Why Project Stait Gate Must Vigil John Hagee in Washington DC on July 17, 2007
By Chuck Carlson, June 30, 2007
We have a lot to be grateful for…the help and support for our Vigil at John Hagee’s Phoenix A Night to Honor Israel, on Sunday, June 24th. The resolve to do it must have come from God because just the right people showed up to do the job in the heat.
Next we’re on to Washington DC where again we ask for a minor miracle.
We have only a few days to prepare for this July 17 event at the big Washington Convention Center. We start with a Vigil-experienced nucleus for our team: Charles from Maryland and David from DC, and that is half the battle. This writer will be there.
Muslims have played an important part in our last two vigils, answering questions about Islam and holding up signs to free us to rove the crowd. We hope our Muslim friends will come out in Washington DC to help us deal with a much bigger crowd.
The Jewish News of Greater Phoenix quoted this writer for Project Strait Gate at A Night to Honor Israel. They reported that an Arizona Rabbi wisely refused to attend and warned during Temple services two days before why American Jews should have no part of John Hagee.
We now have a press agent, AN, who will manage the coverage for our DC event. The media needs to be told that radical Zionists both in Israel and here at home are using Hagee to promote war with Iran. Hagee may be the only religious leader in the world who openly proclaims nuclear war acceptable.
It is vital — a matter of life and death — to understand that Hagee and those like him are providing the only grassroots support for the neo-con Bush aim to incite a long-term war with Iran via a pre-emptive strike under the phony excuse of destroying non-existent nuclear capacity.
The Jewish News of Greater Phoenix report is important because it cracks the door for further criticism of both Christian Zionists and Jewish Zionists. Mainline American Jews are recognizing increasingly that Hagee/Zionist common war agenda may not be good for them.
Jewish News of Greater Phoenix quotes Rabbi Strauss:
“Rabbi Andrew Straus, spiritual leader of Temple Emanuel in Tempe, gave a sermon on the Friday night before the CUFI (Christians United For Israel) meeting explaining why he would not be going. ‘John Hagee believes that what he is doing is divinely ordained and fulfilling biblical (prophecy),’ he told Jewish News, ‘and he believes Israel cannot return a single square inch of land, which goes against the policies of the last five Israeli prime ministers and the views of most Americans and Israelis. (Americans) have a habit of creating friends we think we can control, but we end up being the monkey on the lion’ s back. I think Hagee will end up using us.’”
Jewish News of Greater Phoenix quotes Charles Carlson:
“The handful of protesters outside the building had a different view. ‘In this hall will be assembled some of the only people in the world who really believe in bombing Iran, in continuing the occupation of Iraq and continuing to support the occupation of Palestine,’ said Chuck Carlson, the president and co-founder of We Hold These Truths, a Christian group that has protested at past CUFI events.”
It is significant that no effort was made to paint Project Strait Gate as “anti-Semite,” the usual trick with Jewish critics; instead they correctly gave our protest a Christian bend by quoting several of our sign messages without distortion:
“The protesters carried or leaned on signs that read
• Choose life not war,
• One nation under God, not Israel
• Innocent blood in Gaza and Iraq, and
• Hagee’ s racism kills Palestinians.”
A US strike on Iran is the stated goal of the radical Zionist minority that includes current Prime Minister Olmert and his likely successor Binyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, as articulated by an Israeli Reserve General Oded Tira in Israel’s Ynet News:
“We must clandestinely cooperate with Saudi Arabia so that it also persuades the US to strike Iran. For our part, we must prepare an independent military strike by coordinating flights in Iraqi airspace with the US. We should also coordinate with Azerbaijan the use of airbases in its territory and also enlist the support of the Azeri minority in Iran. In addition, we must immediately start preparing for an Iranian response to an attack.”*
John Hagee may not realize that his agenda is being shaped to conform with what General Tira and the Radical Zionists at the top levels of Israeli politics want; nonetheless, Hagee’s lobbying agenda in Washington is designed to force U.S. congressional support for an unconscionable — and lethal — attack on the people of Iran. In the end, this not only threatens the tiny country of Israel, it threatens the greater national security of the United States and our service men and women in Iraq. It is an act of insanity, or what the head of the UN IAEA told the BBC, an “act of madness.”
Hagee states:
“I would hope the United States would join Israel in a military pre-emptive strike to take out the nuclear capability of Iran for the salvation of Western civilization.”
We Hold These Truths is going to Washington DC to do its part to prevent a mass murder — a nuclear war and holocaust — blindly proposed by thousands of people who consider themselves followers of Jesus Christ, the “Prince of Peace.”
Our part is to strike a match in the dark, as we did in Phoenix, AZ, Denver and Arvada CO, Minneapolis MN, and many other cities and churches. Others will subsequently provide the fuel and oxygen to increase the fire. We Hold These Truths can only do what God gives us the power to do . . . with your help. Presently we may be the only organization to challenge Hagee with action. Action requires dedicated people.
We are not the only ones who understand Hagee’s ugly agenda. Rabbi Strauss is not unique among Jews; there are many Jewish voices who echo his alarm. Soon others will be articulating our words on the national secular stage.
But we do need help. Please come to Washington, or sponsor someone to go. Please do your part.
If you can come and help, please call Project Strait Gate at (480) 947-3329. Cell phone (602) 741-4650.
We Hold These Truths‘ goal is a complete break from everything John Hagee says he stands for at A Night To Honor Israel and the misguided Christ-followers among the 40 to 70 million who under the stupefying spell of such Judeo-Christian leaders. They are defying Christ to following Hagee’s and others like him . . . into a culture of death. At least half of these millions are capable of waking up in a heartbeat and turning their backs on the warring church leaders who have deceived them.
We live in a moment that may be someday be known as The Great Turning, and We Hold These Truths wants you to join us and be a part of it.
* Click Project Strait Gate for updates on the Vigil.
Hagee gathering raises $50,000 for Federation, Jewish News Greater Phoenix
We must coordinate independent strike on Iran with US , General Oded Tira, Ynet News, Israel
The Great Turning, Part 1, by Charles Carlson
