The sense of threat emerges -- The struggle for Jerusalem : the papal connection -- At the gates of the Vatican -- Theology and diplomacy -- Missionary activity -- Goat and chicken diplomacy : Israel and its Christian communities -- Israel and the question of the Russian ecclesiastical assets -- Land in the shadow of the cross : German Lutheran, Catholic, and Greek Orthodox property in Israel -- Epilogue: on viewing the enemy and bridge building
Summary
Cross on the Star of David presents the first scholarly analysis, based on newly declassified documents, of Israeli policymaking on the stance of the Christian world toward the new state of Israel. Bailer focuses on the impact that modes of thinking rooted in the historical tradition of Jewish-Christian interactions had on Israeli policymakers and concludes that they were not innocent of the perceptions and biases that influenced the Christian world's behavior toward Israel