The top of a full-page ad by Christians United for Israel as it ran in Thursday's New York Times. Photo: CUFI / Screenshot.

CUFI, Christians United for Israel, the largest pro-Israel advocacy group in the U.S., with 1.8 million members, launched a national ad blitz on Thursday to send a message to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that rather than let-up, Israel should be encouraged to destroy Hamas’s military capabilities.

The group said its “national, multi-platform advertising campaign” was designed “to educate Americans about the true nature of Hamas.”

CUFI is asking its members and Americans who respond to its ad campaign to email Secretary of State John Kerry, informing him in part, “Now is not the time to ease the legal and justified blockade of Gaza. Now is the time to destroy Hamas’s terror tunnels, remove Hamas’s missile stockpiles, and demilitarize Gaza.”

CUFI said the campaign seeks to accomplish two goals: “The first is to eliminate the moral confusion in the American media when it comes to the true nature and goals of Hamas,” it said.  “The second goal is to remind Secretary of State Kerry of the true nature and goals of Hamas.”

The group produced a full-page ad that begins, “Israel’s enemies our are enemies; Israel’s fight is our fight; We stand with Israel!”

The ads ran in Thursday’s print editions of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. On Friday, full page ads will run in USA Today, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Denver Post, the Chicago Sun Times, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

CUFI is also running ads online on major news and Christian websites including Fox News, the Christian Post, and Beliefnet, and launched an email campaign to mobilize its 1.8 million members in a letter writing drive aimed at Kerry.

In a statement, Pastor John Hagee, CUFI founder and chairman, said,  “Nearly 5,000 Christians were just in Washington to tell our elected officials that Israel has a right to defend herself, yet the Obama Administration seems to have missed the memo. The President and Sec. Kerry need to remember that American support for Israel isn’t tepid or lukewarm, it’s unwavering – especially in times of crisis.”

David Brog, CUFI executive director, said,  “When we Americans fought Al Qaeda, we understood the moral distinctions between terrorists and a democracy seeking to defend itself from them.”

“This moral clarity should not blur at ocean’s edge,” Brog said. “Israel is a democracy defending itself – and us – from the Palestinian equivalent of Al Qaeda, Hamas. We must stand unequivocally with Israel.”