In Defense of Israel is Pastor John Hagee’s ultimate position paper on Christian support for the state of Israel. Part personal memoir, part political treatise, and part biblical dissertation, this timely and readable book explains the basis of a growing alliance between evangelical and Jewish groups in the United States.

The author recounts his lifelong love for Israel, beginning with childhood memories of the day in 1948 when Israel became a nation, and his first trip to Israel exactly thirty years later. “I went as a tourist,” he says, “and came home as a Zionist.” In 1981, when the Israeli air force made a pre-emptive strike and destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor, the American media vilified Israel—and John Hagee could remain silent no longer. Within a matter of weeks the Texas pastor had organized the first Night to Honor Israel and made a close friend, Rabbi Arnold Scheinberg.

More than twenty-five years later, these events are still bringing Jews and Christians together, and have resulted in millions of dollars being raised for Jewish charities. In Defense of Israel shares the author’s personal perspective as well as the spiritual and political lessons he has learned over the years. Pastor Hagee outlines how centuries of persecution against the Jewish people, perpetuated in the name of Christ, led to a profound and mutual distrust.

The book reviews the various people groups of the Middle East – Jews, Arabs, Persians, Palestinians, and other ethnic groups – as well as the monotheistic religions of the Middle East – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. A brief history of key events in 1979, the Iranian revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, introduces a description of radical Islamic movements and today’s terrorist organizations.

Pastor Hagee explains Christianity’s debt to the Jewish people, and he answers both Christian and secular critics who oppose the alliance between evangelicals and the Jewish community.