← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · weisbrot
Thread ID: 9306 | Posts: 8 | Started: 2003-08-26
2003-08-26 17:00 | User Profile
[url=http://washingtontimes.com/national/20030818-122328-1683r.htm]http://washingtontimes.com/national/200308...22328-1683r.htm[/url]
Israeli pits U.S. politics against 'road map' plan
By Julia Duin THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Israeli tourism minister Benyamin Elon has embarked on a "Bible Belt tour" to exploit evangelical Christian enthusiasm for Israel, to lure Christian tourists back to Israel and to derail President Bush's "road map" to Middle East peace.
Mr. Elon visited in Memphis, at the juncture of Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi, as his first stop.
Some evangelical Christian leaders say the "road map," which they argue puts Israel at a disadvantage in the Middle East, must go if the president retains his Christian base in next year's presidential elections.
"We either have to oppose the road map or oppose the Bible," says Mike Evans, founder of the Jerusalem Prayer Team, a coalition of 1,700 churches. "Evangelicals have no debate on this issue."
The first phase of the road map, agreed upon by Israeli and Palestinian leaders at a June 4 peace summit convened by Mr. Bush, envisions Israeli and Palestinian states existing side by side; Israel would return land occupied since September 2000 and dismantle West Bank settlements built since March 2001, and Palestinians would cut ties to all terrorist groups, set up their own constitution and hold multiparty elections.
"Bible-believing Christians believe all that land belongs to Israel," says Ed MacAteer, co-founder of Moral Majority and founder of the Religious Roundtable, an umbrella organization of several evangelical groups.
"It is a fatal, fatal mistake that George Bush is making," he says with colloquial emphasis. "[President Bush] is probably the most powerful man in the world, but he ain't more powerful than God. And God gave them that land. Every grain of sand on that piece of property belongs to the Jews because God gave it to [them]."
Mr. MacAteer is part of a coalition of Christians and Jews that has raised $70,000 to pay for 114 billboards urging Americans to call the White House to tell Mr. Bush not to violate "God's covenant with Israel."
The coalition, Americans for a Safe Israel, based in New York, is chaired by Herb Zweibon, a Jewish conservative who says the signs will be up for at least six months to apply "pressure on [presidential adviser Karl] Rove and company." The Web site address is www.AFSI.org.
His group "recognized a long time ago that the key to Israel's well-being would be with the Zionist Christian Right; those who believe in Scripture," he says. "That's where we are coming from."
Thus Mr. Elon is averaging one trip per month to make Israeli views known in states where the Jewish state sees a receptive audience. "The Bible Belt is a very important target for Israel," he says, adding that Israel is raising its annual tourism budget for North America from $1.1 million to $3 million.
"We wish to thank those who have not abandoned us," he says. "In the past three years, those who have come were Jews ââ¬â out of solidarity ââ¬â and evangelical Christians. They are saying to [Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat: 'You cannot force us to change our way of life to uproot Israel from the Holy Land.' "
He opposes a Palestinian state on the West Bank and suggests Palestinians either relocate to Jordan or live under Israeli sovereignty.
"I really think the road map won't work because we are doing the same mistakes of the Oslo Accords," he says. "It's just a question of time before everyone understands the road map is a road trap."
To make sure Mr. Bush gets the message to preserve Israel's biblical boundaries, several groups of pro-Israel Christians and Jews, including a "Battalion of Deborah," planned 13 hours of demonstrations and marches yesterday in Crawford, Texas, where the president is spending much of August.
"Preserving the biblical territorial integrity of the state of Israel should be the cornerstone of President Bush's road map to peace," reads a statement, citing the account of Deborah saving the Israelites in the Bible's Book of Judges, on www.battalionofdeborah.org. "No more land for peace and rewarding Islamic-jihad terrorism with PLO statehood."
Mr. Zweibon argues that it is in Mr. Bush's interest to listen to his Christian base.
"One year after the [2000] election, Karl Rove gave a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, saying they expected 19 million of the Christian Right to show up [for it]. Only 15 million did, so 4 million of those people did not vote. Well, tell me what President Bush has done for them since. Absolutely nothing. [The Bush administration has] been catering to the Muslim community."
Gary Bauer, a candidate for president in 2000 and president of American Values, a think tank, is meeting with Mr. Elon.
"I think there is great skepticism among many conservative Christians about the road map," he says. "Even though they love the president, there's growing feeling we should stop holding Israel to a different standard than we hold ourselves to, especially regarding terrorists. When Israel gets attacked, the secretary of state tells Israel to restrain itself. But when we get attacked, we massively respond, as any democracy should."
One issue dear to Christians is access to their holy sites, says Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition and one of the Christian leaders scheduled to meet with Mr. Elon. When she toured Israel last November, access to Bethlehem ââ¬â the birthplace of Christ ââ¬â and to the Temple Mount, where Christians believe He will return as Messiah, was forbidden because of the ongoing intifada.
"Christian support for Israel is very strong," she says. "It's not good for Israel that Christians cannot visit their holy sites, and I don't think many Christians know this."
2003-08-26 18:38 | User Profile
It saddens me to no end to see these otherwise solid fundamentalist evangelicals so blaringly wrong on the Jewish issue and essentials of the Christian faith. Apparently, they have given up effecting any reform or revival here in their own nation and communities and have turned their hopeful eyes off the cross and onto the political situation in a foreign land half the world away. As if God needs their money and influence in D.C. to prepare the way for his Son's return.
"Leaders" like McAteer, Evans and Bauer are nothing more than the Al Sharptons and Jessie Jacksons of the evangelical community. Their political efforts that began in the 80s with the Christian Coalition/Moral Majority etc. became dismal failures, therefore the restoration of Israel provided a new 'cause' to pimp. There is also the very real possibility that decent cash has gone under the table to these self-styled 'leaders' from influential Jewish groups and individuals. Nothing surprises me anymore, to be honest.
2003-08-26 18:48 | User Profile
**"We either have to oppose the road map or oppose the Bible," says Mike Evans, founder of the Jerusalem Prayer Team, a coalition of 1,700 churches. "Evangelicals have no debate on this issue." **
God save us from religious zealots of all stripes, whether they be Islamists, Zionists, or "christian" zionists.
I don't see any difference between any of these lunatic, save only the methods used, for the end results is always the same-- alot of dead folks.
Texas Dissident,
Pimps is a good way to describe them. I personally like the term "pulpit prostitutes."
2003-08-26 20:48 | User Profile
**"We either have to oppose the road map or oppose the Bible," says Mike Evans, founder of the Jerusalem Prayer Team, a coalition of 1,700 churches. "Evangelicals have no debate on this issue." **
Tex, if you know the evangelical read on the Bible, where in God's name is this coming from? My understanding is that it has to do with the second coming. Is this based in Bible text?
2003-08-26 23:13 | User Profile
*Originally posted by Texas Dissident@Aug 26 2003, 14:38 * ** "Leaders" like McAteer, Evans and Bauer are nothing more than the Al Sharptons and Jessie Jacksons of the evangelical community. Their political efforts that began in the 80s with the Christian Coalition/Moral Majority etc. became dismal failures, therefore the restoration of Israel provided a new 'cause' to pimp. There is also the very real possibility that decent cash has gone under the table to these self-styled 'leaders' from influential Jewish groups and individuals. Nothing surprises me anymore, to be honest. **
In Georgia, Ralph Reed is known as a total political animal, which means amoral opportunist. He does fairly well for himself, for a religious leader.
Hugh Lincoln, see the Dispensationalism subtopic under the "Christianity" OD heading. The only term to describe these fundamentalists gone astray is "apostate".
2003-08-26 23:29 | User Profile
Well the Book of Revelation does warn us Christians to beward false prophets and also warns that many Christians will be seduced by them. In fact thats how very much many Christians, especially Catholics view the Book of Revelation; as a book that talks about the daily strugges of defending the faith. In many ways the Book of Revelation was written as a response to the trend among Christians at the time to absorbing Pagan beliefs and rituals, so its intent was to maintain the purity of Christian belief. It succeeded and many historians admit that without Revelation and other such texts, Christianity would've been absorbed into mainstream paganism. So defending the purity of the faith is a continuous struggle, even during the first Christian century at the time of the apostles.
2003-08-30 01:05 | User Profile
My take on christian zionism is that it is a form of vicarious racism, the repressed racial conciousness of the bible thumber types transferred onto the jews.
2003-08-30 01:17 | User Profile
AYuppie -- great take on that matter. As usual.