Instagram / pastorjohnhagee
San Antonio megachurch preacher John Hagee has drawn criticism for his inflammatory rhetoric.
The pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Hagee has a history of inflammatory remarks, including a claim that Hitler was doing God's will by carrying out the Holocaust. The preacher is the founder of Christians United for Israel, one of the largest U.S.-based groups that lobbies on behalf of the Israeli government, and regularly hands down far-right political messages from the pulpit.
Hagee has proven a lighting rod for controversy, even among some in the Jewish community.
During a 1990s sermon, Hagee claimed that Hitler qualified as a divine agent because his extermination of European Jews prompted the creation of Israel. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, rejected Hagee’s endorsement after that comment surfaced.
“Then God sent a hunter. A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you,” Hagee said in the sermon. “Hitler was a hunter. … Why did it happen? Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel.”
Hagee has also claimed the anti-Christ will be partly Jewish, and in late 2021, Cornerstone made national headlines by hosting a rally of right-wing extremists during which former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn called for the United States to adopt "one religion."
Progressive Jewish groups involved in the Washington, D.C., rally blasted Hagee's involvement, telling news site Forward that organizers assured them Hagee wouldn't be given a platform to speak. As of Tuesday morning, Democratic politicians including Sen. Chuck Schumer and U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries were also scheduled to take part in the rally.
“His history of hateful comments should disqualify him from decent company, much less from speaking on stage,” Hadar Susskind, director of Americans for Peace Now, told Forward. “He is not welcome and should not speak.
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