NOVANEWS
It is a well-known fact that Jews in Israel persecute Muslims, in particular when residing in the Westbank area and Gaza. But the members of other religions are a target, too, among them Christians, as a recent Associated Press article has pointed out. Even though Christianity, which originated as a Jewish sect, is the mainstay of worldwide Zionism and gives religious credence to Judaism by accepting the Old Testament, Jewish extremists find it conducive to saw off the branch they are sitting on.
The following essay sheds some light into the most recent event and is followed by information about two books on Jewish violence against Christians in the Holy Land and elsewhere as offered by The Barnes Review.
Desecrate Holy Site; Israeli Government, Rabbis Complicit
The entry door to the Church of the Dormition on Mount Zion, near the site of the Last Supper and just outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, bearing the graffiti “Jesus, son of a bitch, price tag” (Oct. 1, 2012). The latter is a term used by radical settlers lashing out against opponents.
By Peter Strahl
The racist, apartheid state of Israel has always persecuted Christians in the Holy Land. The wanton destruction of churches, lives and property has been nearly continuous and can only be called genocidal, as we have documented previously both inAmerican Free Press and The Barnes Review. But nearly daily reports from occupied Palestine demonstrate that the savagery has increased dramatically in the last few years, especially since Benjamin Netanyahu has been prime minister. Now, however, the oppression has taken a particularly sinister direction.
Graffiti on a Baptist Church in Jerusalem, Feb. 20, 2012. The Hebrew slogans read: “We will crucify you” and “Death to Christianity” (AFP, Menahem Kahana)
An increasing number of Israeli Jews now dare to attack the holiest shrines in Christianity, in sacrilegious and blasphemous moves offending the deepest convictions and sensibilities of Christians not only in Palestine, but throughout the world.
Recently, a group of Jewish religious zealots went so far as to profane the place where Jesus Christ celebrated the Last Supper before His crucifixion, where He instituted both the Holy Eucharist and the Priesthood. Apart from Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity and Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there is no holier place for Christians. So the outrage can be imagined, which was occasioned when the Zionists smeared with obscenities the door of the Franciscan friary which guards the room of the Last Supper. Or there would have been outrage, had the Zionist-controlled media reported the event. Thus is the Vatican rewarded for its false irenicism toward such people. And thus do such people engender the anti-Semitism they deplore.
One Jewish Israeli, Meir Margalit, a member of the Jerusalem city council, has been in the forefront of opposition to the destruction of Palestinian homes. By his own words, he was left speechless by the gravity of his countrymen’s latest actions. In a recent article on the German Catholic web-site, “Kreuz.net”, he makes clear that this is not an isolated incident by a fringe group, but that such “extremists” now make up the majority of Israelis.
Margalit tells how his Franciscan friends are regularly derided and abused in public, even having stones and eggs thrown at them and—fulfilling the dictum of the Talmud—being spat upon by “religious” Jews. Margalit lays the blame for the increase of anti-Christian barbarity squarely at the feet of the Israeli government and the rabbis, who, he says, have the power to stop the harm but refuse to do so. He might have added that it is often the Israeli Defense Forces which are responsible for the most destructive and deadly terror against Christians and Palestinians.
As a consequence, Margalit, who is himself being persecuted in Israeli courts for his defense of Palestinians, foresees an increase in retaliatory behavior against Jews in other countries due to Israeli belligerence. He states that, according to Hebrew tradition, the Jewish temple was destroyed, in part, due to Jewish lack of respect for one’s neighbor. He predicts the collapse of the state of Israel, “not on account of external enemies, but because of the [Israeli] lack of human moral and ethical values.”
Peter Strahl is the pseudonym of a freelance German language translator for AFP and The Barnes Review. He is also the author of a report on Bethlehem and Israeli atrocities against Palestinians, which appeared in the Sept./Oct. 2012 issue of The Barnes Review.
Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence
By Elliott Horowitz
Starting at: $25.00
There is a little-known but deep-rooted history of virulent Jewish antagonism—and resulting violence—against non-Jews (Christians in particular), but many scholars (usually those sympathetic to Jewish interests) have ignored the record in this regard. Now a forthright Jewish academic, New York-born Elliot Horowitz, associate professor of Jewish History at Israel’s Ba-Ilan University, has come forth with a remarkable and honest work that explores this ugly phenomenon.
Purim—as referred to in the book’s title—is the Jewish holiday spawned by the Old Testament’s Book of Esther—a holiday based on the massacre of 75,000 Persians. According to the author, this Jewish celebration of genocide has impacted negatively upon the Judaic attitude toward the “goyim” and vice versa.
Learn more about this book here (publishers’ statement, reviews, table of contents):
Jerusalem Testament: Palestinian Christians Speak, 1988–2008
By Melanie A. May
$22.00
The heads of the three Christian churches in Jerusalem and the Holy Land speak. Their voices cry out for the dispossessed in Palestine, including many Christians: “In the name of God, end the siege over Gaza; 1.5 million people imprisoned without proper food or medicine; 800,000 without electricity supply. This is illegal collective punishment—an immoral act in violation of basic human and natural laws. It cannot be tolerated anymore.”
Learn more about this book here (publishers’ statement, table of contents):
