FOR ISRAEL JOHN HAGEE

New Evangelical Group Could Buck Promised West Bank Pullouts

Pro-Israel group led by leading Evangelist Rev. John Hagee will seek to influence U.S.-Mideast policy. James D. Besser - Washington Correspondent

A newly created Evangelical pro-Israel lobby group could clash head-on with an Israeli government determined to pull out from 90 percent of the West Bank by 2010 and with the Jewish groups that will line up to support it. Leaders of Christians United for Israel, or CUFI, predict their group will be a major force in American politics like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying giant that has activists in virtually every congressional district.

And they insist their support for the Jewish state won’t come with any strings, political or theological. But some Jewish leaders are skeptical.“It raises questions,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League.In November, Foxman sounded the alarm over Evangelical groups that he said were trying to “Christianize” the nation. But he said he still welcomes Evangelical support for Israel — with some conditions.“Will they be able to differentiate between their biblical prophecy mode and their pragmatic pro-Israel mode?” Foxman asked. “Maybe they will. We’ll have to wait and see.

”Other pro-Israel leaders noted that CUFI officials have adamantly maintained that Israel has a right to all of the territories and opposed last year’s Israeli withdrawal from Gaza — positions that will almost certainly conflict with those of the new Israeli government.“If they oppose the government, it’s an anti-Israel lobby as far as I’m concerned,” said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism. Rabbi Yoffie cautioned that CUFI, which will gather in Washington in July for its initial meeting — has yet to flesh out its positions. But he warned that “if we’re talking about a group that is going to oppose any territorial flexibility for Israel, we’re talking about a group that opposes the government of Israel and the clear will of its people.

I would consider that dangerous to Israel.”CUFI was created by Pastor John Hagee, founder and spiritual leader of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, which has become one of the nation’s largest mega-churches, claiming more than 18,000 members. His ministry also broadcasts on television and the Internet.Rev. Hagee has raised millions of dollars for Israel, but an official with a San Antonio Jewish group said “he prefers to give his money through the Houston federation because he feels there are many in the San Antonio [Jewish] community who do not trust his intentions.”Last week Rev. Hagee briefed a select group of Jewish leaders in New York under the auspices of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

A participant said “he was asked directly, could his group support further land give-backs? What he said was that there are many ways it could support Israel. The sense I got was that while they won’t support it, they may not oppose it.“At the same time,” the participant continued, “he was very clear that the Bible said God gave the land to the Jewish people, and that they’re not supposed to give it away.”Rev. Hagee emphasized to the Jewish leaders that CUFI would not “support conversionary behavior, it would not allow proselytizing,” this participant said.Asked exactly what a biblical mandate to the land meant, “he did not address the more controversial elements of the question,” the participant said. “He merely said he sees certain passages in the Old Testament as a ‘real estate contract’ with the Jews.

“My sense is that he’s well coached. He’s been told where the hot buttons are and how to avoid them. He’s not going to step on a land mine,” the participant said.“We believe there is a lot of Christian support for Israel out there that hasn't been effectively mobilized on a timely basis in Washington,” said Gary Bauer, the former GOP presidential hopeful and now president of American Values, a conservative group. Bauer is on the CUFI board and is handling its Washington operations. “What we hope is that when an issue comes up, such as no taxpayer money for Hamas, CUFI will be able to get to a lot of different Christian organizations around the country to mobilize them.”He said he expects the group to work closely with AIPAC. “I am in regular contact with them,” he said.An early project of the group will be to organize “honor Israel” nights in churches around the country to “send a strong signal to our friends in Israel and hopefully encourage the Jewish community in the United States.

”Rev. Hagee has been a leading Christian supporter of Israel and in a series of books, a leading interpreter of biblical prophecies about the Christian apocalypse. His publisher says he is “known best nationally for his End-Time writings.”In his most recent, “Jerusalem Countdown: A Warning to the World,” he writes of the Iranian threat to the Jewish state.Muslim countries, he said, “may agree to sign a peace accord, but if they do, it will be one that is good for only seven years, and it will only be for the purpose of redeveloping their army for the destruction of Israel.”When he talks about the need to support Israel, Hagee downplays his prophetic perspective. But on his ministry Web site, he lays out his position: “I believe that the generation that is alive today will see the mass ingathering of believers commonly called the Rapture.”That refers to the belief that Bible-believing Christians will be removed from the earth before a terrible seven-year “tribulation” period that many Evangelicals say will immediately precede the return of Christ.

His 1996 book “The Beginning of the End” was subtitled “The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Coming Antichrist.”In his 1998 book “Final Dawn Over Jerusalem,” he writes, “Christians and Jews, let us stand united and indivisible on this issue: There can be no compromise regarding the city of Jerusalem, not now, not ever. We are racing toward the end of time, and Israel lies in the eye of the storm.”In 2002, Rev. Hagee in a sermon called the coming Iraq war “the gateway to the Apocalypse.”Rev. Hagee, unlike many other prophetic preachers, has avoided publicly detailing what will happen to Israel and to Jews when these events come to pass. But Paul Boyer, a professor emeritus of history at the University of Wisconsin and a leading expert on the religious right, said he is “very much within the camp of fundamentalist biblical prophecy believers.

”Part of that view, Boyer said, “is that Jews will have the right to the biblical land and to rebuild the Temple but also, when the ‘antichrist’ arises, there will be a mass persecution of the Jews, two-thirds of whom will be slaughtered. It will be worse than the Holocaust.”Boyer said Rev. Hagee “focuses entirely on what you might call the brighter side of the story — the right of the Jews to the land — and does not follow up with the darker side.”The prophetic view, he said, insists that “God’s plan must be fulfilled, and any proposals or steps toward compromise on any of these questions — the Jewish right to the land, Jewish control of the Temple Mount — is contrary to God’s plan and must be opposed.”If that becomes part of the CUFI platform, it could put the new lobby group “in a real dilemma,” Boyer said. “You could have a pro-Israel lobby that lobbies against the policies of the Israeli government.

”And that could affect U.S. policy in the region, he said.“Potentially it builds a body of political momentum in America against compromise, against any hope of resolving the conflict short of the total destruction of one side,” Boyer said. “It’s built in to the apocalyptic worldview that sees everything in absolute terms heading to a final confrontation between good and evil.”Even some Jewish leaders who have criticized the Christian right say they are not too worried about sweeping prophetic visions affecting U.S. policy. But several said they will be watching the group closely.Rabbi James Rudin, the former interreligious director of the American Jewish Committee and author of the recent book “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us,” said the possibility of the group being guided by apocalyptic prophecy is “a risk, but I don’t think it’s very likely.”

Rabbi Rudin said he welcomes the support of Evangelical Christians such as Rev. Hagee because “we don’t have the luxury, given the extreme situation Israel has always found itself in, of saying we can’t accept their support because of their motives.”Jewish leaders are more worried about the possibility the new lobby will actively work with opponents of the current Israeli government’s policies, especially as it begins the controversial process of leaving most of the West Bank.“My view is, we should respect him and suspect him,” Foxman said. “We certainly do not need a new lobby in Washington that will selectively support the Israeli government’s positions.”Gary Bauer, the CUFI board member, conceded that there could be clashes between the group's core beliefs on issues like Israel's right to all the land and supporting the elected government in Israel.“Pastor Hagee is still wrestling with what is the proper approach,” he said. “We are both very skeptical that (the Olmert plan) will bring peace, and there is widespread agreement that giving up any of Jerusalem would not only be ill-advised from a strategic standpoint but would cause widespread consternation among Israel's Christian friends.”He said he has been “critical of people who sit in the safety of Washington, DC and lecture Israel on what it should or shouldn't do.

But he also disputed whether Israel's recent election was a mandate for withdrawal.“The way I look at the elections, I don't think there is a consensus in Israel that it's the right approach. In such a gigantic thing for an nation like Israel to do that you would want a much larger consensus than there appears to be.”If CUFI does oppose new withdrawals, it could be a big boost for groups like the Zionist Organization of America and Americans for a Safe Israel, which have already announced plans to fight the plan in Congress and the media.