In January, Vice President Mike Pence earned a rapturous response from Israel’s Knesset for an emphatic, emotional address that emphasized the unbreakable bond between America and the Jewish state. Meir Soloveichik (whose own article addressing the subject appears on page 12) witnessed the occasion and reported in the Wall Street Journal: “The speech was a milestone in American–Israeli relations, and a window into the heart of many American Christians who, like Mr. Pence, observe Israel’s emergence with wonder and reverence.”

American Jews witness such displays of Christian Zionism with our own sense of wonder—especially after the long and well-known history of Jew-hatred on the part of prominent professing New Testament believers. In that context, it’s worth noting that Pence is hardly the first vice president to express impassioned support for a restored Jewish commonwealth in the Middle East. “I could find it in my heart to wish that you had been at the head of a hundred thousand Israelites… & marching with them into Judea & making a conquest of that country & restoring your nation to the dominion of it,” wrote John Adams, first vice president of the United States (and second president), to the one-time diplomat and early Zionist dreamer, Mordecai Manuel Noah, in 1816. “For I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation….read the full column at CommentaryMagazine.com.