But is it good for Israel?...The now seemingly age-old refrain of American Jews whose support for Israel sometimes affects their reason. Now despite some anti-Semitic accusations, I don't know a single American Jew whose support for Israel EVER interferes with their loyalty and patriotism as American citizens. But sometimes American Jews are willing to make what seem to me to be idiotic alliances in the name of Israel.

Right wing Christian extremists, like Christians United for Israel (CUFI), have become supposedly ardent supporters of Israel and many American Jews have been willing to form alliances with these right wing Christian fundamentalists because of this supposed support for Israel. This despite the overall repulsive positions taken by groups like CUFI, which advocate the mixing of church and state and often advocate intolerance and use hate speech. The founder of CUFI is one of those right wing nuts who condemns Harry Potter books as advocating witchcraft, calls Russia and Islamic nations the Antichrist, and, of course, is anti-choice and anti-gay. He also is a scam artist who is one of the highest paid televangelist out there. His view on Free Speech is: "What is the point of having free speech if you have nothing to say?" His view on Hurricane Katrina: "All hurricanes are acts of God because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that." And, for those Jews who love him, let's consider what he thinks of Jews: "If you live your life and don't confess your sins to God Almighty through the authority of Christ and His blood, I'm going to say this very plainly, you're going straight to hell with a nonstop ticket." (Quotes from Wikipedia).

The alliance between some American Jews and Christian fundamentalists (who think Jews will go to Hell) is disturbing and, in my opinion, quite foolish given the reason behind Christian fundamentalist support for Israel. They believe all Jews must move back to Israel before the second coming can occur. THAT is the reason for their support of Israel. To me it is insane to form an alliance with someone who feels you have to move to Israel for their messiah to come...after which you have to convert or be damned. What if I don't want to move? What if I don't want to convert?

Slowly more and more Jewish leaders are becoming uncomfortable with their fundamentalist Christian bedfellows. It has become increasingly clear that alliances with Christian fundamentalists are not only bad for Israel, but also bad for American Jews. Christian fundamentalists have started to participate in religious intolerance thatd directly threatens Jews in America, as in the Delaware Pogrom or in recent developments I wrote about here.

Now a leader within Reform Judaism is trying to wake up Jewish leaders to the threat of Christian fundamentalism to American Jews. He goes so far as to call the alliance Jewish leaders have made with Christian Fundamentalists "selling our souls." From Jews on First:

In a major development in the debate raging over participating in Christian Zionist "Nights to Honor Israel," the leader of Reform Judaism, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, has sharply criticized the involvement of local Jewish federations in the events. Yoffie, the president of the Union of Reform Judaism, wrote in the national Jewish weekly Forward that the federations' cooperation with Christians United for Israel (CUFI) is alienating the upcoming generation of Jewish community leaders.

Yoffie's op-ed appeared the Friday before two Conservative movement rabbis took part in a May 20th CUFI "Night to Honor Israel" in the Washington DC area...

CUFI and other Christian Zionist organizations support Israel because of a non-mainstream biblical interpretation that the end-times battle of Armageddon will take place in Israel and presage the return of Jesus.

Jews on First quotes from Yoffie's op-ed piece:

We know a great deal about Jewish young adults. We have learned from extensive research that these young people are often more socially liberal than their baby-boomer parents. They are pluralistic in their thinking, and they are tolerant of difference, especially differences in gender and sexual orientation.

They respond negatively to those who disparage other religious traditions and who make exclusivist religious claims. They are insistently centrist in their political views on the Middle East. And they are suspicious of a Jewish establishment that they see as too focused on money and insufficiently focused on values.

And so whom do we offer to these young people as a spokesman for Israel? John Hagee, who is contemptuous of Muslims, dismissive of gays, possesses a triumphalist theology and opposes a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. If our intention was to distance our young adults from the Jewish state, we could not have made a better choice.

I am glad that American Jewish leaders are waking up to the danger of trusting people who fundamentally believe that Jews are damned to Hell if they don't convert.

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