After Sparring, Hagee and Yoffie May Meet

Ron Kampeas
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

WASHINGTON

Now that they've called each other disrespectful, Rabbi Eric Yoffie and the Rev. John Hagee are ready to meet and discuss their differences -- respectfully.

The two religious leaders have been squaring off recently. Yoffie, in a major speech April 2, called on Jews to dissociate themselves from Hagee and the organization he founded, Christians United for Israel, asserting that the pastor did not respect other faiths or the right of Israeli leaders to make territorial concessions.

Five days later, Hagee, a San Antonio-based evangelical mega-church leader and arguably the country's most influential Christian Zionist, fired back in a conference call with reporters.

"Rabbi Yoffie's speech demonstrates not only a lack of respect for me, but a troubling lack of respect for the truth," he said April 7.

Hours after Hagee's media call, however, both men were sounding a more conciliatory note.

"I was told he was interested in meeting with me," said Yoffie, president of the Union of Reform Judaism. "I'd be delighted to sit down and talk to him."

Hagee's spokesman, Juda Engelmayer, confirmed that the pastor was considering a meeting.

Yoffie's initial speech and the potential for a rapprochement come as Hagee is working to repel a tidal wave of negative publicity unleashed by his endorsement last month of U.S. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Critics have called on McCain to distance himself from the endorsement, accusing Hagee of religious intolerance.

The controversy threatens to weaken Hagee, one of Israel's most influential Christian supporters, while also supplying a boost to liberals, who oppose the increasing willingness of Jewish organizations to work with him and other right-wing evangelicals on Middle East-related issues.

"Jews should not enter into alliances of any kind with those who do not speak respectfully of other faith communities," Yoffie told the approximately 300 Reform rabbis who had gathered in Cincinnati last month for their annual convention. "And sadly, tragically, Christian Zionist leaders have engaged in repeated attacks, expressed sometimes in shocking and unacceptable language, directed against other religious traditions. This is not a matter of highlighting differences in belief, but of making use of overheated rhetoric that spews hatred and vitriol toward the Muslim and Catholic faiths."

The anti-Catholic charge especially irked Hagee, who delivered prepared remarks during the conference call. Hagee denied reports that he had referred to the Catholic Church as "a great whore," a "false cult system" and an "apostate church." When using such terms, Hagee added, he had been referring to all Christian anti-Semites, whatever their denomination.

Stop Attending 'Nights'
A powwow with Hagee would hardly be the first time Yoffie, a staunch liberal and Zionist, met with an ideological foe. He delivered a major address last year at the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America, and in 2006 gave a speech at Liberty University and met with its founder, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, a top Christian conservative.

Yoffie's boldest step last week was his call for Jews to stop attending the "Nights to Honor Israel" that have been Hagee's key triumph. Christians United for Israel, the pro-Israel organization that Hagee founded, says the nights have raised tens of millions of dollars since he launched them 25 years ago at his church.

Since its founding two years ago, CUFI has held 75 such events across the country, often working with local Jewish groups. Jews who attend the events report being bathed in goodwill.

On the national level, Hagee has strong ties with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He delivered a keynote address last year at the pro-Israel lobby's annual policy conference, and CUFI leaders consulted with AIPAC officials in structuring the Christian Zionist organization's lobbying blitzes.