SAN DIEGO — Ten internationally known speakers on Sunday addressed the opening night of a “virtual summit” sponsored by Christians United for Israel (CUFI) in which they lauded the U.S.-Israel alliance and opposed anti-Semitism in its many forms.
CUFI’s leader, Pastor John Hagee of San Antonio, Texas, said his organization of Israel-loving Christians has a membership in excess of 8 million people, which is more than the total of 7.5 million Jews whom a Brandeis University study has estimated live in the United States today. Explaining his organization’s raison dêtre, Hagee said it is because God created the Earth, and therefore is the owner of the Earth. As the Earth’s owner, God gave Israel to the Jews. Israel, he said, is “the only nation on earth created by a sovereign act of God.”
Hagee also discussed the rising tide of anti-Semitism sweeping across the United States, saying CUFI seeks “an America where our Jewish brethren feel safe in their synagogues and temples, feel no fear as they walk down the street wearing a yarmulke or a star of David. We seek to make our country better, and this demands that bigotry and anti-Semitism receive no quarter whatsoever.”
In videotaped presentations, four Israeli leaders thanked CUFI for its support of their nation: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; President Reuven Rivlin; Alternative Prime Minister Benjamin Gantz; and Gilad Erdan, Israel’s incoming ambassador to the United Nations and the United States.
Netanyahu outlined his administration’s principal concerns:
–Iran’s efforts to develop an arsenal of nuclear weapons, which Israel has vowed to prevent.
–Iran’s simultaneous efforts to develop a network of terrorist states on Israel’s borders, including Hezbollah in Lebanon; its own forces in Syria, and Hamas in Syria.
–Support for U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace proposals, which offer a “realistic two-state solution” with Israel in charge of security over all the land west of the Jordan River. It is a plan, he said, that “doesn’t uproot a single Jew or Arab,” and furthermore repudiates “the lie that we are colonialists on our own land.”
–Continuing to develop better relations with neighboring Arab states.
–Partnering with nations throughout the world to fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Rivlin reiterated some of the same themes, and also called upon CUFI members to confront not only anti-Semitism but also all forms of racism, whether it comes from the extremes of the right or the left. Gantz described Trump’s Middle East plan as “an important call for dialogue,” adding that Palestininans “should not miss another opportunity for peace.” He also spoke out against anti-Semitic conspiracy theories being popularized on the Internet that blames Israel and the Jews for the spread of the coronavirus. He pledged to do “whatever is in my power to protect our brothers and sisters against this virus.” Erdan said as Israel’s incoming ambassador to both the United Nations and the United States, he will seek to insure that the bonds between the U.S. and Israel grow stronger and stronger.
Next up was former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who described the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel as “nothing more than taking anti-Semitism and dressing it up as anti-Zionism.” He said that the world should be proud of Israel, which he described as “one of the most successful countries in the world,” and which “may be the most remarkable country ever created.”
Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said in addition to Iran’s support for terrorist regimes on Israel’s borders, the world must also be concerned by an “increasingly aggressive” Turkey, which has military forces both in Syria and Liba. He warned against the increasing acts of anti-Semitism in Europe, which he said are perpetrated by people who also persecute Christians in France “often with little or no consequences.”
Michael Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, said CUFI and other friends of Israel must take the fight against anti-Semitism to the media, to diplomatic forums, and to Congress. Natan Sharansky, former Soviet refusenik who eventually became a government minister in Israel and later the head of the Jewish Agency for Israel (since succeeded by Isaac Herzog), said he found the anti-Semitic coronavirus libel to be an “unbelievable” example of ” this old hatred surviving century after century.”
The benediction was delivered by Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg, spiritual leader of Congregation Rodfei Sholom in San Antonio. He asked God to protect President Trump “from the constant effort to undermine his leadership” and said that Pastor Hagee’s active support for Israel has earned him a place on “The Avenue of the Righteous Gentiles.”
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com