Muslims driving Christians out of Bethlehem, but media outlets choose to blame Israel

More in this fetid vein may be found on the Wall Street Journal's op-ed today:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110011037

And for all the critics who say Israel is responsible for the diminishing number of Christians in the territories, let them ask themselves why there aren't an equal proportion of diminishing Muslims in those same territories..

In fact the Muslim population has INCREASED.

Hasn't anyone noticed?

The ignoble article in today's Wall Street Journal, pointed out above by Papa Whiskey, signals a sharp change of policy from the previously independent opinion pages of that newspaper.

Under the stewardship of Robert L. Bartley, the outstanding former editor of the opinion page of the Wall Stret Journal, this article would never have been published.

In the words of the Journal:

"Israel, of course, must protect its security. But it cannot blame the Christians' dire circumstances on the second intifada: Muslims are suffering just as much as the tiny Christian minority. Indeed, Bethlehem has historically been one place where Muslim-Christian relations have been remarkably friendly. Now, however, urban Bethlehem finds itself encircled by Israeli settlements, and where the settlers go, there follows the concrete wall, topped in places by razor wire and snipers' towers."

This is a vile, badly researched prosecution in favor of Muslims.

When Bob Bartley became ill, left the Journal and died, I was personally devastated. At a difficult time in history, I sensed we all had lost an invaluable friend and powerful ally defending our way of life. And articles such as this one on the Opinion Page of the Wall Street Journal very sadly are proof my worst fears are true.

Assalamau Laikuam all,

I know this is kinda hard for christians ...but the answer lies in knowing your target audience and market...let us take examples of this.

Christians are under pressure from the muslim in that region ...why?...well it's the message.

Instead of saying "Jesus saves" when not "Isa PBUH saves".

In the christian souveniour shops ..why not have Jesus signposted on the left and a ISA signposted on the left.

When in the manger ...why not have jesus the baby talk and extol the virtues of our lord Allah SWT ...and the coming of the final prophet Muhd SAW in the nativity play.

Using the message this way means that not only will you be safe ...you will be invited to stay...you will have new customers ...muslims ...don't peddle the blame game...use modern marketing...and target your message to the appropriate audience.

I hope this helps....Happy Isa-mas to one and all.

"One Christian Bethlehem resident told WND her friend recently fled Bethlehem after being accused by Muslims of selling property to Jews, a crime punishable by death in some Palestinian cities. The resident said a good deal of the intimidation comes from gunmen associated with PA President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization.
"

Yes, no surprises here. I see the resident supremicist Islamo-nazi has come in to use the the subjugation of these poor people in the spirit of unmerry eidmas to spread the ummah. To suggest giving in to these muslims who persecute these people is disgusting, sick and not worthy of humanity. Moral pygmy stuff.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE AND A KIND AND COMPASSIONATE CHRISTMAS.

There is no "Isa," - there is only Jesus.

There is no "Allah" - this pre-islamic pagan moon deity DOESN'T EXIST.

Mahomet the 100% fallible human Warlord Mass-Murderer is one of the most evil - EVIL - humans that ever lived. Akin to Adolph Hitler.

Muslims are 100% deceived. They are pitiful. No humans on Earth more pathetic than Mohammedans.

I know this is kinda hard for Muslims -

but, "Isa" doesn't exist - there's only JESUS.

And, "Allah" doesn't exist - there's only the pre-islamic pagan -PAGAN- moon god al-ilah, that also doesn't exist.

Jesus of The Bible is real.

"Allah" of the Koran doesn't exist. Mohammedans worship a god that doesn't exist. Pitiful.

All due to the 7th century flim-flam man, Mo.

"I see the resident supremicist Islamo-nazi has come in to use the the subjugation of these poor people in the spirit of unmerry eidmas to spread the ummah. To suggest giving in to these muslims who persecute these people is disgusting, sick and not worthy of humanity. Moral pygmy stuff." --posted by ausinfidel

So Right.

Merry Christmas, ausinfidel

Naseem, we do not say "Jesus PBUH" because it is highly presumptuous for one of us sinful, mortal creatures to bless the sinless God Incarnate who bore our sins on the cross and rose from the dead for our salvation. Rather, may Jesus say of us, "Kepha, my PBUH" and "Naseem, my PBUH". He is the one whom God appointed prince of peace; and peace is his to give us--not the other way around.

By the way, are not both Muhammad and Muhammad Ahmed lying in their graves awaiting the last judgment, in which both of us believe?

But Jesus Christ is risen, and will judge us both.

I understand - from Jacques Ellul's magnificent little book, Un Chretien Pour Israel ('*One* Christian For Israel') [1986] - that between 1948 and 1967, while Muslim Jordan controlled the Old City of Jerusalem, not only were 58 Jewish synagogues demolished, the ancient Jewish cemetery deliberately and disgustingly desecrated, and the entire Old City Jewish community expelled, but - (I quote):

" the Christian population of Jerusalem was bullied continually by the Jordanian authorities, so much so that their number diminished [by almost half] from 19 000 in 1948 to 11 000 in 1967...[but] after that date, under Jewish control, it has almost doubled!"

The question is: what was happening at the same time to Christians in the rest of the so-called 'West Bank', that is, Judea and Samaria? And what happened in Gaza under Egyptian rule, during that period?

I haven't been able to find that out - does anyone else here have some hard, reasonably reliable figures? (And no, I am not really interested in anything from a contemporary Muslim source, because so much of their material is B.S.).

But it does seem to me that if nearly half the 'Palestinian' and Armenian Christians left the Muslim-controlled part of Jerusalem between1948 and 1967, the Christian population is unlikely to have been increasing in the other areas under Jordanian Muslim control.

It might be useful also to compare stats on the Christian population in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria, first 1967-1990 under Jewish rule (as compared to 1948-67 under Jordanian Muslim rule), then after 'Oslo' (1990 onward) under increasingly aggressive local Muslim domination.

Merry Christmas Eve to all...yes, even to you Naseem.

Kepha - I do believe that Mahomet has LONG been writhing in Hell, along with other assorted human devils and demons. LONG.

Think about this, folks.

When I look at the accounts of the birth of Jesus/ Yeshua - especially when I see Joseph, Mary and the child Jesus/ Yeshua fleeing mass murder in the dead of night, carrying only the lightweight high-value goods the magi had given them, I see...so many, many other episodes in the life of the Jewish people, both before that time, and afterward. How many other Jewish families have had to flee like that? Far too many. Even - hideously, tragically, as should never have been - from people who claimed to recognise that very same Jewish child Jesus as the living Word of God!!! And of course, many many times they have been fleeing from MUSLIM mobs yelling 'Kill the Jews!!!"

I do not see Jesus in a 'Palestinian' suicide murderer, nor in the Muslim mobs of Ramallah and Jenin, or those who hurl Kassam rockets, or who conconct the hideous 'martyrdom' incitation videos aired on 'Palestinian' TV.

But I see Jesus in the face of a Jewish mother and her child in Sderot, when the rocket alarms go off. I see Jesus in the face of the Israeli ambassador to the united nations, who must stand there facing a lynch mob of enemies who are slandering and abusing his country every chance they get. I see Jesus in his kinsman, Gilad Shalit, who (if still alive) is in some dark hole surrounded by gloating Muslim torturers.

And yes I also see Jesus in the murdered body of Rami Ayyad, Baptist Arab Christian, killed for the 'crime' of breaking the 'rules for dhimmis' by publicly selling the Bible in Muslim-dominated Gaza; I see Him in the other 'Palestinian' Christians who suffer from Muslim violence and lies.

May the Shepherd of Israel, the Holy One, wrap his mantle of love around his suffering people in the land of Israel - around the whole House of Israel, and also around those 'Palestinians' who follow the Way of Yeshua and - because of that - are suffering terrible persecution from many 'Palestinian' Muslims.

May YHWH bring a sudden and devastating defeat upon the preachers and practitioners of Jihad everywhere; and may the Muslim 'Palestinians' be delivered from spiritual bondage, cleansed from their venomous antisemitism, and leave forever the path of murder and lies. May they all one day follow the example of Walid Shoebat, of Nonie Darwish, or even that courageous sceptic, Wafa Sultan.

In church this morning we read Isaiah 62. Verses 6-7 run as follows:

"I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest
and give Him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem
and makes her the praise of the earth.'

(Read the whole chapter: it's terribly poignant for any Jew or non-antisemitic Christian, today).

Our official news provider, the ABC, is promulgating the same stuff as McClatchey Newspapers' Dion Nissenbaum and Cliff Churgin.

See link for David Hardaker's report.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/24/2126858.htm

It contains the obligatory ritual reference to "the apartheid wall" - at least Hardaker doesn't use the phrase himself, it's in the quoted utterances of one Sami Talhami (anyone here know anything about him at all?), leader of a group of 'Palestinians' and 'western peace activists' dressed as Santas who managed to get themselves into a 'scuffle' with the IDF.

Hardaker manages to write the entire report without using the I-word or the M-word, ONCE.

For example, he writes: "In the Palestinian territories, being a Christian is not so easy this Christmas.

Christians in the Gaza Strip have been attacked [note: he NEVER says, by WHOM] and in Bethlehem - as in the rest of the West Bank - the number of Christians has been dwindling".

An uninformed reader would naturally assume that the Christians had been, and were being, attacked by the Evil JOOOZ; and if anything the rest of the article would carry a similar impression.

The article also includes a poisonous little statement from a 'retired [Australian] Catholic archbishop Francis Carroll' is enough to make one want to vomit, since he - slyly, venomously, and falsely - identifies the ISRAELI JEWS, IN AND ON THEIR VERY OWN HISTORIC HOMELAND, WHERE THE BONES OF THEIR ANCESTORS LIE, AND WHERE THEIR HOLIEST SITES ARE, with the occupying/ colonising pagan Romans in the time of Christ!!!

Says Carroll: "but I found it a very profound thought, that a land in which Jesus was born probably bore a great deal of resemblance to the present in that sense of occupation."

Hellooo Mr Archbishop. The FOREIGN MUSLIM ARABS (AND THEIR SUCCESSORS, THE MUSLIM TURKS!) INVADED AND OCCUPIED JEWISH LAND FOR 1300 YEARS!!! during which they treated both Christians AND THE NATIVE JEWS like s**t!!! The 'Romans' here are a whole lot of murderous, lying, thieving Arab Muslims!

Hamas and Fatah and the whole Muslim Ummah pressing in upon Israel, are the ones most closely resembling the 'Romans' - NOT the Israeli Jews!

Time to write the ABC a little letter about what I think of Misinformation.

A Blessed Merry CHRISTmas and good morning to ALL. On this holy day that honors the birth of the God who is with us, Emmanuel, Jesus Christ, the GOD with a human face. May this troubled world, which NEEDS the true peace only He could give turn to Him, "who is the way, the truth, and the life".

Happy Birthday Jesus!

How ironic it is while there is complaints about the problems that the Christians in the Holy Land are still going through, yet there has been a miraculus increase in the number of pilgrams to the place where the Savior Jesus was born, the Church of the Nativity. It is said because of hopes of a "peace process" going on and a calming down of the troubles in the area Christian pilgrams are making a come back.

Naseem,

"Assalamau Laikuam all,

I know this is kinda hard for christians ...but the answer lies in knowing your target audience and market...let us take examples of this.

Christians are under pressure from the muslim in that region ...why?...well it's the message.

Instead of saying "Jesus saves" when not "Isa PBUH saves".

In the christian souveniour shops ..why not have Jesus signposted on the left and a ISA signposted on the left.

When in the manger ...why not have jesus the baby talk and extol the virtues of our lord Allah SWT ...and the coming of the final prophet Muhd SAW in the nativity play.

Using the message this way means that not only will you be safe ...you will be invited to stay...you will have new customers ...muslims ...don't peddle the blame game...use modern marketing...and target your message to the appropriate audience.

I hope this helps....Happy Isa-mas to one and all."

Merry Christmas and Good Morning to you Naseem, on this day of the Blessed Savior's Jesus, God the Son's holy birth in Bethlehem, more then ever THE GOOD NEWS of His Gospel message, His true words ring more true then ever before. His peace, the peace He can only give CAN ONLY COME FROM HIM. Because of the HOPE the newborn King of Kings gives to all peoples, this is why the good news of the Gospel is going out to all the four corners of the world. Even last night while watching early Christmas Eve the live Midnight Mass from St. Peter's Balsilica in Rome, during the time that the prayer's of the faithful were being read, a young man from China read one of the prayer intentions. The sight of that young Chineese man gives me hope as well as confirms that the CHRISTIAN FAITH is the true FASTEST GROWING FAITH in the world and that the GLOBAL SOUTH IS SEEING MASSIVE GROWTH in people coming to faith in Christ. No need for baby Jesus to say the words about Allah and the Koran, for HE IS GOD THE SON and the His words can be found in the GREATEST BEST SELLER OF ALL TIMES, THE HOLY BIBLE. Proof of the massive growth of the Christian faith is that even the former British PM, Tony Blair has not only come to true faith in Christ, he has become a Catholic in the last couple of days.

Naseem, may you come to truly know the true Jesus, "who is the way, the truth, and the life". Once again Merry Christmas to you.

Naseem,

Why use such letters as "pbuh", when in truth Jesus is truly God the Son, God with a human face, Emmauel?

The miraculus events of CHRISTmas says it all.

A Blessed Merry Christmas to all.

Naseem said:

Christians are under pressure from the muslim in that region ...

And:

Using the message this way means that not only will you be safe...

Finally an admittance of guilt. Threats and not very subtle ones at that. What should the Christians in that area have to fear from your cult, Naseem?

Does it help? Yes, it helps show your violent cult for what it is.

Did anyone see National Geographic's article on Bethlehem last month? It was the final straw of their increasingly whacked political journalism, and I gave up my subscription of over fourty years. I haven't written my rejection notice to them yet, but I will, and I hope that others have followed suit. Zero tolerance for apologetics, moral equivalence and self-loathing. Fight the fifth column wherever you find them and lop off their wallets.

Did anyone see National Geographic's article on Bethlehem last month? It was the final straw of their increasingly whacked political journalism, and I gave up my subscription of over fourty years. I haven't written my rejection notice to them yet, but I will, and I hope that others have followed suit. Zero tolerance for apologetics, moral equivalence and self-loathing. Fight the fifth column wherever you find them and lop off their wallets.

Posted by: QuickHenryTheFlit at December 25, 2007 7:12 AM

What did "NG" say about Bethlehem?

Also, "NG" is PC? (I haven't looked at one in years, sorry).

What the hell is a "mudsaw"? I've heard of a chainsaw, a handsaw, a hacksaw, but a mudsaw? (scratches head).

We, too, will be canceling our NG subscription. Been subscribed for over 20 years but enough's enough.

We, too, will be canceling our NG subscription. Been subscribed for over 20 years but enough's enough.

Posted by: Shy Guy at December 25, 2007 10:44 AM

Hello, pray tell, what is the deal with "National Geographic?"

National Geographic: Bethlehem 2007 A.D.

Sadly, after seeing the article and the pictures, NG has gotten too PC over the last few years. Enough of the PC nonsense. This wall would not have gone up if the Palistinians would have cleaned up their own house. Isreal has the right and the duty to defend itself.

Here is a Time Magazine article about a Muslim's memories of Bethlehem Christmas pasts.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1697404,00.html

Naseem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1K-Ea_T7EI

I wrote one of the responses to the WSJ's OpinionJournal hit-piece on Israel.

I think all the responses were against the silly article.

Mine is the one under Vince.... depsite where it says "editor's note", all of the text, even the one under the note, is from me.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/responses.html?article_id=110011037

I came across this abomination of a blog, from someone in Israel:
"IS ZIONISM THE ANTI-CHRIST?

(Ben Heine © Cartoons)
The zionist press, with the support of many Western journalists have been sending out report after report about the discrimination against Christian Palestinians by their Muslim brothers.

Rather than focus on the real problems facing Palestine, ie the occupation, genocide, apartheid... etc.etc... a new problem is invented to take attention away from those harsh realities.

For centuries Palestinian Muslims lived side by side with Palestinian Christians in perfect harmony, until the new anti Christ appeared on the scene."

They have a cartoon by some Belgian scum that shows a dead Palestinian terrorist Jesus with IDF planes flying in the background: http://www.desertpeace.blogspot.com/

I was surprised to see Naseem's comment, on this day of all days. I am trying hard not to be angry, for this is obviously posted just to mock and insult.

The Jesus of the Koran and the Jesus of the Bible are two different things. The Isa of the Koran does not exist. The Jesus of the Bible is attested to by history, by fact.

You will not mock Him on this most holy of days. Please take your comparisons elsewhere.

"Christians are under pressure from the muslim in that region ...why?...well it's the message"
Posted by: Naseem

....the message?....oh yeah..."convert or die"...

same dull message Muslims are delivering to Christians and other non Muslims anywhere the two converge...

...Islam is the most intolerant and oppressive religion going....Islams large following only shows the power of the gun when deranged people hold the gun....It shows that Islam deals in fear and people have been afraid to fight back...

...but the times...they are a'changing....

...No more foreign aid to Pakistan and Ban Muslim Immigratio...

Dumbo,

Just under the cartoon you mention in that blog is an article by Sonia Karkar. She is an Australian married to a Palestinian lawyer in
Melbourne, Aust. She has founded Women for Palestine in Melbourne. Also steering committee member for Australians for Palestine.

Google her for some interesting, if unsavoury articles about Israel and the Palestinians.

National Geographic: Bethlehem 2007 A.D.

Posted by: Shy Guy at December 25, 2007 11:19 AM

Thanks for that link, Shy Guy. The article is 10 pages long and I don't have time to read it right now, so I e-mailed it to myself for later.

Sadly, after seeing the article and the pictures, NG has gotten too PC over the last few years. Enough of the PC nonsense. This wall would not have gone up if the Palistinians would have cleaned up their own house. Isreal has the right and the duty to defend itself.

Posted by: bigcatgirl13106 at December 25, 2007 12:02 PM

So right.

Nauseating to think that such a significant and holy place that means so much to christians is under attack from such dispicable rodents .

Imagine the reaction if US troops started storming into Mecca during the annual pilgrimage (a nuke-worthy target if ever their was one ).... How many US flags would be burnt in the aftermath I wonder ....

This problem, the annual Christmas bashing of Israel, with all the attendant distortions and lies, is a microcosm of the MAIN problem. The main problem is the leftist media who are misdirecting and misinforming, weakening our national immunity so that the Jihadist microbes can attack us in our weakened state. The Bethlehem Christians are afraid to speak out, so the reporters broadcast the self-serving Muslim narrative. Do they know better? I think at this point they really do, but because they want the so-called "Wall" brought down, they report these bogus stories year after year. They want very much to turn Christians in the West against Israel. The MSM is paralyzing the West, directly misinforming, being "balanced" with evil, and over-critiquing everything we do like a meddlesome old biddy. But how to get this monkey off our backs, that's the question.

I just read your entries, dumbledoresarmy, and your words are heartfelt. I believe your prayers will be answered. I am very heartened by the love that Christians have for the Jewish people. It feels like a Homecoming to me.

Related to this:

STATEMENT BY AUSTRALIAN CHURCH LEADERS
Bethlehem, December 2007

In December 2007 a delegation of nine Australian Church leaders visited Jerusalem and the Holy Land to:

meet with and express friendship and support for Christians in Palestine and Israel;
meet with Jewish and Muslim faith leaders and representatives of the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority; and
help Australians more fully understand and respond to the situation in Israel and Palestine.
It was a profound privilege to visit Palestine and Israel. We felt very welcome and safe, and greatly appreciated the friendship and hospitality extended to us. We consulted widely, visiting the Old City of Jerusalem, West and East Jerusalem, Hebron, Jenin, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and refugee camps where churches are providing humanitarian support. We met with Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders, Israeli government and Palestinian National Authority representatives, and civic and human rights leaders.

We have been encouraged by international efforts toward a just peace renewed at Annapolis, and by the desire for negotiations between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian National Authority.

We were distressed to hear Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim, relate the suffering and fear experienced daily by large numbers of their people. We saw and heard evidence of systematic harassment, physical and psychological oppression, widespread unemployment, poverty, and economic deprivation, resulting directly or indirectly from Israeli military occupation of the West Bank. Their suffering compels us to respond, and we assure Palestinians of our compassion and concern.

We visited Yad Vashem and laid a wreath in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. We heard of Israeli grief and pain resulting from violent attacks and continuing fear of terrorist activity. We condemn all acts of terrorism and assure Israelis of our compassion and concern.

We recognise the complex nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We strongly affirm the right of both Israel and Palestine to political autonomy, security and self-determination. We join with a large majority of the people of Palestine and Israel in longing for a just and lasting peace. We understand the reluctance to make concessions or to trust those who are the source of fear and oppression, but the time for courageous and inspiring leadership has come.

In the light of what we have seen and heard during this visit, we support actions to enable Israel and Palestine to negotiate just outcomes on borders, settlements, water, refugees, prisoners, Jerusalem, and security.

We are particularly concerned by the imprisonment of teenagers, mothers with dependent children, and those detained without trial for long periods. We encountered the debilitating effects on the Palestinian economy and impacts on daily life of the segregated road system, the proliferation of checkpoints and road blocks throughout the West Bank, restrictions on movement of people and goods, and the effective isolation of Palestinian communities from one another. We were repeatedly told that these matters stand in the way of a just peace.

We are heartened by important signs of hope in the face of persistent difficulties. The emergence in Jerusalem of the Council for Religious Institutions promises greater understanding and cooperation among Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders and communities. Human rights organisations in both Palestine and Israel undertake significant and sometimes dangerous work with courage and passion. Vibrant educational and cultural initiatives are evident in oppressed communities and refugee camps.

We ask Australian Churches to:

pray for a just and lasting peace for Jerusalem and the Holy Land;
encourage the Australian Government to take more action to support a just and lasting peace for Israel and Palestine;
hear the stories of the suffering and oppression, perseverance and hope of the people of the Holy Land;
sponsor aid and development projects in the West Bank and Gaza;
support the status of Jerusalem as an open city for all faiths and peoples;
encourage Australian Christians to visit the Holy Land and foster relationships with Palestinian Christians;
build stronger relationships with Jewish and Muslim communities in Australia.
Our common humanity and legitimate desires for security and freedom can drive the peace process forward. We are confident that a just and lasting peace for Palestine and Israel can be realised.

As Christmas approaches, we look to the future with hope, confident in God’s promise of forgiveness, reconciliation and peace.

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace!” (Luke 2:14 NRSV)

Bethlehem,
12 December 2007

+ Archbishop Phillip Aspinall – Primate, Anglican Church of Australia, and Archbishop of Brisbane
Revd Rod Benson – Ethicist, National Council, Baptist Union of Australia
Dr Kevin Bray – National Council, Churches of Christ in Australia
+ Archbishop Francis Carroll – Roman Catholic Archbishop emeritus, and Immediate Past President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
Revd Terence Corkin – Assembly General Secretary, Uniting Church in Australia
Lyndsay Farrall – Presiding Clerk, Australian Yearly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Revd Gregor Henderson – President, Uniting Church in Australia
Revd John Henderson – General Secretary, National Council of Churches in Australia
Revd Merrill Kitchen - National Council, Churches of Christ in Australia
---------------------------------------
For further information:
Archbishop Aspinall – contact Darrin Davies 0420 970 605
Archbishop Carroll – contact Debra Vermeer 0414 880 475
Revd Gregor Henderson – contact Penny Monger 0417 416 674
Revd John Henderson – contact Debra Porter 0427 789 410

carpe diadem -

that statement by the ozzie churchmen is ...a classic of its kind.

Note that it NEVER mentions Jihad, or Islam, or Muslims, in connection with 'terrorism'.

The 'Palestinians' are absolved of all responsibility - and all responsibility for everything bad that is happening, is sheeted home to the Jews, for whom a few crocodile tears are briefly shed.

i think I will take the whole thing away and run it through the special Jihadwatch/ dhimmi watch translator that we learn to use here. Unless Our Hugh does that first.

Did you see the phrase about how "vibrant educational and cultural initiatives are evident in oppressed communities and refugee camps" (!!). These naive - or disingenuous - churchmen must have got a real 'Potemkin Village' tour - carefully minded at every step by their 'Palestinian' guides and interpreters, I'll bet. I'll bet no-one took them to a Qassam-making/ suicide belt making/ car-bomb-making/ molotov-cocktail-making workshop, though. And I wonder if anyone let them have a proper look at the schoolbooks?

I'm sure they enjoyed LOTS of wonderful Muslim Arab hospitality. I bet they met LOTS of carefully hand-picked, pre-rehearsed Palestinian Christians who fixed them with a brightly smiling gaze and recited the mantra that ALL problems are because of The Jews, The Jews, the Evil Evil Jews. (No Muslim Arab extortionists and gangsters anywhere near here, no sirree! And all that aid money that Arafat managed to 'lose'...we won't say anything about that)

I'll BET nobody showed them Hamas Kiddy TV - "Kill the Jews! Kill the Jews!" or that sickeningly decadent Liebestot 'virgins in paradise' martyr video Robert told us about, only a few days ago; or handed them a sheaf of typical Friday sermons from Al Aqsa or Gaza.

I'll BET none of them visited Rami Ayyad's widow and his two fatherless children, or heard WHY it is perfectly predictable, to anyone who knows anything about the 'rules for dhimmis', that the Arab Christian proprietor of the bible society bookshop in Gaza City would be murdered by armed Muslim thugs. And that Baptist pastor who was run out of Ramallah recently..somehow I don't think they met up with him, either.

But Philip Aspinall, at least, has no excuse. In a letter that I wrote to him earlier this year, on antisemitism and antizionism, I informed him of (I quote) "the violence against the Other that saturates Islamic texts, institutions and historic practice" and "the sheer volume and venom of anti-Jewish hate speech, much of it drawing not on Western but on traditional Muslim sources and directed not just at Israel but at every Jew everywhere, that has flooded the entire Arabised and Islamised world – from North Africa to Malaysia – in past decades." I added, "I have seen and read some examples of this stuff and its ferocity and mendacity are mind-bending."

I advised the Archbishop to read the Hamas charter – giving him a web reference for an online English translation - and referred him especially to articles 8, 11, 13, 22, 27 and 28, and to article 32 which - I warned him - " endorses the insane anti-Semitic theses of the fraudulent 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion').

I also urged him to read "Bat Ye’or’s two magisterial historical studies - 'The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam '(1985) and 'The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam' (1996)."

That was in May this year. I hope that Bishop Aspinall read the Hamas Charter before he went to 'Palestine'. But if he did, I do not know how he could have signed off on the infinitely disingenuous statement you have reprduced above (which essentially absolves the 'Palestinians' of all blame and blames Israel - the Jews of Israel - for EVERYTHING) and still sleep at night.

carpediadem

I would like to add the following remark, that that "Statement by Australian Church Leaders" really spooks me out, because it tells me that a great many pious and well-meaning Christians (Aspinall is NOT a 'nominal' or watered-down Christian - I know that) are just a whisker, a mere word and a breath, away from tacitly enabling or even openly endorsing that second Shoah which the Muslim world is preparing.

the australian church leaders forget that the palestinian Arabs also took part in the Holocaust --for which they laid a wreath at Yad v'Shem. The leading Arab Nazi collaborator was Haj Amin el-Husseini [husayni], British-appointed mufti of Jerusalem.

Also, although the Christian proportion of the population in Bethlehem had long been going down, in fact Christian homes were burned down even in the 1987-1991 "intifada" hate movement, it was only after the PLO took over Bethlehem in 12-1995 [at the urging of Bill Clinton for Israel to give up the town to the PLO] that the Christian population started to go down sharply, and Christians are now a minority there. Why was it only after the PLO takeover in 12-1995 that drastic demographic changes took place??