Those behind this, whether they are in the Amos Trust or simply talked those in the Amos Trust into this act of vulgar antisemitism, are either sly and sinister, or possibly merely completely ignorant. They demonstrate either willful denial or complete ignorance of the history of the Arab Muslim war on non-Muslims, a permanent war if not always open warfare, and that is not limited to that focus of the world's media, the siege of Israel.
In that siege, every conceivable means -- economic and diplomatic warfare, and nonstop propaganda -- supplement both nonstop terrorism as well as intermittent attacks by regular Arab forces. Those military attacks by regular Arab armies have been repulsed and the Arabs pushed back (in 1948-49), or those attacks have been pre-empted just in time (June 1967), or the Arabs have been fought to a standstill with a return to antebellum lines (October 1973).
But terrorism, of which Israel until recently was the primary victim, is another matter. Now the entire Western world is getting a taste of what Israel, and to a less-publicized extent India, has endured. Now the entire Infidel world is enduring and will continue to endure, as best it can, the thing that explains, and justifies, that "Wall." That “Wall,” in fact, is only for a very short distance a wall at all, but is almost entirely a far less forbidding thing, a fence. And such fences or walls are planned, or being built right now, all over the Middle East -- beginning with Saudi Arabia, that plans to build a gigantic barrier all along its Eastern Province. But not a word is said about that.
No. We are expected to denounce "The Wall" because it was constructed by Israel. And the Jews of Israel are far from being seen as what they are, and always will be: people merely trying to stave off, with fantastic odds against them, the Arab Muslim siege that is prompted by the texts and tenets of Islam, and that comes out of the Muslim insistence and unshakeable conviction that no land, no matter how tiny, can revert to non-Muslim rule if once it has been ruled by Muslims and once formed part of Dar al-Islam. The size of Israel -- already ludicrously tiny, even if Israel does not continue to surrender territory as it has, so foolishly, so many times in the past -- does not matter in the Muslim Arab view. Israel is an Infidel nation-state. It must disappear.
There are differences among Muslim Arabs, and among the local Arabs who serve as the immediate shock troops of the Lesser Jihad, the ones carefully renamed as "Palestinians" after the Six-Day War. But their differences are those of tactics and timing, not of ultimate goals. The Slow Jihadists of Fatah want the Western aid to continue to flow, so that the corrupt leaders can continue to do as their Great Leader Arafat did: siphon off billions of the largesse to be provided, without their say-so, by long-suffering Western taxpayers, because their governments, in the impasse of the their own ignorance, can't think of anything better to do than to keep supplying the disguised Jizyah of aid, aid to be largely diverted to military uses, or stolen, but still...aid. And once that aid starts, the attitude of the Arab Muslim recipients becomes one of thinking that they are entitled to such aid. And meanwhile the Infidel donors assume that they for some reason must continue to supply such aid -- as if the "Palestinians" had some claim on us, when they have none.
Still more outrageous is the refusal of the Western leaders to insist that if those "Palestinians" insist on remaining on someone's dole, that someone ought not to be Infidels but Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the U.A.E., which have received trillions of dollars without lifting a finger, and are now in the process of receiving many trillions more, still without lifting that figurative finger.
But it is not only the cruelty and viciousness of this nastiest of all conceivable Christmas scenes that enrages. It is also the fact that it is being put out by a supposedly "Christian" group, when Christians everywhere in the world of Islam -- including, for god's sake, even the "Palestinian" Christians, who were for so many years loyal to the Arab Muslims, who were the very same "islamochristians" that the Amos Trust apparently harbors -- are facing persecution from the jihadists. Look at how the percentage of Christians in Bethelehem has dropped from 60% to 20%, with the Christians under assault and many afraid to talk publicly lest they be murdered. Look at the Christian "Palestinians" being murdered in Gaza.
Look, for that matter, at the two million black Africans, many of them Christian, who have died in the southern Sudan over the past twenty years as a result of deliberate murder, either through killing or starvation, by the Muslim Arabs of the north. Look at the attacks on Christians in the Moluccas, hardly limited to those schoolgirls decapitated on their way to school, and the burning of thousands of Christian churches in Indonesia (see the reports of the Barnabas Fund).
The Amos Trust should be held up for inspection, ridicule, attack, and stripped of whatever facade of "Christian" respectability it may still pretend to possess. It has done an evil thing. It should be shunned, and not merely by refusing to buy that intolerable piece of propaganda on behalf of the Jihad. Have nothing to do with it.
Bad enough we have to suffer those who wish to strip everything Christian about Christmas in this country, but to purposely push the Palestinian agenda over a false set of grievances, the left continuously outdoes itself in pure stupidity. Of course to further play on this ill-conceived propaganda, somehow the wise men would have figured a way around the wall to pay their respects to the Savior. And unlike our so-called fellow believers in God, they would not have used violence to be denied their right to do so. Hence, The Three Wise Men. Not the three "jihadists."
Its a obscenity to be sure, but it doesn't surprise me in the least. Despite the Amos Trust's glossy web site its really nothing but a vehicle for British Actor Garth Hewitt to spew his hatred towards Israel and the Jews in a publicly acceptable manner.
And what Amos Trust doesn't say about Hewitt a simple google search shows that he is deeply involved in pro-palestinian and turns a blind eye to terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
Though he is a supposedly a Christian I see nothing from him about Christians being persecuted by his Islamic cohorts. Nothing.
Available in two sizes
£12.00- smaller version (featured)- 15 cm (long)x 9 cm(wide) x 9 cm(high). (There is an additional charge of £2.50 for postage and packing)
£50.00 - larger version - perfect for a church - complete with a detachable separation barrier that can be replaced by a more traditional stable. (There is an additional charge of £7.00 for postage and packing)
from the sales ad; the second one is really repugnant
Is this the same group that says Israel crucifies Palestinians?
--
CT Yank
This is clearly more offensive that naming a teddy bear "mohammed".
--
CT Yank
Just yesterday there was an AP article, "Cartoonists Highlight Human Rights Issues", about a UN sponsored show of cartoons in Rome on human rights issues. One might think that after the Danish Muhammed cartoon riots and the death threats over the "Muhammed Cat" cartoon, that threats against freedom of speech by Islamists would be highlighted--but of course, one would be wrong.
The article leads with "The three Magi climb a wall topped with barbed wire to reach Bethlehem."--virtually identical in theme to the Nativity scene featured above. Said cartoon is by Italian cartoonist Vauro. Vauro works for Il Manifesto--a Communist newspaper.
Good to know that the UN is still doing its part for understanding in the world. sarc/
Here is a photo of the cartoon at the show in Rome:
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/ap/20071210/img/pwl-italy-cartoons-for-huma-b9cdd4c865040.html
Here is where their offices are located in London:
http://www.amostrust.org/contact/index.php?pageNo=343
Make sure big brother's cameras are aimed at that building.
-XRDC
From HonestReporting :
Writing in The Times of London, Michael Gove observes:
There's one invariable sign that Christmas is almost upon us - a story about how Bethlehem is suffering at the hands of wicked Israel.
It has become almost as much a feature of seasonal journalism as stories about how Nativity plays are being subverted and commentaries on how commercialism is snuffing out the true meaning of the festival....
Indeed, HonestReporting has covered the media's less than festive reporting from Bethlehem in 2006, 2005 and 2003 and we have no reason to suspect that this year will be any different, with National Geographic kicking off the season.
CHRISTIANS IN THE HOLY LAND - THE REALITY
In the rush to blame Israel for the precarious position of Christian communities in the region, the foreign media has almost ignored the increasing pressures on Palestinian Christians, particularly since the rise of Hamas and other extremist Islamist forces. Here are some recent stories you may have missed:
In December, Muslim gunmen tried to kill a Palestinian Christian in the Gaza Strip following the kidnap and murder of another Christian in October. "The latest incident is aimed at sending a message to all the Christians here that we must leave," said a Christian leader. "Radical Islamic groups are waging a campaign to get rid of us and no one seems to care."
The only Christian TV station in the Holy Land stopped its broadcasts at the end of October due to security and financial problems. For over a year the director and owner of The Nativity TV station reportedly received death threats and intimidation. His five siblings have already moved abroad and he is expected to follow them once the station is closed.
In October Pastor Isa Bajalia, a Palestinian-American Christian working in Ramallah, fled to Jerusalem following threats and demands for protection money.
REPORT: CHRISTIANS TO DISAPPEAR FROM PA IN 15 YEARS
A report by the JCPA's Justus Weiner concludes that Christians in the West Bank and Gaza are likely to dissipate completely within the next 15 years as a result of increasing Muslim persecution and maltreatment. The Jerusalem Post comments:
Trying to survive under the Muslim thumb, PA Christians keep a low profile, strive to give no offense and often even toe the most extremist Arab line to evince loyalty and remove the threat from themselves. Many publicly blame Israel for their plight, while murmurs of protest against Islamic domination grow ever-fainter, presumably for fear of making things even worse for beleaguered Christians.
The silence of Christian Arabs and Christians abroad in the face of the desecration of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity by Muslim terrorists who invaded it a few years back was a case in point. Israel was condemned for seeking to remove the raiders, when it was the violent intruders who should have been denounced. Fanatical Arabs are dreaded. Israelis are not.
This pattern persists. Weiner noted that Bethlehem's ills are often ascribed to the security fence, because church representatives "sing the PA's tune" and are quick to censure Israel for everything.
The temptation to do so will increase in the Advent to Christmas, whose celebration in Bethlehem will to no small extent depend on the goodwill of Muslim PA overlords, who make a point of attending the midnight mass each year, all but appropriating the festivities. The grand entries made by Yasser Arafat have still not faded from memory; nor has the empty seat left posthumously for him in the Church of the Nativity, as if elevating him to singular spiritual status.
Like Arafat, his successor Mahmoud Abbas often poses in the guise of Christianity's protector, implying that it, along with Islam, is menaced by Judaism. Yet false and brazen though this cynical affectation is, it goes unquestioned in most of the world.
Click on the image above to see Justus Weiner talking about his report on CBN News.
As Michael Gove continues:
The truth is very different. The parlous position of Palestinian Christians, indeed the difficult position of most Christians across the Arab world, is a consequence not of Israeli aggression but of growing Islamist influence. Israel goes out of its way to honour sites and traditions sacred to other faiths while the radicals who are driving Palestinian politics seek to create an Islamist state in which other faiths, if they survive at all, do so with the explicit subject status of dhimmis. But when it comes to Israel's position in these matters it's still a case of O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see them lie.
THE ROLE OF SABEEL
If the above represents the reality of Christian communities in the Holy Land, then why does Christian anti-Israel sentiment continue to appear in the media and elsewhere? One driving force behind this is the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. According to NGO Monitor, Sabeel is active in promoting an extreme anti-Israel agenda in Protestant churches in both North America and Europe. Sabeel's efforts have promoted the campaign to isolate and delegitimize Israel through the divestment campaign, which have recently been adopted by some church organizations.
As noted in a detailed study by Robert Everett and Dexter Van Zile, and cited in their Jerusalem Post article of July 10, 2005 "Reawakening the teachings of contempt", Sabeel is a major factor in extremist Christian anti-Israel activism. Sabeel's statements consistently highlight Palestinian suffering and place blame on Israel, while ignoring such issues as corruption within the Palestinian Authority, violence perpetrated against Israelis and Palestinians alike by armed Palestinian militias, and attacks against Christian Arabs.
Sabeel director Naim Ateek employs classical antisemitic theological themes, as reflected in the 2001 Sabeel "Easter message": "it seems to many of us that Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around him. […] The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily." In similar messages, such as a February 2001 sermon, Ateek accuses Israel of killing Jesus (the Palestinians) as infant, prophet and messiah: "Israel has placed a large boulder, a big stone that has metaphorically shut off the Palestinians in a tomb. It is similar to the stone placed on the entrance of Jesus' tomb…"
For more on Sabeel, see CAMERA's recent analysis.
In the coming days, please take a look at our previous communiques and be prepared to respond to the inevitable and one-sided articles that appear every year around this time.
HonestReporting.com
Click here for Backspin to comment on this communique and the articles above.
XRDC
WOW! for a small charity they are located in some prime real estate. Their office space in rent must cost them a lot of $$$. They are right in the City of London.
I wonder who is funding their little organisation?
I'm sending the text of this post, and one comment, to the Amos Fund's email.
If by some chance it is a case of ignorance, I intend to open someone's eyes, at least a little.
Could anyone tell me if is it true that Bethlehem's Christians asked the Israelis to include Bethlehem on the Israeli side of the fence and were refused?
Revolting. Simply revolting.
How much for the realistic version? You know, the one with tiny Kasam rockets flying over the tiny wall... and the tiny Palestinian suicide bombers.
... and if they we're being realistic about it, they'd call it Blown Away in the Manger.
Opps, I meant "were", not "we're".
I much prefer the Church of the Nativity advent calendar. From now until Christmas you can open a window, revealing a jihadist inside tossing a grenade or shooting. On Christmas you can light the votive inside and it becomes a luminary, burning from the inside out.
This would be a joke, except for it actually happened.
Do you want to read real lies - go on, you know you want to. Do you want to get really mad at those stupid enough to retail imaginary scenarios that never happened - go on, you really want to, don't you?
So, try this enormous f.....g lie for size! Just remember, as you read this, that Israeli Control Checkpoints have 24/7 video cameras reaching out on both sides of such checkpoints for several miles (kilometres). No camera, at any checkpoint, ever recorded such an incident and 'Ted' has never been identified as a real person.
This is fiction of the first order and fiction, moreover, deliberately designed to destroy the UK and all freedom loving societies!
And they thought that no-one would ever question their lies! Just how naive can you get?
http://www.haringeystopwar.fsnet.co.uk/articles/bethlehem.htm
OliverPCamford
you expect JW's to believe anything from the ISM?
You're on the wrong 'blog posting dated and biased information.
Another troll.
And this comes from 2005, and previous and subsequent years, and I will personally give 200 Euros to anybody's nominated charity, as long as it is not a Muslim charity, who can prove, to my satisfaction and to the satisfaction of Robert Spencer and Hugh Fitzgerald, that conditions have materially changed in Bethlehem this Christmastide, 2007, for the Christian population of that town. This offer stands good until the Feast of the Circumcision immediately following this Christmastide. The final four paragraphs refer to this offer. All else is background lies... sorry, propaganda... sorry, information ... sorry, lies (let's call it as it is for heaven's sake).
The following from: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3190798,00.html
'Muslims persecuting Bethlehem's Christians'
Gramfan, I don't think that you have quite grasped my point here. My point - they tell lies, we tell the truth. Sorry, don't think you quite saw what I was driving at.
You know if they wanted to make the diorama accurate they ought to show the 3 wise men being executed by devout Muslims for simply being pagans.
Hugh - great analysis.
There's only one thing worse than this artefact, as a co-option of the Nativity Story in the service of 'Palestinian' Arab Muslim propaganda.
It's Jostein Gaarder's oh-so-sweet faux-naive children's story "The Christmas Mystery" (Julemysteriet), first published in Norway in 1992. Exquisitely written - exquisitely illustrated, in the abridged version (2002) of the 1996 English translation. And delicately, subtly suffused with an anti-Zionism, and an antisemitism, that is terrifying.
sylvester,
In the early 1970s, a group of Bethlehem Christians, led by Mayor Elias Freij, wanted to be annexed to Israel in one way of another. They were negotiating with Israel about the project when the State Dept got wind of it [it had been reported in the Jerusalem Post, inter alia]. The State Dept shot down the project which did not fit State Dept policy. As to any recent requests by Bethlehem Christians, I am unaware of any such. Bear in mind that the palestinian authority has been in control of Bethlehem since December 1995, upon bill clinton's request to Shimon Peres, then acting Israeli pm after Rabin was killed.
It seems that, with the PLO/palestinian authority in control, that nobody in Bethlehem would dare challenge PLO/PA control of the city in the way that you mention. If I'm wrong, I'd like to know about it.
People, please take a few and read this fabulous article from the Tulane "Hullaballoo" called "I better not name my unicorn "Allah." !
http://www.thehullabaloo.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=e5ee1a4d-af16-467d-8873-4deed72d753d
'Scuse me, it's "I better hide my unicorn named "Allah." *Please* read and see a university student who is NOT a PC imbecile!
http://www.thehullabaloo.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=e5ee1a4d-af16-467d-8873-4deed72d753d
Darcy,
Not a bad article for a sophomore. The kid "gets" it, and is helping others to do likewise.
A single candle amidst all this darkness.
Dhimmis driven to insanity. I mean here they are, living among savage animals who shot their way into one of Christianity's holiest places, took priests and nuns hostage (and who knows what else they did to the nuns), urinated and defecated on the floors and used pages from the Bibles to wipe their filthy arab asses, set fires in the sanctuary, and then, under international pressure against Israel, allowed to go scott free. These are the filthy scum who the islamo-Christians of the Holy Land see as their allies against Jews, whose only crime against them was to accede to pressure from State Dept traitors and arabists. There is truly no hope for these people.
Infidel33: I think you missed the point. The unfortunate Christians in Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East have had to face a harsh reality. The United States ignores them, Israel can't really help them anymore, due to internal and external pressures, and no one in the Christian world has both the will and the ability to help them. Under these circumstances, they have chosen the only route available to them. They have embraced their Muslim masters, and hope thereby to buy some time, time enough to escape with their lives. I truely empathize with them, and appreciate that Christians in these lands swear alliegance to their Muslim leaders out of fear and pragmatism, not genuine belief. Examples range from the Christian leaders who recently attended a pro-Muslim, pro-Palestinian conference in Gaza to even Jews in Iran, who periodically are forced to swear alliegance to Iran and eschew the Jewish state. Do I believe the Christian professions of support for Islamic Jihad? No more than I believe the Iranian Jews who profess their belief that Israel is not a legitimate state.
OliverPCamford
thanks for clearing that up. Perhaps top subtle? Not clear enough? We get trolls here and we get edgy quickly.
But TROLLS are so CUTE; and, besides, they make such GREAT dashboard ornaments!
Just emailed the link to this section here to the amos trust's director, Garth Hewitt.
Be interesting if he actually reads anything here at all.
Godefroi, you beat me to it!
Ah, well. I guess the sheer emotionalism of the Palestinian Arabs appeals to many actors - "if they're that emotional, it must be true!" they think!
Ralphinfidel, what a great idea - carving such models could provide much-needed employment in the constantly-assailed town of Sderot, where there is much unemployment and oh, yes, thousands of rockets pouring down on the people there.
John C: Although I am told, often, by my partner that I am cute (unbelievable actually, but I take it as it is meant - as sign of his daft, myopic and long-lasting love for me) I think that I may be too old and too large to qualify as a dashboard ornament whether I be troll or not.
Still, the concept is interesting and... no, I think I'll stop there before I share just too much (the late great Frankie Howerd could have got away with much humourous innuendo at this point but I don't think I can for I do not have his deftness with the comedic).
In your case, Oliver, may I suggest, perhaps, displaying a "TROLL ON BOARD" sign.
PS: Our resident troll isn't put-off by Infidel tinsel and trimmings, and wishes all a Happy "ISAMUS" [sic].
MERRY CHRISTMAS; Happy Christmas