Will John Hagee Repeat Keynote On "Prophetic Benefits" Of First Strike Nuclear War With Iran?
Pastor Dale Morgan
Mar 8th, 2007 7:03 AM
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Will John Hagee Repeat Keynote On "Prophetic Benefits" Of First Strike
Nuclear War With Iran?*
James D. Besser - Washington Correspondent
The Jewish Week
Growing ties between pro-Israel forces and a controversial, hardline
“Christian Zionist” movement will move into the national spotlight at
next week’s policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel lobby.
One keynoter at the event, which annually draws hundreds of lawmakers,
administration officials, diplomats and political hopefuls, will be
Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel (CUFI),
author of several books about biblical prophecy and an opponent of new
territorial concessions to the Palestinians on biblical grounds.
Rev. Hagee, who will speak at a Sunday plenary, was also a leading
backer of a controversial Christian broadcast venture in Israel that
critics charge sought to convert Jews.
And a time when pro-Israel forces are being accused of beating the drums
for war with Iran, Rev. Hagee seems to believe such a conflict is both
inevitable and necessary. In his apocalypse-oriented book “Jerusalem
Countdown,” he predicted a nuclear showdown with Iran and said, “The end
of the world as we know it is rapidly approaching ... rejoice and be
exceedingly glad, the best is yet to be,” according to a Wall Street
Journal report posted on the CUFI Web site.
Last year, Rev. Hagee told the Jerusalem Post that “I would hope the
United States would join Israel in a military pre-emptive strike to take
out the nuclear capability of Iran for the salvation of Western
civilization.”
Israeli historian Michael Oren will also speak at Sunday’s plenary.
Giving Rev. Hagee such prominence at the premier pro-Israel gathering of
the year — he attended last year’s conference — troubles some AIPAC
supporters.
Rabbi Barry Block of Temple Beth El in San Antonio—the home of the John
Hagee Ministries and to his 18,000-member Cornerstone Church—said he
hopes the minister’s presence will be balanced by “Christians who
support Israel but who do not share the ‘end of days’ theology and
extremist anti-Palestinian positions and anti-Muslim prejudice so often
spewed by Pastor Hagee.”
Rabbi Block, who said he is an “AIPAC supporter” and participates in
local activities of the lobby, added that “there are those I love and
respect in my community who believe we should work with Pastor Hagee on
the important concern we share—the welfare of the state of Israel.
However, despite what may be good intentions, I don’t think Pastor
Hagee’s activism is good for Israel.”
Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, cofounder of a We site that opposes Christian
right church-state policies, said that Hagee’s AIPAC appearance will
mark a “decisive point when the costs of a relationship with Hagee
couldn’t be clearer. AIPAC has to know that Hagee’s push for an attack
on Iran is not based on a logically constructed policy but on
cherry-picked biblical verses. And it is only the first step to the
end-times scenario that Hagee enthusiastically predicts will engulf
Israel in a devastating war.”
A former AIPAC official said giving Rev. Hagee a key speaking slot
represents one more step toward an AIPAC embrace of the Evangelicals
that began more than two decades ago, and warned that it has political
risks.
“This sends out a message of an endorsement by AIPAC at a time when
these Christian groups seem to be losing power in Congress—and when the
Democrats, who have long opposed this cozying up to the religious right,
are now in power,” this activist said.
But many pro-Israel leaders believe Rev. Hagee and other Christian
Zionists, representing a growing political force, are a critical
addition to the pro-Israel coalition — especially as “mainline”
Protestant churches continue to castigate Israel for its West Bank policies.
But Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League
and a strong critic of many Christian right groups, said he is not
alarmed about Hagee’s role in the policy conference.
“I think there is a role for him,” Foxman aid. “He has earned a certain
recognition with the community because of his support for Israel.”
Foxman said he expects Hagee will get a good reception. “It’s a friendly
platform,” he said. “I’m sure an overwhelming majority may be pleased
with what he says.”
That reflects an annual conference expected to strike a hawkish note on
a number of issues, starting with the threat of a nuclear Iran.
Other keynote speakers will include Israeli opposition leader Benjamin
Netanyahu and—health permitting—Vice President Dick Cheney. The current
Israeli government will be represented by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni,
Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Ambassador Sallai Meridor.
Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, several sources said, will tell
delegates that increased aid to Palestinian moderates is in Israel’s
interests—a call that may conflict with a major AIPAC theme.
In a show of both political clout and bipartisanship that has become
routine for AIPAC, the conference will feature speeches by all four top
congressional leaders.
AIPAC says “more than 6,000 pro-Israel activists, including 1,200
students representing over 390 campuses” will attend. “Lead by Speaker
of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and both
House and Senate Republican leaders all speaking under the same tent,
this year’s AIPAC Policy Conference underscores the bipartisan nature of
American support for Israel,” according to AIPAC spokesman Josh Block.
“The conference schedule also underscores the long history, breadth and
diversity of America’s centuries of support for the Jewish homeland in
Israel.”
Anxiety about Iran will dominate the conference, and it is a major
element in the “action agenda” that, at least in theory, sets the
group’s goals for next year. Members of the executive committee will
debate and vote on the statement on Sunday.
Proposed new language in the policy statement supports using “all means
necessary for the United States, Israel and their allies to prevent Iran
and other nations from developing nuclear, biological or chemical
weapons and the vehicles for their delivery.”
Lobbying for tougher sanctions legislation will also be a top priority
for AIPAC delegates when they blanket Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
Protecting Israel’s big chunk of foreign aid has traditionally been a
top AIPAC priority, but this year the group will also emphasize “closely
monitoring assistance to countries that are not supporting American
objectives in the region.”
At the top of that list: the Palestinian Authority. Congress has frozen
an administration request for $86 million in emergency aid to boost
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ forces.
Pro-peace groups say they will not press AIPAC to soften its language
about the Palestinians, as they have done in the past. Morton Klein,
national president of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), will
come to the executive committee meeting loaded with amendments aimed at
toughening them.
The AIPAC conference will be the usual display of political clout, but
the group also faces some new challenges, including a new Democratic
leadership that remains strongly pro-Israel but less in lockstep with
AIPAC than their Republican predecessors.
Congressional observers say AIPAC remains a legislative powerhouse, “but
more lawmakers will now feel free to ask questions, especially about
routine and nonbinding resolutions praising Israel and criticizing the
Palestinians,” said a longtime pro-Israel lobbyist.
But AIPAC’s influence on signature issues like Iran and foreign aid to
Israel remains intact despite the partisan shift, said Kean University
political scientist Gilbert Kahn.
“AIPAC has successfully maneuvered itself through Democratic and
Republican administrations, Democratic and Republican Congresses, and
there’s no reason to think they won’t do it again,” he said.
Kahn said AIPAC has also strengthened itself by aggressively “pushing
the Orthodox community to engage. You have more and more Orthodox rabbis
who are touting AIPAC and touting joining AIPAC. AIPAC understands that
if you get the rabbis on board, they in turn will press the community to
get involved.”
That “dramatic shift,” he said, may make AIPAC “less representative, but
it also strengthens the group as voices on Mideast policy become more
diverse.
“It’s a source of strength because this is a community that is
comfortable with the direction AIPAC has taken in recent years,” he said.
AIPAC also faces a rising challenge from Jewish groups on both the right
and the left that take a different tack on Mideast policy, and that are
increasingly active on Capitol Hill.
The Zionist Organization of America on the right and both Americans for
Peace Now and the Israel Policy Forum on the left are expanding their
lobbying, targeting areas where they feel AIPAC does not represent them.
None can come close to eclipsing AIPAC, although IPF, Washington sources
say, is starting to build a network of campaign contributors who also
support the group’s perspective on Mideast affairs—a key element in
AIPAC’s strength.
Still, on the verge of the 2007 policy conference, they point to a
changed lobbying environment for what remains the pre-eminent group on
the pro-Israel scene.