Elie Wiesel Interviewed by a Fiery Evangelical
By Nathan Guttman
During the 2008 presidential campaign fiery evangelical leader John Hagee got into trouble after a sermon had surfaced in which he suggested that the Holocaust was a divine act meant to drive the Jews to the land of Israel.
This sermon led Republican presidential candidate John McCain to reject Hagee’s endorsement and distance himself from the controversial pastor.
Hagee, the leader of Christians United for Israel, has since worked to explain his views and prove his credentials to the Jewish community.
This week, Hagee invited Nobel laureate Ellie Wiesel to be his guest for an hour-long interview on his TV show.
The highlight of the interview: Hagee repeatedly attempts to make a tie between the Holocaust era and the current threats facing Israel from Iran. Wiesel stresses there is no comparison you can make to the Holocaust, although he is also alarmed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
And more on Hagee and the Holocaust remembrance: Last month his group sponsored a two week trip for Christian students to Poland and Israel, similar to the March of the Living trips taken by many Jewish teens.
May 30, 2008, 5:01pm
Why Did J Street Make a ‘Radical’ Revision to John Hagee’s Words? (UPDATED)
By Daniel Treiman
Note: J Street has responded with an apology and explanation. See the updates to this post below.
It’s not hard to find examples of inflammatory rhetoric from Christians United for Israel founder John Hagee. All you have to do is listen to his sermons, read his books or, for the more lazy among us, do a quick Google search. J Street, the new dovish Israel lobby, dug up a few of Hagee’s greatest hits for the YouTube video that it’s circulating as the centerpiece of its campaign scolding Senator Joseph Lieberman for his embrace of the controversial pastor.
Given that there is no shortage of material to work with, it’s particularly strange that J Street would throw in a sound bite that seems to be the product of incredibly misleading editing.
At exactly 37 seconds into the following J Street video, you can hear Hagee say: “Islam is a doctrine of death.”
The problem is that this snippet omits a single — and quite significant — word. In a 2006 sermon at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., Hagee said that “Radical Islam is a doctrine of death.” (Emphasis is mine.)
May 29, 2008, 1:47pm
Sharon Stone Pulls a John Hagee
By Daniel Treiman
Pastor John Hagee landed himself in hot water for suggesting that Hurricane Katrina may have reflected God’s wrath over a planned gay pride event, that antisemitism may have its origins in Divine anger over Jewish transgressions and that God may have used the Nazis as Divine instruments to return the Jews to Zion. But Hagee isn’t the only high-profile figure who would be better off avoiding the topic of theodicy.Case in point — as the Guardian reports — Sharon Stone:
Stone sparked an international outcry with her remarks, made last week during a red carpet interview at the Cannes film festival. “I’m not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else,” she said.
“I’ve been concerned about how should we deal with the Olympics, because they are not being nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a good friend of mine.”
“And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you’re not nice that the bad things happen to you?”
Some Chinese were, understandably, not pleased by the actress’s musings. Stone has since apologized.
March 12, 2008, 9:18pm
Pastor Hagee Goes to Shul, Says Jesus Was a ‘Reform Rabbi’
By Daniel Treiman
Pastor John Hagee, the pro-Israel evangelical leader whose endorsement of John McCain recently became a contentious sideshow in the presidential race, dropped by a Los Angeles Reform synagogue for a public chat with a local rabbi. L.A. Jewish Journal “Calendar Girl” Danielle Berrin was at the Stephen S. Wise Temple’s “Forum on Critical Values” for the dialogue between Christians United for Israel founder John Hagee and Rabbi David Woznica.
Berrin reports that despite the controversy surrounding Pastor Hagee:
March 11, 2008, 5:50pm
Hagee Has His Say
By Daniel Treiman
JTA’s Ami Eden poses some questions via e-mail to controversial Christians United for Israel founder Pastor John Hagee, who has been accused of being anti-Catholic, anti-Muslim and, by some, even antisemitic (and, by me, of being too philosemitic for his own good).
Here’s part of the Q&A:
You have been attacked by liberal Jews who say you support Israel simply because you see it as a step toward the Second Coming and believe that Jews will eventually be killed, and Christians who feel you don’t believe that Jews must accept Jesus to go to heaven. Could you please clarify your position on each issue?
This is a great distortion of my motives and the motives all Christian Zionists. God has set the time and date for the Second Coming and we are powerless to alter this date by so much as a second. While waiting for this appointed time, we seek to bless Israel because of the promises made by God to the Jewish people in the book of Genesis. In addition, we know Jewish history and the need for a Jewish homeland. We also know Israeli history and the justice of Israel’s cause. The fact is, we support Israel for the same reason most Jews do.
Do you believe that all Muslims have a mandate to kill Christians and Jews?
No. I believe that there are some militant Muslims who believe that they have such a mandate. But I do not believe that this is the case for all Muslims.
Read Eden’s full exchange with Hagee here.
March 5, 2008, 5:27pm
Does John Hagee Love Jews Too Much for His Own Good?
By Daniel Treiman
One thing that’s easy to miss in the brouhaha over McCain endorser Pastor John Hagee’s supposed anti-Catholicism is the context in which he made his controversial remarks.Many of the remarks that have been pointed to by Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights chief Bill Donohue as evidence of the pastor’s anti-Catholicism were made by Hagee in a presentation assailing historical Christian antisemitism.
In other words, Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel, has landed himself in hot water as a result of his zealous defense of Jews.
Note Hagee’s explanation of his controversial remarks:
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