“Either the Islamic Republic will dismantle its nuclear program voluntarily, or the free world will do it for them,” said Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel.
By Etgar Lefkovits, JNS
The Iranian government has exploited weak U.S. policies to strengthen its influence and enable attacks like the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre, a prominent American evangelical leader said Monday.
Speaking at the JNS Policy Summit in Jerusalem, Pastor John Hagee, founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel, criticized multiple American administrations for what he described as years of appeasement toward Tehran.
“America’s capitulation to Iran a decade ago broke our promise to never again abandon the Jewish people,” Hagee said. “As a result, the Iranian government has played multiple American administrations like a fiddle.”
Hagee said U.S. policies had “at least in part” enabled the Oct. 7 attack, the deadliest assault on Jews since the Holocaust. “We must remember: in war, there is no substitute for victory,” he said.
The remarks come as the United States holds talks with Iran over its advancing nuclear program. Hagee praised Trump for withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal brokered by President Barack Obama, but avoided directly criticizing current negotiations.
“Gone are the days when pallets of cash will resolve our problems with Iran,” Hagee said to loud applause. “Either the Islamic Republic will dismantle its nuclear program voluntarily, or the free world will do it for them.”
Addressing divisions within the Republican Party, Hagee warned against isolationism.
“As enemies of Israel and America integrate, America must never isolate,” he said, repeating the line twice for emphasis.
Fresh off a visit to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland as part of the March of the Living, Hagee said his faith in prayer was matched by a call to action.
“I wept and prayed not only for the past, but also for our failures here and now,” said Hagee, 85. “But we do not just pray. We do not just speak. We take action.”
Hagee denounced antisemitism among “false Christians” and compared modern outbreaks of hatred to the violence of the Crusades. He also criticized continued international support for a two-state solution following the Oct. 7 attack.
“Hamas killed the two-state solution on Oct. 7,” he said. “The world can no more allow Palestinian terrorists to retake Gaza than it would have allowed the Nazis to retake Germany after the Holocaust.”
Hagee said his views were grounded in his faith.
“The Bible has a one-state solution: Israel today, Israel tomorrow and Israel forever,” he said.