Abstract

The religious and political movement that led to the legitimation and colonization of settlements on the West Bank of the Jordan River and in Gaza in the aftermath of Israel's spectacular victory over threatening Arab neighbors—Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan—in the Six Day War (1967) is a major manifestation of contemporary false messianism. Indeed, Israel's victory appeared to be so overwhelming, swift, and decisive that it led many Jews (especially religious ones in the US) to a headlong rush to supplant the traditional secular basis of politics with a religious, messianic foundation. In some crucial respects, the messianic era in…