(RNS) — With rockets still roaring between Israel and southern Lebanon, 3,500 evangelical Christians met in Washington July 18-19 in support of the Jewish nation.
Backed by such prominent Christian conservatives as Jerry Falwell and John Hagee, the 5-month-old Christians United for Israel was formed to repay a “debt to the Jewish people” by helping them maintain their foothold in the Middle East, Hagee said at a news conference July 19).
“We are commanded by Isaiah to speak out for Israel,” said Hagee, the minister of an 18,000-member evangelical church in San Antonio. In the context of the growing military conflict there, he added, “we want Israel to have the ability to respond in the fullest measure.”
Christians United for Israel's goal is lobbying legislators to support pro-Israeli policies. Its leaders have said they have no plans to try to convert Jews, but rather are acting out of a biblical obligation to protect the state of Israel.
“If you take away the Jewish contribution to Christianity, there would be no Christianity,” Hagee said.