06216
April 13, 2006

U.S. evangelical groups
establish pro-Israel lobby

by Michele Green
Ecumenical News International

JERUSALEM — U.S. evangelicals are setting up a pro-Israel lobby to influence U.S. policy on the Middle East.

        “The evangelical population’s support of Israel is very important,” said the Rev. John Hagee, a popular televangelist who is among those establishing the group, Leaders of Christians United for Israel. 

        The advocacy group will begin operations in July. It will mostly target members of Congress and Senators, Hagee told reporters in Washington, DC. A quarter of the legislators are evangelicals, he said, and many U.S. lawmakers represent regions with large evangelical populations. 

         He said he hopes the new group will become more important than the Jewish pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, which is considered one of the most powerful groups in Washington.

        About 400 Christian evangelical leaders met in Texas in February to establish the lobby. In addition to the Dallas-based Hagee, its leaders include evangelist George Morrison, Baptist minister Jerry Falwell, and former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer, president of the American Values Coalition, which claims to protect marriage, family and faith. All are well-known supporters of Israel.  

        “We see Christians in the United States as true friends and important supporters on the basis of shared values, and we welcome their efforts to strengthen the ties between Israel and the United States,” Israeli ambassador to the United States Danny Ayalon said in February about plans to establish the lobby.

        The Christian lobby has caused some concern in Israel, because the founders have opposed any further withdrawals from the Biblical West Bank, despite a commitment from acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that there will be more such pullouts. 

        Some evangelical Christians believe the Second Coming of Jesus will take place only after the Jewish people have returned to the Promised Land, in keeping with Biblical prophecy.

        Palestinian Christians have charged that U.S. evangelicals like Hagee do harm to the besieged Christian minority in the Holy Land.