to Republican presidents became a durable political infrastructure. For Christian Zionists, this alliance is about more than religious affinity. Many view Israel as central to biblical prophecy, including end-times interpretations and the anticipated return of Jesus Christ.
These beliefs elevated support for Israel from a foreign-policy preference to a religious commitment. As evangelical voters became a core Republican constituency, politicians had strong electoral incentives to embrace that commitment, bringing theology, party loyalty and strategic interests into closer alignment. Today’s Republican leaders inherited that system.
Mike Johnson of Louisiana, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, embodies its contemporary influence. He has invoked biblical passages to portray the relationship between the US and Israel as more than a conventional strategic partnership. His speakership gives him considerable influence over legislation, congressional spending and debates over US military assistance to Israel.
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has repeatedly framed his support for Israel in explicitly Christian terms. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas represents a more nationalist, hawkish version of the alliance. His effort to replace “West Bank” with “Judea and Samaria” in federal terminology illustrates how biblical language can enter government policy.
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