Monday, July 13, 2015
From: Gary L. Bauer
“Get Ready For Pro-Israel NRA”
Christians United for Israel, the largest pro-Israel organization in America with more than two million members, is holding its 10th annual Washington Summit right now in our nation’s capital. Six thousand pro-Israel activists are in Washington, D.C., for this jam-packed event.
They are hearing from the leading presidential contenders, receiving briefings on the Middle East and will be meeting with their congressional representatives. Tonight will feature a special celebration entitled a “Night To Honor Israel,” featuring speeches by Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer, Pastor Charles Stanley and Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel.
Once again, the timing of this CUFI Summit proved to be prophetic as news broke over the weekend that a nuclear deal with Iran is imminent. (More on that below.)
In addition, Christians United for Israel is making a major announcement regarding the launch of a new Washington, D.C. arm — CUFI Action Fund. Pastor John Hagee asked me to lead CUFI Action Fund and I enthusiastically accepted! The response to CUFI Action Fund has been incredible.
Below is a brief excerpt of a report in yesterday’s Washington Post about CUFI Action Fund entitled, “Get Ready For The Pro-Israel NRA.”
“The largest pro-Israel organization, with a membership of more than 2 million passionate voters, Christians United for Israel, will be forming a lobbying and political entity (a 501(c)(4) group, in IRS parlance), CUFI Action Fund, that aims to do for Israel what the NRA does for Second Amendment rights. It will announce the move to more than 5,000 members who have gathered in Washington for its annual national conference.
“The operation will be headed by evangelical heavyweight and longtime pro-Israel advocate Gary Bauer. ‘Gary Bauer is someone that has the respect and confidence of the evangelical community,’ CUFI founder Pastor John Hagee tells me in an exclusive interview. Bauer says he will have a multimillion-dollar budget and a staff of a dozen to lobby Congress, run independent ads, support pro-Israel candidates and target those who do not put support for the Jewish state at the top of their priority list.
“For Bauer, CUFI Action Fund is needed more than ever. ‘It is needed because the West is under severe attack,’ Bauer tells me. ‘Israel is an outpost of [Western] civilization in one of the most dangerous and hostile parts of the world.’ He continues, ‘Because Israel and the U.S. are attached at the hip and the heart,’ Bauer argues, the fate of Israel and the U.S. and the necessity to defeat Islamic radicalism are essential, lest we ‘sink into another Dark Ages.'”
Read the rest of the column here.
CUFI Action Fund’s immediate priority will be to oppose any deal that enables the Islamic Republic of Iran to become a threshold nuclear power. But it will also focus on combatting religious persecution throughout the Middle East.
As this new project goes forward, I would deeply appreciate your prayers and support.
Deal Or No Deal?
After days of tense negotiations and missed deadlines, there was tremendous speculation yesterday that the world’s major powers were on the verge of a breakthrough regarding Iran’s nuclear program. A deal was thought to be imminent and may yet still happen.
Earlier today, Iran’s president tweeted a message announcing a deal and applauding its conclusion. But the message was quickly deleted. As of this writing, the latest reports seem to be walking back some of yesterday’s “irrational exuberance.”
According to CNN, “a final sticking point” continues to be Iran’s demand that the U.N. arms embargo and sanctions on its ballistic missile program be immediately lifted as well.
That demand should be a non-starter. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told members of Congress last week, “Under no circumstances should we relieve pressure on Iran relative to ballistic missile capabilities and arms trafficking.”
Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has already conceded too much, so it is doubtful that anyone at the White House is paying much attention to General Dempsey’s warning.
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon reacted to the latest news by predicting that Western nations would agree to “a bad deal,” forcing Israel to “defend itself, by itself.”
Speaking to the Israeli cabinet yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said:
“The ruler of Iran, Khameini, is quoted as saying that Iran needs to plan to fight the U.S. regardless of whether there is an agreement. The President of Iran, Rohani, stands at the head of the march of hatred in the streets of Tehran, in which U.S. and Israeli flags were burned, and in which many chanted ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel.’
“All of this is happening as the parade of concessions to Iran continues in Vienna, concessions even on issues that had been marked as red lines in the Lausanne package, which is a bad deal in its own right. It paves Iran’s way to many nuclear bombs and gives it hundreds of billions of dollars for its terrorism and conquest machine, thereby endangering the peace of the entire world.
“Iran does not hide its intention to continue its murderous aggression even against those with whom it is negotiating. Perhaps there is someone among the great powers who is prepared to capitulate to this reality that Iran is dictating, which includes its unending calls for the destruction of Israel — we will not pay the price for this.”
Meanwhile, members of Congress are preparing for a fight. Speaker John Boehner said yesterday that no deal was better than the bad deal Obama is negotiating. Asked on CBS’s “Face the Nation” what would happen if the talks failed, Boehner said, “That’s a lot better than legitimizing this rogue regime. If, in fact, there’s a deal, that’s what’ll happen.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted that a nuclear deal with Iran would be “a very hard sell.”
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) said that many Democrats “are very worried about the path the president has taken” and suggested that there could be an “open congressional rebellion” against Obama’s concessions to Iran. I hope Senator Cotton is right.
Stay tuned. We will keep you posted.
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