[progchat_action] Hagee's "Christians for Israel" Seeking Conflict with Iran
Michael Givel
Hagee's "Christians for Israel" Meet in DC, Seeking Conflict with Iran
The Huffington Post
July 11, 2008
You have probably heard of Pastor John Hagee. Senator McCain, after
seeking Hagee's endorsement, rejected it: "McCain told CNN's Brian Todd
that he rejected Hagee's endorsement after Todd brought to his attention
Hagee's comments that Adolf Hitler had been fulfilling God's will by
hastening the desire of Jews to return to Israel in accordance with
biblical prophecy," CNN reported on May 22.
But you might not be aware that unlike Senator McCain, Washington's
right-wing "Israel Lobby" has not put any daylight between themselves
and their close comrade John Hagee, or his "Christians United for
Israel." When you say "Israel Lobby," people tend to think "AIPAC." Many
people don't realize that a key component of the "Israel Lobby" consists
of people who call themselves Christian.
CUFI -- which announces on its home page that the President of Iran is
"a new Hitler in the Middle East" -- remember what happened the last
time that designation was applied? -- is holding its Third Annual
Washington-Israel Summitin Washington, D.C July 21-24 at the Washington
Convention Center. The schedule suggests that Hagee is still a key
player in the right-wing "Israel Lobby," and that like the rest of the
Lobby, a top priority for CUFI is promoting confrontation between the
United States and Iran.
The program includes Senator Lieberman; Brad Gordon, Co-Director of
Policy and Government Affairs at AIPAC; Patrick Clawson of the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Frank Gaffney of the Center
for Security Policy; Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum; William
Kristol of the Weekly Standard; and Representative Mike Pence,
co-sponsor of the resolution demanding that the President seek to impose
a blockade on Iran. (The resolution is starting to face opposition;
co-sponsors Frank and Wexler have come out against the blockade
language, and yesterday Representative Clay removed his name as a
co-sponsor.)
CUFI sessions include "Iran: Eye Of The Storm" and "How to Stop Funding
the Enemy: Divestment, Sanctions and Boycotts." Wednesday, July 23 will
be "Christians United For Israel Day On Capitol Hill, in which
"Registered attendees will meet with their elected officials throughout
the day and present the Biblical positions of our support of the nation
of Israel." It's a safe bet that promoting confrontation with Iran will
be high on the agenda. Of CUFI's "Examples of Past Rapid Response Action
Alerts," two of them concern Israel and Palestine ("Urge President Bush
Not to Pressure Israel to Make Territorial Concessions") and three
concern Iran.
United for Peace and Justice has issued a Call to Action for events
nationwide against war with Iran on July 19-21. This would be a great
opportunity to put CUFI's advocacy of confrontation with Iran on the
radar of the media.
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