The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party

The War of 1967, which Israel won in six days, was seen by Christian Zionists as a further sign that God was fulfilling His Covenant with Abraham. After that war, Israel's boundaries included, among other things, the ancient Jewish lands of Sumaria and Judea. To read more about the War of 1967 and Israel's new boundaries, click here.

The war of 1967 marked a turning point in Israel's hisory. From NPR:

"Israel, independent since 1948, was surrounded by Arab states dedicated to its eradication. Egypt was ruled by Gamal Abdel Nasser, a firebrand nationalist whose army was the strongest in the Arab Middle East. Syria was governed by the radical Baathist Party, constantly issuing threats to push Israel into the sea."

Approximately 250,000 troops, more than 2,000 tanks and 700 aircraft ringed Israel in May of 1967. Then Egypt ordered the UN troops out of Sinai and blocked Israeli shipping routes. For more information on the 1967 war, click here.

An ultra orthodox Rabbi, HaRav Tzvi Yehudah Kook saw the Six Day War as a sign from God that the redemptive process was fully underway. The Rabbi gave a powerful speech just three three weeks before the Six Day War revealing his dispair over the pre-1967 boundaries that Ben Gurion and other Labor Party leaders had accepted for Israel:

"...Nineteen years ago, on the night when news of the United Nations decision in favor of the re-establishment of the state of Israel reached us, when the people streamed into the streets to celebrate and rejoice, I could not go out and join in the jubilation. I sat alone and silent; a burden lay upon me. During those first hours I could not resign myself to what had been done. I could not accept the fact that indeed 'they have...divided My land' (Joel 4:2)! Yes [and now after 19 years] where is our Hebron--have we forgotten her?! Where is our Shehem, our Jericho--where?! Have we forgotten them?!"

After the war Rabbi Kook was elevated to the status of prophet. He told his followers to go live in the holy city of Hebron. To read more about the religious settlers, including the followers of Rabbi Kook in Hebron, read The Zealots by Journalist Jeffrey Goldberg. (The New Yorker, May 31, 2004).

Christian Zionists saw the Six Day War as another sign from God that Biblical Prophecy was being fulfilled. From Beliefnet:

The biggest story in the years following the Six-Day War was how dispensationalists organized to support Israel in the face of the forces arrayed against it. Now that Jews were "home" in the Land of Israel and had expanded beyond its 1948 borders, dspensationalists became committed to keeping them there.