When the United Nations debated the future of the Mandate of Palestine in 1947, world opinion was powerfully affected by news of the Holocaust and the plight of Jewish refugees. This momentary humanitarian advantage aided Christian Zionists in mobilizing public opinion on behalf of Israel. Almost as soon as it became clear that the Jews had won their war for independence, however, anti-Zionist elements within Christianity reasserted themselves. At the World Council of Churches - established only a few weeks after the State of Israel was formed - a pro-Arab bloc of Western missionaries echoed the anti-Zionism that has always characterized Eastern churches and the Roman Catholic Church, which had never been friendly to Zionism, championed the cause of "internationalization" of the city of Jerusalem in order to diminish Jewish presence in the heart of the Holy Land.
