Christians United For Israel

The Religious Right is mobilizing against Chuck Hagel’s nomination for Defense Secretary, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is saying exactly what they want to hear. In an interview with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council yesterday, Rubio suggested that if Hagel is successfully confirmed then countries like Iran and Syria may consider going to war against Israel, which will “end up pulling us into an armed conflict in that region.”

Rubio: Israel’s enemies look for daylight of any kind in order to move forward on actions. Just today we are reminded of that, there was a joint statement by Iran and Syria threatening to attack Israel and you know probably the only thing that keeps them from doing that other than the Israelis’ abilities to defend themselves is their relationship with us. I think in a very dangerous world if we have a Secretary of Defense who says things that are counterproductive to that relationship, it might actually lead to some terrible miscalculation which may actually end up pulling us into an armed conflict in that region and we would like to avoid that at all possible—so I just don’t think he is the right person for this job.

Perkins: I couldn’t agree more.

Televangelist John Hagee, who leads Christians United For Israel, also appeared on Perkins’ show and called Hagel a “danger to America’s security” and a “very dangerous threat to Israel’s survival” who will give Iran the “green light” to attain nuclear weapons and “attack Israel.”

Chuck Hagel is a danger to America’s security; he is a very dangerous threat to Israel’s survival. The reason why Iran wants him to be the Secretary of Defense is because in 2001, 2004 and 2007 he opposed any kind of sanctions against Iran. Hagel has been the Senator in the U.S. Senate that stood with Iran on every occasion and Iran feels like if they can get him in office they have a green light to becoming nuclear, a green light to attacking Israel, a green light to accomplish everything that they’ve ever wanted to against America and Israel. They are for him, that should make every American wake up that the nomination of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense is dangerous to our national security.

Earlier this month, Erick Stakelbeck of the Christian Broadcasting Network told Fred Grandy on Secure Freedom Radio that Hagel is an “anti-Semite.”

Liberty Counsel’s Matt Barber on Faith & Freedom called Hagel an “Islamist sympathizer” who is “sympathetic” to those “who seek to destroy America and Israel.”

Gary Bauer of the Campaign for Working Families said he is working with Republicans and leaders like Hagee to block Hagel, whom he claimed will “embolden our enemies and invite acts of aggression and terrorism.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a hearing this Thursday to consider Barack Obama's ill-conceived and dangerous nomination of former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense.

Last night I was honored to attend a great gathering of pro-Israel Christians in Washington, D.C. With just a week's notice, Christians United for Israel Action Fund brought 500 people from 46 states to our nation's capital to stand for a strong national defense and a solid U.S./Israeli alliance, and against the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be the next Secretary of Defense.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Pastor John Hagee delivered passionate speeches outlining why Hagel would be a disaster for our national security and for the balance of power in the Middle East. I reminded the audience about Hagel's incredibly bad voting record, but also pointed out his repeated use of rhetoric most often associated with anti-Semites.

Today, the members of Christians United for Israel Action Fund, fired up from our time together last night, visited over 65 Senate offices, making the case against Hagel in person on Capitol Hill. I accompanied Pastor Hagee to a meeting with Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), an outstanding conservative champion and the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

As Iran continues its reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons and its meddling in the Middle East, the nomination of Chuck Hagel sends the worst possible signal of weakness and ambivalence to our enemies as well as our allies.

In fact, I fear that Hagel's nomination will embolden our enemies and invite acts of aggression and terrorism. Add to this Obama's recent arms transfer of F-16s and M1 tanks to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-controlled government and you have a prescription for disaster.

• John Hagee's Christians United for Israel donated $9 million during the recent conference in Texas.
• Is Newt Gingrich going to run in 2012?  Maybe.
• Hooray For Eugenics.
• Just what America needs: another creationism museum.
• It's White Ribbon Against Pornography Week.
• Finally, Matt Barber says the "Liberty Counsel intends to challenge the constitutionality of the hate crimes legislation" and I very much look forward to seeing how they plan to argue this.

The American Prospect gives the inside scoop on John Hagee’s most recent Christians United for Israel Conference:

Afterward, I headed over to the CUFI on Campus meet and greet. The room was filled with approximately 250 students from 138 universities, and we were greeted by Hagee's wife Diane and lauded as "the dream" and the "Joshua's generation." Mrs. Hagee launched into a speech about biblical rationale to support Israel. At one point she mentioned that Hitler could be reborn. Across the table, a suspiciously old-looking "student" guffawed. "Hitler reborn? Hitler has been reborn," he said, pausing for effect, "and his name is Obama."

…

Hagee's speech was a hodge-podge, comparing the relationship between the land of Israel and the Jewish people to a marriage and warning various evildoers like Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia of ominous divine intervention. Discussion of end times and the pastor's signature fire-and-brimstone preaching was notably absent until an awkward rhetorical pivot, seemingly designed to please the crowd: "The terrorists will produce a bloodbath that will make 9-11 look like a walk in the park," Hagee proclaimed in a booming voice. "The Lord's vengeance shall soon come."

During the Q&A, one woman asked about forming a "Christian militia." Hagee grimaced; "militia" implied taking up arms. "We are in a spiritual dogfight," he said, suggesting that she use "the weapon of prayer" and "concerts of prayer" to affect "spiritual revival."

It was easy to see why the militia-monger was confused, though. The conference was never short of military jargon. We were told to establish "facts on the ground in our fight to take back America's campuses" and reminded that "you are in a war, a battle for your mind." We were "prayer warriors," set upon by many foes: the media, liberal professors, popular culture, the cultural elite, secular society, Europe, the United Nations, and, of course, the Islamo-Fascists.

That afternoon, right-wing darling former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania laid the situation out clearly: We are not at war with terror, he said, we are at war with Islamism -- a significant though small portion of the Islamic world. "Secular relativistic" liberals, he explained, "don't believe, and if you don't believe, you can't understand." To my left, a middle-aged woman with ginger-blondcolored hair dutifully scribbled in her notebook. "Eliminate Iran," she wrote.

Despite the fact that John McCain was forced to publicly reject the endorsements of both Rod Parsley and John Hagee last week, it doesn’t look like his campaign surrogates are willing to follow suit and repudiate Hagee’s remarks as “deeply offensive and indefensible.” 

In fact, not only are they not repudiating Hagee, they are actually joining him for his 2008 Christians United For Israel Washington-Israel Summit in July.  

As Max Blumenthal first reported yesterday, Senator Joseph Lieberman, who has long been one of McCain’s most ardent supporters, is scheduled to headline this year’s Night To Honor Israel Banquet where he is scheduled to share the stage with Hagee

Sen. Joe Lieberman says he'll speak at a July conference hosted by Rev. John Hagee, whose endorsement was recently rejected by Republican John McCain because of Hagee's controversial remarks about religion.

Lieberman, one of presumed GOP presidential nominee McCain's strongest supporters, said Wednesday while Hagee's comments were unacceptable and hurtful, he will judge him on his life work fighting anti-Semitism and building bridges between Christians and Jews.

With Lieberman announcing that he will in fact stick with his scheduled commitment, we've started a petition calling on him to cancel this appearance, which can be found here.  

Also joining Hagee at the event will be Gary Bauer, who has also been a vocal advocate for McCain, having supported his campaign back in 2000 and then endorsing him again this time around.  When not busy earning his paycheck as a right-wing political operative - marshalling support for the GOP by trading on wedge issues, decrying hate crimes legislation, fighting efforts to address climate change, pushing voter ID requirements, and calling for the monitoring of mosques – he’s been hard at work selling McCain to the Religious Right and defending him against the so-called biased liberal media.  

Bauer also happens to be a board member of Hagee’s CUFI and, according to the itinerary, is scheduled to speak at no less than four separate panels:

10:00AM-11:30AM: Supporting The Jewish State - Now Or Never?
Pastor John Hagee, Founder & National Chairman Of Christians United For Israel (Cufi)
Gary Bauer, CUFI Executive Board Member

1:30PM- 3:00PM: Break Out Session One
Israel 101: The Basics Of The Arab Israeli Conflict
Gary Bauer, President of American Values
Charles Jacobs, Founder & President of The David Project Center for Jewish Leadership
Roz Rothstein, International Director of StandWithUs

3:30PM- 5:00PM: Break Out Session Two
Israel 101: The Basics Of The Arab Israeli Conflict
Gary Bauer, President of American Values
Charles Jacobs, Founder & President of The David Project Center for Jewish Leadership
Roz Rothstein, International Director of StandWithUs

1:30PM- 3:30PM: Middle East Briefing
Gary Bauer, President of American Values
Congressman Elliot Engel (D-NY)
William Kristol, Editor of The Weekly Standard
Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN)

When McCain announced Bauer’s endorsement, he stated that Bauer’s “advice and counsel [would] be critical” to his campaign.  Presumably, given Bauer’s close ties to Hagee, his advice and counsel was to encourage McCain to seek Hagee’s support – support that McCain has now embarrassingly had to disavow.  But Bauer is standing by Hagee and obviously thinks that sharing the stage with him is nothing to be embarrassed about, so it raised the question of just how much more of Bauer’s “advice and counsel” the McCain campaign will be seeking in the future.

This week in Washington, DC, Pastor John Hagee’s Christians United for Israel (CUFI) held its annual convention to promote the religious-right’s support of Israel. Amid an evening featuring Gary Bauer and Rod Parsley and the bashing of the United Nations, European Union, State Department, and Jimmy Carter as enemies of the state of Israel, rumored presidential candidate Newt Gingrich provided a relatively innocuous keynote address. Well, relative in the sense that Gingrich outlined his hawkish post-9/11 worldview as opposed to discussing Israel’s role in the impending rapture.

Most of the CUFI constituents in the audience appeared to agree with Hagee’s views regarding the rapidly approaching judgment day.  As we highlighted earlier this year when John McCain was courting CUFI, Hagee’s apocalyptic foreign policy views aren’t exactly mainstream.  So what explains Gingrich’s presence at an event hosted by Hagee, whose judgments are shaped by a belief in a biblically predestined war between Israel and Iran, and the worldwide rule of the Antichrist in the form of the head of the European Union?

Gingrich, who offered up a slightly modified stump speech, making mention of the need for strength and perseverance in the face of war and references to the importance of America’s Christian heritage, is apparently looking to build right-wing support for a potential presidential bid without publicly embracing the conferees’ most extreme ideas.