Last night, I attended the Christians United for Israel’s “Night to Honor Israel,” and I must say it was quite a scene to watch thousands of evangelical Christians wave American and Israeli flags, dancing in the aisles to the sounds of Havenu Shalom Aleychem. Although I have read a lot about evangelical support for Israel, this was the first time I had encountered it up close. Earlier in the day, I attended a press conference featuring Pastor John Hagee, the chairman of CUFI, who was besieged by questions about the motives for evangelical support for Israel. “Our support for Israel has absolutely nothing to do with End Times’ prophecies or eschatology,” he insisted. Instead, he stated that Christians had “a clear biblical mandate to support Israel.” This is embodied in such portions of the bible as Isiah 62:1, which says, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, til her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.” He also said that all Christians owed a debt to the Jewish people because of their shared heritage. During last night’s festivities, Hagee declared that “the sleeping giant of Christian Zionism has awakened.” He called for moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and for considering a pre-emptive strike on Iran, and also blasted Jimmy Carter. Other speakers included Newt Gingrich, Gary Bauer and Benjamin Netanyahu (via video).
