Last month Ameinu issued a statement criticizing Rev. John Hagee for his anti-Catholic statements (https://ameinu.wpengine.com/news/pressreleases.php?pressreleaseid=46). Previously on this website, writers have expressed their concern about the relationship between pro-Israel American Jews and Hagee, particularly in the context of the keynote address he delivered at AIPAC’s policy conference last year. As a Zionist and a Jew, I am deeply offended by the latest “sound bytes” to emerge from Hagee in which he tells us that because the Jews of Europe did not heed Theodore Herzl’s Zionistic call, “Hitler and the Nazis were sent by God to chase Jews back to the land of Israel.” I want to state categorically there is no place for cooperation between the organized Jewish community and this man.
If Hagee and his Christians United for Israel (CUFI) want to financially support causes in Israel, that is fine with me. If they want to lobby the United States government, it is their right. However, through his sermons and interviews he has proven to me and many others that the theological and religious motivation for his acts do not jibe with Zionism and a Jewish view of Israel and thus the Jewish community must be very wary of continuing to provide this man political cover.
In short, this takes the expression “politics makes strange bedfellows” to a whole new level and I hope that Jewish elected public figures like Senator Joe Lieberman as well as Jewish communal leaders reject the invitations to participate in CUFI’s Night to Honor Israel in July. I am sure they can honor Israel without our participation and blessings.
