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The Independent, after many lows, has hit a new one. "Independent Appeal: 'What would happen if the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem today?,'" by Johann Hari in the Independent (thanks to Doc Washburn) is a shameless appropriation of the story of the birth of Jesus to fit their contemporary political agenda. Jesus in this schema is not Jewish but "Palestinian," and he would of course have been -- how else could it be? -- a victim of the wicked Israelis.
In two days, a third of humanity will gather to celebrate the birth pains of a Palestinian refugee in Bethlehem - but two millennia later, another mother in another glorified stable in this rubble-strewn, locked-down town is trying not to howl.Fadia Jemal is a gap-toothed 27-year-old with a weary, watery smile. "What would happen if the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem today? She would endure what I have endured," she says.
Fadia clutches a set of keys tightly, digging hard into her skin as she describes in broken, jagged sentences what happened. "It was 5pm when I started to feel the contractions coming on," she says. She was already nervous about the birth - her first, and twins - so she told her husband to grab her hospital bag and get her straight into the car.
They stopped to collect her sister and mother and set out for the Hussein Hospital, 20 minutes away. But the road had been blocked by Israeli soldiers, who said nobody was allowed to pass until morning. "Obviously, we told them we couldn't wait until the morning. I was bleeding very heavily on the back seat. One of the soldiers looked down at the blood and laughed. I still wake up in the night hearing that laugh. It was such a shock to me. I couldn't understand."
Her family begged the soldiers to let them through, but they would not relent. So at 1am, on the back seat next to a chilly checkpoint with no doctors and no nurses, Fadia delivered a tiny boy called Mahmoud and a tiny girl called Mariam. "I don't remember anything else until I woke up in the hospital," she says now. For two days, her family hid it from her that Mahmoud had died, and doctors said they could "certainly" have saved his life by getting him to an incubator.
"Now Mariam is at an age when she asks me where her brother is," Fadia says. "She wants to know what happened to him. But how do I explain it?" She looks down. "Sometimes at night I scream and scream." In the years since, she has been pregnant four times, but she keeps miscarrying. "I couldn't bear to make another baby. I was convinced the same thing would happen to me again," she explains. "When I see the [Israeli] soldiers I keep thinking - what did my baby do to Israel?"
Posted by Robert at December 24, 2006 7:41 AM
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LOL the Independent; it makes The Grauniad look reasonable and balanced! It never ceases to be pro muslim and anti-Israel at every opportunity. Oh and for good measure, promoting it's multi-cultural agenda at every opportunity.
Posted by: Celsius![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 24, 2006 8:01 AM
"What would happen if the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem today?"
-- remark by a local "Palestinian" Arab in the article above
That's easy.
Mary, Joseph, and the baby they are about to have are all, of course, Jewish. And if the Virgin Mary (presumably with Joseph) were to arrive in Bethlehem today, and arrived without the IDF around them, in a place now controlled by the kind of Palestinian Muslim Arabs who are there now, they would be killed on the spot.
Someone among the killers would think to cut the baby out of Mary, and raise him, the baby Jesus, as a Palestinian Arab and good Muslim. And come think of think of it, that is exactly what Islam does when it appropriates, and changes, the Jesus of Christianity for the Jesus of Islam, about which Karen Armstrong is such an enthusiast.
That's what would happen if a Jewish girl, the Virgin Mary, arrived nine months pregnant, and with labor pains beginning, anywhere that "Palestinian Arabs" were free to do what they do to any Israeli who happens to wander or stumble or arrive, unprotected, in their midst today. And if you need evidence for that, start with those Israeli hitchhikers, or those two reservists who took a wrong turn into Ramallah and were lynched, or those four little girls sitting in their car, methodically shot to death, one by one, by the brave hero of the "Palestinian resistance."
Johann Hari has it wrong. I have it right.
Posted by: Hugh at December 24, 2006 8:43 AM
Yes, Hugh. When the Independent started its special seasonal Palestine appeal a few days ago, I thought they should just call it "Kill a Jew for Christmas" and have done with it.
Posted by: philiph35 at December 24, 2006 8:51 AM
When Jesus was born Judea was under Roman Occupation - now it's under Muslim Occupation...........
Posted by: Voyager at December 24, 2006 8:58 AM
Well, I do have sympathy for the current young woman's plight if the story is on the up-and-up. I am appalled at the writer who seems to forget that Mary is Jewish, not a Palestian. Ironically, she and Joseph, well at least Mary, would probably have been killed today by Muslims. Considering, that Mary would have been seen as having committed adultery, as Joseph was not the father, Mary according to current application of Islamic law, would be dead.
As far as the current story is concerned, I enjoy the fact that the author does not get the Israeli side of the story at all. Doesn't tell us WHY the road was blocked or anything. Actually getting the whole-story I might still agree with the young woman or maybe not, but this is the problem with the journalists of today. They are NOT reporters; they are all friggin' editorialists.
Posted by: Monkeywho at December 24, 2006 9:48 AM
The Guardian is packed with Muslims and their dhimmis. There is no room for a different viewpoint. Such blatant bias, and by a casual stroke of the pen, rewrite history. Goebbels would be proud.
Posted by: John Sobieski at December 24, 2006 10:13 AM
I don't believe the woman's story and the reporter's bias is blatant.
Mary and Joseph were Palestinian refugees? That's a lie and I hope some readers complain. Unless, of course, the readers of that newspaper read it because of its bias and agree with that kind of anti-Jewish trash talk.
It disgusts me that any newspaper would print this type of garbage.
Posted by: Josephine at December 24, 2006 10:24 AM
A Bethlehem Christian, 18-year-old Sandy Shaheen, who was in tears as she looked at the interior of the basilica. "This is the place where Jesus was born. I can't believe this is the house of God -- just look at it," said Shaheen, who worships at the Church of the Nativity every Sunday.
One priest complained the foreigners had desecrated the church by smoking and drinking alcohol. The desecration was quite a bit worse than that. Israeli police and soldiers swept the church after the Palestinians left and said they found 40 explosive devices, several of which were booby-trapped.
http://illustratedpig.blogspot.com/2006/12/o-little-town-of-bethlehem_24.html
Posted by: shiva at December 24, 2006 10:33 AM
I am appalled at the writer who seems to forget that Mary is Jewish, not a Palestian.
Don't be so naive !
Hari was born in Glasgow to a Swiss-German father who worked as a cook and a bus driver and a Scottish mother who works with victims of domestic violence, but was brought up in London. He attended Aylward School, John Lyon School, North Cheshire Theatre School, and Woodhouse College, after which he graduated with a double first in Social and Political Sciences at King's College, Cambridge in 2001
He has been broadly supportive of Hugo Chávez's government in Venezuela, and has reported from the country on several occasions and interviewed Chavez. He was criticised by Oliver Kamm as being too soft on Chavez [35].
He has reported from Israel and Palestine, and argued for both a two-state solution along the 1967 borders and for Israel to become a "post-Zionist state" of all its citizens, a position outlined by Tom Segev[36]. He has drawn parallels between the earliest Zionists and the present day nationalist Palestinians [37] He derided the idea that either Ariel Sharon or Ehud Olmert would achieve a two-state solution.[38] Hari has interviewed trainee Palestinian suicide-bombers [39] and was dismayed by the election of a Hamas government in Palestine [40] because he feared persecution of women and homosexuals.
Hari is a self-described antitheist [57], a position influenced by Richard Dawkins[58] and Christopher Hitchens [6] He has criticised Buddhism, Islam[59], Judaism and Christianity for perceived fundamentalism. This criticism has earned him a personal retort from the Dalai Lama, as well as accusations of anti-Semitism[60] and Islamophobia [61] [62] which eh strongly denies. He has also written critically of the Catholic Church's stance on birth control [63] and Christian evangelicals who believe in the Rapture [64].
Hari has written about about his experiences of clinical depression, and Seroxat. Although he believes there are positive sides to Seroxat [65], he also believes it has drawbacks [7] As a result, he stopped taking the drug in 2006.
http://www.johannhari.com/index.php
Posted by: Voyager at December 24, 2006 10:36 AM
Posted by: Voyager
Hari is a self-described
Ever heard of blowing your own trumpet
Posted by: shiva at December 24, 2006 10:48 AM
Posted by: Voyager
Hari is a self-described blah blah blah
Ever heard of blowing your own trumpet
Posted by: shiva at December 24, 2006 10:49 AM
Voyager:
When Jesus was born Judea was under Roman Occupation - now it's under Muslim Occupation...........
I think Roman was better.
Posted by: johnb at December 24, 2006 11:12 AM
An off topic "Uh huh..."
Kuwait court jails two women for raping man
Posted by: ummahnewslinks at December 24, 2006 11:52 AM
What convenient ignorance by Mr. Hari!
Neither Jesus nor his parents were "refugees." Joseph and Mary were on their way to Bethlehem to participate in the census ordered by the Roman Empror Augustus.
Posted by: 3812Michelle
at December 24, 2006 12:30 PM
It's interesting that the article states that "a third of humanity will gather to celebrate the birth pains of a Palestinian refugee in Bethlehem." The author is woefully blind to the fact that a good portion of Christendom---the Catholic and Orthodox Churches---regard the birth of Jesus as miraculous and painless for Mary.
Posted by: Kyriakon at December 24, 2006 1:24 PM
First thing came into my mind is "Mary was NOT a palestinian," the country was known as Judea, whatever religion Mary was known as.
Mary - according to the scriptures was not married - her throat would have been cut.
or she would have been raped, pregnant or not.
And the baby would have been killed upon orders of the islamic clerics.
Just these mistakes by the author of the article, makes me suspect that there are other errors.
The entire article has an aura of "oh, those poor, poor moslems, boo hoo!"
and I wonder how the little girls are doing - how they're being treated by the family.
IT was the male infant that died - that's porobalby the sadness of the woman, but if the baby girl had died - would the story be told today?
And then of course, wasn't the article written by a man? It's reality to say that men in any country, any race, any religion, would never ever, be effected as negatively as women, in re. to islam.
Posted by: allat at December 24, 2006 1:42 PM
"he stopped taking the drug in 2006."
-- from a posting above
He should go back on it.
at December 24, 2006 1:49 PM
The truth of the matter is that what is going on in the city that the Son of God was born is part of the sad signs of the times that we live in. The same city, which was under the rule of the Romans is now under the rule of the Muslims. Joseph and Mary, fullfilling the prophecy of Micah, having made the journey to Bethlehem would still encounter harships along the way, and yet Jesus was born for the love of fallen hummanity.
I was just thinking that at both his birth and at his resurection, the first people to see him were women. The good news in this is the high regards Our Lord gaved to women.
A Blessed Merry Christmas to all.
Posted by: bigcatgirl13106 at December 24, 2006 2:36 PM
Big mistake for Isreal having let go of a holy and important city in the Christian faith.
Posted by: bigcatgirl13106 at December 24, 2006 2:37 PM
In two days, a third of humanity will gather to celebrate the birth pains of a Palestinian refugee in Bethlehem
This is flawed journalism. "Flawed" is being used as a euphemism.
The Roman territory of Judea was occupied primarily by Jews, Romans and Greeks with some Edomites and Samaritans. Philistines, with whom the modern Palestinians claim kinship, were of Greek origin and had disappeared as a distinctive group in Mary and Joseph's day. He, Jesus was a Jew of the Tribe of Judah. Mary and Joseph were of the Tribe of Judah and had near relatives who were of the Tribe of Levi. Judea would not be renamed Palestine until a hundred years after Mary and Joseph. And those Palestinians had no blood relationship to modern Palestinians. Early stories of Jesus' birth say that his mother had no birth pains.
I tend to be skeptical of all Palestinian "Look what the Israelis did to me" stories after seeing so many staged stories. However, if true, I feel sorry for the Palestinian lady, but the soldier probably had no authority to alter his orders. If the soldiers let her go through, how long would it take the Jihadists to pour blood all over a car, plant an injured woman inside along with some TNT...?
Mary had no hospital to try to go to either-she gave birth in a barn. A king (Herod Marcus Julius Agrippa, 10 B.C.-44A.D.) and a horde of soldiers tried to harm Jesus, Mary and Joseph. They were unable to do so. Why does anyone think that a few blood thirsty Muslims would fare any better now? And Mary could tell the Muslims that Muhammed (and the Laborious Quran) was mistaken: she has no brother Moses and Christians don't worship her as one of three gods.
An Arabic Christian friend of mine from Bethlehem says that in his part of town 75% of the Palestinians and Arabs are Christians. We hear so much about the Islamic Palestinians and Arabs because they make so much noise and bother.
Posted by: St. David, King of Georgia at December 24, 2006 3:03 PM
The Christians of the Holy Land go back to the days of the first Christians. Pray for their safety.
Posted by: bigcatgirl13106 at December 24, 2006 3:26 PM
well judging from CNN's comments tonight, at least Mary and her husband would be safe, because the IDF would be there. I am sorry, this woman lost her baby. But how many women have In Palestine, have fakedbeing pregnant to smuggle bombs in an effort to find the biggest concentration of Jews. They can find and just blow themselves and the Jews to pieces, and who would suspect a pregnant woman or used a fake pregnancy to smuggle handguns etc. back in world war two. They taught female agents how to use their bodies to smuggle handguns inside their sex and if they could to use a fake pregnancy to smuggle disassembled submachine guns, etc. so wide that would the Palestinians not do the same and as for the independent made you realize that if the wall and the Israeli Defense force was not there any non-Muslim woman would risk being gang raped, and her throat cut afterwards, and probably her babies skull and crushed just because they were Jewish and that would be the fate of Mary and Joseph but thenthe left-wing idiots at UK Independent would never believe there, saintly oppressed jihadist infidel, and Jewish murderers would never of course, rape or kill anyone despite their taking women and children as sex slaves and killing their man or castrating them like they have done since the time of Mohammed [may pigs defecate on his grave]
\\\\
Posted by: islamakapigeaters at December 25, 2006 2:40 AM
Posted by: islamakapigeaters
And may I ask where is his grave
Posted by: shiva at December 25, 2006 10:08 AM
Josephine:
Believe me, the 'Independent' prints garbage just like this every single day.
Posted by: enemyofislam at December 25, 2006 8:36 PM
shiva, I share your doubts.
Hugh said
those four little girls sitting in their car, methodically shot to death, one by one, by the brave hero of the "Palestinian resistance."
For those just tuning in, the mother's name was Tali Hatuel. It was reported that one of the attackers videotaped the point-blank shooting of the 4 little girls; I am not aware if that video has shown up in any recruiting videos for the "Palestinian resistance".
Posted by: special_guest at December 26, 2006 12:34 AM
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