Audience at the Christians United For Israel Summit
in Washington listen to an address by the group's
executive director, David Brog, on July 17.
In Christian version of AIPAC conference,
CUFI attracts 5,600 to Washington for pro-Israel lobbying.
Neil Rubin
JTA
Washington
S
even years on, many Jews still
have lingering questions about
the addition to the pro-Israel lob-
bying scene of Christians United for Israel,
the project of evangelical leader the Rev.
John Hagee.
Hagee believes he has a biblical man-
date to press on and is undeterred.
"As Isaiah said, For Zion's sake we will
not hold our peace, and for Jerusalem's
sake we will not rest:" Hagee told more
than 5,600 delegates at the opening plena-
ry of the CUFI Washington Summit 2012.
The summit stands as something
of a Christian version of the annual
Washington policy conference of the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Like the AIPAC event, the CUFI gather-
ing includes a day of lobbying and here,
too, the Israeli prime minister is a guest
speaker, albeit via satellite.
"We will not be intimated by any per-
son, by any groups of people when Israel is
on the line. We are the front line of defense
for Israel in the United States of America;'
Hagee said to thunderous applause and a
few shofar blasts.
"The covenant that God made with
Abraham is eternal and it cannot be repealed
by the president of the United States, by
the president of the United Nations."
Hagee created CUFI in early 2006 after
calling 400 fellow pastors to meet him in
San Antonio, Texas, "to form a national
organization that could give national unity
on behalf of Israel:'
Today, CUFI claims more than 1.1 mil-
lion members, 754,000 Facebook fans
and 96 college campus chapters. It has
held events throughout the United States,
as well as in Canada, Kenya, Israel and
Scotland, according to Hagee.
About one in five Americans — some
60 million people — consider themselves
evangelicals, according to the Pew Forum
on Religion and Public Life. A 2005 Pew
study found that 41 percent of evangeli-
cals favor Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict versus 13 percent favoring the
Palestinians (20 percent said they didn't
know; 18 percent said neither, and 8 per-
cent favored both).
Yet many Jews view CUFI's rank and file,
who are overwhelmingly but not exclu-
sively evangelical, with suspicion. Only 21
percent of American Jews surveyed earlier
this year by the Public Religion Research
Institute said they had a favorable view of
the "Christian right" — often a synonym
for evangelicals. By contrast, 41 percent
view Muslims favorably.
The Jewish views on evangelicals come
in large part from long-standing concerns
over proselytizing and end-time theolo-
gies that foresee that Jews who do not
accept Jesus as their savior will be killed.
Rabbi Noam Marans, director of inter-
religious and intergroup relations for the
American Jewish Committee, says Jews
should embrace the support of evangeli-
cals even if they don't embrace their theol-
ogy.
"It's important for the Jewish commu-
nity to welcome support for the State of
Israel but not necessarily to agree on every
aspect of that support," Marans told JTA.
Two years ago, the AJC brought together
Gary Bauer — a prominent CUFI execu-
tive board member — Marans and Rabbi
Julie Schonfeld of the Conservative move-
ment's Rabbinical Assembly to talk about
evangelical support for Israel.
For his part, Hagee has said,repeatedly
in interviews that proselytizing is unac-
ceptable for CUFI members.
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, who addressed
the CUFI delegates during a session on the
importance of Christian Zionism, told JTA
that he has spoken with Hagee about the
matter and believes him.
Both Christians and Jews believe they
are living out God's mandate and that
their understanding of the messiah is cor-
rect, said Riskin, an Orthodox rabbi in the
West Bank community of Efrat and found-
er of the Israel-based Center for Jewish-
Christian Understanding and Cooperation.
"They have the right to believe that
because I believe at the end of days all of
the Christians will convert to Judaism."
"Christian Zionism is tremendously
important because now we're in the midst
of a religious war:' Riskin said. "There are
1 billion-plus Muslims and there are 2
billion-plus Christians. For us, Christian
friendship is critical."
Prominent Jewish Speakers
Among the Jewish presenters at the
conference were Sen. Joe Lieberman
(I.-Conn.); Ari Fleischer, a former George
W. Bush White House spokesman;
Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice
chairman of the Conference of Presidents
of Major American Jewish Organizations;
and Morton Klein, president of the Zionist
Organization of America.
For participants at the CUFI convention,
Jews were secondary; the focus was on
Israel.
During a break between sessions on
Monday, a choir stood in the center of
the large hallway and harmonized songs
praising God for his protection of Israel.
Nearby, shoppers perused items for sale in
the CUFI store, including white onesies for
babies with the words "Defend America;
vote Israel," stainless steel rings with the
Hebrew Shema prayer and T-shirts with
this quote from Isaiah: "When the enemy
comes in like a flood, the spirit bf the Lord
will lift up a standard against him."
Elsewhere in the building, some of
the children aged 5 to 12 who had come
with the evangelical delegates were busy
at Camp CUFI, where activities included
Israeli dancing, "pray for Israel" sessions,
and an Israeli movie and entertainment.
Hagee repeatedly has stressed in inter-
views that CUFI will not oppose decisions
of the Israeli government in peace talks,
including if it agrees to relinquish portions
of the West Bank. However, the sentiments
of many CUFI followers seemed clear.
"The entire territory from the Jordan
to the Mediterranean" is God's "gift to
the Jewish people said Rabbi Aryeh
Scheinberg, who three decades ago helped
Hagee organize his first Christian Salute to
Israel event, to strong applause. "It is not
stolen land. It is the eternal heritage of the
Jewish people."
Hagee told the crowd, "The Bible is a
Zionist text beginning with the fact that
God created the world and as the owner
of the world he entered into a contract
with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their
descendants forever and gave them the
land. Israel does not occupy the land; they
own the land!"
The three-day summit concluded with
the lobbying of participants' congressional
representatives. The delegates will focus
on stopping Iran's nuclear quest, U.S.-
Israeli security cooperation, U.S. security
aid for Israel and stopping Palestinian
incitement. ❑
July 26 * 2012
35