(This takes 4¾ minutes to read.)
I have spoken before on how Zionism feels like a Crusade, but the more that I learned about the Crusades, the more parallels that I noticed between them and the Herzlian occupation of Palestine. Therefore, I wish to make a sequel to my original topic.
There are some differences between the two occupations. Notably, the Kingdom of Jerusalem lasted from 1099 to 1291, whereas the so-called ‘State of Israel’ lasted from 1948 and shall most likely collapse before the 2030s; the Crusader occupation lasted much longer. The most important motivation for the Crusades was reducing overpopulation, whereas Herzlianism aims to liquidate the Jewish diaspora (though one could argue that managing overpopulation figures into that, too). Lastly, the Crusades were maybe deadlier than Zionism… but I can’t so sure on that one.
I feel that the similarities outnumber the differences, though. What you are about to read are some striking parallels between the Crusades and Herzlianism. Quoting John Beavers’s ‘Crusader Colonialism: Descriptio Terrae Sanctae and the Coloniality of the Latin Kingdom (1099–1291)’:
In embarking on the First Crusade, Pope Urban II aimed for the displacement of all Turks, pagans (including Muslims), and non-Latin Christians. The stated purpose of such mass displacement was to purify the Holy Land and make it suitable for Latin stewardship.⁴⁴
Perhaps given the spiritual significance of the Holy Land, this policy’s overtly sectarian nature was not condemned as forced conversion unlike Castilian settlement. Despite no universal policy of either ethnic cleansing or mass conversion, both did occur in the Latin Kingdom on a localized scale.⁴⁵
Major cities along the Syrian and Palestinian coast were often the sights of devastating massacres, where crusaders targeted Muslims and Jews specifically. Jews and Muslims were also forbidden from residing in Jerusalem during Frankish rule.
Much like Castilian settlement, Frankish rural settlements were also established in depopulated areas, though this displacement was the result of locals fleeing violence during wartime rather than a concerted, organized effort after the fact.
The deficit of European settlement in the Latin Kingdom necessitated the preservation of local populations where possible, however settlements in depopulated areas were nevertheless established.
Anybody who has read The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine or the United Nations’ position on the Nakba should quickly recognize how familiar this looks. The only significant difference is that the medieval displacement was less extreme in practice.
Burchard presents Muslims as inherently invasive with no legitimate form of belonging, while he does not characterize local Christians in similar regards.⁸⁶ By claiming that the majority of the East is Christian, Burchard further alienates Muslims by characterizing them as an eternal foreigner in their own lands.
This is nearly identical to how Herzlians conceive of Palestinians (or ‘Arabs’), viewing them as somehow more alien to Palestine than the settlers.
Burchard does not qualify many Muslim groups, instead flattening them into a single Saracen gens and natio. The only two other Saracen groups he describes as such are the Assassins and ‘Vannini’, who are distinguished from the norm by their exceptional ferocity.⁸⁷ Muslim groups and individuals are characterized as violent, superstitious, and as stated before, foreigners in their own land.
This is practically identical to how Herzlians view the Middle Eastern population. In their minds, Palestinians are interchangeable with Syrians, Lebanese, Egyptians, and so forth.
The chronicles contemporary to the First Crusade often conceptualized the conflict as an apocalyptic war between good and evil, between Christendom and Islam. They described individual battles against Muslim groups, or Saracens, in terms of graphic brutality and their connection to biblical prophecies of Armageddon.
Christians recapturing Jerusalem was often understood by intellectuals or crusaders as a prerequisite condition for the Second Coming and the end of days. Muhammad was characterized as the Antichrist, and Muslims therefore were the Antichrist’s armies.¹¹⁹
Apocalyptic thinking is unusual in modern Judaism, but this eschatology is remarkably similar to what Christian Zionists believe.
The persecution and martyrdom of Christians, especially pilgrims, during Muslim rule over the Holy Land was a fundamental justification for the Crusades. In describing more current martyrdom, Burchard is substantiating the persistent belief that Muslims are Christianity’s fundamental enemy. In situating the relics and holy places important to Latin Christians, as well as mentioning episodes of Christian martyrdom, Burchard is harkening back to the original rhetoric of the crusades as a war of liberation and protecting pilgrims.
Does this not sound anything like the IOF using the October 7th incident as an excuse to exterminate thousands of Gazans? If nothing else, the insistence on antagonizing Muslims should look familiar.
Toxic theology also played an important rôle in (justifying) the Crusades. Turning now to Faith A. Edwards’s ‘Old Testament Land Promises and the Justification of Violence in the Crusades’, pages 46–7:
Taking on the identity of “G-d’s Chosen People,” they looked up to the warriors of the Old Testament, believing that they, too, had the G-d of Israel by their side:
In the Old Testament, the Chosen People of the Israelites fought battles commanded and protected by their G-d…Warrior heroes adorn the scriptural landscape: Joshua, Gideon, David…the martial history of the biblical Chosen People of the Old Testament fed directly the world-view of the crusaders, providing rich quarries alike for preachers and chroniclers.¹¹
[…]
In a study of crusader art in the Latin Kingdom, it became clear that the crusaders believed that their Old Testament heroes were types for themselves in their quest for the Holy Land:
As both the textual and visual sources reveal, alongside the figures of Christ and the Apostles, those of the Maccabees, Joshua, and King David were also central for the crusaders, functioning as models designating the crusaders as the “New Israelites” who had conquered the Holy Land and the Holy City.¹³
Their artwork showed how they viewed themselves as part of a “miraculous work of G-d,” and exploited Biblical models to enunciate their legitimacy in claiming the Holy Land.¹⁴
Louis IX, leader of the Seventh and Eighth Crusades, also drew strongly from the story of Joshua:
Joshua…was seen as a type for the crusader in ways that informed Louis IX’s crusading ideology and his kingship. The parallel between Joshua's divinely sanctioned wars and Louis' own crusading ambitions structured a teleology that incorporated Louis into salvation history.¹⁵ Despite the disaster of the Seventh Crusade,¹⁶ Louis was encouraged through the failures of Joshua and soldiered on in his journey to recapture the Holy Land in the eighth and final crusade.
(Emphasis added in all cases.)
I could add more, such as how the Crusaders prohibited intimate relations with Muslims, but I want to keep this topic at a manageable length. Above all, remember that Judaism has very little to do with Zionism, and that Zionism was always more of an Evangelical phenomenon.
Further reading: ‘The Last Crusade and the First Zionists: Religion, Empire, and the Making of Modern Palestine’
‘Beyond the Battlefield: The Lasting Legacy of the Medieval Crusades on the Holy Land’




