Focus U.S.A / Whatever happens, Israel can always count on U.S. evangelicals
Thousands of Christian activists descended on Washington this week in a show of strength by America's pro-Israel Christians.
By Natasha Mozgovaya Tags: Israel newsThousands of Christians from across the United States descended on Capitol Hill on Thursday in order to lobby Washington lawmakers on behalf of Israel.
Organizers of the event, called Christians United for Israel, showed their strength by lobbying over 85 percent U.S. Congress offices.
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Delegates at the Christians United for Israel conference, Washington June 21, 2010 |
| Photo by: Haaretz |
Attendees of this year's gathering are visibly different from those in the past: about one in five of the 5,000 participants was from a Hispanic Church.
“Last year we had about 300 Hispanics, but this year we started specific outreach to the Hispanic churches where Spanish is a language of worship”, says David Brog, the executive director of CUFI. “We have started an outreach to African-Americans. It was always our goal to broaden our base ethnically, geographically and theologically”.
Yet despite the attempt to reach out to traditionally left-leaning minority groups, Democrats are few and far between at the conference.
“We are determined to be bipartisan, we always invite Democrats but typically we get better answers from the Republicans”, says Brog.
Democrats' reluctance might have something to do with CUFI's relations with activists on the right wing of Israeli politics.
In May, CUFI leader Pastor John Hagee wrote in an op-ed in The Forward newspaper that “we will never, never oppose Israeli efforts to advance peace".
Yet Hagee has courted controversy with by offering financial backing to some settler organizations.
“Pastor Hagee gives away a lot of money each year," says Brog. "Last year he gave away approximately 10 million dollars and over 95 percent of it went to charities within the green line. About 5 percent went to humanitarian projects over the green line. Almost all of it went to the areas that will be within the Israeli state following the agreement. With limited exceptions he hasn’t been a really big supporter of settlements. It has not been a focus of his giving and it certainly hasn’t been the focus of his advocacy."
“CUFI stands for supporting an Israeli democratically elected government,” he said. “I noted from the audience that a large majority at the Capitol Hill supports a two-state solution. There is no need to get into an argument about it, that’s not our point."
Another controversial issue has involved CUFI's support for the Im Tirtzu group, which has launched high-profile attacks on the New Israel Fund, another charity that backs a range of organizations on the liberal-left, including Breaking the Silence and B'Tselem.
“Pastor Hagee has a panel advising him whom to fund, which consists of three Jewish friends of his. If you want to blame anyone for Im Tirtzu, blame us,” said Brog. “Pastor John Hagee had never heard of Im Tirtzu. I met the Im Tirtzu guys and they told us how they are trying to teach Zionism in college campuses. We were impressed and they got some funding. The decision has not been made yet about this year, but the entire issue will be revisited in light of their emphasis last year”.
But whatever the case, CUFI remains capable of provoking anger among its opponents.
Outside the conference hall, a small group of protesters gathered outside the conference center, some of them from the pacifistic anti-settlement group "Code Pink" and some with posters calling Israel “Satan” and Pastor Hagee a “Zionist murderer”.
One conference participant grew visibly upset, approaching several protesters and hitting their posters with his bag
"I was not even talking to him, I was giving an interview to a journalist, and this guy was coming by and swung his bag at me and then he comes to other participants and swung it at them as well," said a protester with the "Code Pink" group, Medea Benjamin, who intends to complain to the police about the incident.
The delegate who assaulted the protesters was quickly taken inside, where Pastor Hagee used his speech to slam left-wing critics of Israel, such as former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, who he said "should be ashamed".
“I don’t know who this gentleman is. Like any conference, we haven’t screened people, we don’t know them," Brog said of the incident. "I don’t know if this man was Jewish or Christian, but obviously it’s not a very Christian response."
The scuffle was just another more sign - if any were neede that one Christian response Israel can always count on is backing from U.S. Evangelicals.
“Harry Truman, who recognized Israel 11 minutes after its creation, was a member of the evangelical group American Christians for Israel, " Israel's ambassador, Michael Oren, told delegates.
Sixty-two years on, it seems Israeli governments on both sides of the poltical divide have done nothing to diminish that support.
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...Christian evangelicals can always count on Israel. You bless Israel and then G-D blesses you . Not vice versa
the support of right wing christian organisations for isreal is absolute and blind. It most jews whom I know ( educated, broad minded) are wary of this type of support
Wasn't Hagee the guy who said Hitler was just doing God's work? Aren't evangelicals the ones who believe that the Jewish people will suffer another disaster before the second coming of Christ? Aren't they intentionally driving Israel into a disaster to speed up the process?
Aren't you worried that it's America's religious nuts that support you? Doesn't this tell you something?
of the end of times includes a final solution to the jewish faith. A big battle will occur, millions die, Jesus comes back and Jews are converted. Look at the bid picture here. At least Muslims recognize Judiasm as a great faith and our struggle has always been zionism and not Judiasm.
Is Israel so desperate for friends in the outer world that it allies to evangelicals who tell everyone that ultimatey, Jerusalem will be the capital of Christians and all Jews will have to convert??
Years ago they dislike Jews and didn't want them in the their Golf Clubs. Something has changed in the last generation and now these illogical consevartive so-called Christians have allied themselves with the Isreali Government regardless of its actions. I wonder what caused this to happen? Let some of these Christians try and live in some extreme settlement and see, in reality, how welcome they are. A Christian can't buy a house in a settlement and the Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem have been walled in. If they only knew that many extreme Jews view them (the Evangelical Christians) as a lesser form of human life, as they view all gentiles, be they Christian, Muslim or any other religion or race, as untermenschen.
Thank God for all the christians many left wing jews should be embarrased that this decent people are way more supportive of Israel than they are. what a shame!!
Truman's daughter Margaret writes of her father and Israel in her Memoir of him. There's no mention of religious motivation, rather she claims he had sympathy after the Shoah. But the big thing was campaign money in 1947 and 1948 for the very difficult 1948 elections. She writes that Democrat finance officials told Truman that if he didn't agree to the partition and later recognize Independence, the Party would lose a lot of contributions. You can take your choice as to which consideration motivated him.
i didnt hear hagee caling himself a jew .that would be an antichrist to him a favorite word of hagee.This is punch word for hagee thinks he the chosen one .wow what a world when you have to have friends like this
So when evangelicals finally have their finest hour and Lord Jesus once again and this time finally decends on to earth to establish his Kingdom, will they plea for the Jews and say to him that he should not be pissed they never regarded him the Messiah? Or... And what if the Jews get their Third Temple and their Messiah first? Will evangelicals send congrats? Or...
if john hagee and his right wing fundelmental christians are the only friends isreal got it deffinatly is the end of the state of isreal.
Right Wing evangelicals in the US have become increasingly zenophobic and hostile towards hispanics and blacks since Obama was elected. Blacks and hispanics have become the scape-goat for problem after problem. Why do Jews think that they will be fine, after these right wing evangelicals are done coming for the blacks, and coming for the hispanics? Don't cry to anyone when your political allies for the moment come for you and there is no-one left to defend you.
Israel can count on U.S. evangelicals to bring on the total crazy. What exactly are you counting on from the people who want to use your country to trigger armageddon. Woo Hoo, everybody go to heaven.
Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called sons of God. (Matthew 5:9, Holy Bible)
than you will understand how weighty the support of a one person can be
I am Jeiwish. I heard Rev. Hagees' speech on Israel this past week. We should have more US jews as loyal to Israel as Rev. Hagee.
Israel should use stable relations with its neighbors (including Palestinians) as the basis for its security, not opportunistic alliances with groups that have ideologies that conflict with Judaism. When they tell you Jesus wants you to drink cool-aid, what will you do?
Bring on the apocalypse...the return of the Messiah and the annihilation of the vast majority of the Jewish people who do not accept Jesus. That is the outcome you are allying with when you give support to these Evangelicals.
are these really the people that you want on your side? Israel could just start making salient point after salient point on US new stations. Project the right message and you wouldn't have to rely on the crazies. Israel needs to fix it's PR.
Hagee and his Armageddon freaks are hardly evangelicals, but if you insist ;) ,...
Only the most deluded will take their support seriously. Only the most desperate will seek their support. Only the most gullible will count or believe anything John Hagee and his minions will say. What is clear, as history has shown over and over again, whatever causes the "evangelicals" of the South support, history has repudiated. We can look for the same here once the kool-aid runs dry.
CUFI is a John Hagee production...are you sure you want to trust this? For those who answer yes...you'll find chapter 19 of his book...Jerusalem Countdown...an interesting read.
While many Jews do not accept Jesus as the Son of God, every single Christian worships the God of Israel. You can thank Jesus for that.
If you have never heard of the Blackstone declaration visit the Herzl museum. Those who take the Bible seriously take Israel seriously right back to the Puritans and their forebears.
They refuse to be cowed by at best misguided and at worst malicious left-wing propaganda, nor by the violence of the Arab world. They are a ray of light in all this darkness. Much respect to them.
I bet some will say, this woman was provoking and thus a terrorist, so this guy had no other chance to hit her with the bag.
why oh why must these evangelical christians give decent christianity such a bad name.......... think for yourself about israle behaviour towards the palestinians... god gave you that very important skill//THINK FOR YOURSELVES!! IDIOTS
How is it that Xians care more about Jews than a so-called Jewish group?
help Israel , for i beleive all christian denominations wherever we belong , it is our sacred duty to support and help Israel . I and my family always pray for the safety of Israel who's at the center of hostile region surrounded on all sides by a radical and determined forces.
The evangelicals can turn on the drop of a hat from being pro-Israel back to their stance of not too long ago of "the Jews killed Jesus". These people are emotional, not rational, and if they do turn the backlash will be vicious.
Hagee's theology of Christian Zionism is anything but biblical. It promotes one people over another and Christ died for everyone and now there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but we are all one in Christ. Hagee believes two covenants are in operation and that Jews do not have to come through Christ to be saved. That is heresy and contrary to everything the new Testament teaches. The Abrahamic Covenant was fulfilled in Christ and Hagee lives in the Old testament and ignores the teachings of the New Covenant. Most of the people who support Hagee and the CUFI only do so out of their ignorance of the Scriptures. This evangelical will never support his distorted theology.
They support Judaism and are against antisemitism towards Jews. There's a big difference.
THANK GOODNESS!
Yes, US evangelicals will support Israel... until The Day of Judgment; then the Jews will convert to Christ otherwise they will burn forever in Hell, or so the evangelicals believe. Wow!!! with friends like these who needs enemies? They love Israel like the wolf love the lamb.
This is because the Right Wing base in the US is stoking racial strife under the Obama administration. Militant/Racist/Militia groups are expoding in number among US evangelicals. They are stocking guns and saying Obama is a threat to America. They hate hispanic immigrants and blame everything they can on them, they hatefully accuse every black possible of being racist, and divide the world between "US" (White Christians) and "THEM" (non-Whites and/or non-Christians). -------------- In case you haven't figured it out, Israeli Jews fit into the "THEM" category. You are their next target. We already see Right Wing military folks blaming Israeli Jews for making things worse in the middle-east. While you snuggle up to these Right Wing evangelicals, while they target Hispanics, Muslims, Blacks, and every other minority, your time until it is your turn ticks away. First they came for the Hispanics, then the Muslims, and the Blacks, and Israeli Jews did nothing. Don't cry to anyone when they turn on you and there is no one to stop them.
Pay these Evangelists no mind; they are part of the kook fringe of Christianity and in no way may call themselves true, mainstream Christians. Please note that mainstream Christians are increasingly joining the effort to boycott and divest from Israel.
Why are US Evangelicals so interested in Israel? It is their belief that a reborn Israel is a major sign of the End Times, A recent poll of Evangelicals found that 44% (around) feel that that time will come before 2050, perhaps as early as 2012. Israel is important as an interim Jewish state until the time Christ returns to rule from Jerusalem. At that time, only a few Jews, who convert, will escape the Holocaust. Jews accept Evangelical aid because they find their ideas absurd.
These people are not "pro-Israel". They support the Israeli far-right and its deliberate perpetuation of the military, political, and economic program to prevent Palestinian statehood and annex Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese territory and resources through force of arms. Since this poses the only real threat, not only to Palestinians and the region, but Israelis as well, supporting its deliberate perpetuation by radical Israeli politicians is actually ANTI-Israel. Those supporting efforts to force an end to this senseless conflict are pro-Israeli as well as pro-Palestinian.
...Israel can always count on the US evangelicals (to varying degrees, I would guess)--an important question is--how "weighty" will that support ultimately be?
In the Forward op-ed, Hagee said CUFI would never oppose efforts for peace. But in his sermons and books, he warns that G-d will take revenge on anyone that trades land for peace, and as recently as his latest book, released June 2010, said, "the day will come when Israel will own and control all of present-day Israel, including Jerusalem, Lebanon, the West Bank of Jordan, and most of Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. (page 109) The title of the book is "Can America Survive: Ten Prophetic Signs That We Are The Terminal Generation" and it echoes what Hagee has been teaching consistently for fifty years. I think this book is a much better indicator of what CUFI's activism is about than what is being marketed to U.S. and Israeli Jewish communities.
That support would be like a sledge hammer pounding away at the opposition if Israel would let us make aliyah and give our dedication to Christianity the same weight as their dedication to Judaism. We would fight in their army, live in their land, eat their food, earn our own living and their God is already our God. What else could they want?
In elections where the margins of victory are 4-5% organized voters passionately committed to an issue will make a difference and nobody will want to unnecessarily provoke their enmity.
The number of US evangelicals is reported to be in the region of 18 million - certainly a factor to be taken into consideration by the Obama administration in its policy decisions on the Israel - Palestinian issue.
It never ceases to amuse me that this group of "Christians" maintains such an assiduous support for another country's government which has decades of history of non-Christian behaviour on all fronts. I wouldn't expect them to support Hamas or Hezbollah, to be sure, but I just can't fathom where the connection is between the holy scriptures they are defending and the litany of injustices on defenceless peoples. Only in America ...
Are these the same lunatics that believe that Jesus wont return till the Dome of the Rock is demolished to make way for the third Temple ?