A Chrislam Carol

Statement by several score of European legal eagles, including to my certain knowledge a chap who wore his Jewish identity lightly, eschewed Jewish communal life, but suddenly threw himself vigorously into the work of a body formed of fellow as-a-Jews whose sole purpose is denigrating Israel.

Not that he is signing "as a Jew" on this occasion, for the signatories represent a cross-section of anti-Israel legal opinion in today's Eurabia.

"Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a global, peaceful movement led by Palestinian civil society that seeks to put pressure on Israel to honour its obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law as demanded by numerous UN resolutions, in particular to end the occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territories, stop systemic discrimination against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel itself, and permit the return of Palestinian refugees.

Modeled on the Anti-Apartheid Movement that mobilized civil society against apartheid in South Africa, the BDS movement has become a powerful and effective global movement in the advocacy of measures aimed at pressurizing Israel to comply with international law, and at persuading other states and business enterprises to withhold all support for Israel’s violations of international law.

The mobilization of civil society in the interest of human rights, such as the campaign against apartheid in South Africa and the Civil Rights movement in the United States, has not been obstructed by foreign governments. The effectiveness of BDS, however, has prompted not only Israel but also some other states to adopt measures to suppress this movement.

France, the United Kingdom, Canada and certain state legislatures in the United States, have adopted laws and taken executive action to suppress, outlaw and in some instances, criminalize the advocacy of BDS. Such measures aim to punish individuals, companies and private and public institutions that adopt ethically and legally responsible business, investment and procurement decisions.

Other States, notably Sweden, the Netherlands and Ireland, have taken the position that, while they do not endorse a boycott of Israel, the advocacy  of BDS is  a lawful exercise of freedom of expression, a deeply cherished freedom enshrined in national law and international human rights conventions. Reputable human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Human Rights Watch, have likewise taken the position that individuals, associations, public and private institutions, local governments and businesses are entitled to advocate and implement BDS in the exercise of the fundamental right of freedom of expression.

States and organizations that view BDS as a lawful exercise of freedom of expression are correct. Whether one approves of the aims or methods of BDS is not the issue. The issue is whether in order to protect Israel an exception is to be made to the freedom of expression that occupies a central and pivotal place among fundamental human rights. States that outlaw BDS are undermining this basic human right and threatening the credibility of human rights by exempting a particular state from the advocacy of peaceful measures designed to achieve its compliance with international law."

More here (note the photo, in which a couple of familiar faces appear.)

Meanwhile, in anticipation of a speech, Baroness Tonge seems to be happy:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-38281950

But I digress.

An exhortation by her ladyship re "O Little Town of Bethlehem":

has prompted a well-received (by western Israel-haters) response on the thread by an Arab follower, posting a despicable distortion of history and insult to both Jews and Christians entitled "I met Jesus today".

His name was Palestinian 
Issa… Jesus he was called 
On the altar of “chosen-ness” he was crucified 
Time and time and time again 
***** 
His face was Palestinian 
Olive, with a hint of agony 
Yet 
Years of torture fail to conceal the glow 
The purity of his soul peeks through 
The sparkle in his eyes invites you to dive in 
***** 
His pain was Palestinian 
The colour of his words 
Grips your guts 
And squeeze… squeeze … squeeze 
Until you lose consciousness 
You fall on your knees 
Begging for forgiveness 
***** 
His faith was Palestinian 
“Their sadism too much to bear 
In the street I waited for a car 
No way out but to kill myself 
Twilight hour the fall of night 
The call to prayer woken my heart 
Healing balsam caressed my soul 
Maybe…. In this life… still…there is something worth living for” 
***** 
His heart was Palestinian 
Carved with sorrow 
Filled with love 
Flames of rage and roars of thunder 
Hound his torturer to his grave 
***** 
His tears were Palestinian 
His first crucifixion… he was only fourteen 
On the second, he was nineteen 
From then on
He was crucified every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year 
***** 
His dignity was Palestinian 
Anguished by his rapists 
With his broken back he stood tall 
His wounds run deep… his head held high 
He saw the rainbow in the horizon 
When all gave up he gave them hope 
***** 
His smile was Palestinian 
It has been said: 
“To smile when confronted with most severe oppression 
Is an act of Resistance 
Rooted 
In unparalleled beauty” 
The smile of Issa 
Was Palestinian 
 ***** 
His resilience was Palestinian 
“As he punched me in the face 
I felt stronger 
As he kicked me in the stomach 
I felt stronger 
As he slashed my arm 
I felt stronger”, he said 
 ***** 
His hope was Palestinian 
Insha’Allah, ya rab, Alhamdulillah 
Bouncy words sprinkled around 
Buds of trust bloom and grow 
His broad grin whiffs you to life 
His nightmares close their eyes 
His tales of horror lie to slumber 
When all lost hope he saw a future 
I saw Jesus today

Just another reminder of the duplicitous nonsense that unites so much of the anti-Israel movement today.

Wrongful Wright: Obama's former pastor claims Jesus was a Palestinian (video)

This "man of God," addressing a rally in Washington on Saturday organised by the antisemitic Rev. Louis Farrakhan, is a reverse racist, a Jew-hater, and a revisionist of historical truth, helping to spread one of the most odious canards in the anti-Israel arsenal.

Report here

Another kooky Jew-hating preacher here

Meanwhile, here's Christian scholar Raymond Ibrahim lecturing on the conquest of infidels by Islam.

In Britain's Bradford, BDSer "Brothers" Keep It Up For 150 Days ...

From the online Yorkshire Standard (founder and editor Hasan Faridi) a triumphalist welcome to the New Year:

Why the celebratory mood?

It's because anti-Israel elements in the West Riding city, traditionally a centre of England's woollen industry,  have just chalked up 150 days of protesting outside a McDonald's restaurant there.

Here's local Respect MP Gorgeous George, waxing enthusiastic about the "Brothers – and Sisters" in November, four days before the 100th day anniversary of the protest.

Notes George, in upbeat tones:

"They've had a fantastic success rate.  Police have to be here 24 hours a day ... costing the taxpayer a right few good quid ..."

The restaurant management and staff can be forgiven for seeing things rather differently.  Back in August, the Bradford Telegraph & Argus reported:

'.... Duncan Taylor, who has the franchise for the McDonald's at Thornbury, says the flag and banner-waving protests have hit the store hard but it is not just the tills that have been affected.

Mr Taylor, who also has the McDonald's at Kirkgate and Forster Square as well as two in Sheffield, said demonstrators have been outside the Thornbury business everyday since August 1 "unfairly targetting" it.

He says takings are down considerably and he is having to cut workers' hours meaning they take less home for their families although he is trying to find them more work at his other branches.

Mr Taylor has met the protesters to explain he is an independent business and the UK franchises deal with McDonald's UK arm and have no contact whatsoever with the US parent company.

He said:

 "I just want business as usual. I'm being unfairly targeted, it's been a nightmare. We've explained this to them, we've had a meeting. We are being caught up in the crossfire so to speak.

"I feel really sorry for my staff who are losing hours because of this, it's hard on them and their families. They are also being abused by the protesters,they've had eggs thrown at them.

"Some of the protesters have also been shouting at customers and jumping in front of cars to stop people from coming in. I have reported this to the police who do come up. I don't want to make any of this worse but I wanted to put the record straight." [Emphasis added]

Mr Taylor said his McDonald's franchise is a major sponsor of Bradford City's Disabled Football Team.

"We work very hard with the community, from sponsorship of a local football team to helping with litter-picks and cleaning up graffiti."

He said his Forster Square branch was also feeling the pinch with a noticeable reduction in the number of Asian [sic; he was probably not referring to Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and persons from SE Asia] customers visiting it, there have also been protests outside the McDonald's in Ingleby Road, Girlington.

A McDonald's UK spokesman said:

 “As a company that operates in more than 1,200 communities in the UK, we respect employees and customers from all backgrounds.

"McDonald’s UK does not donate to the Jewish United Fund or any political organisations and refutes any suggestion that we have taken a position related to ongoing political or religious conflicts.” ...'

The paper added:

'The Bradford protesters have not just been targetting McDonald's in the city, they have also gathered outside Tesco and Sainsbury's stores.

In one protest outside Tesco Express in Otley Road, Undercliffe, earlier this month about 30 men, women and children gathered outside for about six-hours with banners and leaflets denouncing Israel and the supermarket giant, earlier they had been at the Tesco in Canal Road urging people to sound their car horns in support of forcing the store chain to take Israeli goods off its shelves. [Emphasis added]

Despite protests it seems supermarkets in Bradford are standing firm and are are not giving in to demonstrators....

A Tesco spokesman said: “Like all major UK retailers, we sell some products that are sourced from Israel. We do this in line with the Government position on trade with Israel, and we mark all products clearly with the country of origin, so customers can make informed choices about what to buy.”....

[A Sainsbury's] spokesman said: "As a non-political organisation, Sainsbury's would never take such a decision on grounds other than ensuring the quality or safety of our

States Hasan Faridi's Yorkshire Standard:

'....  Dozens have been gathering on a daily basis outside the eatery on Thornbury Road to “educate people about companies that support, fund or trade with Israel”.

Spokesperson for the protesters, Faisal Mohammed, said: “In 150 days, we’ve seen a minimum of 4,000 people turn away. A lot of regulars who used to come don’t come anymore and we’re seeing mainly new faces.

“It feels good to have got to this stage. We came together as individuals who barely knew each other but now it has progressed a lot more.

“We can’t see any breaks coming to the train of the boycott campaign and I can only see it bigger.” ....

A spokesperson from McDonald’s said: “We respect the right to protest outside our restaurants, but we ask that this is carried out peacefully and is not disruptive to our customers and employees.

“The safety and security of our customers and employees is our top priority and we will continue to work with the local police and community to ensure that any protests are conducted in a safe and peaceful manner.”

Local police have been monitoring the protests.'

 And just fancy that!:

"On The 25th of December ... People Around The World Will Celebrate The Birth of a Palestinian Socialist"

In my previous post I linked to several unpalatable examples of Yuletide fare, including one that our old mate Stephen Sizer appears to be promoting (does the Bishop of Guildford know, or care?).

Here is another unpalatable nugget.  I nearly called it "indigestible" but unfortunately there are many people with a vested interest in swallowing such crap with relish, and encouraging others to do so.

And because traditional religious instruction, like history itself, is not taught in schools, there will be an untold number of morons and dupes only too ready to digest this poison.

I have always said, and I will say again: one of the major reasons for the diminution of philosemitism in the Western world is because few people read the scriptures anymore, and in consequence fail to identify with the Jews and with Israel against Pharoah, Haman, and everybody else who seek to destroy them.

All They Want For Christmas

When I was a teenager I had a couple of French penfriends, Nicole and Sylvie, both of whom lived in Marseilles.  Sylvie was Jewish, and I often wonder what she in particular thinks of her home city nowadays.  Is she still there?  Has she moved elsewhere in France? Is she, perhaps, one of the many French Jews who have nade aliya, or is seriously considering doing so?  Does she encounter these maniacs when she goes shopping, spewing their bile?

This lot, many wearing Santa hats, took a little kid with them, bearing his share of BDS literature.  Don't the useful idiots among the group ever worry that the fate of French Jews now might be that of his generation tomorrow?

No wonder a kit has been produced as an antidote to the Jew-hatred flooding France.

Our old mate the vicar of Virginia Water advertised this fact to his Facebook Friends:

The lady less than impressed, is, by the way, the lady who about a year ago anticipated this newly posted excrescence

by posting this:

(Reprimanded her yet, vicar?)

More ulcer-inducing festive fare:

Meanwhile, across La Manche (hat tip: JS):

Read more here

Why, just fancy that! Right on cue:

The French had better make that Antisemitox kit for export.

Lies, Damned Lies, & False Prophets

The Israel-haters' massive erection

There have been a number of excellent ripostes (there's one on the replica wall at St James's, Piccadilly itself in this picture by L.K., and may such messages keep coming) by outraged friends of Israel to the monstrous act of infamy committed by the left liberal ratbags and their misguided clerical allies who joined forces to erect this now-notorious eight-metre high gimmick (recommended on the tourist circuit) in Central London. (Elder of Ziyon has blogged about it here and there's a spoof on it here) (Update: hat tip: reader Fleur - great piece by Melanie Phillips here)

Among the sponsors of this Israel-demonising gimmick (which, I understand, cost several thousand pounds) is, as I've remarked before, the controversial charity Interpal.

Sam Westrop noted in October that one of Interpal's trustees, Ibrahim Hewitt of Leicester University, has said:

 "By their behaviour in vandalising and destroying Mosques and Churches, the Jews have demonstrated that they cannot be entrusted with the sanctity and security of this Holy Land". In a pamphlet written by Hewitt, entitled What Does Islam Say?, he advocates the death penalty for apostates and adulterers, and demands that homosexuals suffer "severe punishments" for their "great sin" [Ibrahim Hewitt, What does Islam Say?, The Muslim Educational Trust, April 2004].'

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4003/uk-charity-commission-interpal

This video shows Interpal trustee Essam Mustafa (pictured, with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh; for Interpal and Hamas see also here and  here and here) arriving in a car with  Haniyeh to a joint Hamas-Interpal press conference in Gaza.

Recently, though, the British Charity Commission cleared Interpal of suspected links to terrorist organisations.

One of the best representative ripostes against the replica wall in Piccadilly comes from Jerusalem-based Michael Dickson, Israel director for StandWithUs, who has sent an open letter to the authorities at St James's Church, which begins:

"What a mean-spirited, one-sided and divisive stunt you chose to politicise your church with this Christmas.

In an ideal world there would be no walls.

In an ideal world there would also be no suicide bombers – radical Islamist Palestinians who hate the Jews that live close to them so much that they are willing to indiscriminately kill them and others – be it in a shopping centre, disco, pizza restaurant or if they are sitting at their Passover Seder.

Be in no doubt that Israel built a security barrier only after enduring a wave of horrific terrorism that left thousands dead and maimed for life.

Your completely partial representation of the situation negates their loss of life and shows gross insensitivity to their families – and by extension to all Israelis and the Jewish community in the UK, none of whom were untouched by these murders...."

Will such a riposte change anyone's mind?  Obviously, all who support Israel hope that it will. But, let's face it, several decades-worth of propaganda in favour of the people once known solely as "Arabs" (Israel, you're your own worst enemy sometimes; why did you aid and abet those who seek your destruction by adopting the new-fangled term?) has worked its egregious magic, especially on the generations that have reached maturity or been born since 1967 and have thoroughly digested the lie that Israel is not a valiant David but a militaristic Goliath.

But it is not only this latest obscenity on the part of certain Israel-hating elements within and without the Christian communion that have been roundly denounced for collusion in the demonic, financially wasteful  initiative (just think of the needy who've missed out on funds) that the charity-sponsored Piccadilly gimmick is.  That bizarre propaganda campaign of recent years, repeated by Mahmoud Abbas a few days ago, that Jesus the Judean, Jesus the Jew, was Jesus the Palestinian, has been coming in for its share of much-deserved criticism and contempt.

As pro-Israel Christian Jim Fletcher wrote recently:

'.... What began as a clever propaganda ploy by Yasser Arafat—as part of his lifelong attempt to erase Jewish history—has been picked up by American evangelicals. That Jesus of Nazareth was born and lived as a Jew is an obvious historical fact, just as, for example, Robert E. Lee commanding the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War. The background of Jesus Christ, however, inarguably the most famous person in history, is of great importance. His life as a Jew is increasingly being called into question by Muslims, who are working overtime to open “interfaith dialogue” channels with American Christian leaders.

The revisionists originally were the usual suspects: Arafat, mainline church scholars, media types. But now this revisionist history has burrowed-into the American evangelical community.

Incredibly.

In February, 2000, popular author Philip Yancey referred to Jesus as a “Palestinian rabbi” in the pages of Christianity Today.

Ed Stetzer, president of research at LifeWay—the resource arm of the Southern Baptist Convention—referred to Jesus as a “Palestinian Jew” in a September 12, 2011 blog post entitled “Monday is for Missiology: Some Thoughts on Contextualization.”

In a banner above his May 9, 2012 blog post, “Solidarity Fast With Palestinians?” Assemblies of God minister and Palmer Theological Seminary Professor Paul Alexander referred to Jesus as “the Palestinian Jew.” Alexander, professor of Christian Ethics and Public Policy at Palmer (the seminary of Eastern University) has long advocated for the Palestinians.

Knowingly or unknowingly, some evangelical leaders are advancing a false narrative concocted by the likes of Arafat and the PLO....'

Fletcher continues:

'British writer Paul Wilkinson is also very familiar with this type of anti-Israel agenda:

“The portrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ as a Palestinian refugee who lived under military occupation has, in recent years, been used as a powerful propaganda weapon against Israel by an increasing number of pro-Palestinian Evangelicals. This blasphemous depiction of Jesus ominously echoes what Palestinian authors, clerics, and political leaders have been saying publicly of late in a brazen attempt to claim Christ as one of their own. By propagating their Islamicized version of ‘replacement theology’ (now rebranded ‘fulfillment theology’ or ‘messianic fulfillment’ by leading pro-Palestinian Evangelicals such as Stephen Sizer and Gary Burge), Islamic scholars have endeared themselves to many in the Church who have cast off the restraint of God’s Word and God’s Spirit. The forging of unholy Evangelical-Muslim alliances in the name of ‘dialogue’ and ‘bridge-building’ is reminiscent of the unholy alliance which suddenly developed between Herod and Pilate during the trial of Jesus – they were sworn enemies who united against a common enemy; today the common enemy is Israel. Like the false prophets of old who prophesied lies in God’s Name, pro-Palestinian Evangelicals, or ‘Christian Palestinianists’ as we might call them, are running with a message they believe is from God, but God has not sent them, for they have not stood in His council (Jeremiah 23:9-32).”' [My emphasis]

Remarks Evelyn Gordon in a great article here:

'Christmas this year brought the usual spate of Palestinian historical revisionism, including the by-now routine claim that Jesus was a Palestinian. This, as Jonathan Tobin noted, tells us a lot about the Palestinian mindset and prospects for peace. But to me, the most striking aspect of this story is that objections to such historical revision come almost exclusively from Jews, whereas many Christian churches and organizations seem to have no problem with it. After all, it’s not only Jewish history and the Jewish religion Palestinians thereby erase; they are also erasing Christian history and the Christian religion.

What, for instance, becomes of the famous scene of Jesus evicting money-changers from the Temple if, as Palestinian officials claim, the Temple never existed? (They refer to it strictly as “the alleged Temple”; for examples, see here and here.) Or what becomes of Mary’s husband Joseph, who was “of the house and lineage of David” (Luke 2:4), if, as Palestinians claim, the Davidic kingdom never existed?

Even if you want to claim, in defiance of all the evidence, that Jesus himself wasn’t a Jew, his entire story as related in the Gospels takes place in a Jewish state with a largely autonomous Jewish political and religious leadership, albeit subject to some control from the Roman Empire. According to the Gospels, it is this Jewish leadership that arrests and tries Jesus, though the Romans ultimately crucify him. If no Jewish state with the power to arrest and try ever existed (as Palestinians, again, routinely claim; see here or here, for instance), how did this most foundational of all Christian stories ever occur?

Granted, the Christians most sympathetic to this Palestinian revisionism generally represent liberal churches that aren’t wedded to a literal reading of the Bible. Nevertheless, belief in Jesus is ostensibly fundamental even for liberal Christians–and absent the historic Jewish kingdom of the Gospels, there quite literally is no Jesus...'

 (Privately advises a scholar, pertinently:

'... the New Testament itself says that Bethlehem where Jesus is supposed to have been born is called Bethlehem of Judea, in the NT [book of Matthew 2:1]. Get that. The NT itself says that Jesus was born in Judea. No mention of  Palestine. Apparently, this is a usage of Judea in the narrow Jewish sense referring only to the former kingdom of Judah, not the broad Greco-Roman usage of Judea which referred to the whole country, all of the Land of Israel, roughly speaking. I deduce from the fact that the same chapter of Matthew calls the country "Land of Israel" twice [2:20-21].')

To quote Professor Phyllis Chesler:

'Lets' set the record straight before the year ends:

Israel is not an apartheid Nazi state. Islam is the largest practitioner of both gender and religious apartheid.

Infidel violence against or hatred of Muslims is a mere drop in the bucket. Muslim-on-Muslim violence is a pandemic and indigenous feature of Muslim-Muslim relationships, beginning with the endless religious feuds between Sunni and Shiia Muslims.

Today, Muslims are torturing, exiling, and blowing each other up in Egypt, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan—to name only a few Muslim-majority countries.

While the West may be imperfect, mea culpa, mea culpa, Islam has a very long and bloody history of imperialism, colonialism, anti-Black racism, conversion via the sword, slavery, and the above mentioned apartheid.

The miserable Brits have just built a large "Security Wall" at St James Church in Piccadilly and plan to use it to continue demonizing the Jewish state for the next twelve days. It is an "art installation," political theatre, very trendy.

Not shown, never mentioned, are the names or graves of Israeli civilians, including children and the elderly, who were being blown up and butchered during the height of the Al Aqsa Intifada; not mentioned are those who were disabled for life; but mainly, it is forbidden to say that the "security wall" worked, that the number of Israeli civilian casualties plunged because it existed. [Emphasis added]

Jesus was not a "Palestinian." He was a Jew, some say he was a rabbi, and that the Last Supper was a Pesach seder. The attempt to appropriate Jesus as a victimized "Palestinian" by the very Muslims who are slaughtering Christians all over the Middle East and who have driven Arab Christians out of Bethlehem is typical, disgusting, and must continually be exposed.

Israel may not be a perfect nation but its Arab citizens, both Muslim and Christian, are the only Arabs in the Arab world who enjoy religious freedom, can vote and express themselves freely, and who have been peacefully elected to Parliament.

As Hamad Amar, a Druze citizen of Israel and the Speaker of Israel's Knesset has written in The Hill, an American Congressional blog:

"In our whole region consisting of over 350 million Arabs, there are only 1,658,000 Arabs who have complete political and religious freedom and have the right to vote in full democratic elections. It is no coincidence that all of these Arabs live as full and equal citizens in the one Jewish State."  [Emphasis added]

Israel values human life, its enemies value death, murder, martyrdom. To redeem Gilad Shalit, Israel released terrorists with blood on their hands to return as glorified heroes and to resume their "careers" as terrorists. Jews value life this much....'

As for Hamas, its Islamist vision was displayed yet again very recently, when Gaza's Interior Minister, Sharia-advocate Fathi Hammad, declared publicly:

“We shall liberate our land, Allah willing. We shall liberate our Al-Aqsa Mosque, and our cities and villages, as a prelude to the establishment of the future Islamic Caliphate. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are at the threshold of a global Islamic civilization era....

The fuel and spearhead of this era will be Gaza, and its mujahideen and leaders will be from Gaza, Allah willing....

[Addressing Fatah:] We just sit and talk to the Jews. Enough with that! Come join us, the legions of the believers, which have translated the Koran into victory, the law of the Prophet's ancestors into glory, and Jihad into liberation....

We shall be coming with a third Intifada, an armed revolution, a Jihadi revolution, Allah willing.... Gaza and the West Bank will fuse together, along with our brothers within the 1948 borders, in a second Battle of Hattin [the first was in 1187], in order to uproot the Jews”.

Yet, despite such vows (showing that while the threatened Caliphate will begin with Israel it will not end there), despite Islamism's misogyny (St James's Church, Piccadilly has a female pastor, by the way), and despite ghastly Islamist persecution of their fellow believers in Jesus, even unto death, the truly warped phenomenon of Christians who stand with Islamists persists.

(This photo, from here, merely hints at the forced conversion,  bloodshed and sorrow rampaging Islamists have caused and continue to cause, to some of the oldest Christian communities in the world, while in the case of the suffering Christian communities in Pakistan and other former colonies of European powers, who faithfully follow Jesus owing to missionary activity among their forebears, I would have thought that Christians, particularly leftist Christians who decry colonialism and its effects, might feel a special sense of obligation.)

As Evelyn Gordon goes on to observe:

'Many of these same liberal Christian groups have also turned a blind eye to the ongoing slaughter of Christians in Syria and Iraq, the worsening persecution of Christians in Egypt and various other anti-Christian atrocities worldwide, preferring to focus all their energies on vilifying the one Middle Eastern country where, to quote Israeli Arab priest Father Gabriel Nadaf, “We feel secure” as Christians. ...[T]his contrast between the terrible plight of other Middle Eastern Christians and the safety they enjoy in Israel is increasingly leading Israel’s Arab Christians to rethink their former identification with the state’s opponents; one result is that the number of Arab Christians volunteering for service in the IDF shot up more than 60 percent this year (though given the minuscule starting point, the absolute numbers remain small). But no such rethinking has occurred among anti-Israel Christians in the West....' [Emphasis added]

 But to return to that reprehensible replica wall.  If you're passing, add a pro-Israel message.  Am Yisrael Chai will do!

"Christian Palestinianism ... The Inverted Mirror Image Of Christian Zionism" (videos)

Below is a very disturbing insight into the malicious phenomenon dubbed "Christian Palestinianism" as exposed by  Dr Paul Wilkinson, of Hazel Grove Gospel Church in Stockport, Cheshire and author of For Zion’s Sake: Christian Zionism and the Role of John Nelson Darby.  In this talk a couple of years ago (but no less valuable for that) he demonstrates the political revisionism, replacement theology, and repugnant teachings of organisations like Sabeel that promote a movement in which "The Holocaust is resented, not remembered," that ignores the violence to which Israel is subject, and that aims to portray Jesus not as what he was, a Jew from Judea, but as a "Palestinian born under occupation".

His lecture on this topic opens with the song "Freedom for Palestine"that's become the backtrack to many an Israel-demonising presentation, and among the teaching aids used in his lecture is a cameo appearance by that obsessive crusader against Christian Zionism, Stephen Sizer.

Hat tip: P.H.

And in this lecture, entitled "A Biblical Response To Stephen Sizer," Dr Wilkinson does a superb job of tracing and countering the anti-Israel Anglican vicar's noxious views:

The Palestinian Arabs: Delegitimising Israel, Islamifying Jesus, & Fooling The World (Plus A Willing BBC) With Fabricated History

On Friday the odious BBC carried a report about an Arab singer from Haifa who has won an Israeli talent show featuring Mizrachi music, part of her act featuring a Hebrew song that commemorates Israeli soldiers slaughtered by Palestinian "militants".  Instead of dwelling on the positive aspects of the young woman's victory, the BBC used the report, written by Farhana Dawood, as a hook on which to hang gratuitous propaganda against the Jewish State.

There's the bludgeoned-home (wrongful) message that Mizrachi music is yet another thing that the grasping Zionist usurpers have stolen from the Arabs:

'Ala Hlehel, a well-known Arab writer and cultural commentator, says Mizrahi music is very popular in Israel but he insists its roots are Arab.

He feels the music is an imitation of Arab music utilising similar instruments and vocal techniques.

"You know the Mizrahis have a serious identity problem. Call a Mizrahi an Arab Jew and he'll kill you," he says.

"They don't want any relationship with us because it will make them less in this country if you are connected with Arabs. And yet they make a lot of money from this music, which is Arab and the most popular music in Israel."....'

As Lyn Julius, an expert on the history and culture of the Mizrachim, notes in her able exposé of Dawood's report, its biases and inaccuracies, this final paragraph contains the "antisemitic image of the money-grabbing Jew".

In typical Corporation fashion, facts that sit uncomfortably with the BBC's agenda are distorted or omitted.

Thus, writes Ms Dawood, before proceeding to quote from a biased leftwing source:

"Mizrahim arrived in Israel from countries like Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq, Yemen and Iran in the years following its establishment.

They were met with condescension by the European establishment who saw them as inferior and threatening because of their resemblance to the perceived Arab enemy....

 .... Despite several areas of common ground, there is no real closeness between Israel's Arab citizens - who mostly identify as Palestinian and make up about 20% of the population - and the Mizrahim."

There's no reference to the Mizrachim who were settled in Eretz Israel long before 1948, of course.  There's no reference to the persecution that the-post 1948 Mizrachi olim faced in the Arab world, and that they fled Arab lands as refugees. 

So keen is Dawood to demonise Israel that the Arab singer who won the contest is virtually eclipsed amid the propaganda.

The BBC's continual pro-Palestinian bias (note the alacrity with which it reported Oxfam's latest anti-Israel propaganda) underlines the thesis of an excellent article that concludes

' .....The Jews, as a minority in every country in which they live outside of Israel, have today become silenced by the noise and clatter of Islam’s culturally perpetuated anti-Semitism. Any voice they might have raised in defense of their ancient homeland is muted by the Arab-Muslim slander which equates Zionism with Nazism. This slander was born in the offices of the UN and given legs by impudent Western journalists who care little about the truth and even less about the Jews. No lie is too big or too obscene for Islam’s anti-Jewish hatred, so long as it serves the needs the wicked require of it. And that need is a silenced Jewish minority.'

One of the latest Israel-demonising lies to be exposed concerns the so-called children's drawings from Gaza  (see image above for a taste) on exhibit in North America; these faked images have rightly been described as "slander".  And there's a lot of such slander about.

David Bukay, a political scientist at Haifa University, has written a detailed, footnoted, thoroughly readable article about how the Palestinians have distorted Jewish history in Eretz Israel, in order to intrude their own claims, and how  in the process they are succeeding in hoodwinking the world.

'....The Palestinian objectives are to disqualify Israel's historical standing and to inherit its belongings by delegitimizing and even dehumanizing its national identity and personality....

 Rewriting the history of the Land of Israel by erasing Jewish history and replacing it with a fabricated Palestinian history is a central goal of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and something that the early generations of Palestinian leaders, including the notorious Hajj Amin Husseini, who led the Palestinian Arabs to their 1948 defeat, dared not do. This fictitious history, which ignores all historical documentation and established historical methods, is based on systematic distortions of both ancient and modern history with the aim of denying Israel's right to exist....

In the official Palestinian narrative, the Palestinian people are authentic and indigenous while it is the Israelis who are the foreigners, invented, and sown in a land that is not theirs. According to Nabil Alqam, a PA historian, the Israeli state concerns itself with cultural theft and with stealing, distorting, and erasing the Palestinian heritage, which has a historical depth of 4,000 to 5,000 years. The state of Israel attempts to steal Palestinian symbols and to create a fake Israeli identity. In his book, Jerusalem, City of Allah, Yunes Amr, president of the al-Quds Open University, claims to disprove all Israeli connections and the history of the Jewish presence in Palestine, both historically and linguistically, by exposing the falsification of facts and affirming that the Palestinians are Arab Canaanites indigenous to the land.....

 ....Palestinian Arabs, as opposed to Arabic-speaking residents, have not been in the area west of the Jordan River from the Islamic occupation, from the Ottoman Empire, or even from British rule since 1917. No Palestinian state has ever existed, and so, no Palestinian people has ever been robbed of its land. There is no language or dialect known as Palestinian; there is no Palestinian culture distinct from that of surrounding Arab ones; and there has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians at any time in history. For these reasons, Palestinians have been driven to fabricate a past by denying and expropriating that of Jews and Israel.'

Inter alia, Bukay notes that

"Another Palestinian tactic is aimed at co-opting Christianity. For the PA leaders, Jesus is defined as a Palestinian who preached Islam, thus denying not only Jewish history and Christian legitimacy but also strengthening ancient Palestinian history. According to this narrative, Jesus was a Muslim prophet, like all other Jewish-born figures, who was born in Bethlehem, lived in Nazareth, and moved to Jerusalem. Therefore, Jesus the messiah is a Palestinian par excellence, the son of Mary the Palestinian. The Virgin Mary, the woman of love and peace, is of the nation of Palestine, whose roots are grounded in the depths of history. Jesus is a shahid, a holy martyr of Islam, the only Palestinian prophet, and the first Palestinian shahid who was tortured in this land."

As Bukay notes:

 'The alleged Zionist process of theft and usurpation is, in fact, precisely the official Palestinian policy toward Jewish history.

Most of the population now known as Palestinian descended from migrants originating from the surrounding Arab countries and from local Bedouins. Many migrated in waves from the middle of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century. Others were imported by the Ottoman Empire and by the British for infrastructure and agricultural projects, or migrated to the region following Zionist economic success, which produced a staggering population growth. Palestinians are perhaps the newest of all peoples, comprising many scattered groups. In fact, in origin they are more Egyptian, Syrian, Jordanian, Lebanese, and mainly Bedouin, than Palestinian.

Perhaps the most conspicuous fact regarding the novelty of the Palestinian nation is that when it was within their power, the Arab leaders never seriously sought to create a Palestinian state during the 1940s, and after the establishment of the State of Israel, from 1948 until 1967, when the West Bank and Gaza were under Egyptian and Jordanian direct rule. Moreover, during that time all Arab leaders referred to the Palestinian issue as a refugee problem. They did not call for the creation of a Palestinian state for the Palestinian nation. Even after the 1967 Six-Day War, United Nations Resolution 242 of November 22, 1967, mentions only "refugees," not even "Arab refugees"—let alone a Palestinian people and a Palestinian state. Calls in earnest for a Palestinian state did not begin in the United Nations or elsewhere until the late 1960s or the early 1970s.'

He points out that

'The Kurds and the Berbers ...have lived for centuries in the Middle East. They are distinct and ancient peoples that were not invented in the full light of history, but unfortunately, their existence does not translate automatically into statehood. If it did, such a process of granting statehood to all peoples would begin to unravel the fabric of the modern Arab world.'

Most importantly, he considers the Palestinians' ultimate aims:

'All their leaders' declarations and policies clearly show that they have never moderated their primary objective, which is to eliminate the State of Israel. From the Abadan ("never") rhetoric of the 1920s through 1948 to Arafat's "phased strategy," adopted at the June 1974 Palestinian National Congress, Palestinians still lay claim to a land "from the river to the sea." Palestinians appear unwilling to compromise, to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, or to accept an Israeli state on any territory they call Filastin.

 .... Palestinian political evolution is closely tied to Israel's territorial and political development in two continuous phases. The first emerged after Israel's independence in 1948 and differentiated the Palestinians as a social group of Arab refugees, also called "Palestine Arabs," and lacking obvious cultural, social, or political characteristics that distinguished them from their Arab kin, who largely reviled them. The second phase developed after the 1967 Six-Day War; Palestinians then became a political group seeking to develop a national identity during the period of global anti-imperial and anti-colonial ferment. But even as a Palestinian national identity has been developed and marketed, it is overwhelmingly founded on the negation of its rival, namely Jewish and Israeli identity, rather than on positive attributes or real history.

....The question remains why the international community accepts the Palestinians' claims regarding their fabricated past and the corresponding negation of the Jews. Oil, ignorance, anti-Semitism, and a politically correct unwillingness to offer any challenge to such falsehoods, all play a role. Still, it is difficult to recall a time in modern history when one group of people openly expressed such visceral animosity and hatred and declared its eagerness to eliminate a neighboring state and its people while the international arena ignored and, in fact, enabled and legitimized it.'

Read David Bukay's entire article (with footnotes) here
Read Khaled Abu Toameh on why Mr Abbas will never make peace with Israel here

Incidentally – to judge from this – hat tip reader Rita –   it's not only Islamic extremists like the notorious British national  pictured who insists that Jesus was a Muslim (if so inclined, read more about his December 2011 broadcast and get a link to the video here).  Nor only those who EDL leader Tommy Robinson spoke about recently   in a speech that touches on Israel and Jews – hat tip reader Shirlee – before the European Parliament, the Islamists who unfurled a big banner saying "Jesus Was A Muslim" in Birmingham city centre and proceeded triumphantly to convert a young boy to Islam.