By Larry Jones
“So many verses of the Bible have one overriding message– as Christians we have a Biblical obligation to defend Israel and the Jewish people in their time of need.” From the Mission Statement of Christians United for Israel
A powerful force in U.S. politics is driven by a Biblically based view that the word of God requires them to give unquestioning support to Israel. The murderous assaults Israel made upon the people
of Gaza beginning in late 2008 are but a prelude to the kind of warfare they think is needed to achieve their political and religious goals.
of Gaza beginning in late 2008 are but a prelude to the kind of warfare they think is needed to achieve their political and religious goals. Far right Christian evangelist John Hagee is one of the major leaders of this movement. Hagee became infamous for his extremely sexist comment that the difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher is lipstick, and the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS is that you can negotiate with a terrorist. (From his 2005 book What Every Man Wants in a Woman.)
This article is about Israel and Gaza, but the above quotes giving his views on women provide some idea of the immorality, backwardness, and insanity of Rev. Hagee, the pastor of the 19,000 member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, and the head of the Zionist organization called Christians United for Israel (CUFI).
The mission of this Christian Zionist group includes propagandizing against Palestinians and garnering support for Israel, the boundaries of which, according to these bigoted believers, is found right there in Genesis 15:18: “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates…” . To these ends, they organize “Standing With Israel” events at churches and arenas throughout the country, and according to none other than the “American Conservative” magazine are well on the way to becoming “the largest grass roots Christian political organization in the country”.
God Said It, I Believe It, That Settles It
It’s right there in the Bible, Hagee says, and that land doesn’t have any room for the biblical descendants of Ham, the Arabs. No, they must be driven out of the land “God gave to Israel” if Armageddon is to come and Jesus’ second coming is to follow. One of the spokespersons for CUFI, Greg Stephens, said: “Israel is the only country that God ever established. Every other country has been established by a king or a queen or a congress or a parliament. It’s the only country that God ever established.”
A greeting to CUFI by George W. Bush stated that “Your efforts set a shining example for others to help lay the foundation of peace for generations to come.” This would be laughable were not its exact opposite the case. Their lopsided view of the Israeli/Palestinian issue contributes, not to peace, but to further conflict as well as the destruction of Palestine.
After Sen. John McCain received the endorsement of Hagee, an audiotape surfaced which revealed the preacher saying that God sent Hitler to cause the Holocaust so that Jews would move to Israel. There was a huge outcry from progressive groups which led to McCain rejecting Hagee’s endorsement. But the presence of Christian Zionists as a major political force within the U.S., and their influence in shaping U.S. policy, remains.
Never one to be worried about consistency, in other statements Hagee blamed the Jews for their own persecution, and has referred to Jews as Christ-killers, thus bringing upon him charges of antisemitism. Of course, the ultimate antisemitic problem is that Christian Zionism holds that when Armageddon arrives all Jews will be slaughtered unless they accept Jesus as the messiah.
So Jews would do well to reject the Christian Zionists’ short term support which has a long-term plan for their condemnation to an eternal lake of fire.
Another peculiar evangelist, Jack Van Impe, has stated that “the goal of the Arab nations … is a war to destroy the Jewish state,” and then he cites Psalm 83:4 which says that the enemies of Israel say “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation,” and then cites such nations as the Ishmaelites whom the Impe types consider to be Arabs.
THE DESTRUCTION OF GAZA
Such bizarre religious groups as those discussed above have also been strong supporters of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and have agitated for a preemptive attack on Iran whose president is “the new Hitler bent on wiping Israel off the map.” So one-sided is their support of Israel that the January war on Gaza was seen by them as a just war, even though over 1300 Gazans were killed, most of them innocent civilians, while only 13 Israelis were killed, four by friendly fire.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Israel forces had either damaged or totally destroyed 21,000 buildings in those tragic three weeks in Gaza, and infrastructure and economic losses reached almost $2billion. A story in the LA Times stated the following:
“Stunned residents picked through the wreckage among muddy, thigh-high tread marks, salvaging clothing, blankets and undamaged cinder blocks, hauling anything usable away on tractors and donkey carts.
"They even killed the chickens and the turkeys!" shouted Faour Atteya, a 50-year-old high school teacher. "They killed the cats!"
"They even killed the chickens and the turkeys!" shouted Faour Atteya, a 50-year-old high school teacher. "They killed the cats!"
At Atteya’s feet, his 2-year-old-son, Yasser, sat wailing atop a small pile of muddied clothes.
Colorful bits of debris jutted out of a nearby pile of rubble: a small plastic chair, bits of construction paper and a coloring book.
"This was the neighborhood nursery school run by a charitable organization," Atteya said.
A short drive away in the village of Khozaa, residents pointed cautiously at the lone Israeli tank still visible in the distance. A fierce thrust by the vehicles had destroyed at least a dozen homes, killing at least 13 people.
Residents alleged that Israeli soldiers had ordered people out of their homes, then shot a 47-year-old woman in the head as she led a procession of women and children to supposed safety while waving a pair of white flags.
Who Broke the Truce?
Last June, Israel and Gaza’s Hamas government signed a six month truce by which Israel was to ease its tight border restrictions and Hamas would not fire any rockets into southern Israel. In truth, Israel tightened its restrictions and life became increasingly worse for the people of Gaza. Israel and the western nations have claimed that Hamas broke the truce, necessitating the attack on Gaza in January.
However, the truth is that Israel Defense Forces broke the truce on November 4 when they entered Gaza and killed six members of Hamas. Nevertheless, Hamas offered to extend the truce if Israel were willing to end its blockade, but Israel refused. As Henry Siegman of the London Review of Books put it, “It cannot be said that Israel launched its assault to protect its citizens from rockets. It did so to protect its right to continue the strangulation of Gaza’s population.”
Let it be noted that neither before nor after his inauguration did Barack Obama speak out against the horrors taking place against the people of Gaza but instead said the conflict showed how badly we need Middle East peace. On the campaign trail last year he took Israel’s side, saying: “If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing. On June 4 he spoke before the powerful Jewish lobby known as AIPAC calling himself ”a true friend of Israel. And I know that when I visit with AIPAC, I am among friends. Good friends. Friends who share my strong commitment to make sure that the bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable today, tomorrow and forever.”
Obama Rejects “Critic” of Israel
Earlier this month, President Obama’s Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, asked retired Ambassador Charles W. Freeman, Jr. to head the National Intelligence Council. On March 10, Blair praised Freeman for his “long experience and inventive mind.” Late that afternoon Freeman asked that his selection “not proceed.”
What transpired from morning to evening of that day was the culmination of enormous pressure from AIPAC. Leading the attack in Congress was Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who opposed Freeman for his sometime criticism of Israel. Said Schumer, “I repeatedly urged the White House to reject him, and I am glad they did the right thing.”
Freeman was clear how he felt about his being pushed aside when he said: "The outrageous agitation … will be seen by many to raise serious questions about whether the Obama administration will be able to make its own decisions about the Middle East and related issues. [It casts] doubt on its ability to consider, let alone decide what policies might best serve the United States rather than those of a Lobby intent on enforcing the will and interests of a foreign government…
"The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views … and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our government other than those it [the Lobby] favors."
For those who think the end of the Bush era meant the end of the driving influence of Christian Fascist within the leading elements of U.S. policy making, its time to think again. And for those who had hoped that the Obama administration would rise above the Middle East narrow mindedness of the Bush gang, this is one more example of the need for us to be both wary and vigilant.
Larry Jones describes himself as a former Protestant minister and American, but says he gave them both up for the sake of humanity.