We’ve been searching for love in all of the fallacious locations.
As a Jew, I used to be moved to tears final week on the Christians United for Israel annual summit in Oxon Hill, Md. Passionate assist for the Jewish folks from audio system and crowds was palpable —and overwhelming.
“In recent weeks, we have seen Jews murdered on the streets and Jewish businesses ransacked here in America . . . it’s shameful,” Pastor John Hagee mentioned from the rostrum. “We are not going to allow the Jewish people to suffer on our watch!”
thousand folks jumped out of their seat on the Gaylord Conference Middle, simply over 10 miles from Washington, DC, and cheered, many waving Israeli and American flags.
The twentieth annual CUFI summit, which ended July 2, was a three-day lovefest for the Jewish folks and the Bible that culminated with lobbying on the Capitol.
CUFI is a political powerhouse and rising, with almost 11 million members nationwide. Its singular concern: Timeless assist for Israel.
The romping, roaring Zionism at CUFI is awe-inspiring — particularly after watching social justice teams, from environmentalists to pro-choice activists, shut ranks in opposition to us, post-Oct. 7. That betrayal got here after a long time of assist by Jewish organizations and even synagogues.
In the meantime, true buddies have been standing with us ever since Hagee first introduced collectively 400 evangelical pastors to his San Antonio church in 2006 to ignite a cohesive Christian motion across the affirmation of Jews and Israel, as a part of a strict interpretation of the Bible.
“This relationship could not be more kosher,” mentioned CUFI co-executive director and rabbi Shari Dollinger. “CUFI is non-conversionary. CUFI is non-partisan. And CUFI unilaterally supports the Israeli government. I’ve been here for 18 years and I have never once been proselytized to.”
Within the Jewish group, concern runs deep of Christian violence and blood libels, one thing CUFI leaders acknowledge and deal with head-on. Substitute theology — the idea that Christians and the church have changed Jews and Israel in God’s covenants — is seen as one other menace.
These beliefs have been formally disavowed by mainline church buildings comparable to United Methodist and Evangelical Lutheran, though full rejection of the theology varies amongst congregations.
CUFI has all the time been in direct — and even combative — opposition to substitute theology. On the summit, that distinction was reiterated dozens of instances by many audio system.
“The Bible is proof of God’s eternal, unshakeable love of Israel and the Jewish people is all through the Scripture,” Hagee mentioned in a speech. “Jesus Christ is — and always will be — a Jewish rabbi.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, instructed The Publish after his Tuesday night time speech at CUFI that the group is uniquely “vocal and public about their support” for Israel. “You don’t hear the ifs and the buts.”
CUFI’s success lathers up the anti-Israel actors. Finally yr’s summit, protesters secretly infiltrated the convention and steadily disrupted Hagee’s deal with, solely to be hustled out by Prince George’s County police as attendees shouted, joyfully, “Israel lives! Israel lives!”
That, too, was a stirring second, contemplating how so many Jewish occasions get derailed by a clutch of keffiyeh-wearing hecklers.
The one safety breach this yr was when two lengthy black banners studying “CUFI Kills” and “No God Bombs Children” quickly dropped from balconies within the lodge atrium earlier than lodge safety yanked them down.
Hagee, undaunted, instructed attendees: “Our security team ha s caught 30 hardcore protesters trying to invade this meeting. We are not afraid of you thugs who think you can muscle your way into this organization and distract us. If a line has to be drawn, draw that line around Christians and Jews. We are one!” The gang roared.
In response to surging antisemitism in Ok-12 faculties and universities, CUFI has doubled the scale of its youth outreach crew to 11 folks, who work to mobilize extra Christian youngsters to advocate for his or her Jewish friends.
That initiative is proving fruitful. Greater than 200 highschool college students and 300 college college students attended the summit, an all-time excessive.
Israeli-American Uriel Appel, a junior at College of Maryland at School Park, got here to thank CUFI college students whom he mentioned had been instrumental in beating again student-led Israel-boycott resolutions.
“CUFI has been our best friends on campus,” he instructed me.
CUFI youngsters say they’re all in.
“Jewish students are scared on campus, and me, as a Christian, I’m their ally,” Texas Wesleyan College pupil Arianna-Rosie Bourgoin instructed me. “We’re not the same people back in the day, from the Holocaust, from the Crusades. We’re different. And we’re stronger together.”
The brash Zionism at CUFI is refreshingly, effectively, unneurotic. Scorching pink T-shirts with “Zionist” in an enormous font bought out early.
“The Bible is proof of God’s eternal, unshakeable love of Israel.”
Pastor John Hagee
“Jews are lot more self-conscious. We don’t want to offend anyone or say anything that could be deemed as radical because we don’t want to be seen as religious zealots,” Appel instructed me. “They don’t have that concern.”
Though there’s no official tally, organizers and longtime Jewish attendees say extra Jews attended this convention than ever earlier than. Demand for kosher meals was so excessive this yr, a separate luncheon was held for about 100 attendees.
Nonetheless, if pro-Israel Jews intend to satisfy pro-Israel Christians midway, we’ve got a protracted strategy to go.
Ken Marcus, former Trump appointee and founding father of the Louis D. Brandeis Middle for Human Rights Underneath Regulation, instructed The Publish after his CUFI speech, “It’s a shame that some in the Jewish community are reluctant to accept some of the warmest and truest offers of support we have.”
Right here’s an concept: Let’s present up for the individuals who present up for us.
Let’s push again in opposition to anti-Christian bigotry in Jewish circles the best way CUFI pushes again in opposition to anti-Jewish bigotry in Christian circles.
Let’s put to mattress outdated, inaccurate fears that each evangelical is out to transform or change us.
And let’s converge — en masse! — on the 2026 CUFI convention. Tickets are on sale now for $75 by means of August earlier than they soar to $200 — the Anti-Defamation League by comparability charged $550 for tickets to its convention this yr.
We’ll dance down the aisles to “Shalom Aleichem” — peace be upon you — and sing the American and the Jewish nationwide anthems with our easiest buddies.
I’ll deliver my new T-shirt that claims “CUFI: Game changer, planet shaker, friend and defender of Israel.”
