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WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) yesterday delivered the following remarks to the Christians United for Israel Conference:
"Thank you for that kind introduction and that warm welcome. May I in turn greet you with the ancient words of welcome offered to pilgrims in Jerusalem - "Bruchim Habaim B'Shem Hashem" - blessed be those who come in the name of the Lord.
That greeting is especially fitting for you because you have come to Washington not just as men or women, Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals. You are here as Christians United for Israel. You represent a powerful force of people of faith in America who have pledged to never forget thee, O Jerusalem.
And I know, as a Christian friend likes to remind me, that there are a lot more Christian Zionists in America than Jewish Zionists. And, I know the support of Christian Zionists today is critical to Israel's security and strength, and to America's security and strength.
So I am honored by your invitation to speak tonight, to thank you for what you are doing, to exhort you to continue to do more -- which is God's work, and to pray with you that you are successful.
I begin by thanking your founder, Pastor John Hagee. I would describe Pastor Hagee with the words the Torah uses to describe Moses, he is an "Eesh Elo Kim," a man of God because those words fit him; and, like Moses he has become the leader of a mighty multitude in pursuit of and defense of Israel.
You know his story - almost sixty years ago, a young John Hagee sat at his family's kitchen table in Channelview, Texas, heard the news about Israel's Declaration of Independence, and saw how moved his family was by it. Since then, he has been devoted to the defense of Israel, and to its vitality. He has done so because Israel's fight is his fight. Israel's values are his values. And Israel's hopes and dreams are his hopes and dreams.
Pastor Hagee, I pray that God will bless you with all that you pray for, and I do so with great confidence because I know what the Lord said to Abraham in Genesis 12:3. If ever there was a man who will be blessed because he has blessed Israel, Pastor Hagee, it is you.
And the same is true of all of you here tonight. You are a family of Americans who deeply believe that our nation and the nation of Israel share common origins, values, and bonds. You are a family of Americans who understand that today the same fanatics that shout death to America, also shout death to Israel. And you are a family that will not bend with the political winds because your support is rooted in your faith, which is steadfast, unwavering, and eternal.
You reject the temptation of moral relativism. You understand that there is a difference between good and evil, between eternal and temporal, between Israel and other nations.
Your values are rooted in the same history, ideals, and dreams that bind together Israel and America, and that form the foundation of these two great nations - both "faith-based initiatives."
In a literal sense, Christians United for Israel was founded a little more than a year ago, in February 2006. But in a larger sense, it began more than 4,000 years ago with the first words God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 12:1: "Now get thee unto the land that I will show thee, and I will make thee a great nation."
That was the covenantal promise God repeated to Isaac and Jacob and then to Moses, who, with God's help, delivered the children of Israel out of bondage to Mount Sinai where they received the Ten Commandments - their statement of national values and purpose - and then, 40 years later, brought them to the land that was promised to them, to the land of Israel.
There, more than 3,000 years ago, King David entered Jerusalem and declared it to be the capital of Israel. He brought the Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments to the City where his son, Solomon, built the Holy Temple to house them and to honor God's creation and God's law. Thus, in one place was established both the political capital of a people and the religious center of that people's faith.
Almost 2,600 years ago, on a dark day in history, the Temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The Jewish people went into a brief exile, returning 48 years later to rebuild it. It was during that time that Jesus of Nazareth preached, taught, and healed in Israel. But the Temple was to be destroyed once more, a little more than 1,930 years ago, by Titus. And again, most - though not all - Jews were forced to flee Jerusalem and Israel.
For nearly 1,900 years, Jews in the Diaspora prayed every day that they be allowed to rejoin their brothers and sisters who had remained in the Promised Land and to reestablish a Jewish nation there. And countless Christians prayed those same prayers, particularly here in America.
That collective yearning gave rise to a new political movement at the end of the 19th century - the modern Zionist movement. It was led by Theodor Herzl and a small band of allies - Christian and Jewish - throughout the world, who recognized the threat from the pervasive anti-Semitism that infected Europe and began the work to reestablish a Jewish homeland in Israel.
Many people said the Zionists were naïve dreamers, but as Herzl responded, "If you will it, it is no dream." And will it they did. And work for it they did. In 1948, their dream was realized with the birth of the modern State of Israel.
This is the long odyssey that has brought us here tonight. By standing with Israel today, each of you has joined that journey and taken up the torch that was lit in God's promise to Abraham 4,000 years ago, and carrying it forward to spread that light.
I believe that Israel's rebirth in 1948 was divinely inspired by God, but I know that it was realized by the men and women here on earth who worked so hard to make it happen. Israel will be sustained by the work of men and women like you here on Earth. And I know you know how truly American is your support of Israel.
Long before the miracle of 1948, the Nation of Israel was kept alive in the hopes and prayers and hard work of Christian Americans. In fact, from the very earliest days of our own nation's history, there has been an inseparable link between the promise of America and the promise of Zion.
When William Bradford stepped off of the Mayflower onto Plymouth Rock in 1620, his first words were from Jeremiah, "Come let us declare in Zion the word of God." The first American missionaries to the Middle East sailed from Boston in the fall of 1819 with the goal of restoring Palestine to Jewish sovereignty. These brave Christian Zionists and their followers were not peripheral figures on the fringes of American history. They were mainstream Christian Americans.
In the first half of the 19th century, the proposition that the United States should actively assist the Jews in returning to Palestine was widely held.
As you know, many of our nation's founding fathers were Christian Zionists. The president of the Continental Congress, Elias Boudinot, predicted that "the mighty power of God" would return the Jews "to their beloved land of Palestine."
John Adams wrote in 1819, "I really wish to see the Jews again in Judea an independent nation."
And in 1844, a distinguished Christian professor of Hebrew at New York University became a national leader in the ingathering of Zionists. Jewish statehood, he wrote, would benefit all of mankind, forming a "link of communication" between humanity and God.
That distinguished professor, as you may know, happened to share a name with one of his distinguished descendants, who also happens to be a great Christian Zionist today. The name: George Bush. And, when the modern state of Israel declared its independence on May 15, 1948, it was officially recognized eleven minutes later by another great Christian Zionist, President Harry S. Truman for the United States of America.
These bonds for that purpose explain why America and Israel have stood together and will continue to stand together. Americans and Israelis are the children of freedom, freedom based on our shared faith in God, as our Declaration of Independence makes clear. We share democratic ideals, a culture of economic opportunity, and our political pluralism. These are the values we cherish—the principles that define not just who we are but who we hope to be. They are also, unfortunately, the values that are under attack today.
Israel and the United States now confront a common enemy in the forces of radical Islam. For many years, Israelis have been on the front lines as targets of this extremist and perverse theology that will brazenly and unapologetically attack innocent humans, children of God.
We say we are in a war against terrorism, but terrorism is only our enemies' methods, not their end. Radical Islam is—a totalitarian theology every bit as hateful, violent and expansionist as the fascism and communism we fought and defeated in the last century. And we must unite again as we did then - as Americans, regardless of party, faith, race, or nationality to defeat the evil that seeks to kill us and our families and destroy the civilized ideals that we cherish.
You have come to Washington at a critical time for the future of our country. The war in Iraq is the defining issue for this Congress—but the decisions we will make in the days, weeks, and months ahead about Iraq will have consequences that reach far beyond the terms of anyone now in office.
It is my deeply held conviction those who crave for a hasty retreat from Iraq are not only wrong, they are dangerously wrong—for the withdrawal they demand would be a moral and security catastrophe for the United States, for Iraq, and for the entire Middle East, including Israel.
Let there be no doubt—an American defeat in Iraq would be a victory for Al Qaeda and Iran... the two most threatening enemies America and Israel face in the world today
The fact of the matter is, you cannot claim to be tough on terrorism while demanding that our military withdraw from Iraq, because it is the terrorists—Al Qaeda—that our military is fighting in Iraq.
You cannot claim to be committed to defeating Al Qaeda, while demanding that we abandon the heart of the Middle East to Al Qaeda. And you cannot claim to be tough on Iran, while demanding the very thing that the mullahs in Teheran want most of all and why they are engaged in the cold blooded murder through proxies of our troops in Iraq—the retreat of the American military from the Middle East in defeat, leaving a vacuum that Iran will rush to fill, and asserting its dominance over the entire region.
My friends, as President Reagan once said, now is the time for choosing.
If we stand united through the months ahead, if we stand firm against the terrorists who want to drive us to retreat, the war in Iraq can be won and the lives of millions of people can be saved. But if we surrender to the barbarism of suicide bombers and yield the Middle East to fanatics and killers, to Al Qaeda and Iran, then all that our men and women in uniform have fought, and died for, will be lost, we will be left a much less secure and free nation, and our Middle East allies - including Israel - will be endangered.
Fortunately, you here tonight know that evil will not prevail if good people act. And I know you will not allow Iran and Al Qaeda to triumph over America and Israel.
I also know that you are familiar with the Book of Esther. I am particularly fond of this story because its heroine is Esther, which in Hebrew is Hadassah. And Hadassah is the name of my beloved, my wife - so it is special to me.
The Book of Esther tells us about the cruel Persian leader who sought to exterminate the Jews. But, a Jewish woman named Queen Esther bravely stepped forward and convinced the king to save her people.
Remember, when she first expressed her reluctance to advocate the cause of her people before the King, her uncle Mordechai said to her, "Think not with thy self that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then will relief arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether have not been brought to the king's house for such a time as this?"
Dear friends, brothers and sisters in faith, you have heard Mordechai's call "for such a time as this." You are in this time like Joshua and Caleb in their time.
Let me explain how I mean that you are like Joshua and Caleb, which grows out of this day in the Jewish religious calendar. This is the first day of the Hebrew month of Av. The celebration of the new month is usually festive, but this day begins a somber day period of reflection and ever mourning concluding in the fast day of Tisha B'av, the ninth day of Av, corresponding this year to July 24, which is the day on which the first and second Temples were destroyed.
Jewish tradition teaches that another event occurred on the ninth day of Av that speaks to us today and instructs us how to avoid the destruction that occurred on Av ninth, and that the story told in chapter 13 of the Book of Numbers where Moses selects out leaders of the Israelites—"men of distinction"—to explore The Promised Land and report back, and all of them but Joshua, son of Nun and Caleb, son of Yephunneh, bring back a report that is cowardly because it lacks faith.
After they acknowledged that the land they had seen was indeed "flowing with milk and honey," they described the land was populated by giants. As they were quoted in Numbers 13:33, "We appeared as grasshoppers to them, and that is how we appeared to ourselves."
But Joshua and Caleb disagreed, "We can surely ascend and conquer the land, we can surely do it," because they trusted in the promise God had made to Israel. Of that group, only Joshua and Caleb made it to the Promised Land of Israel.
Dear friends, you Christians United for Israel clearly follow in the footsteps of Joshua and Caleb. Your faith is strong, and so is your confidence. And so great will be your effect.
I thank you and pray that God will bless you and all that you do."
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