Netanyahu and the Christian Zionists:  A Marriage of Convenience or Ideology?

Coverage of the recent tiff between Netanyahu and the Biden-Clinton team rarely touches on an issue that Christian Zionist watchers have been well aware of ever since Netanyahu became prime minister.  The issue is the long term symbiotic relationship he has maintained with the most extreme element of the American Christian Zionist movement,  presently led by the bombastic TV evangelist, John Hagee.  Rachel Tabachnik, writing in the most recent edition of the Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture, shows that this relationship dates back to at least 1998, when on a state visit to America, Netanyahu made it clear where his ideological loyalties lay by meeting first with a radical group of Christian Zionists before he met with then president Bill Clinton.

What commentators are missing in their coverage of the current tension between Israel and America, suggests Tabachnik, is exactly this – that Netanyahu is developing his policy not with an eye on American or international concerns for a revitalized peace process, but on the basis of his own firmly held convictions that Israel has the divine right to possess all of the land currently occupied by both peoples, a conviction he shares with Hagee and company.   Here is what Tabachnik says:

A Serial Obstructionist

By Rachel Tabachnick

Did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliberately sabotage the Obama administration’s attempt to restart peace talks? Netanyahu now claims he was blindsided by the announcement of housing construction in East Jerusalem, but his activities the evening of March 8 suggests that the ambush may have been premeditated.

Shortly after Vice President Joe Biden’s arrival in Israel, Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat were the headliners at Pastor John Hagee’s two-hour Christians United for Israel (CUFI) extravaganza at the Jerusalem Convention Center. Ambassador Michael Oren and Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon were also in attendance. There was no ambiguity. It was a blatant and unabashed rejection of “dividing the land,” filled with repeated references to Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the Jewish people. The impromptu event had not been listed on CUFI’s calendar, but as soon as Hagee introduced Netanyahu, the political significance was apparent.

http://www.christianzionism.org/

A Serial Obstructionist

By Rachel Tabachnick

Did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliberately sabotage the Obama administration’s attempt to restart peace talks? Netanyahu now claims he was blindsided by the announcement of housing construction in East Jerusalem, but his activities the evening of March 8 suggests that the ambush may have been premeditated.

Shortly after Vice President Joe Biden’s arrival in Israel, Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat were the headliners at Pastor John Hagee’s two-hour Christians United for Israel (CUFI) extravaganza at the Jerusalem Convention Center. Ambassador Michael Oren and Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon were also in attendance. There was no ambiguity. It was a blatant and unabashed rejection of “dividing the land,” filled with repeated references to Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the Jewish people. The impromptu event had not been listed on CUFI’s calendar, but as soon as Hagee introduced Netanyahu, the political significance was apparent.

In a repeat of a similar event twelve years ago, the Israeli leader and the American televangelist had again taken preemptive steps to obstruct peace talks.

Netanyahu, Falwell, and Hagee, 1998

In January 1998 Netanyahu traveled to Washington to meet with President Bill Clinton, but first detoured to the Mayflower Hotel where hundreds of Christian Zionists had been assembled by Jerry Falwell. In reference to the “land for peace” negotiations, John Hagee led the crowd in yelling, “Not one inch! Not one inch!” When Falwell was later interviewed he stated, “It was all planned by Netanyahu as an affront to Clinton.” After the rally, Netanyahu met with evangelical leaders who promised to organize their churches against the peace efforts.

Netanyahu had rallied Clinton’s most virulent detractors. Falwell had subsidized and distributed a conspiracy movie attacking Clinton and marketed it with an infomercial showing an informant in silhouette who claimed that Clinton had orchestrated numerous deaths. He was later revealed as the head of Creative Ministries, Inc. which funded the movie and paid its “witnesses,” a fact which Falwell claimed he did not know. Hagee was also mass marketing anti-Clinton materials including his 1997 book Day of Deception, which included chapters “Witchcraft in the White House” and “Who Killed Vince Foster?” Hagee claimed that Clinton was part of a United Nations conspiracy to take control of the world in preparation for the one world government of the anti-Christ.

Like the message to Clinton, the CUFI event demonstrates that Netanyahu can mobilize Obama’s political opponents. This time the event was televised by God TV, a popular network based in Jerusalem, featuring programs on prophecy and New World Order conspiracy theories, claiming a viewing audience of over 400 million worldwide.

The Greater Israel of Biblical Zionism

Monday’s CUFI production was based on the concept of “biblical Zionism,” or the belief that God mandates nonnegotiable borders of Israel, and any leader or nation who thwarts this divine plan will be cursed. Before introducing Netanyahu, Hagee stated, “World leaders do not have the authority to tell Israel and the Jewish people what they can and can not do in Jerusalem.” He added, “Israel does not exist because of a decree of the United Nations in 1948. Israel exists because of a covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…The settlements are not the problem.”

In his books and sermons Hagee has promoted a “greater Israel,” that will reclaim all of Israel’s former biblical territory, stating “In modern terms, Israel rightfully owns all of present-day Israel, all of Lebanon, half of Syria, two-thirds of Jordan, all of Iraq, and the northern portion of Saudi Arabia.”

At the Jerusalem CUFI event Hagee described Ahmadinejad as the Hitler of the Middle East who could turn the world upside down in 24 hours, words similar to those he made when lobbying for the attack on Iraq. “Help is not going to come from Washington, it is going to come from God,” stated Hagee. In Hagee’s apocalyptic prophecy media he claims that the rest of the world will turn on Israel in the imminent battles of the end times and that a “remnant “of Jews will only convert after being rescued by Jesus and his armies.

“Lord save your people, the remnant of Israel,” Hagee repeated three times, and asked the audience to join him in supernaturally shouting the phrase.

Netanyahu, who has long been a favorite of Christian Zionists, received a rousing applause when he welcomed the CUFI audience to Jerusalem, the “undivided, eternal capital of the Jewish people.” He commented that “the people of the bible are on the land of the bible.”

Included in the program was a fifteen minute film showing the recipients of 58 million dollars from CUFI and John Hagee Ministries, Inc. since 2001. These included Im Tirtzu, Renewal of the Jewish Settlement in Shomron, Friends of Gush Katif, Christian Friends of Israeli Communities, the Community Center of Efrat (The John and Diana Hagee Lovingkindness Center), the settlement of Ariel, and numerous charitable organizations, schools, and hospitals.

Worldwide Biblical Zionists

During a performance by singer Dudu Fisher, the God TV camera panned to the audience and centered on Joel Bell, leader of Worldwide Biblical Zionists. WBZ is currently building a center in Sha’ar Benjamin for “facilitating absorption” of Christian Zionists into the West Bank. It was established after a joint meeting held in Texas of the Board of Governors of World Likud led by Danny Danon, and World Evangelical Zionists led by Joel Bell. Speakers included ZOA’s Morton Klein.

In a recent video showing the progress of the WBZ’s Strategic Biblical Zionist Center, Joel Bell announces, “We are coming to you live from our new facility, the headquarters here in Samaria, the heart of Yahweh. We are in the process of wrapping up a one year construction project where we have been building Zion in opposition to the nations saying ‘you can’t build, no building in the so-called occupied territories.’ Well, because it is our birthright and because this is where Hashem intended for Jews and Israelis and foreigners who have joined themselves to Yahweh to return back to this area and build, we have chosen to obey Hashem instead of the nations that are raging.”

In another WBZ video Bell states, “I’m working very closely with Bibi now and I will go to America on behalf of the general elections.” Bell may have been exaggerating his political ties, but he toured the U.S. with Likud’s Sagiv Assulin prior to the election. Members of Netanyahu’s current cabinet spoke at the WBZ inaugural event on November 16, 2008, including the Minister of Public Affairs, Yuli Edelstein, who is quoted in the New York Times as saying that the timing of the housing announcement was not aimed at harming the visit by Biden.

In the WBZ video Bell states, “If they get forty seats, they will be able to create a center right government that will be able to implement policy based on the covenant and the vision of the restoration of Israel, bringing Judah, Joseph, and Ephraim back…” The reference to Ephraim is to Christians who believe they are lost heirs of the house of Israel. In the 19th and 20th centuries the same Ephraimite terminology was used by British Israelites who believed that they had rights to the Holy Land.

A New Breed of Christian Zionists

Netanyahu is fanning the flames of a millennialist frenzy. He is no longer dealing with fundamentalists like Jerry Falwell who were somewhat restrained by a theology that limited interference in God’s timeline. Today’s activism has emerged from the Charismatic/Pentecostal stream, and they believe that humans are mandated to move the hands of the prophetic clock. John Hagee’s CUFI has served as a transition between the old school fundamentalists and this self-proclaimed “new breed” of end times warriors.

Some of Hagee’s CUFI leaders are part of a particularly aggressive Charismatic missionary movement that is led by people who call themselves “apostles” and “prophets.” In their apocalyptic narrative, the prerequisite for the return of Jesus is that Israel must call out to him as messiah, and that worldwide revival will come once Israel is converted. Their goal of eradicating Rabbinic Judaism is artfully camouflaged in terminology and songs that Charismatic leaders openly use in the company of their Jewish hosts. These include “the restoration of the tabernacle of David” and the “priesthood of Melchizedek,” narratives in which Judaism is replaced by worship claimed to be preferred by God. For instance, the tabernacle of David is considered superior to the liturgical worship in the Temple, and the priesthood of Melchizedek superior to the Levitical priesthood. Melchizedek is seen as a reference to the coming kingdom of Jesus or even as an appearance of Jesus to Abraham.

Did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliberately sabotage the Obama administration’s attempt to restart peace talks? Netanyahu now claims he was blindsided by the announcement of housing construction in East Jerusalem, but his activities the evening of March 8 suggests that the ambush may have been premeditated.

Shortly after Vice President Joe Biden’s arrival in Israel, Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat were the headliners at Pastor John Hagee’s two-hour Christians United for Israel (CUFI) extravaganza at the Jerusalem Convention Center. Ambassador Michael Oren and Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon were also in attendance. There was no ambiguity. It was a blatant and unabashed rejection of “dividing the land,” filled with repeated references to Jerusalem as the undivided capital of the Jewish people. The impromptu event had not been listed on CUFI’s calendar, but as soon as Hagee introduced Netanyahu,

In a repeat of a similar event twelve years ago, the Israeli leader and the American televangelist had again taken preemptive steps to obstruct peace talks.

The Priesthood of Melchizedek

Almost as shocking as the political implications of the event, are the lengths that Jewish leaders will go to maintain the relationship with Christian Zionists. The invocation was given by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin in which he called Hagee a Kohen and a modern day Melchizedek. Riskin, who heads Ohr Torah Stone, refers to himself as the founding Chief Rabbi of Efrat, a settlement that has been the scene of confrontations in previous peace negotiations.

Melchizedek is mentioned only briefly in scriptures, but has been a significant figure to groups of Christians throughout history and plays a major role in today’s Christian Zionism. Joel Bell describes Ephraimites as having “been grafted in to the commonwealth of Israel through Melchizedek – Yehoshua HaMashiach.” In current Christian Zionist media, the figure of Melchizedek is used in the claim that the priesthood of Jesus can be found in the ancient Hebrew scriptures, and both precedes, as well as supersedes the Levitical priesthood and Rabbinic Judaism. Examples include sermons by Wayne Hilsden who leads the King of Kings church in Jerusalem, the international epicenter for linking Christian Zionists and Messianics from around the world. Described as the largest evangelical congregation in Israel, it’s founders have stated that they immigrated to Israel at the invitation of the Israeli government in 1981.

Don Esposito, head of the Congregation of YHWH in New Jersey, has also coordinated with Likud’s Sagiv Assulin and takes tours of Ephraimites to Israel for the annual Feast of Tabernacles. Esposito uses the Melchizedek narrative in an effort to delegitimize “modern Rabbinic Judaism,” claiming that it “is a false second century religion made up by an evil man named Akiva.”

Christian Zionism is marketed to the Jewish leaders as rejecting replacement theology. However, these same millennialists, dancing around in tallitot and blowing shofars, increasingly view themselves as the Israel of the end times. Their attacks on Talmudic or Pharisaic Judaism as a false religion are become more overt.

The Feast of Tabernacles and the Day of Prayer

The Feast of Tabernacles is celebrated as a “dress rehearsal” of the coming Millennial Kingdom, complete with Messianic music productions and Davidic dance. In 2007 Israel’s Chief Rabbinate declared the annual event sponsored by the International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem to be off limits to Jews. However, Rabbi Shlomo Riskin continued to participate. He spoke at the 2009 event titled “The Tabernacle of David – The Promised Restoration.”

In 2009 the celebration happened to overlap the annual Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem (DPPJ) and was also held at the Jerusalem Convention Center and broadcast by God TV. Founded and chaired by Jack Hayford and CUFI Director Robert Stearns, who sang Hatikvah at last week’s event, the DPPJ now claims participation of 300,000 churches in 192 nations.

Rabbi Riskin’s speech at the 2009 DPPJ included a moment of cognitive dissonance, as he stated, “As we march together it must be with mutual respect. Neither of us dare have as a raison d’être the conversion of the other…” Despite previous blowing of shofars and hearty applause for Riskin, there was silence. The leaders hosting this international event are well known in the Christian Zionist world as the engine that has powered the explosive Messianic scene in Israel as well as Brazil, Argentina, Russia, the Ukraine and U.S. Riskin had been preceded on stage by Jack Hayford who heads a Messianic seminary that coordinates training around the globe “to best reveal Yeshua to all Israel.”

The DPPJ is a thinly veiled international effort to “bless” Israel through evangelism and the termination of Rabbinic Judaism as a religion separate from Christianity. Media materials for the DPPJ have included a book promoting evangelical support for Messianic missions. Stearns has written that “more Jewish people have come to faith in Messiah in the last few decades than in all of church history combined.” While the events’ speakers consistently attack anti-Semitism and Israel’s enemies, it is clear from their media that they consider the most pressing threat from which Jews must be saved to be Rabbinic Judaism.

The Tragedy of Christian Zionism

Netanyahu apparently only sees the immediate political benefits of this wave of Christian millennialism. But is it possible that Rabbi Riskin does not comprehend the dangers to Judaism? Almost two years ago, after Riskin defended Hagee’s controversial “Hitler as a hunter sent by God” sermon, I sent video clips of Hagee’s Judeophobic rants to one of Riskin’s assistants. Others have also reported trying to explain to him the significance of the attacks on Judaism by the Christian Zionists which he so ardently supports. Riskin argues that his work is crucial to Christian and Jewish relations. However, one of the great tragedies of Christian Zionism is the damage that the movement has done to interfaith relations, the type with no strings attached. True interfaith alliances allow Jews to remain as Jews, and Christians to be Christians. The hybrid that is taking place in the Christian Zionist and Messianic world is an attack on the institutions of both religions, and is flooding Israel with aggressive missionaries who are instigating conflict between Christians and Jews.

Those Christians who are not obsessed with Jews as supernatural pawns of the end times are not likely to be Christian Zionist activists. Sadly many of the Christians most tolerant of Jews and Judaism have been unfairly targeted as anti-Semitic for their rejection of biblical Zionism as the basis for political policy. Many Christians who feel a kinship with Israel desire a human peace for the nation, not a world governed by interpretations of apocalyptic prophecy.

In reference to Rabbi Riskin, Leonard Fein made this point, “If the issue between Israel and its neighbors comes down to one people’s bible against another’s, then the end is inevitably about which people has the power to enforce its bible.”

The other great tragedy of Christian Zionism is the role that it has played in obstructing peace negotiations in the Middle East, a process which might actually secure Israel’s future. The CUFI event on Monday has received almost no publicity in the mainstream press. However, one minister summed up Netanyahu’s performance with the following telling words:

“Benjamin Netanyahu now has the dubious distinction of being the only Israeli leader to ever salute a man who makes money from biblical prophecies suggesting Israel’s imminent destruction while simultaneously humiliating the leaders of the very country he relies on for its protection.”