The Christmas libel
For graphic evidence of the way bigotry destroys rationality, the annual hate-fest against Israel over the plight of Bethlehem’s Arab Christians is a jaw-dropping example. As in previous years, Israel is being blamed for the fact that the Bethlehem Christians have been all but driven out. As in previous years the Church of England leads the charge, with clerics and activists blaming their parlous position on the ‘wall’, the checkpoints and the economic hardship -- which are all put down to Israel’s apparent malevolence, with no acknowledgement whatever of the terror mounted against Israel by Bethlehem’s citizens, or the terror mounted against the town’s Christians by the ruling Muslim Arabs.
Last year, churches up and down Britain replaced their traditional manger scenes with the propaganda of hatred – collages about the security barrier suggesting that the Palestinians were effectively playing the part of Christ in being crucified all over again. Now this disgusting development has been taken one stage further. A group called the Amos Trust is selling nativity sets with a wall down the middle cutting off the wise men from the manger. The Amos Trust¹s website markets the display as
A nativity set with a difference...poignant, ironic and made in Bethlehem.It might have been more poignant, and rather more true to life, had the model come with a detachable suicide bomber. For the only reason the Palestinians are suffering from the security barrier is that it was erected solely to stop them from murdering any more Israelis. If they abandoned their terrorism, the barrier would immediately come down.
Such moral blindness apart, it is truly remarkable that these mindless bigots never pause to ask themselves the obvious question. If it really is Israel that is driving out Bethlehem’s Christians, then why isn’t it equally driving out Bethlehem’s Muslims? Same Israeli ‘occupying’ forces; same separation barrier; same hardship, brutality, economic sanctions etc. Are we to assume, perhaps, that Israel has a particular problem with Christians, rather than the Muslims or Arabs in general, that the rest of the world has somehow missed? (In which case, might they not also scratch their heads at the fact that Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Christians have thrived and multiplied, rising in number from 34,000 in 1948 to nearly 130,000 in 2005?) Might there not be the teensiest, weensiest morsel of a clue in the fact that, whereas a few years ago Bethlehem was mainly Christian, now it is 80 per cent Muslim? Might the fact that such a dramatic change occurred simultaneously with Bethlehem coming under Muslim control after Oslo (thus making all those responsible for that satirically named 'peace process' accessories to the persecution of Bethlehem's Christians) just possibly have something to do with it?
But no, of course none of these upstanding church people and the myriad others who have absorbed the Big Lie would even consider such questions -- because they are the same people who resolutely ignore the evidence of Muslim persecution of Christians not only in the Palestinian territories but around the world. As Abraham Miller reported recently in FrontPageMagazine:
In the West Bank town of Taibe marauding Muslims burned, looted and beat Christian residents in the name of a Muslim family’s ‘honor,’ a family whose father had brutally beaten his daughter to death for wanting to marry a Christian. The violent Muslim mob burned a statue of the Virgin Mary and shouted, ‘Burn the Crusaders!’ PA fire and security forces took their time arriving on the scene, appearing hours later. In the end, the mob was almost immediately released from jail. Meanwhile, the Christian fiancée of the murdered woman was arrested and beaten while incarcerated. The lesson—that of the mob being released while an innocent Christian languished in jail—was not lost on the Christian community of the West Bank!There are, thankfully, decent Christians who do realise the truth of all this. The Church’s grotesque scapegoating of the Jews prompted this open letter last year to the Archbishop of Canterbury from Mark Rogers of Anglican Friends of Israel:
I have read the article in ‘The Tablet’ in which you speak about people leaving Bethlehem in large numbers and then ask the question: “I would like to know how much it matters to the Israeli Government to have Christian communities in the Holy Land. Are they an embarrassment or are they part of a solution? That’s a question.”
No doubt the Israelis have already given you their answer, perhaps informing you that the Christian Arab population within the pre 1967 borders of Israel has grown from approximately 34,000 in 1948 to nearly 130,000 in 2005. Ironically this is the only part of the Middle East where the Christian population is growing.
You should really have asked the Palestinian Authority how much it matters to them that there are Christian communities in their territory.The main reason for the departure of Christians from PA administered territories is the religious persecution, murder and land grabs which stems from the increased Islamisation of the region. This is the result of the PA adopting Muslim religious law in the territories in contrast to Israel which safeguards the religious freedom of its citizens.
You have nothing to say about the likes of George Rabie, featured in a recent article in the Mail on Sunday who is a taxi driver from Bethlehem and was beaten up by Muslims using his cab when they discovered he is a Christian. He said ‘Every day, I experience discrimination. It is a type of racism. We are a minority so we are an easier target. Many extremists from the villages are coming into Bethlehem.’
Nor have you championed the cause of those who have been subjected to forced marriages of Christian women to Muslim men, received death threats for distributing the Bible to willing Muslims, or been intimidated into wearing traditional ultra-modest Islamic clothing. Nor have you written about the churches which have been firebombed by Muslim extremists protesting against the remarks of the Pope (most recently in Nablus, Tubas, and Gaza). Nor about the situation in which Christian Arabs have found their land expropriated by Muslims or been forced to pay bribes to win the freedom of family members jailed on trumped-up charges.
All of this is the main reason why Christian Arabs have been selling or abandoning homes and businesses, seeking to escape the chaos and corruption of the PA and move to Israel, Europe, South America, North America, or wherever they can get a visa. Why do you have nothing to say about any of this in The Tablet or other public media? Of course you do not need to answer. We all know. No one in public life dares to make any comment even mildly critical of Islamic behaviour. On the other hand Israeli Jews are an easy target
Earlier this month, Khaled Abu Toameh in the Jerusalem Post reported from his sources yet another attack upon a Christian in Gaza:
They said four masked gunmen tried to kidnap Nabil Fuad Ayad, who works as a guard at a local church. Nabil's cousin, Rami, was kidnapped and murdered two months ago by the same group, the sources said. The sources identified the gunmen as members of the radical Islamic Salafi movement.
…The Salafis, who have become very active in the Gaza Strip in recent months, are totally opposed to common Western concepts like economics, constitutions and political parties. They refer to the 2,500 Christians in the Gaza Strip as Crusaders and have vowed to drive them out of the area.
…Christians living in the Gaza Strip told the Post that they were very worried about the increased attacks on members of their community and religious institutions. ‘The latest incident is aimed at sending a message to all the Christians here that we must leave,’ said a Christian leader. ‘Radical Islamic groups are waging a campaign to get rid of us and no one seems to care.’
More recently, the distinguished international human rights lawyer Justice Reid Weiner, who has written a monograph on the plight of Christians in the Palestinian areas, told a conference about the real cause of their suffering. The Jersualem Post reported earlier this month:
He cited Muslim harassment and persecution as the main cause of the acute ‘human rights crisis’ facing Christian Arabs and predicted that unless governments or institutions step in to remedy the situation -- such as with job opportunities -- there will be no more Christian communities living in the Palestinians territories within 15 years with only a few Western Christians and top clergymen left in the area.
‘Christian leaders are being forced to abandon their followers to the forces of radical Islam’[, Weiner said…
Weiner argued there was a 180 degree difference" between the public statements coming out of the mainstream Christian leadership in the Holy Land - who "sing the PA's tune" and blame Israel for all the Christian Arabs' ills - and people's experience on the ground. ‘The truth is beginning to come out he said. The question is what is being done with the truth.’
His comments come just months after a prominent Christian activist Rami Khader Ayyad 32 was killed in Gaza. ‘For too long the plight of Christian Arabs has been put on the back-burner or ignored altogether;. said Rev. Malcolm Hedding, executive director of the International Christian Embassy, a Jerusalem-based evangelical organization.
The Evangelical leader, who has drawn the wrath of Catholic leaders in the Holy Land for his strong support for Israel, said that ‘power politics’ has prevented the major Christian leaders in the Holy Land from speaking out on this issue.’There is a one-sided debate in which Israel is responsible for everything he said. The Christian world needs to stand up and speak out about this.’
But it is not. On this, the true cause of Christian perseuction, it is silent. Instead it scapegoats the Jews. At this particular time of year, the historical resonance is deafening.