Ted Cruz Gets Booed Off Stage At Middle East Christian Event

[Expat1 971]

Was I right again or what? Damn!

I think you nailed that one

[Expat1 971]

This was really cool to see in person:

Yeah it's really cool to see treatment of Christians in Israel on "60 Minutes" too. It's so bad how many different denominations signed off on the document calling for peaceful resistance to Israeli occupation?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnPc38P6WbA

Whats going to happen to the handouts and freebies if American Christians get word that Palestinian Christians AND Muslims actually stand together on this Oriz? Is it me or does it feel a bit....chilly in here?

Edited September 13, 2014 by Expat1

[Dan and Judy 614]

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/08/07/gaza-christian-leader-says-hamas-used-his-church-to-launch-missiles-at-israel/

had trouble posting the video

Edited September 13, 2014 by Dan and Judy

[OriZ 3,157]

Yeah it's really cool to see treatment of Christians in Israel on "60 Minutes" too. It's so bad how many different denominations signed off on the document calling for peaceful resistance to Israeli occupation?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnPc38P6WbA

Whats going to happen to the handouts and freebies if American Christians get word that Palestinian Christians AND Muslims actually stand together on this Oriz? Is it me or does it feel a bit....chilly in here?

You're delusional.

Israel’s enemies never miss an opportunity to libel or try and discredit it. While the Middle East rages in turmoil – Syria slaughters its own citizens in cold blood, Egypt is “democratically” taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran attempts to execute a Christian Pastor for the “crime” of converting from Islam – the world prefers instead to vilify the only democratic country in the Middle East.

The plight of Christians in the Middle East has become an increasing popular topic in the mainstream media in the past year. A 60 Minutes segment from last Sunday that covered the issue remarks on violence that Christians are suffering for all of two sentences and then proceeded to state: “The one place where Christians are not suffering from violence is the Holy Land: but Palestinian Christians have been leaving in large numbers for years.”

Whether their aim is to drive a wedge between Israel’s largest group of supporters – Evangelical Christians – or to simply criticize the Jewish State – they certainly failed in what should have been their most important concern, the truth.

The Washinton Free Beacon's coverage of the 60 Minutes piece, Christians in the Holy Land, included a response from the IAF's Director of Outreach:

Experts on the region noted that Palestinian Christians live in fear of their Muslim neighbors, who routinely intimidate them and sometimes carry out violent attacks. For this reason, it is incredibly dangerous to criticize the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, which control the areas they live in.

“As a persecuted minority, if [Christians] shift the blame to Israel, they take the heat off of themselves,” said Jordanna McMillan, director of outreach for the Israel Allies Foundation, a group that unites pro-Israel advocates across the religious spectrum. “‘60 Minutes’ doesn’t understand the intricacies of the issue.”

The narrative that Christians are fleeing Israel and the Territories under Palestinian Authority control because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is by no means the whole of the story. Christians, and specifically Evangelical Christians throughout the Middle East, are suffering daily persecution from the Muslim majority surrounding them, as they have been since the beginning of Islam. Christians are suffering under the Palestinian Authority despite what is being reported, but no persecuted minority in their right mind would jeopardize their well-being – or life – for the sake of a news report.

http://www.israelallies.org/usa/news_article/response_to_60_minutes_anti-israel_report_on_christians_in_the_holy_la1/

And there are no freebies. A lot of the money that goes to Israel returns to American companies. You wanna dispute that?

[OriZ 3,157]

On Sunday, April 22, CBS’ “60 Minutes” ran a shockingly biased episode, “Christians of the Holy Land” by Bob Simon. Even the always diplomatic Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren called the show a “hatchet job” on Israel. You can watch the program here: www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57417408/Christians-of-the-holy-land/?tag=strip.

Ambassador Oren was right. Simon only paid lip service to the violent persecution and flight of ancient Christian communities throughout the region, which is the real historical tragedy unfolding in the Middle East. Instead, incomprehensibly, he chose to bash Israel, the only Middle Eastern country that protects Christians. The program scapegoated and demonized Israel, distorting reality to blame Israel’s security measures—the fence and checkpoints— for the suffering of Palestinian Christians. Simon interviewed biased and sometimes anti-Semitic sources, treating them as legitimate. He asked leading questions. He dismissed the real reasons for the plight and flight of Palestinian Christians: persecution by Palestinian Islamists and the Palestinian Authority. His shoddy, irresponsible research produced propaganda, not journalism. This dangerous misinformation stokes anti-Israel prejudice and bigotry, shifting public attention away from the forces that are imperiling the survival of Christian communities in the Palestinian Authority and throughout the region.

Despite the program’s claims, Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Christians’ rights are fully protected and where the Christian population has grown instead of declined in the last 64 years.

· Israel’s Christian population grew from 34,000 in 1948 to 154,000 in 2012.

· Israel has fostered a positive environment for Christians, most evidenced by officialrecognition of 10 Christian denominations and by Israel’s distribution of free Christmas trees every year at Christmas time.

Christians have been emigrating from the Holy Land in a two-century-long trend, not because of Israel and the security policies—the barrier and checkpoints—it was forced to implement in just the last 10 years.

· Major emigration occurred in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In some cases, emigrant Christian Palestinian communities grew larger than their communities of origin in the Holy Land.

· During Jordanian control (1948-1967), Jerusalem’s Christian population dropped from 29,000 in 1944 to 11,000 in 1961. In Bethlehem, 75 percent of the population was Christian in 1947; in 1967, the percentage had dropped to 46 percent.

The program interviewed one businessman only to deny the real problem facing Christians: rising hostility and persecution by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestinian Islamist groups. Why didn’t the program mention any of the following?

· The PA declared Islam its official religion, committed to Sharia law, and does not offer civil protection to other religions. A few weeks ago, the PA declared that the First Baptist Church of Bethlehem is illegitimate.

· Christians in the West Bank have been victims of repeated persecution, violence, and rape. In 2005, Palestinian Christians, including Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, custodian of the Holy Land, documented 93 incidents of abuse and violence by the “Islamic fundamentalist Mafia” against Christians.

· Christians face intimidation, brutality, theft of their property, and boycotts of their businesses.

· The PA Ministry of Information reported in 1997 that “any Muslim who [converts to Christianity] or declares becoming an unbeliever is committing a major sin punishable by capital punishment.”

· Christian history is denied by Palestinian Muslims, including Yassir Arafat and the recently retired Mufti of Jerusalem, who claim that the Jewish Temple never existed in Jerusalem.

· The Christian population in Gaza has plummeted from 2,500 to under 1,000 because of persecution by Hamas.

Simon implied that Israel’s policies and the fence are harming the West Bank’s economy.

· In fact, the terrorist war known as the Second Intifada, not Israel, is what harmed the West Bank’s economy.

· As the PA has tried to control terrorist groups, Israel has been able to relax its counterterrorism measures, bringing the PA extraordinary economic growth of 8 percent per year in the last three years.

Simon interviewed only biased sources—and did not bother to investigate whether many Christians were afraid to speak out of fear of endangering themselves and their families.

· Simon did not interview clergy and ordinary Christians who might have had the courage to speak up, such as Rev. Steve Khourani of the First Baptist Church of Bethlehem; Samir Qumsiyeh of Bethlehem, director of the Catholic radio station; or the Christian leaders who signed the 2005 document detailing the PA’s persecution of Christians.

Simon asked leading questions to provoke answers that fit his political agenda.

· Simon asked the woman who lived near the security barrier, “How can you live like this?” The barrier may be unpleasant, but his very question suggested it is unjustifiable and intolerable, and he got the answer he wanted.

· When the woman said she wouldn’t move but would stay and “fight,” he never asked what she meant by “fight” or why she didn’t instead say she wanted to seek peaceful coexistence so the barrier could be removed. Instead, he stoked the sense that the barrier was intolerable and her reaction understandable—even though her anger betrayed why the barrier is necessary.

Simon interviewed and promoted anti-Semitic sources.

· Mitri Raheb, the main pastor he interviewed, is well known for promoting replacement theology, which Vatican II condemned as a prime source of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.

· Raheb delegitimizes Israel and the right of the Jewish state to exist.

· Simon uncritically promoted the Kairos Document though it has been exposed as using high-minded rhetoric to camouflage the authors’ sinister motives—delegitimization of Israel, opposition to the existence of the Jewish state, and calls for boycott and divestment from Israel.

Simon engaged in anti-Semitic innuendos .

· Simon claimed that Israel treats Christians well and wants to promote good Christian-Jewish relations because of the money it gets from Christian tourism.

· In fact, Israel protects Christians, not for tourism dollars—an anti-Semitic “Shylock” innuendo—but because those are Israel’s values.

[OriZ 3,157]

Palestinian Christians, like other religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East, are the target of mistreatment, harassment and in some instances, violent oppression at the hands of their Muslim neighbors.

Nevertheless, much of the media coverage about Palestinian Christians downplays Muslim hostility toward this community and falsely portrays Israel as the sole cause of its suffering.

The reality is Palestinian Christians cannot speak freely about the Muslim dominated environment in which they live. Their leaders often publicly condemn Israel while remaining silent about groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Occasionally, they might admit that Muslim hostility is a problem, but not very often and not very loudly.

It is safe for Palestinian Christian leaders to condemn Israel – a democracy that has a tradition of respecting religious freedom and human rights. It is not safe, however, for Palestinian Christians to condemn the misdeeds of their Islamist neighbors who regard Christians as infidels and obstacles to the creation of an Islamic state.

Journalists obviously have an obligation to dig into the underlying facts regarding the status of Christians in Palestinian areas.

This information is harder to obtain than anti-Israel comments from prominent Palestinian Christians. It is not, however, impossible to get testimony about Muslim oppression of Christians in the West Bank or Gaza Strip. For example, Khaled Abu Toameh has written about mistreatment of Christians by their Muslim neighbors, a problem that has gotten worse since Bethlehem and the surrounding towns have become hotbeds for Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

In a piece published by the Gatestone Institute in 2009 (when it was then called the Hudson Institute), Toameh reported that Christians have complained about acts “of intimidation land theft by Muslims, especially those working for the Palestinian Authority.” And if that wasn't enough, “several Christian women living in these areas have complained about verbal and sexual assaults by Muslim men.” Toameh also recounts hearing stories of shakedowns by Muslim gangs. He writes:

Over the past few years, a number of Christian businessmen told me that they were forced to shut down their businesses because they could no longer afford to pay "protection" money to local Muslim gangs.

This is however, not the story that Palestinian Christian leaders tell to Westerners. Toameh reports:

Ironically, leaders of the Palestinian Christians are also to blame for the ongoing plight of their people because they refuse to see the reality as it is. And the reality is that many Christians feel insecure and intimidated because of what we Muslims are doing to them and not only because of the bad economy.

When they go on the record, these leaders always insist that Israel and the occupation are the only reason behind the plight of their constituents. They stubbornly refuse to admit that many Christians are being targeted by Muslims. By not talking openly about the problem, the Christian leaders are encouraging the perpetrators to continue their harassment and assaults against Christian families.

This is an important story that journalists should highlight.

60 Minutes Dropped the Ball

Given the time and resources available to reporters and producers at 60 Minutes, it would seem reasonable to expect that they would be able to give viewers an accurate picture.

Apparently, it is simply a story they do not want to tell. This became evident during a segment that appeared on April 22, 2012. This segment, titled “Christians of the Holy Land” reported by Bob Simon and produced by Harry Radliffe, severely misinformed 60 Minutes viewers.

In the opening, Simon reports that the “one place where Christians are not suffering from violence is the Holy Land but Palestinian Christians have been leaving in large numbers for years.” He continues:

So many [are leaving], the Christian population there is down to less than two percent, and the prospect of holy sites, like Jerusalem and Bethlehem, without local Christians is looming as a real possibility.

In this passage, Simon is wrong on two issues.

Population deception

First, Simon reports the Christian population in the Holy Land is down to less than two percent but he deceives viewers in this statement. Yes, the percentage of the total is down due to an increased Muslim population, but the actual number is up in Bethlehem and the surrounding area since Israel took control of the West Bank. He also fails to report that this increased stands in marked contrast to the decline of the Christian population in the West Bank when it was under Jordanian control.

The numbers, compiled by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, reveal that in the late 1940s, there were approximately 60,000 Christians living in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza and that this population declined to approximately 40,000 just prior to the Six Day War in 1967. Today, there are approximately 52,000 Christians living in these areas.

Why did 60 Minutes deceive its viewers?

Muslim violence against Christians

Secondly, despite what Simon reports, Palestinian Christians have been the target of violence at the hands of Muslim extremists in the Holy Land. In 2005, more than a dozen homes were burnt to the ground by a Muslim mob. This act of arson was perpetrated in the village of Taybeh located in the West Bank by Muslims outraged over a romantic affair between a Christian man and a Muslim woman. Ha'aretz reported the following about the incident:

PA security sources said that the rampage was triggered by an incident last week in which a 23-year-old woman was killed by her relatives because they suspected her of carrying on a romance with a Christian man from Taybeh. The woman was quickly buried, but last Tuesday, the PA police exhumed the body for an autopsy.

Did Simon and Radliffe not hear about this terrible attack and the apparent honor killing that preceded it? In a four-minute video featured on 60 Minutes' website, Simon profiled the village of Taybeh, which the show billed as “The Last Christian village in the Holy Land.” Judging from this video, it's clear both Simon, and his producer Radcliffe spent some time in the town where the attack took place, but for one reason or another, this notorious act of arson was never mentioned in either the segment shown on television or the segment broadcast on 60 Minutes' website.

Simon also used a confrontation with Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren as a pretext to downplay impact of Muslim hostility toward Christians. After Oren stated that the “major duress” felt by Palestinian Christians was coming from Muslims, Simon introduced Zahi Khouri, a Palestinian Christian businessman (he owns a Coca-Cola franchise). Khouri dismissed Oren's assessment as a “Great selling point. Easy to sell to the American public.”

Khouri continues: “I'll tell you I don't know of anybody and I probably have 12,000 customers here. I've never heard that someone is leaving because of Islamic persecution.”

Did Simon really expect to get Khouri, a prominent businessman with a lot to lose – and exactly the type of person who would be forced to pay the protection described by Khaled Abu Toameh in the piece referenced above – to admit to problems with the Muslim majority in Palestinian society in an on-camera conversation with two other people sitting next to him? Is this what passes for investigative reporting at 60 Minutes?

When Woodward and Bernstein got information about the misdeeds of the Nixon Administration from Deep Throat, an anonymous source, they spoke to him in secret in the bowels of an underground parking garage.

Judging from the public testimony offered by pastors speaking at the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference held in March 2012, Simon may not have had to go to such lengths to get the story.

At this conference, two pastors spoke openly about the problems Simon downplayed in his report. As detailed in a recent CAMERA analysis, Pastor Nihad Salman, who serves as a pastor in Beit Jala, testified in more detail to the concerns Christians in the West Bank have regarding Muslim hostility toward Christians. After speaking about the impact of high unemployment on Christians in the West Bank, he said that because Christians comprise only one or two percent of the population in the territory, they are affected psychologically.

You are afraid. And we have many times when people are afraid of what is happening in the Arabic Spring. Will the Muslims you know, take over? If it is true or not true. Whatever the outcome of that... what will happen? Will after Saturday come Sunday? So this is the type of thing that makes Christians want to run away.

The reference to Saturday and Sunday is to a well-known proverb in the Middle East about Muslim hostility toward Jews (whose day of rest is on Saturday) and Christians (whose day of rest is on Sunday). The question Pastor Salman is asking is, given that Islamist groups are coming to power across the region ("Arabic Spring") and having already persecuted and expelled their Jews ("Saturday"), will these Arab countries now increase their persecution of Christians ("Sunday")?

And another Palestinian pastor, Labeeb Madanat, who works for the Bible Societies in Israel and Palestine said at this conference, "There are pressures. There is discrimination. The dhimma system is a system of discrimination. We do not deny that."

More recently, this writer interviewed Steven Khoury, assistant pastor at The First Baptist Church in Bethlehem in a piecethat was published in The Algemeiner. Khoury reported that anti-Christian animus has gotten worse in the Bethlehem over the past few years. Khoury said, “People are always telling [Christians], ‘Convert to Islam. Convert to Islam. It's the true and right religion.'”

Such testimony is not new. In 2005, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custos of the Holy Land for the Roman Catholic Church, acknowledged publicly that Palestinians Christians were suffering from acts of oppression by their Muslim neighbors.

In its coverage of the story the Telegraph reported that things had gotten so bad that Church leaders compiled a "dossier" of 93 alleged incidents of abuse by an 'Islamic fundamentalist mafia against Palestinian Christians, who accused the Palestinian Authority of doing nothing to stop the attacks."

According to the Telegraph, "The dossier includes a list of 140 cases of apparent land theft, in which Christians in the West Bank were allegedly forced off their lands backed by corrupt judicial officials."

The Telegraph also reported about the activism of Samir Qumsieh, a prominent Palestinian Christian leader in the West Bank:

Mr Qumsieh said he was trying to repair relations between Palestinian Christian and Muslim communities, convening a meeting attended by members of both faiths in Bethlehem last week.

But he said that the Christian community was faced with "very brutal" adversaries. "A criminal mafia and Islamic fundamentalists work together," he said. "Their interests met to take our land away." He said that one man had lost his finger in one land dispute which turned violent and that a group had attacked and injured a Greek orthodox monk at a 5th century monastery outside Bethlehem.

The dossier currently in Church hands details far worse allegations of violence, notably the torture and murder of two Christian girls in 2003 after they were deemed prostitutes. A post mortem examination reportedly proved they were virgins.

Why is it that Simon relied on Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren for testimony about Islamist hostility toward Christianswhen Christians themselves are talking about it? And why did he work so assiduously to discount Oren's testimony? Evidently, Simon was not interested in the truth about the status of Christians in Palestinian society but instead was more interested in scoring a cheap shot at Oren's expense.

Promoting Anti-Israel Propaganda as Peacemaking

Simon passed off the Kairos Document as an honest attempt by Palestinian Christians to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He did this by reporting that in 2009, a group of Palestinian Christan pastors “did something unprecedented. They published a document called Kairos, criticizing Islamic extremism and advocating non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation which they called a sin against God.”

The Kairos Document, a statement issued by a group of Palestinian Christian pastors in 2009 is not the document of peace, love and understanding that Simon indicates it is.

Yes, the document does call on Muslims to “reject fanaticism and extremism” but does not mention groups like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad that espouse Islamist ideology.

And while it calls the Israeli “occupation” a “sin against God,” it characterizes Palestinian acts of terror as “legal resistance.” A Christian group, Presbyterians for Middle East Peace declared the use of the word “resistance” to describe terrorism “repugnant.”

The document also states that if “there were no occupation, there would be no resistance, no fear and no insecurity.” Really? Then why did the rocket attacks against Israel increase after it withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005?

The Kairos Palestine document is so hostile and one-sided, that it was denounced as “supersessionist and antisemitic” by the Central Conference of American Rabbis in 2010. Simon acknowledged none of this in his reporting.

(For more analysis about the Kairos Document, please go here, here and here.)

Raheb No Peacemaker

Simon also presented of Lutheran Pastor Mitri Raheb from Bethlehem as a peacemaker to his audience despite the fact that he has been roundly criticized for use of some very bothersome rhetoric at the 2010 Christ at the Checkpoint Conference. At this conference, Raheb declared the following:

… Israel represents Rome of the Bible, not the people of the land. And this is not only because I'm a Palestinian. I'm sure if we were to do a DNA test between David, who was a Bethlehemite, and Jesus, born in Bethlehem, and Mitri, born just across the street from where Jesus was born, I'm sure the DNA will show that there is a trace. While, if you put King David, Jesus and Netanyahu, you will get nothing, because Netanyahu comes from an East European tribe who converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages.

Raheb's assertion that Benjamin Netanyahu is not really connected to the land of Israel but is instead a descendent of an “East European tribe” that “converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages” is an anti-Semitic canard that has a long career.

The notion that European Jews aren't really Jews, but instead descendants of the “Khazars” who converted to Judaism is a shopworn trope often used to deny the connection between modern day Jews and the land of Israel. Raheb's use of this rhetoric prompted New Testament Scholar Malcom Lowe to issue the following critique:

Even if Raheb's claims about the ancestry of himself and Binyamin Netanyahu were true, he would be putting them at the service of a shameless racism. But, of course, he also has not the slightest evidence to support those claims. He knows nothing of Netanyahu's ancestry. And he himself, for all he knows, may be descended from Greek pilgrims or from Europeans who arrived with the Crusaders, as I have

pointed out elsewhere

. As for DNA, had he taken the trouble, Raheb could have found that

genetic studies on Jews

have shown that European Jews are genetically much more closely related to Jews in the Middle East, and even to some non-Jews there, than to non-Jewish Europeans.

Did Simon or Radliffe, the producer, look into Raheb's background before presenting him as a peacemaker?

Basic Facts and biased omission

Simon descended into outright propaganda about Israeli security measures when he asserted that the concrete security barrier “completely surrounds Bethlehem, turning the ‘little town' where Christ was born into what its residents call ‘an open air prison.'”

In fact, the security barrier does not “completely surround” Bethlehem, because if it did, it would be cut off completely from the rest of the West Bank. It isn't.

Maps provided by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations, B'tselem, and the PLO all indicate that the security barrier is located to the north and west of the city, and does not completely surround Bethlehem. This is a favored lie of anti-Israel propagandists. Simon worked on this program for months, spending time in Bethlehem. He could see for himself the barrier doesn't encircle the town. If he can't be trusted to get the facts straight on something as obvious as this, it's hardly surprising he got so much else wrong.

Simon also reports that for Palestinians, “leaving Bethlehem is a struggle” and that going to Jerusalem means going through an Israeli checkpoint, which can take hours, and that in some instances, they are not allowed to enter Israel at all.

Simon's expectation that Palestinians living in the West Bank should have easy access to Jerusalem is unrealistic. Palestinians have been in an effective state of war with Israel for decades. During the Second Intifada, Palestinian terrorists were responsible for the deaths of more than 1,000 Israeli civilians and weapons are found at checkpoints on a regular basis.

It is simply unreasonable for Simon to expect that it would be easy for Palestinians to enter into Israel under these conditions.

Simon's most obnoxious moment came when he complained about the Ambassador calling his boss, Jeffrey Fager, head of CBS news and executive producer of 60 Minutes about the segment before it aired. Simon stated that he has been doing his job a long time and that “he's never gotten a reaction before from a story that hasn't been broadcast yet.”

This is newsworthy? Christians are being murdered in Egypt, Iraq and Nigeria and Simon's scoop – his big reveal before he signs off – is that Oren called his boss to complain about a story that hasn't aired yet?

This is simply outrageous. Simon and his producer, Harry Radliffe failed to treat the subject they were covering with the seriousness it requires.

They owe the American people an apology for their journalistic misdeeds.

Now I'm getting tired of discrediting you. I've been doing it for weeks now. The next garbage you post is all yours. I promise I'll resist temptation and let people do their own research on your claims.

[OriZ 3,157]

There's another Christian for you

[Expat1 971]

More nonsense but no wall building here and no pretending Israel or Isreal's people or Israel's leaders give two chits about Christians. The CHRISTIAN community there is calling for international sanctions against Israel because of their treatment, not by the Muslims, but by the Israelis.

In America, this event has started a dialogue. During the course of this dialogue the truth must eventually come out. Racist societies either change or die.

http://www.kairospalestine.ps/

This document is the Christian Palestinians’ word to the world about what is happening in Palestine. It is written at this time when we wanted to see the Glory of the grace of God in this land and in the sufferings of its people. In this spirit the document requests the international community to stand by the Palestinian people who have faced oppression, displacement, suffering and clear apartheid for more than six decades. The suffering continues while the international community silently looks on at the occupying State, Israel. Our word is a cry of hope, with love, prayer and faith in God. We address it first of all to ourselves and then to all the churches and Christians in the world, asking them to stand against injustice and apartheid, urging them to work for a just peace in our region, calling on them to revisit theologies that justify crimes perpetrated against our people and the dispossession of the land.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Expat1

[OriZ 3,157]

You bore me. Time to go to sleep. It's all yours.

People like you will never promote peace. People like you promote nothing but hatred.

Carry on with your rubbish...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Do we really need these essays?

[Expat1 971]

You bore me. Time to go to sleep. It's all yours.

People like you will never promote peace. People like you promote nothing but hatred.

Carry on with your rubbish...

Rubbish is what your silly and shallow words are beside the words of those persecuted in and by your home country.

Our word is a cry of hope, with love, prayer and faith in God. We address it first of all to ourselves and then to all the churches and Christians in the world, asking them to stand against injustice and apartheid, urging them to work for a just peace in our region, calling on them to revisit theologies that justify crimes perpetrated against our people and the dispossession of the land.

Begging for mercy from Israel is "promotion of hatred". Bull. You better go. You're not doing too well in this thread either.

[Expat1 971]

Now I'm getting tired of discrediting you. I've been doing it for weeks now. The next garbage you post is all yours. I promise I'll resist temptation and let people do their own research on your claims.

I'm not tired of discrediting you. I haven't even started. Here are what over 350 Jewish survivors of the holocaust have to say about the actions and policies of your country. Like the Muslims and Christians, they also call for boycott of your country until your policies towards others change.

As true victims, we all owe our attention to the words of these people. Do they sound like you Oriz or do they sound like me? Here's my friggin wall. Enjoy it.

As Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors and victims of the Nazi genocide we unequivocally condemn the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the ongoing occupation and colonization of historic Palestine. We further condemn the United States for providing Israel with the funding to carry out the attack, and Western states more generally for using their diplomatic muscle to protect Israel from condemnation. Genocide begins with the silence of the world.

We are alarmed by the extreme, racist dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli society, which has reached a fever-pitch. In Israel, politicians and pundits in The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post have called openly for genocide of Palestinians and right-wing Israelis are adopting Neo-Nazi insignia.

Furthermore, we are disgusted and outraged by Elie Wiesel’s abuse of our history in these pages to justify the unjustifiable: Israel’s wholesale effort to destroy Gaza and the murder of more than 2,000 Palestinians, including many hundreds of children. Nothing can justify bombing UN shelters, homes, hospitals and universities. Nothing can justify depriving people of electricity and water.

We must raise our collective voices and use our collective power to bring about an end to all forms of racism, including the ongoing genocide of Palestinian people. We call for an immediate end to the siege against and blockade of Gaza. We call for the full economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel. “Never again” must mean NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE!

http://ijsn.net/gaza/survivors-and-descendants-letter/

I condemn this:

1. “My Outline for a Solution in Gaza”

Author: Moshe Feiglin, Member of Knesset

Publisher: Arutz Sheva

Summary: “Quiet” Gaza permanently by attacking whoever and wherever without any consideration.

Link to article

I condemn this:

“When Genocide is Permissible”

Author: Yochanan Gordon

Publisher: The Times of Israel, The Five Towns Jewish Times

Summary: If genocide is the only action that will quiet Gaza once and for all, so be it.

Link to The Times of Israel article (taken down)

Link to The Five Towns Jewish Times article (taken down)

Link to reprint

I hate and condemn this:

“When Genocide is Permissible”

Author: Yochanan Gordon

Publisher: The Times of Israel, The Five Towns Jewish Times

Summary: If genocide is the only action that will quiet Gaza once and for all, so be it.

Link to The Times of Israel article (taken down)

Link to The Five Towns Jewish Times article (taken down)

Link to reprint

I condemn this:

“Into the fray: Why Gaza must go”

Author: Martin Sherman

Publisher: The Jerusalem Post

Summary: Depopulate the Gaza Strip, relocate only the ‘good Arabs’, and annex the territory.

Link to article

I REALLY condemn this:

“1 Samuel 15:18″

Author: Irwin E. Blank

Publisher: The Times of Israel

Summary: There is a religious obligation to make “the war more horrific for the people of Gaza”, to destroy Gaza once and for all, so that Israel will never feel threatened ever again. After receiving criticism, the author published a clarification for giving the impression that he advocates genocide.

Link to article

Edited September 14, 2014 by Expat1

[Expat1 971]

Here are some others.

5. “Hamas’s Civilian Death Strategy”
Author: Thane Rosenbaum
Publisher: The Wall Street Journal
Summary: The rules of war do not apply to Israel’s invasion because there are no civilians in Gaza, and all of them are legitimate if not necessary targets.
Link to article

6. “In Gaza, there is no such thing as ‘innocent civilians'”
Author: Giora Eiland
Publisher: Ynet News
Summary: Israel’s generosity in supplying food, fuel, and electricty to the enemy is absurd: Gaza must be dealt with swiftly and totally.
Link to article

7. Untitled
Author: Ayelet Shaked, Member of Knesset
Publisher: (Self-published on Facebook)
Summary: The Palestinian people as a whole are the enemy; they are snakes who deserve to die, every single one of them.
Link to reprint

It is an absurd lie to try to tell us that these are "exceptions" perpetrated by a "small minority". This reflects the thinking of the mainstream in Isreal.

Racist societies change or die

[Curmudgeon 227]

This topic has been comprehensively caerphillied.

[Expat1 971]

This topic has been comprehensively caerphillied.

Yeah but look at all the fun we've had