Chapter 6 “I am an Israeli”: Christian as American Redemption

Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘Ani Yisraeli—I am an Israeli.’ All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of . Therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ani Yisraeli—I am an Israeli.’ john hagee, 2010 ∵

1 Introduction

On the second night of Christians United for Israel’s fifth annual Washington Summit in July 2010, conference goers had the chance to enjoy a dinner fol- lowed by that evening’s National Night to Honor Israel. The Night to Honor Israel included live music, the singing of traditional Israeli songs as well as Christian songs about Israel, and a line-up of speakers made up of cufi lead- ership and invited guests including Senator Joseph Lieberman. After a lengthy wait in a line that snaked back and forth throughout the corridors of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, I passed through security to find a seat at one of the hundreds of tables that sprawled throughout the banquet hall. Once there, I sat among guests and chatted while we waited for our meals to emerge from behind a curtain where seemingly hundreds of servers delivered our cho- sen dishes all at once in an amazing feat of culinary choreography. Others took the time to grab the American and Israeli flags that had been placed on each of our seats and slowly wave them back and forth in a slow methodical way that struck me as reminiscent of the way an aircraft marshal directs planes on a runway with glowing orange lights. After dinner was finished and donations for cufi on Campus had been collected, made his way on to the stage to introduce John Hagee. “Ladies and gentleman,” Bauer began, “we live in an age when Jerusalem and Israel ­desperately need watchmen on the walls,” invoking another scriptural ­reference to Isaiah. “The jackals are circling,” he continued. “It is for such a time as this that John Hagee has become the watchman on the wall for Israel who

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172 Chapter 6 never sleeps. […] I am honored to introduce to you a man whose love for Israel knows no bounds—my friend, and our leader, John Hagee.”1 Seeing my dinner companions, along with the entire auditorium (comprised, in Hagee’s words, of “4,000 plus”) jump to their feet and give a round of applause, I felt the need to join in and clap along with them. Hagee made his way to the podium to give one of his signature, impas- sioned, and bellowing speeches in a voice that, even if you don’t agree with what he has to say, is difficult not to be captivated by. Hagee began his speech by constructing a dualistic binary between good and evil, proclaiming that “our world is divided into two groups: those who support Israel, and those who don’t. There is no middle ground.” Then inverting the slogan of “Yes we can” that campaigned on in 2008, Hagee posed a series of rhetorical questions to the audience:

Can we sit in silence when the President of the tells Israel they cannot build homes in Jerusalem? The answer is no we can’t. Can we support any peace process that rejects Israel’s right to exist? The answer is no we can’t. […] Can we support any treaty that does not recognize ­Israel’s right to defend itself against all enemies? No! Can we support toothless sanctions that allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons and risk the horror of a nuclear holocaust? The answer is no! […] Can we continue stumbling through this politically correct fog without moral clarity and without an absolute commitment to victory? The answer is no we can’t.

As his speech reached its end, Hagee drew on another presidential phrase, this time an excerpt from John F. Kennedy’s famous 1963 speech in West Berlin, in which, according to Hagee, Kennedy described West Berlin as a “tiny ­outpost of freedom, surrounded by tyranny and communism.” Invoking this senti- ment, drawn from what was perhaps an idealized past when America exerted its strength more forcefully and decisively, Hagee turned his attention to the contemporary United States and Israel, proclaiming,

Today, I stand in the capital of the greatest nation on earth, the United States of America. I stand here with my dearest friends—Jewish friends, thousands of Christians, and Israeli friends. I stand here at a time when Israel is a tiny outpost of freedom and democracy in a sea of tyranny. I stand here as Israel is surrounded, hounded, boycotted, and threatened

1 Gary Bauer, introducing John Hagee (speech delivered at Christians United for Israel 5th An- nual Washington, DC, Summit, July 21, 2010).