Madison — In 1981, Pastor John C. Hagee — head of an evangelical church in San Antonio, Texas, and a Christian Zionist — felt powerfully disturbed by the widespread negative reaction to the Israeli air raid that destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor.
So he organized the first “Night to Honor Israel” to both celebrate Israel’s existence and raise funds to help support it.
Not only have numerous such events been held in Texas since then; but about two years ago, Hagee helped create a national organization, Christians United for Israel, that has been organizing events like it all across the country. Some 40 are scheduled for 2007 — including the first in Wisconsin.
It is being organized by Pastor Joel Kitsemble. Head of Madison’s 300-member Spirit of Faith Church, he is also director of the new Wisconsin chapter of Christians United for Israel.
The event is scheduled to take place this Sunday, May 6, at 6:30 p.m. in Madison’s new Overture Center. Featured speakers will include Israel’s consul general for the Midwest, Baruch Binah, and David Brog, author of “Standing With Israel: Why Christians Support the Jewish State.”
And some Madison Jews are not happy about this, to the extent that articles about their displeasure have appeared in the Capital Times afternoon daily newspaper and the Isthmus alternative weekly.
Different world-views
Rabbi Jonathan Biatch, spiritual leader of Temple Beth El, Madison’s Reform synagogue, gave a sermon on March 23 stating that he will not attend the event and “would not support this local church — or its national sponsor — in any way.”
Moreover, a small and relatively new Madison Jewish organization, Friends of Jewish Voice for Peace, is organizing a protest demonstration outside the theater; and it is “calling on other progressives to join us,” according to the group’s founder, Tsela Barr. (See sidebar below.)
In his sermon (the full text can be seen on the Web site www.jewsonfirst.org), Biatch accuses Christian Zionists of lobbying the U.S. government “to actualize and hasten Armageddon, that prophesied battle that will presage” the second coming of Jesus. “And they do it through their agitating for war with Iran.”
He accused Hagee and Christians United of lobbying the U.S. government during last summer’s Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon “against imposing a diplomatic solution during the early stage.… They were hoping that Israel and Hezbollah’s battles would eventually bring Syria and Iran actively into the fighting, which would have resulted in the Armageddon they seek.”
Biatch further claimed Hagee “actively discourages trading land for peace, a formula that actually has been embraced by a majority of Israelis as well as many world governments, including our own,” and that Hagee has made statements “maligning” Islam.
In a telephone interview, Barr charged that Christians United is “willing to support Israeli human rights abuses and atrocities” committed against the Palestinians. She also alleged that the “end of days” vision is “ultimately anti-Semitic.”
And both Biatch and Barr accuse the Christians Zionists, who are generally conservative on political and social issues, of being “right wing, homophobic, against women’s rights,” as Barr put it. “For Jewish organizations to take money from them I find deplorable,” she said.
Other Madison Jews, however, are more welcoming of the event. They include Steven H. Morrison, executive director of the Madison Jewish Community Council, which is both the community’s federation and its community relations organization.
In a telephone interview, Morrison told The Chronicle that he would attend the event if not for his plans to travel to Israel that day.
He said that when Kitsemble approached him about the event, Morrison assigned the Madison Jewish community’s Israel emissary, Diklah Cohen, to work with the event’s organizers.
Morrison said he was surprised to see the newspaper articles focusing on Jewish community disagreement about the event. “That Jews disagree is not newsworthy,” he said.
He added that “This is the first time we’ve been in a coalition with an evangelical church ever,” and he wondered whether some history was being relived in some Madison Jews’ discomfort with the fact.
“When I first entered the field in 1968, the Jewish community was just starting to work with the Catholic community,” he said. “And in the beginning it was uncomfortable. We didn’t know each other. There was suspicion.”
But 40 years later, good Jewish-Catholic relations are “routine and expected.” Today, the Jewish community “is just now starting to work with evangelicals” around support for Israel.
Morrison is not worried about the disagreements between the two communities. “As a Jew, I don’t spend time thinking about [the evangelical’s] end of time theories.”
After all, “Coalition work means bringing together people with diverse views,” he said.
“I’ve been in coalitions with Catholic and Protestant churches [and] there’s a bunch of things we don’t discuss because we don’t agree.” But they can work on issues on which they do agree, he said.
Kitsesmble himself told The Chronicle in a telephone interview that many of the fears or concerns were unfounded. He said the event is being held for three purposes only:
“First, we believe the Jewish people are worthy of honoring,” he said. “They have contributed so much to the world…. Without Judaism, Christianity wouldn’t exist.”
“Second, we’re trying to build a bridge between Jewish and Christian communities in Madison and Wisconsin,” he said. “I know there are divisions, but I think there are more things we agree on than disagree on….
“We’re united on the belief that Israel and the Jewish people have the right to exist.”
“Third,” he said, “is to open the eyes of the Jewish community to the fact that there are many in Madison and Wisconsin that back and support the nation of Israel and the Jewish people” against real threats to them that exist.
Kisemble also said, “Our organization is not trying to encourage war” with Iran.
In response to Biatch’s statements about Israel, he said, “I don’t believe trading land for peace is smart, but if the Jewish people think it is, we will support and stand with them.”
As for the “end of times” scenarios, Kitsemble said that Christians from different denominations have many different ideas about the subject; but these differing beliefs “have nothing to do with Christians United for Israel,” which is “united on no other agenda” than support for Israel.
Kitsemble said he plans to make the “Night to Honor Israel” an annual event in Madison, and to hold others next year in Milwaukee and Green Bay.
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