I first became aware, as many others probably did as well, of the plans for this theme park only a week or two ago before Sharon's stroke.
It got me to thinking about how the 'philosemitism' and the general fascination that some American Christians have for Jews and Israel has grown so quickly and started to become such a central part of their ideology/theology.
I made a comment in a diary here about the Christian theme park in Israel in which I expressed my genuine concern if Israelis fully comprehended what they were getting into through their deal with Robertson et al with regard to this theme park.
The Israeli government was (according to the article I read) planning to lease the property upon which the Christian center would be built. Now, it's one thing to accept monetary donations from American Christians and to welcome them as tourists, etc. But what happens when the Israeli government starts to lease out fairly large parcels of 'holy land' to right-wing Evangelical Christians like Pat Robertson? Is it too far-fetched to assume that Christian groups might take advantage of the situation by occupying such territory permanently?
We have all seen the cult-like way in which some Christian groups have been behaving and in conjunction with the increasing emphasis on the 'rapture' and the key role that Israel plays in their end-times drama. Could it become appealing for some American Christians to start emigrating to Israel in order to help bring about the right set of circumstances and to be first hand for the fulfilling of events which they believe to have been foretold?
Could Israel become so dependent upon the economic and political largesse of the Evangelical Christian community that they would allow that movement's leaders to gain control of resources or land which, once granted, would be difficult or impossible to get back?
I am wondering if a Christian de facto 'takeover' of parts of Israel could happen? I don't know the answer but I do know that 1. certain groups of Evangelical/Fundamentalist American Christians are obsessed with bringing about the 'end-times', 2. such groups already have shown that they have enormous resources in terms of money and willingness to take part in coordinated action and 3. Their interest in Judaism as it related to their own narrow world view is increasing and evolving such that what they believe about Israel and Jews could be different in the near future.
And before anyone says that the Israeli government would never tolerate such a situation I would add that certain Evangelical Christians have enormous influence with the current US administration and thereby it is not unreasonable to think they could actually force the hand of Israel either with implied threats of with-holding US support in the form of weapons or money. There are many different scenarios.
No one should underestimate how determined these people are to prove they and their world-view are 100% correct.