Pastor Deloris Keels, second from left, participated in CUFI’s Night to Honor Israel, accompanied by her daughter, Marcy McFadden, and her three children, from left, Aaron, Sarai, and Andrew.
Photo by Elaine Durbach
September 25, 2008
Singing Hebrew songs and booing Iran, a boisterous crowd of 500 people gathered in Cranford for a solidarity event sponsored by Christians United For Israel.
The Sept. 21 rally at the Harvest Training Center raised $12,600 for an Israeli charitable organization in Efrat.
The Night to Honor Israel rally also featured appeals for attendees to take part in the next day’s rally at the United Nations to protest the Iranian president’s appearance before the General Assembly.
An estimated 100 of those in attendance were Jewish — including guest of honor Asaf Shariv, the consul general of Israel in New York, and Rabbi Dr. Gerald Meister, formerly the adviser to the Israeli government on relations with Christians.
A similar event last year drew about twice as many people, but far fewer Jews.
The evening featured video greetings from CUFI’s founder, Pastor John Hagee, a Texas-based minister and televangelist who has been honored by a number of Jewish groups for his support and fund-raising for Israel. The pastor was the subject of scrutiny earlier this year when, following criticism that he had been insensitive to Catholics, Muslims, and others, Republican presidential candidate John McCain rejected his endorsement.
Hagee earned only loud applause in Cranford, however, when he called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “the new Hitler” and said the Iranian president “has a nuclear holocaust planned for Israel.” In a line that would be reiterated all evening, Hagee declared: “Not on our watch!”
Pastor Walt Healy, NJ director of CUFI, carried that tone forward with a ringing declaration of support for Israel and the Jewish people, and an equally ringing denouncement of “radical Islamo-fascism,” which, he warned, targets Christians as well as Jews.
“I’m not talking about all Arabs, or all Muslims,” he said. But he castigated those who he said avoid acknowledging the threat from those Muslims who carry an extremist ideology.
“Being nice will get us killed, and being politically correct will do it even faster,” Healy said.
Shariv thanked the rally-goers on behalf of the Israeli government.
“We want to express our profound gratitude to you,” he said. “We are lucky and privileged that we have you for our friends.”
Israel had had a relatively peaceful year, said Shariv, with a record number of tourists, “most of them Christians.”
But 2009, he said, promised to be a crucial year, with the mounting danger of attacks by Hizbullah and Hamas, and their “biggest problem, President Ahmadinejad.”
He wished the crowd hag sameach, telling them the upcoming High Holy Days are their New Year, too. There was a gale of applause.
The Rev. Robert Stearns, Northeast CUFI director, said that CUFI reflects bonds of friendship forged by the biblical imperative to revere the Jews, and by the growing threats to Israel’s survival. “We have our work cut out for us,” he said. “We are living in momentous times, and this is not the time for neutrality.”
Asked why fewer attendees had come than last year, participants and organizers said they thought it was because people were caught up in the economic crisis and the dramas of the political season.
A collection taken up during the program took in $12,600. Of that, 10 percent is to go to CUFI to cover its operational expenses; the rest will be given to The Loving Kindness Fund, the Israeli philanthropy run by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the American-born chief rabbi of Efrat.
Riskin was to have spoken, but soon after arriving in the United States, he got news that his mother-in-law was ill (she later passed away), and he flew back to Israel. Prayers for her well-being were offered throughout the evening.
Pastor Deloris Keels of Plainfield, who heads the Baptist Church at Shalom in Newark, brought her daughter, Marcy McFadden, and McFadden’s three children, who are home-schooled.
McFadden’s eldest, 13-year-old Aaron, had wanted to stay home to watch the last game at Yankee Stadium, but she insisted that he come, and he said he was glad he did.
“It was really good to see how strongly people support Israel in these tough times,” Aaron said.
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