Christians United for Israel now has a million members, the group run by Pastor John Hagee announced. "Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the nation’s largest pro-Israel organization, announced Sunday that it had crossed the million member mark," the group noted in a press release. "The announcement was made by CUFI founder and Chairman Pastor John Hagee at event in Jerusalem featuring Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."
Six years ago Prime Minister Netanyahu asked me if we could unite Christians in support of Israel. I told him I didn’t know. Having reached one million members, I think the answer is clear. America’s Christians are uniting in support of Israel,” Hagee said after the event.
During his remarks, Netanyahu thanked the group for their support and congratulated CUFI on enlisting one million members.
“We are witnessing a dramatic transformation in the relationship between Christians and Jews, who are focusing now on the common values and the common future we both share,” Netanyahu said.
The Center for American Progress, the party’s key hub of ideas and strategy, and Media Matters, a central messaging organization, have emerged as vocal critics of their party’s staunchly pro-Israel congressional leadership and have been at odds, at times, with Barack Obama’s White House, which has acted as a reluctant ally to Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government.
The Emergency Committee for Israel's new campaign in New York City, featuring billboards, print ads, a web ad on the New York Times homepage, and a new website—check it out at www.NotProIsrael.com.
The Emergency Committee for Israel is running the following ad in a significant cable news buy, thanking “Israel’s true friends, Democrats and Republicans alike,” for supporting Israel when “President Obama sided with the Palestinians.”
The pro-Israel group Z Street is hosting an interesting conference on Capitol Hill next week (on May 4 in the Congressional Auditorium at the Capitol Visitors' Center). Speakers include: George Gilder, Khaled Abu Toameh, Harold Rhode, and many more. The conference, which the organizers are calling 'Rethinking the End Game: Improving Lives in the Middle East,' should provide a perspective not usually heard in Washington.
Gene Simmons, a cofounder of the rock band Kiss, recently returned to his native Israel, after a 52-year hiatus. Unlike other entertainers who have boycotted the Jewish state, such as Elvis Costello, the Pixies, and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Simmons expressed his support for Israel.
Z Street, the pro-Israel group that alleges the IRS has prevented it from gaining tax exempt status because its policy toward Israel is antithetical to the administration's, now says that the IRS is changing its tune. Instead, Z Street is being excluded because of a "a Terrorism Special Policy, and that Israel is included."
As THE WEEKLY STANDARD reported in August, pro-Israel group Z Street believes it was discriminated against after "Z Street was told by an IRS agent that it might not be granted 501(c)(3) status, which would allow the group to be tax exempt, because its position toward Israel differs from the Obama administration's official policie
Now we know who constitutes the real Israel lobby: the American public. Especially the Republican-leaning part of it.
Consider the results of a new poll, a survey of 1000 likely voters done October 3 to 5 by McLaughlin and Associates for the Emergency Committee for Israel. (The complete survey results, including cross-tabs, are available at committeeforisrael.com.)
The liberal lobbying group J Street, which has operated under the pretense of being pro-Israel, has really taken a hit in the last week. Eli Lake of the Washington Times uncovered that, despite J Street’s longstandinginsistence to the contrary, the group has received significant funding from financier George Soros and his children. Additionally, the same report revealed that J Street received $811,967, from a woman named Consolacion Esdicul, a resident of Happy Valley, Hong Kong and an associate of Bill Benter, a hugely successful international gambler.
Ben Smith reports today that Joe Sestak is distancing himself from the J Street sponsored, "infamous" (in the words of the Orthodox Union), anti-Israel letter accusing Israel of "collective punishment" for defending itself against Hamas terrorists bent on murdering Israelis. Collective punishment is specifically designated as a war crime by the Geneva Conventions, and the term's use was rejected by all but 12 percent of the House, all Democrats now known as the Gaza 54. That number dropped to 53 when Yvette Clark distanced herself from the letter almost immediately after it was sent to President Obama.
