Evangelicals
Rally Their
Flocks Behind Israel
By Bill Berkowitz
06 April, 2006
Inter Press Service
To prevent the George W. Bush
administration from pressuring the Israelis into turning over even more
land, Hagee, the pastor of San Antonio's Cornerstone Church and the
head of a multi-million-dollar evangelical enterprise, recently brought
together 400 Christian evangelical leaders -- representing as many as
30 million Christians -- for an invitation-only "Summit on Israel".
The result was the launch
of a new pro-Israel lobbying group called Christians United for Israel
(CUFI).
By 2002, a number of veteran
Christian conservative evangelical leaders and Republican Party power
brokers had joined forces with conservative Jewish leaders to launch
several pro-Israel organisations. But the history of Jewish-evangelical
involvement goes back several decades.
According to Rabbi James
Rudin, writing in his recently published book, "The Baptising of
America: The Religious Right's Plans for the Rest of U.S.," "the
first [modern] evangelical-Jewish meeting" took place in New York
in 1975.
A bevy of issues including
"the meaning of Messiah in both traditions, Jesus the Jew, biblical
theology and the meaning of modern Israel and Jerusalem for Christian
conservatives and Jews" were discussed.
Rudin points out that "the
evangelical commitment to Israel creates some... ambivalence" in
the Jewish community, since that "commitment" is built on
the biblical belief that "without an Israel, an ingathering of
Jewish exiles, [the] major event in Christian eschatology [the Second
coming of Jesus to Jerusalem] cannot take place."
"That is why some evangelicals
are dismayed at any Israeli withdrawal or disengagement from any area
of the biblical 'Holy Land.' That is also why the strong Christian conservative
support of Israel is not linked to Middle East realpolitik or America's
growing thirst for Arab oil," Rudin says.
Although not as well known
on the national political scene as some of his evangelical brethren,
Hagee has built an impressive evangelical empire and developed strong
political ties to the Republican Party.
Since his 1978 "conversion"
to Zionism, he has emphasised establishing and maintaining good relations
with Israeli leaders and conservative sectors of the U.S. Jewish community.
Over the years he has met with Israeli heads of state and carved out
a special relationship with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
whose Likud Party performed dismally in the recent elections in Israel.
"Think of CUFI as a
Christian version of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC),"
the powerful pro-Israel lobby, Hagee told The Jerusalem Post in an interview
a few days before his February summit. "We need to be able to respond
instantly to Washington with our concerns about Israel. We must join
forces to speak as one group and move as one body to [respond to] the
crisis Israel will be facing in the near future."
While Hagee wouldn't spell
out which particular crisis he was concerned with, he did tell the Israeli
newspaper that "'the Bible issue', namely what he considers to
be the mistaken policy of trading parts of the biblical Land of Israel
for peace", was at the top of CUFI's list.
"Every state in the
Union, every congressional district" will be accounted for, Hagee
added.
A post-meeting report at
the John Hagee Ministries website said that Christians United for Israel
had put together a national board consisting of Hagee as national chairman,
fundamentalist minister Jerry Falwell, Gary Bauer, president of American
Values, and Pastor George Morrison of Arvada, Colorado.
Christians United for Israel
intends to establish a 50-state rapid-response network that aims to
reach every senator and congressman in the U.S. The organisation is
also concerned with "protecting marriage, family and faith",
Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, reported.
Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg of
San Antonio's Congregation Rodfei Sholom attended the meeting and called
it a historic gathering. Scheinberg told the San Antonio Express-News
that "It's the first nationwide effort I know of to unify evangelical
leaders in support of Israel. These leaders who participated speak for
millions of people. This organisation has phenomenal potential in supporting,
defending and advocating for Israel."
Pastor Hagee and Rabbi Scheinberg
go way back. In a story entitled "Our Jewish Roots" published
in JHMagazine, Hagee tells of a June 1978 visit to Israel where he "went
... as a tourist and came home a Zionist." When he returned home
he decided to organise "A Night to Honour Israel." According
to Hagee's account, Rabbi Scheinberg "pressed the Jewish Community
into taking a chance and extending its hand in mutual friendship."
The rabbi, pictured with
Hagee in several photographs in JHMagazine, delivered the benediction
at the first "A Night to Honour Israel" event in 1981, and
has been a regular participant ever since.
Members of CUFI intend to
meet with "legislators in Washington for two days in July to tell
them about the organisation and its platform, and express their support
for Israel," according to Haaretz. In addition, the "A Night
to Honor Israel" event will be expanded and held in several cities
simultaneously.
CUFI's website maintains
that the group was founded "to provide a national organisation
through which every pro-Israel organisation and ministry in America
can speak and act with one voice in support of Israel in matters related
to Biblical issues".
"We see Christians in
the United States as true friends and important supporters on the basis
of shared values, and we welcome their efforts to strengthen the ties
between Israel and the U.S.," said Israeli Ambassador to the United
States Danny Ayalon.
In addition to running San
Antonio's well-attended Cornerstone Church, Hagee heads up the multimillion-dollar
evangelism enterprise called Global Evangelism Television. Over four
decades, members of his ministry have donated millions to carry out
his mission.
Global Evangelism Television
has become a massive money-making family enterprise which brings in
millions of dollars year after year by selling inspirational books,
tapes and the promise of prosperity.
Hagee is the author of a
number of books including "Attack on America -- New York, Jerusalem,
and the role of Terrorism in the Last Days", and "The Beginning
of the End -- The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Coming Antichrist".
His latest non-fiction book is called "Jerusalem Countdown -- A
Warning to the World", which landed on best-seller lists.
The new book posits that
"biblical prophecy is playing itself out daily in the Middle East,"
Agape Press, a Christian-based news service, reported. "Hagee says
Iran's new president, coupled with... [the] victory by terrorist-backed
Hamas in the Palestinian elections, paves the way for an impending war
in the region."
In addition to spearheading
the launch of Christians United for Israel, and appearing on a panel
at the recent National Religious Broadcasters convention, Hagee has
aligned himself with a number of Christian right evangelicals that condemned
the Evangelical Climate Initiative, signed by 86 evangelical leaders
acknowledging the seriousness of global warming and pledging to press
for legislation to limit carbon dioxide emissions.
*Bill Berkowitz is a longtime
observer of the conservative movement. His WorkingForChange column "Conservative
Watch" documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories
and defeats of the U.S. Right.
Copyright © 2006 IPS-Inter
Press Service