By Michael Felsen, The Boston Globe, 09.06.08

The following paragraphs are taken from an op-ed entitled "John Hagee shouldn't be rattling sabers in the Mideast." To read the full op-ed, click here.

Heartfelt as it may be, [televangelist and Christian Zionist leader John] Hagee's love arises from his reading of Scripture that also eagerly anticipates an imminent apocalyptic war heralding Jesus' return. As prelude to the second coming, Jews in great numbers are required to return to biblical Israel and reestablish their dominion. Hagee and his flock have supported this venture. They have helped bring Russian Jews to Israel, and have buttressed settlements in the West Bank through financial and political support. They have also opposed peace talks with the Palestinians and the ceding by Israel of even one centimeter of the West Bank, while vigorously encouraging preemptive military strikes against Iran.
As Hagee reads the Bible, God is evidently prepared to engage in the most heinous acts imaginable to reach the "end times" when Jesus will return. Hagee thinks the Holocaust was simply God's means to an end, a horrific but effective and necessary method for impelling to the Holy Land those Jews who survived. But there's more.
Now that Israel has been established as a Jewish state, the stage is set for another impending horror: the cataclysmic battle of Armageddon (in which countless Jews and other nonbelievers will die), followed by Jesus' triumphal return, with salvation for those who accept him, and perdition for the rest.
Despite the implications of this theology, Hagee and Christians United For Israel profess love for Jews and Israel, and they claim to take political action accordingly. As part of the conference this summer, thousands of Christian Zionists will lobby Congress. When they do, I hope they will communicate their love - consistent with the desire for peace of the majority of Israelis and Palestinians - by urging US lawmakers to vigorously support a fair and equitable two-state solution to the conflict, along the lines of, for example, the Geneva Accord.
I hope they will advocate the use of all possible diplomatic and nonmilitary means to address the problems that plague the region. I hope, rather than rattling sabers in excited anticipation of a coming apocalypse, they will promote new and creative means to plant the seeds of lasting peace amongst the peoples of the region. I hope. Because efforts by Christians United For Israel to the contrary - aided by Lieberman and others, and whether intended to or not - seem all too likely to draw us closer to Armageddon. That's love we can do without.
Michael Felsen, an attorney, currently serves as president of the Boston chapter and on the National Executive Board of Workmen's Circle, a 100-year-old Jewish communal group.