I have been raised in a very pro-Jewish evangelical household and the idea of evangelism to the Jews has always been near and dear to me. Although I do believe that in its purest sense, most Christian Zionists would be modest enough to admit that if God still recognizes the physical earthly Israel as belonging to the Jews, he does not necessarily endorse everything their government does, as it will never again be a truly God-ruled state until the return of Jesus Christ. I know most theologians say that the spiritual successor to Israel is the church, both Jews and Gentiles, who believe in Christ. Yet, I think the prophetic and spiritual significance of Israel on earth is still relevant. It seems the Protestant evangelicals have had the most impact in bringing the Jews to Jesus, and my experience with Messianic believers is that they are not only more Jewish than your average Orthodox Jew today, but they are even more observant and holy than many gentile believers. I think Messianics are truly generous people. I believe in the typology within the bible where the gentiles always recognized God's prophets first, then the Jews later on. The conversion of the Jews at large happening near the end of the world is always talked about in Protestant eschatology, and seems logical given this typology. I don't know many Catholic converts from Judaism but I read a post or two, here, by some Jews who became Anglicans, and read about a Jewish Anglican convert priest on our local Anglican Church's website. Plus, we have the group "Anglican Friends of Israel", an online resource for Anglicans who are interested in furthering Israeli-Christian relations without necessarily endorsing the entire nation blindly. Jews for Jesus also had an article on Messianic Catholics, despite their Protestant leanings, and indeed there is a site for that group too. I want to know what is the general stance of Anglicans including people here on the spiritual significance of Israel and the Jews in prophecy and the future of the world? I always felt Catholics in general were cold about it and felt there was nothing special anymore about the Jews and whether or not a Jew finds Christ, it has absolutely no significance to any prophetic or eschatological matters. Link: http://www.anglicanfriendsofisrael.com/
The thing is, Roman Catholic eschatology wants to argue that the Catholics ARE the Jews of Israel. In the middle ages, it was customary for catholics to refer to those who were outside the church as "gentiles". Witness Thomas Aquinas' famous book: "Summa Contra Gentiles". He and his people, by typology, were the 'hebrews' and the pagans and muslims on the edges of Christendom were the 'gentiles'. This is what's known as the 'replacement' eschatology, where the Christians replace the Hebrews in the structure of salvation. Obviously this is quite scandalous to say in the modern age, so they hush it down, but since their church 'cannot change', they can't disown this doctrine without making all of Roman Catholicism false. Now on the Anglican side, Anglicans I've known have very close ties to Jews, Israel, and to Jewishness. I have gone to several Israel trips sponsored by the REC, and have seen a bunch more sponsored by the wider ACNA. The most prominent Anglican church in Jerusalem is actually not the cathedral (which is pro-Palestinian), but All Saints Anglican which is located in the Old City right next to the Tower of David. They have a ton of messianic jewish ministry; the priest is an American who moved his whole family to Israel, his son served in the Israeli army; the works. They are 100% devoted Israelis. And committed Anglicans. The Anglican approach to the Jews is of utmost respect to Jewishness. We believe that Jewishness and Judaism are not interchangeable with each other. We believe that Jewishness is a people, and should be celebrated (and maybe even has eschatological consequences, who knows). On the other hand Judaism is a religion that came out of late-Roman talmudic rabbinical teachings, and does not accurately represent the true religion of Israel, nor has automatic claims on the Jewish people. We all know how many of the apostles not to mention Mary (Miriam), St. Paul (Saul), and of course our lord, Yeshua, were completely Jewish. This means that one can be 100% Jewish, and 100% Christian, without replacing one with the other. I do believe it is fine for the Jewish Christians to maintain their separate ethnic identity; and alongside Easter, Christmas, to celebrate Passover, Rosh Hashannah. It is perfectly legitimate for a people to celebrate its holidays, especially when so many people have tried to erase Jews from history.
I would say that the claims of "Christian Zionism" and the notion that the Old Covenant remains valid are both false. Growing up around a lot of conservative evangelicals this was always prominent for some. That being said, one can be a Zionist and separately a Christian, much the same way one could believe in Irish unification and be a Christian. They are not incompatible but also are not inherently tied in any way.