George W. Bush will appear on November 14 at a fundraising event for the Messianic Jewish Bible Institute. The MJBI is a "Jews for Jesus" Group, whose goal is to train "people in the United States, Israel, and around the world to convince Jews to accept Jesus as the Messiah."
[Note -- This is from Mother Jones, not the Onion.]
the former president is helping out with more than just speech-making. The most expensive of the ticket packages, which range from $100 to $100,000, includes 20 invitations to a VIP reception and photo opportunity with Bush, 10 signed copies of Bush’s book Decision Points, and passes to tour the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.
Bush is following in the footsteps of last year's MJBI honoree, one Glenn Beck, who received the group's "Defender of Israel" award.
At the event honoring Beck, "members of the MJBI’s board of directors explained the organization’s mission of converting Jews to an audience of hundreds who were seated on a professional football field, wearing formal clothes, and eating pork barbecue."
again -- not the Onion.
As Ed Kilgore noted "Sounds like quite the apocalyptic clambake (or should I say, pig picking)."
Unsurprisingly, Jewish leaders are not pleased:
Rabbi David Saperstein, the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said, "It's disappointing that he would give his stamp of approval to a group whose program is an express effort to convert Jews and not to accept the validity of the Jewish covenant."