Pastor Hagee: ‘We are hardcore Zionist, battlefield tested, lovers of Israel’

Pastor John Hagee is a stalwart defender of Israel and the Jewish people. As a scholar of the Bible, he knows that good men and women must act when Israel is in danger. For the past forty-years, he has been running Nights to Honour Israel and eventually started Christians united for Israel.

Pastor Hagee was honoured this week by the Menachem Begin Heritage Centre for his stand with Israel and the Jewish people.

During his acceptance speech, Pastor Hagee praised the organisation and the legacy of Menachem Begin, Israel’s sixth Prime Minister. Begin was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in bringing about peace between Israel and Egypt, a peace which holds true today.

Pastor Hagee, who met Begin three times, called him, “a Lion of Judah of his time” who he believed was responsible “more than any other person for the rebirth of Israel in 1948.”

Hagee also took the opportunity to speak about some of the immediate concerns that the Jewish people face, such as the threat of Iran, anti-Israel boycotts and antisemitism in America and around the world.

Pastor Hagee explained that he first realised the threat of Iran when then-President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke of acquiring nuclear weapons and wiping Israel off the map.

Hagee explained: “That maniacal dream is not dead. Israel must never allow Iran to get a nuclear bomb.”

Pastor Hagee explained how the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is “economic antisemitism” and as an organisation CUFI opposes it in every form.

So far, CUFI has managed to get BDS “stopped in 43 States of America” thanks to its lobbying action.

Pastor Hagee also explained how CUFI is currently helping Jews from Ukraine return to Israel. Even though these are desparate times, “the joyful point”, he explained, “is that there is a free and independent state of Israel where Jews can go to be free from the tyrants of the world.”

Malcolm Hoenlein, who presented Pastor Hagee with the award, commented on the strong defence of Israel that CUFI is. In the United States, more than 11 million people are part of this movement, and the politicians in America listen.

Pastor Hagee “answered the challenged of antisemitism”, Hoenlein explained. “Not in cowering words or deeds, but in a confrontation that needed to be taken on. And they understand the challenge of nuclear weapons in the hands of an enemy of the Jewish state.”

“I tell you, in the halls of Congress, when they see those CUFI delegations coming, led by Pastor Hagee, they get out of the way… and I hear it from members of Congress who says, ‘They really mean it. And they have the votes.'”

There are countless times throughout the Bible where God calls those to act in defence of the Jewish people and today, we believe Christians United for Israel is an organisation called for the purpose of defending Israel and the Jewish people.

“We are not a paper shuffling, standing round the coffee pot, wondering what to do next group of people,” Pastor Hagee said when speaking of CUFI. “We are a hardcore Zionist, battlefield tested, lovers of Israel after the order of Menacham Begin. We’re taking no freedom. Israel, Israel is our plea.”