Megachurch pastor who said 'God sent Hitler' plans to speak at 'March for Israel' rally

An apocalyptic Texas megachurch pastor will address the "March for Israel" rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Tuesday — despite his resurfaced past antisemitic remarks.

John Hagee, the pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, preaches an end-times gospel and founded the Christian Zionist organization Christians United for Israel, which has made deep inroads with Republican elected officials and Israeli officials.

But he has a long track record of controversial statements.

"Esau's descendants would produce a lineage that would attack and slaughter the Jews for centuries," Hagee wrote in his novel Jerusalem Countdown. "Esau's descendants included Haman, whose diabolical mind conceived the 'final solution' of the Old Testament -- the extermination of all Jews living in Persia.

"It was Esau's descendants who produced the half-breed Jews of history who have persecuted and murdered the Jews beyond human comprehension."

"Adolf Hitler was a distant descendant of Esau," he added.

Audio from one of his sermons in the 1990s seems to suggest that Hitler had been doing God's will through the Holocaust by helping Jews to reclaim Israel in accordance with biblical prophecy.

“God says in Jeremiah 16: ‘Behold, I will bring them the Jewish people again unto their land that I gave to their fathers," Hagee says in that audio recording. "'Behold, I will send for many fishers, and after will I send for many hunters, and they the hunters shall hunt them.’ That would be the Jews. … Then God sent a hunter. A hunter is someone who comes with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter.”

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Hagee also has claimed that Hitler's antisemitism was a result of his Catholic background. His comments about Jews, Catholics and Muslims forced John McCain to distance himself from the pastor's presidential endorsement in 2008, but he has continued to enjoy influence within the Republican Party by hosting events for his Christians United for Israel organization.

His planned participation in the nationwide rally against antisemitism has sparked outrage among many.

"Contrary to what I was told, Pastor John Hagee will be speaking at today’s rally," said Hadar Suskind, president and CEO of Americans for Peace Now. "I am horrified that he was given this platform. His history of hateful comments should disqualify him from decent company, much less from speaking on stage. He is not welcome and should not speak."

"The liberal Zionist Jewish organizations participating in today's March for Israel in D.C. are outraged over John Hagee's presence," said Ben Samuels, U.S. correspondent for Ha'aretz. "The orgs are participating, aware they are at odds with US Jewish establishment on Israel. But the cracks are already showing."

"John Hagee speaking at the 'March for Israel'?!" said blogger and researcher Bruce Wilson. "This is horrific - and, I say that as the person who exposed John Hagee's 'God sent Hitler' sermon back in 2007. It forced then-presidential candidate John McCain to drop Hagee's political endorsement."

"An event with John Hagee, like an event with Marianne Le Pen, is by definition not an anti-antisemitism event," said Jacob Remes, a history professor at NYU Gallatin. "If you call such an event a march against antisemitism, you are either confused or lying."