Bartholomew's Notes

Speakers included former commander of British forces in Afghanistan

This year’s “Christians United for Israel Washington Summit” took place earlier this week; it’s a particularly bizarre conflab, which sees politicians and some serious-minded figures share a platform with the most extravagent apocalyptic evangelists and conspiracy-mongers, led by a man – John Hagee – who has stated that Hitler was sent by God as a “hunter” to persuade European Jews to move to Israel.

The Forward has a summary:

“Mr. Kerry, restarting the peace process with the Palestinians is fiddling while Rome is burning,” Rev. John Hagee, CUFI’s founder and president cried out to the cheers of an excited audience expressing its support with lengthy applauds and the blowing of the shofar.

…”No return to the 1967 borders,” Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg of San Antonio, Texas, said in his the invocation. “No return to the Auschwitz borders.”

…The conference hosted a lineup of critics of the administration’s Middle East policy, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz who argued that the United States should take action against Iran if it gets close to reaching a nuclear weapon, congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Senator Lindsey Graham, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Graham told the audience he plans to present a bill to the Senate authorizing the use of military action against Iran’s nuclear plan.

…Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, added that the “cost of action,” when it comes to Iran, “may be great, but the cost of inaction may be much greater.”

I previously wrote about Hagee and Scheinberg here.

Think Progress (citing a paywalled CQ Roll Call item), discuses Lindsey Graham‘s contribution in more detail:

“If nothing changes in Iran, come September, October, I will present a resolution that will authorize the use of military force to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb,” Graham told a “cheering” audience at a conference put on by the right-wing group Christians United for Israel…

“The only way to convince Iran to halt their nuclear program is to make it clear that we will take it out,” Graham said, echoing comments he made last week, calling the war authorization “the last card to play in a very dangerous situation.”

However, Graham was outdone by Benyamin Netanyahu, who warned via satellite that Iran plans to use nuclear weapons to attack the USA. According to CBN:

After thanking them for their unwavering support, he also warned them that Israel isn’t the only target of Iran’s nuclear weapons.

“Those weapons aren’t prepared to launch against Israel,” Netanyahu warned. “They already have nuclear missiles. Those ICBMs are intended for you to hit the United States and that could happen very soon.”

(That first sentence gives the impression that Iran already has nuclear weapons, although Netanyahu doesn’t quite say that)

Meanwhile, RightWingWatch describes Glenn Beck‘s contribution:

During his speech, Beck boldly declared that the United States was “established for the establishment of Israel,”…. And, as proof that our Founding Fathers were well aware of this, Beck pointed out that even our dollar bill contains a Star of David, as well as representations of the cloud and fire that led the Israelites while they wandered in the desert.

It’s not true, of course, but that is what happens when you get your history from people like David Barton.

Typically with Beck, there were also theatrical flourishes; according to his Blaze website:

To illustrate his point, he brought out several historical pieces, including a handmade whip from Auschwitz, a teacher’s manual that explained how to identify Jewish students and explain away their sudden absence to others in the class, and a letter signed by Neville Chamberlain. He spent a lot of time with the Auschwitz whip, pointing out that someone had to hand make an instrument of pain and torture for another human being.

….Putting his own words into action, Glenn pledged a $100,000 to ChristiansUnited for Israel and their campus outreach program…

I wrote about Beck’s links with Hagee and with other Christian Right figures here.

Keeping the British end up was Colonel Richard Kemp CBE, who formerly commanded British troops in Afghanistan and who now provides “consultancy services for private sector companies on leadership, security, intelligence, counter-terrorism and defence”. At Frontpage, Jim Fletcher has further details:

Kemp began by revealing his own Christian faith, and invoked the name of another legend, whom he called “The greatest Christian Zionist in Britain.” He went on to say that he had, that morning, spoken to Orde Wingate. Many in the crowd smiled but were puzzled.

“I spoke to him this morning at Arlington,” Kemp said…

Kemp delivered an impassioned defense of Israel that brought many in the room to tears. He mentioned several of Israel’s major battlefield achievements, calling the 1976 Entebbe rescue, “The most breathtaking special forces operation the world has ever seen.”

Kemp also referred to the CUFI Summit as a “remarkable event,” and indeed it was.

Kemp has “shared platforms with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Australian Prime Minister John Howard” (1).

Hagee’s worldview is perhaps best exemplified by a 2003 sermon entitled “The Final Warning, The Coming Crash, and The New World Order”. It can be seen here, and there is also a useful summary by Bruce Wilson:

At 1:38 Hagee states, “Out of European history then comes a group of people who are, who call themselves the Illuminati. They were a group of Satanists. The word Illuminati comes from the word illuminate which means to enlighten. The Bible says Satan is an angel of light. Satan is an angel of light. The Illuminati were a super secret organization of international financial power brokers in Europe, who had as their goal a worldwide economic power, and they would rule the world through economic wealth.” At 7:48 Hagee states, “Now here are the four things that have to happen before the New World Order can come to power. One, there must be the destruction of the economic system, the monetary system. It may be shocking to you but I believe that America’s economic problems are not created by market conditions, they are planned and orchestrated to devalue and to destroy the value of the dollar. It was done by an unseen government that I’ll discuss later in this message.”

At 10:22 Hagee states, “Our economic destiny is controlled by the Federal Reserve system that is now headed by Alan Greenspan. Think about this. It is not a government institution. It is controlled by a group of Class A stockholders including the Rothschilds of Europe and the David Rockefellers of America.” At 11:13 Hagee states, “So get this one thought. The value of the dollar is controlled by an agency which is not controlled by America. You don’t have to have a Ph.D. in finance to understand that. The value of your dollar is controlled by an organization, the Federal Reserve that is not controlled by America. That’s a fact.”

Note

(1) Kemp is also a sometime associate of Patrick Mercer MP, a fellow ex-serviceman. Kemp must have been dismayed when Mercer was recently secretly recorded describing an Israeli soldier as looking like a “bloody Jew”; Mercer is now asking pro-Israel questions in Parliament by way of atonement.

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