GREENVILLE, N.C. \u2014 The father and son pastors, Danny and Stephen Hoell, had just returned from Israel, and it was time for the congregants gathered before them to hear what American Christians can \u2014 what they must \u2014 do to support the Jewish state in this time of peril.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just can\u2019t be a Christian and watch the nation of Israel go through what they\u2019re going through, and sit back and do absolutely nothing,\u201d said Stephen Hoell, who in late-March was visiting his father\u2019s church, New Life Pentecostal, here in Greenville.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d a few people called out from the pews. \u201cAmen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now in its seventh month of war in Gaza, Israel is facing an onslaught of criticism for the brutality of its campaign. Polls show most Americans believe Israel has a right to defend itself after Hamas\u2019s devastating cross-border attack Oct. 7. But a growing number also think its conduct \u2014 killing tens of thousands of women and children over six months \u2014 has become unacceptable, with President Biden, congressional Democrats and even the anticipated Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, all voicing frustration.<\/p>\n
To the Hoells, however, and to Christians United For Israel (CUFI) \u2014 the country\u2019s largest Christian Zionist organization, which had deputized Stephen to deliver the evening\u2019s presentation \u2014 no amount of criticism could dampen their devotion. They see it as incumbent on Christ\u2019s followers to ensure Washington\u2019s commitment to Israel doesn\u2019t waver either \u2014 not in the face of liberal opposition nor because of political conservatives who have veered toward isolationism in matters of foreign policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to hold every single one of our elected officials accountable to make sure that if there is only one nation that\u2019s going to stand with the nation of Israel, it had better be the United States of America,\u201d he told the congregants.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) this month is expected to take up the issue of supplemental spending for Israel, Ukraine and other national security priorities contained in a Senate-approved package that has stalled for months amid Republican opposition to funding the war in Ukraine, and Democrats\u2019 resistance to approving aid piecemeal.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of pastors and Christian community leaders linked to CUFI are planning an \u201cemergency fly-in\u201d to Washington to lobby Johnson (R-La.), according to a person familiar with the organization\u2019s planning, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid.<\/p>\n
CUFI has not taken a public stance on Ukraine aid, but says it has raised millions of dollars to help Jewish Ukrainians seek refuge in Israel. The organization\u2019s leaders, who declined to comment for this article, have also conveyed to lawmakers that a package including both Ukraine and Israel aid is most likely to receive the bipartisan support it needs to pass, this person added.<\/p>\n
Some 88 percent of White Evangelicals lean or identify as Republican, according to the Pew Research Center. But as CUFI sees it, one of the main obstacles facing the U.S.-Israel relationship on Capitol Hill lies within the Republican Party: the far-right House Freedom Caucus.<\/p>\n
While CUFI reserves much of its venom for President Biden and Democrats, whom it has accused of \u201cbetrayal,\u201d it has also taken aim at the Freedom Caucus, whose members have opposed Israel aid \u2014 like other foreign aid \u2014 because they \u201chate common sense,\u201d the group\u2019s nonprofit arm claimed in a recent update shared with subscribers and policymakers. In a separate update late last month, it charged Johnson with allowing the House to be \u201cheld hostage by fringe isolationist members of his own caucus,\u201d an apparent reference to the 14 Republicans, including Freedom Caucus leaders, who earlier this year broke ranks to sink a stand-alone aid package for Israel.<\/p>\n
Johnson, himself a churchgoing Evangelical, has said his \u201cworldview\u201d can be found in the \u201cBible off your shelf.\u201d He has, however, resisted bringing a Senate-approved national security spending package to a vote amid fierce opposition from other conservatives determined to rein in U.S. debt.<\/p>\n
Trump, whose closest allies in Congress belong to the Freedom Caucus, has said Israel needs to get the Gaza war \u201cover with, and get it over with fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freedom Caucus chair, Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), told The Washington Post he considers Israel \u201cone of our most important allies on the world stage,\u201d and called for Congress to continue to stand with the Jewish state \u201cas it defends itself against this evil.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever at a time when we are adding a trillion dollars to our debt every 100 days, the era of borrowing for emergency spending must end,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should support Israel responsibly\u201d and pay for it \u201cby cutting other unjustified, wasteful spending.\u201d<\/p>\n
CUFI\u2019s founder, the Texas-based pastor John Hagee, has said that Israel\u2019s creation in 1948 is a sign of Jesus\u2019 imminent return to Earth. Hagee has preached that modern Israel is the manifestation of God\u2019s will \u2014 which cannot be challenged. Among CUFI\u2019s core beliefs is the expectation that when Jesus returns, the battle of Armageddon will ensue, after which, Jesus will rule over a Christian world from Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
\u201cCUFI does not stand with the nation of Israel because it\u2019s a political issue. We stand with the nation of Israel because it is a biblical issue,\u201d Stephen Hoell told the congregants at New Life Pentecostal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are on the brink of the coming of the rapture,\u201d his father added at the end of the presentation.<\/p>\n
The Post was permitted to attend the event at New Life, a modest church on the rural outskirts of Greenville. But the Hoells declined to be interviewed.<\/p>\n
Of the more than 200 events CUFI says it has sponsored since Oct. 7, most have occurred in places like this one: small- to medium-sized communities situated in solidly red \u2014 or at least purple \u2014 parts of the country.<\/p>\n
The strategy seeks to amplify voices in support of Israel, targeting lawmakers deemed by CUFI to be most at risk of letting additional aid become a casualty of the far-right\u2019s push for a more America First-minded foreign policy, the person familiar with the group\u2019s plans said.<\/p>\n
CUFI, this person added, has been in communication with Johnson\u2019s office \u201cconsistently\u201d and remains confident he will \u201censure Israel has what it needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s office did not respond to questions about CUFI and other Evangelical groups\u2019 outreach on the matter.<\/p>\n
America\u2019s pro-Israel policy has always enjoyed broad bipartisan backing, but the Gaza war has caused unprecedented strain. The Biden administration has warned of a policy shift, and some Democrats have called to slash aid, if Israel doesn\u2019t do more to limit the staggering civilian death toll and halt an emerging famine. An important contingent of Black Evangelicals also has called for ending Israel aid, accusing it of committing a \u201cmass genocide\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Such developments make any ambiguity in the Republican ranks \u2014 where most have continued to rally around Israel \u2014 all the more worrisome to Christian Zionists.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think more and more individuals are concerned about isolationism, and that kind of isolationist thought appearing on Capitol Hill,\u201d said Brent Leatherwood, who heads the advocacy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States and a reliably GOP voting bloc. \u201cI think most Southern Baptists, most Evangelicals, we understand that when America steps back from the world stage, that creates a vacuum, and far too often the vacuum is filled by evil forces,\u201d said Leatherwood, who is not affiliated with CUFI.<\/p>\n
Many Christians look at their lawmakers\u2019 failure to pass supplemental assistance for Israel, Ukraine and other issues as a reflection of \u201cCongress being largely ineffective right now, and being unable to agree on some very basic things,\u201d Leatherwood said. \u201cI think your average Christian is bewildered by the lack of action.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the darkness outside New Life Pentecostal, an electronic billboard invited people in to \u201clearn why you should stand with Israel and what you can do to defend Israel.\u201d From the pulpit, Stephen Hoell said he was hoping to provide congregants with tools \u201cto be able to counter the lies\u201d he said were advanced by Israel\u2019s adversaries and the mainstream media.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hear that Israel is said to be an occupier of a land that they do not own \u2014 they\u2019re occupying the Palestinians\u2019 residence,\u201d Hoell said. \u201cWell, before I went to Israel \u2026 I wouldn\u2019t know what to say to that.\u201d Now he does, he added. \u201cLet me tell you that occupiers do not dig in the ground that they\u2019re said to occupy and find artifacts from their own people dating back 3,500 years!\u201d<\/p>\n
Evangelical groups like CUFI, while less prominent than the better funded Jewish lobbyist group AIPAC \u2014 consistently one of the highest contributors to political campaigns across both parties \u2014 nonetheless wield broad influence in Washington, said Anthea Butler, chair of the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s religious studies department.<\/p>\n
What CUFI and other Evangelical groups lobbying for Israel lack in campaign spending, relative to AIPAC, they make up for in grass-roots appeal, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a different kind of power. It\u2019s a soft power.\u201d CUFI helps get pastors and \u201cregular Evangelicals at home\u201d to see how important Israel is, Butler said, and those voices filter up to Washington.<\/p>\n
In 2023 alone, CUFI lobbied for a dozen pro-Israel bills in the House and Senate, according to the campaign finance database Open Secrets. The group claims numerous legislative and political victories, including Trump\u2019s 2017 decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem \u201cafter more than 135,000 CUFI members emailed the White House,\u201d the group\u2019s website says.<\/p>\n
In North Carolina, the two dozen people in Stephen Hoell\u2019s audience nodded and called out affirmatively as he spoke. But while the mostly retirement-age group were all devout Christians, they were still a long way from Capitol Hill, and Hoell seemed to anticipate their uncertainty about how they could impact national politics. \u201cYou\u2019re sitting here thinking: \u2018We\u2019re from the country. What in the world can I do?\u2019\u201d Hoell said to the congregants.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have a chance to be a watchman on the wall,\u201d he said. \u201cWe at Christians United for Israel, we line up with God\u2019s mandate. We declare that for Zion\u2019s sake, we will not keep silent.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
GREENVILLE, N.C. \u2014 The father and son pastors, Danny and Stephen Hoell, had just returned from Israel, and it was time for the congregants gathered before them to hear what American Christians can \u2014 what they must \u2014 do to support the Jewish state in this time of peril. \u201cYou just can\u2019t be a Christian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}