The attack on Christian Palestinians as Jerusalem Church leaders warn of “a systematic attempt” to drive out Christianity

Xmas in Palestine as Israel bans Pilgrimages but allows Birthright Tours to Enter

In 1947 as part of Christian Palestinians Resolution 181 partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, the UN proposed the internationalisation of Jerusalem under a separate regime. The UN sent Count Folk Bernadotte, the Swedish statesman to Jerusalem to make arrangements. The Zionist terrorist group Lehi/Stern Gang, a commanded by future Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, assassinated him on 17 September 1948 with the connivance of the main terrorist group Haganah.

Bernadotte had personally saved 11,000 Jews at the end of the war from Nazi concentration camps. As Donald Macintyre observed ‘no blue Israeli plaque marks the spot, as it does for so many military and Jewish underground exploits of the period’.

The statement by the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem less than 2 weeks ago, about the harassment of the Church and the threat posed to its continued presence in Jerusalem was met by a predictable Zionist response. ‘What about Christians in other parts of the Middle East’ they cried as if that had anything to do with the treatment of the Christian Church in Jerusalem.

Of course the plight of Christians throughout the Middle East is a subject worthy of discussion in its own right. It might for example have something to do with the Western and Israeli attack on secular regimes throughout the region and their own promotion of fundamentalist Islamic regimes. For example it was the attack on Iraq which led to the demise of Christians in that country. Likewise the Saudi sponsorship of jihadi militias in Syria, aided and abetted by Israel and the United States, also led to attacks on Christians.

Justin Welby

The statement was endorsed in an article by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby together with the Anglican Archbishop of Jerusalem Hosam Naoum in the Sunday Times.

Naturally the statement was “heavily criticised by the Board of Deputies” as “deeply troubling”even though it’s none of their business. It has nothing to do with British Jews. But the Board’s main function today is to operate as an Israeli propaganda group. What didn’t trouble the Board was the attempt to displace Christians in the Christian Quarter or the attacks on Christian clergy.

The Zionist defence boiled down to the fact that ‘Israel’s 182,000-strong Christian population grew by 1.4 per cent in 2020’. Which was entirely irrelevant since the statement was issued on behalf of the Jerusalem churches in Occupied Jerusalem, where the number of Christians is declining, not on behalf of Israel’s Palestinians.

Instead of dealing with the actual complaints of harassment, violence and the expulsion of Christians from the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem, the statement from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs resorted to the usual blank denials: They termed the statement ‘baseless, and distort the reality of the Christian community in Israel.’ They went on to say that:

The statement by Church leaders in Jerusalem is particularly infuriating given their silence on the plight of many Christian communities in the Middle East suffering from discrimination and persecution.

Israel describes itself as ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’. Why then does it insist on comparing itself with all the dictatorships it’s in alliance with in the region rather than say Europe?

The overall number of Christians in Israel has risen but in east Jerusalem there is a steady decline GETTY IMAGES

What Israel’s defenders did not do was to address any of the points in the statement. It’s worth enumerating them.

Throughout the Holy Land, Christians have become the target of frequent and sustained attacks by fringe radical groups. Since 2012 there have been countless incidents of physical and verbal assaults against priests and other clergy, attacks on Christian churches, with holy sites regularly vandalized and desecrated, and ongoing intimidation of local Christians who simply seek to worship freely and go about their daily lives. These tactics are being used by such radical groups in a systematic attempt to drive the Christian community out of Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land.

Arson at the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves & Fishes

There has been a wave of attacks on both churches and moques in Israel. For example the arson attack at the Church of Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes. As the National Geographic reported:

The June assault was the latest and most dramatic sign of tension between Christians in Israel and a growing movement of Jewish extremists who seek to cleanse their nation of religious minorities.

A nun surveys the damage after an arson attack

The Church statement went on to say:

the failure of local politicians, officials and law enforcement agencies to curb the activities of radical groups who regularly intimidate local Christians, assault priests and clergy, and desecrate Holy Sites and church properties.

The statement called on Israel’s leaders to:

1.     Deal with the challenges presented by radical groups in Jerusalem to both the Christian community and the rule of law, so as to ensure that no citizen or institution has to live under threat of violence or intimidation.

2.     Begin dialogue on the creation of a special Christian cultural and heritage zone to safeguard the integrity of the Christian Quarter in Old City Jerusalem and to ensure that its unique character and heritage are preserved for the sake of well-being of the local community, our national life, and the wider world.

Suffice to say there was no response to this call. Responding to the statement, the World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev Dr Ioan Sauca said Christians in the Holy Land were a "threatened minority". They went on to say that:

"The statement issued by the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem highlights the increasing threat to the Christian presence in the Holy Land posed by attacks and incursions by radical groups who seek to destroy the religious and cultural diversity of the region," he said.

There was no response to this statement either. When they referred to ‘radical groups’ what they meant is the efforts of Ateret Cohanim which aims to build a 3^rd Temple in Jerusalem by demolishing the Al Aqsa Mosque and Golden Dome and ethnically cleansing Jerusalem’s Palestinian inhabitants. These settlers are supported by the Israeli state itself. See Warnings of 'systematic attempt' to drive Christianity out of the Holy Land

There is an ongoing threat to evacuate two large buildings in the Christian Quarter, the Imperial Hotel and Petra Hotel. According to Ha’aretz

After a long legal battle, the hotels were transferred to the ownership of a Jewish organization that had bought the buildings, and which is now trying to evict the Palestinians who are running the hotels – and bring in Jewish families to live there. The heads of the Christian communities now fear that the change in ownership of the hotels – which were bought in a controversial deal by Ateret Cohanim 15 years ago using shell companies – could change the character of the Christian Quarter.

Israel’s courts have also played their part. They have consistently upheld the crooked land deals of Ateret Cohanim, often made with intermediaries who hold forged documents. The land deals were riddled with corruption yet Israel’s courts turned a blind eye.

According to Ha’aretz  one of the churches that suffers most from this is the Armenian Church, which is located near the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.’

“I’ve been in Israel since 1995 and never before have there been so many incidents like this,” said Father Koryoun Baghdasaryan, the chancellor of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

“Every day that I leave my home for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher or to visit family, I’m afraid something will happen to me. There were always curses and spitting, in recent years physical violence also started.”

Ha’aretz described how “Christians in the Holy Land want Jews to stop spitting on them”

‘A few weeks ago, a senior Greek Orthodox clergyman in Israel attended a meeting at a government office in Jerusalem's Givat Shaul quarter. When he returned to his car, an elderly man wearing a skullcap came and knocked on the window. When the clergyman let the window down, the passerby spat in his face.’

‘On Sunday, a fracas developed when a yeshiva student spat at the cross being carried by the Armenian Archbishop during a procession near the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. The archbishop's 17th-century cross was broken during the brawl and he slapped the yeshiva student.’

In February 2018 the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was closed in a standoff with the city's municipality in protest at a proposed land expropriation law. The closure was prompted by two developments: the Jerusalem municipality's plan to tax the church's assets around the city and a bill to expropriate land already sold by the churches to private companies which violated a longstanding status quo.

“The systematic campaign ... reaches now its peak as a discriminatory and racist bill that targets solely the properties of the Christian community in the Holy Land is being promoted. This reminds us all of laws of a similar nature which were enacted against the Jews during dark periods in Europe.”

The tax exemption agreement was honoured during the Ottoman Empire and by the British, Jordanian and Israeli governments. But now, with the increased activities of Ateret Cohanim and the settlers, all such agreements are up for grabs.

The Israeli Police provide no protection because their only concern is with attacking, not defending, Palestinians.

The Israeli government’s restrictions on tourism because of COVID has also hurt Christian pilgrimage to the city for Christmas. However Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, one of the worst racists in the Israeli government, allowed the entry of Birthright groups into Israel.

A senior church figure said

“we have no intention of haggling. There is an issue of principle here – why are Birthright visitors, who are foreign citizens, getting such an exemption, while pilgrims are not? The only difference is that they are Jews.”

Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, said that "at no time in human history has the future of our Christian communities been shakier."

The joint statement was signed by the heads of all the large churches in the city, including the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Custody of the Holy Land representing the Vatican and the head of the Anglican Church.

Ha’aretz reported that the number of violent incidents toward Christian clergy, mostly by young Jews, has increased recently. One of the churches that suffers the most from this is the Armenian Church, which is located near the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.

In an article last Saturday in The Telegraph Fr. Francesco Patton, the Catholic Church’s Custody of the Holy Land and guardian of the Christian holy places in the Holy Land, wrote that

“our presence is precarious and our future is at risk.... Holy Land Christians are at threat of extinction.’

 “In recent years, the lives of many Christians have been made unbearable by radical local groups with extremist ideologies. It seems that their aim is to free the Old City of Jerusalem from its Christian presence, even the Christian quarter.”

As Ha’aretz noted

The statement was unusual not just for its content, but also because of the cooperation between the different Christian denominations in Jerusalem. Throughout history, the relations between the different churches has mostly been one of hostility and disputes, sometimes even violent ones.

This cooperation seems similar to that of 2018 when most of the Christian leadership in Jerusalem joined together to protest the law concerning church-owned lands and the dispute with Jerusalem city hall over the collection of local property taxes from certain church-owned institutions. In what was an unusual step in protest at the time, the church leaders closed the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

In an editorial Jerusalem Is a Holy City for Christians, Too Ha’aretz wrote that

Two issues that worry the heads of these communities more than any other are the personal security of their clergy in public places, and the takeover of key buildings in the Christian Quarter of the Old City by the right-wing settler group Ateret Cohanim. 

In most cases the assailants are Jewish teenage boys who assault them because of their clothing, curse them and spit at them.

For years, clergy of all Christian communities in Jerusalem have been considering concealing their identity in public places. The churches are also complaining that the police are not doing enough to protect them and punish their attackers.

The second issue is the unceasing efforts of Ateret Cohanim to have the residents removed from two buildings owned by the Greek Orthodox Church in the Christian Quarter, and move Jewish families into them. The buildings, the Imperial Hotel and the Petra Hotel, were purchased with a dubious contract for ridiculously low sums in 2005.

Jerusalem Church leaders have warned of "a systematic attempt" to drive Christianity out of the Holy Land.

What was the Jewish Chronicle’s response? Fury with Archbishop over ‘blinkered’ remarks on Christians in Holy Land. Justin Welby was ‘accused of ‘one-sided’ approach to Israel.’ Just about the only thing he wasn’t accused of was anti-Semitism. One wonders if what is happening in Jerusalem to Christian Churches were to happen to Jews in other parts of the world the Jewish Chronicle would complaint of ‘one sidedness’. As Martin Luther King observed:

 "The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict."

What then has the reaction of Christian Zionists been? You might think that their first response would be to defend their religious compatriots in Jerusalem. But you would be wrong. Christian Zionism is not a religious but a political movement. It is the religious cloak that imperialism wears and no-one understands this better than former British Cabinet member and Chair of Conservative Friends of Israel Lord Eric Pickles, who was quoted as saying that:

“Church leaders should be expected to understand their responsibility and the consequences of what they have published, which could lead to violence and bring harm to innocent people.”

Presumably Christian clergy being attacked in Jerusalem are not innocent. A more tone deaf response by someone who is Britain’s representative to the IHRA. Pickles went on to say that he was “disappointed in the blinkered and partial view on where the real problem for declining Christian numbers in the region lies”.

These racists really can’t help themselves. It’s not about birth rates although Christian numbers in Palestine have been falling not rising. In their response Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasised that the Christian population in Israel – including in Jerusalem ‘is constantly growing’. Which is a lie or at best a half-truth.  In Jerusalem numbers are falling as Israel’s ethnic cleansing proceeds apace. In the rest of Israel Christian numbers are declining proportionately and in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, they are declining absolutely. In Bethlehem the number of Christians has declined to 22% compared to 84% a decade earlier.

Benzi Gopstein with his Lehava thugs patrolling Jerusalem looking for Arabs to attack

Leading the attacks on Christians and the arson attacks is a fascist group, Lehava, which was funded by the Israeli state thanks to the present Israeli Ambassador, Tzipi Hotovely. In 2015 the Catholic Church filed a complaint against Benzi Gopstein, the head of Lehava, because he had openly advocated burning mosques and churches. Nothing was done by the Israeli authorities but if a Palestinian had advocated burning down synagogues then his feet wouldn’t have touched the floor.

See A strange Kind of Mercy, Ha’aretz 27.5.11 and Israel’s Tolerance for Lehava - the Fascist Terror Groups

Jerusalem Churches Protest 'Systematic Attempt to Drive Christians Out of the Holy Land'

This is Zionism and this is what Ephraim Mirvis is Defending – Jewish Racism in a Jewish State

Zionism is not a ‘euphemism’ for Jews – it is a Synonym for an Apartheid Society based on Jewish Supremacy & Systematic Racial Discrimination

 

One of the quainter customs which Israel has inherited from its European past is the pogrom. A pogrom is where members of the majority community organise a riot and attack members of the minority. In Czarist Russia these were common and thousands of Jews died until the Bolsheviks made it a capital offence. The name of Kishinev was infamous until the Nazi atrocities dwarfed it. It is one of the reasons that there are 300,000 and not 50,000 Jews in Britain.

In South Tel Aviv where the majority of Israel’s 40,000 Black African refugees live there is a constant war of attrition from the ‘poor White’ Misrahi Jews that live there. In 2012 ‘Culture’ Minister Miri Regev and her far-Right friends entered for a racist rally against asylum seekers and provoked a pogrom with their incitement. For this of course they have never been punished.

Raed Salah however, leader of the now banned Northern Muslim League has been repeatedly gaoled for ‘racial incitement’. Israel’s ‘anti-racist’ laws are only ever used against the victims of racism. There have been numerous other attacks such as the murder of a lone Eritrean refugee in the Beer Sheva bus depot for which his attackers were given community service. You see his attackers thought he was an Arab terrorist (he wasn’t White) which in Israel is an understandable mistake to make. Or there are the attacks by the government funded Lehava on Arabs suspected of the crime of dating Jewish women in Jerusalem.

But it’s not simply individual Israelis who are guilty of racism.  It is the Israeli state that sets the example. Ha’aretz reported that the Israeli state, having deducted 2.5% from Palestinian workers to pay for a Sick Fund, rarely if ever paid the monies out.

Kav La’oved, a non-Zionist workers organisation obtained an injunction forbidding the Israeli state simply giving the money back to the employer.  As even Histadrut, the Zionist union said,

 “The workers are entitled to some of the accumulated funds, because although they were insured with the sick pay fund, in fact it was almost impossible for them to receive any sick pay,” the Histadrut said.

Ha’aretz reported that:

Until the beginning of 2019 employers automatically set aside 2.5 percent of their Palestinian workers’ wages for a “sick pay fund,” run by Israel's Population and Immigration Authority. But the process of receiving sick pay is much longer and more complicated for Palestinians than for their Israeli counterparts. The requests are usually filed only for serious diseases and injuries and require an intricate labyrinth of administrative and medical permits. Only rarely is the sum paid in full.

This is, of course, the reality of a system whereby workers living under Occupation have no rights whatsoever.  Arbitrary deductions are made from their wages for a sick fund that never pays out. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Ha’aretz reports that the Ein Hanya spring was recently opened in Southern Jerusalem however the Police stipulated that it was only ‘on the explicit condition that Palestinians not be allowed to enter the site.’ And course this is completely reasonable you may think. After all what is a Jewish state for if it can’t even keep Arabs out of swimming pools and natural springs.

So the Spring was kept under heavy guard by the police and Border Police, who even closed the road leading to Palestinian towns. Hundreds of Israelis visited the site. Previously residents of the neighboring Palestinian village of Al-Walaja regularly visited it, thus it was enjoyed by both Israelis and Palestinians for years before Israel decided to turn it into an official park.

The spring was officially inaugurated as a tourism site two years ago, but its opening has been repeatedly delayed, for two reasons. One was a dispute over whether entry fees should be charged. The other was the police’s demand that Palestinians not be allowed to enter.

What kind of democracy is it, you may ask, where the Police can stipulate that one section of the population is barred from a social and recreational facility?  Does anywhere come to mind?

Ha’aretz also reported that

‘Police have also demanded that the Ein Yael checkpoint be moved farther south, so that it would separate Palestinian towns from the spring. The estimated cost of moving the checkpoint is 12 million shekels ($3.4 million).’

A small price you might think for making the spring Arabrein (after the Nazi Judenrein).

Now as readers will be aware, in a state based on racial supremacy it is vital that a strict demarcation line be drawn between the Herrenvolk (master race) and the Untermenschen (lower races). Fortunately, despite the ability of non-Jews to convert to Judaism, Israel’s Conversion Authority have wisely decided to exclude Palestinians.

Yes I know some of you may feel squeamish about this and even call it racist, but it really isn’t. In Hungary and Slovakia during the war, we had the phenomenon of Jews queuing up to convert to Christianity and thus thwart the efforts of the regime to classify them as Jews fit for deportation.  Unfortunately it rarely worked as the Nazis, like the Israeli regime, were not fooled by Jews suddenly wishing to become Christians.  Likewise Israel’s authorities are not fooled by Palestinians wishing to become Jews.  They are fully aware of the real reasons behind such religious ardour.

It is therefore  gratifying to learn that Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz, director of the Israeli government’s Conversion Authority explained that

‘Israel’s authority handling conversions to Judaism rejects Palestinian applicants without review because of their ethnic origin, its head said.’

during a discussion at the State Control Committee of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. Foreigners have to apply to the Special Cases Panel of the Conversion Authority.

“The threshold requirements are that applicants be sincere and that they are not foreign workers; infiltrators; Palestinian or illegally in the country.”

Now dear reader, you probably believe that there is no mention in the Talmud or the Torah of these exceptions.  Of course historically as long as the individual was honest and sincere and willing to undergo he conversion process, s/he would be accepted as Jewish.

But in Israel things are not so simple. Being Jewish is not a religious but a racial characteristic, much like it was in Nazi Germany. And in Nazi Germany, once a Jew always a Jew, so someone whose parents had converted freely to Christianity 50 years previously was still a Jew or a Mishlinge (half or quarter Jew).  Hence in Germany and in Hungary you had the phenomenon of Christian Jews – Jewish by race, Christian by religion.

Similarly in Israel. If you are a foreign worker, brought into the country to perform menial labour, then you must understand you have no rights however long you are in the country. Why? Because you are living in a Jewish state. 

Of course there is always a temptation to convert amongst the Palestinians given all those privileges that you are entitled to if you are Jewish.  But if every Palestinian could convert where would Israel be?  It would have no one to discriminate against. Before long we would have an equal society and that would mean no ‘Jewish’ State.

Obviously your immigration status must have a bearing on your motive in wanting to convert. For example your children will be able to have a good education in a Jewish school rather than an under funded Arab one. You will be able to live in hundreds of Jewish communities if you are Jewish. Quite rightly Rabbi Peretz has seen through all of this.

And as if to prove what I say is true, Ha’aretz reports that an Indian born couple, Tina and Minin Lopez, who came to Israel 12 years ago to work as nurses, were detained alongside their 7-year-old daughter Eliana and their one-year-old baby. You see it is irrelevant if you were born in Israel. Unlike many countries being born in Israel confers no rights on you. What matters is your ethnicity – being Jewish.

Ha’aretz reports that Immigration Authority inspectors broke into the home of the Lopez family in south Tel Aviv and detained them along with their seven-year-old daughter Eliana, who attends school in Tel Aviv, and their one-year-old toddler.

Yes I know some of you will be saying that at least the toddler is innocent but that really is besides the point.  The fact is that he is not Jewish and he along with his sister are trying to stay in a land reserved for Jews.

We are told that the arrest comes amid a ‘wide crackdown on migrant workers throughout Israel.’ Now you know why Theresa May, with her ‘hostile environment policy’ had such a fondness for Israel.

People have to understand that Israel is no ordinary country.  It is a Jewish ethnic state and no matter how long you have lived and worked in the country you are not Jewish. Apparently the Immigration Authority came under fire in recent weeks for arresting two Filipino, Israeli-born children as they prepared to go to school.

Thirteen-year-old Gena Antigo and 10-year-old Ralph Harel were released on a $8,510 bail each after an appeals court ruled that their arrests and the decision to deport them and their mothers were wrong because the minors' welfare was not taken into consideration. Just as in Britain, sometimes the courts are too soft-hearted for their own goods.  However you will be happy to know that ‘Justice Minister’ Ayelet Shaked has instituted a crackdown on do gooder judges and slowly the Supreme Court is being stacked with settler judges like Noam Sohlberg who will have no truck with this liberal nonsense about human rights.

As Ayelet has often reminded people, when there is a conflict between national i.e. Zionist considerations and universal concepts of human rights then the latter must give way. Or as the Jewish National Fund once put it, Jewish people haven’t dreamed of a democratic state but a Jewish state for 2,000 years.

The court also ruled that minors under the age of 12 should receive a hearing before a decision is made to deport them. 1,000 students, teachers and parents demonstrated outside of Givon Prison against the detention Antigo and Harel. This makes you want to despair.  Clearly some Israelis don’t understand that a Jewish state can’t afford to just let any old non-Jew stay in the state.

Demonstrators held signs reading: "We won't let them deport Gena," "They're children just like us" and "No evil in our schools."  I can imagine the despair on Ayelet and Netanyahu’s faces.  No their children are not just like us.  For one they are not Jewish.  They don’t even have Jewish souls, which is a very important factor in the after life. As Eli Dahan, the former Deputy Minister of Defence said, even gay Jews have higher souls than non-Jews.

Of course there are some racists and anti-Semites like that Corbyn fellow who oppose the world’s only Jewish state.  These kind of people would probably have opposed the world’s only Aryan state or the world’s only White Christian state (South Africa). Clearly they are nothing more than degenerate left-wingers and communists.

Fortunately the BBC’s Tory Laura Kuensberg and the rest of the media recognise a racist when they see one and no, I was not referring to Boris Johnson.

Tony Greenstein

Should we set fire to churches (& mosques)? This is burning religious issue in Israel

Israel destroyed the Notre Dame of Gaza – but there was only silence from the West

As Yossi Gurvitz explained, the fire at Notre Dame has caused an argument within Israeli Orthodox circles.

Rabbi Shlomo Avineir of the Beit El settlement in the West Bank (the one that US Ambassador David Friedman has helped raise funds for) suggested that the fire at Notre Dame was divine punishment for the burning of the Talmud in France in the 13^th century! God has, it would seem, a very long memory and clearly is not only a vengeful god but spiteful too as it is not clear what responsibility the French have for what happened 800 years ago.

But what is not in doubt is that since 2009 53 mosques and churches have been vandalised or set fire to in Israel. As is normally the case with attacks on non-Jews, the Israeli Police have not exerted themselves. Only 9 indictments to date have been filed by the police.

What makes this worse is that there are sections of Israeli society who openly justify the destruction of churches and mosques on religious grounds.

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on fire, April 15, 2019. (Photo: LeLaisserPasserA38/Wikimedia)

Rabbi Benzi Gopstein, the head of the anti-miscegenation organisation Lehava in a panel discussion in 2015, in answer to a question as to whether he supported the burning of churches, referred to the teachings of the famous Spanish Jewish philosopher Maimonedes . Gopstein was asked by Benny Rabinowitz, a writer for an ultra-Orthodox newspaper, "Do you support burning churches in Israel, yes or no?" Gopstein, citing a Maimonides ruling that churches should be burned responded "Are you for Maimonides or against him?"

Gopstein's answer ‘shocked the attendees’ who asked "Benzti are you for burning or not?" "Of course I am," Bentzi replied "It’s Maimonides. Simply yes, what is there to question?"

This prompted the Vatican to call for Gopstein’s prosecution and the Police did call him in for interrogation. However Gopstein wasn’t an Arab who had justified the burning down of synagogues.  That would have merited a hefty prison sentence. The Attorney General refused to prosecute because in Israel racial hatred or discrimination on the grounds of religion is not a criminal offence.

FATHER NIKODEMUS SCHNABEL inspects the damage at Capernaum’s Church of the Loaves and Fishes caused by an arson attack. (photo credit: BEN HARTMAN)

However there was no such inhibition when it came to prosecuting Raed Salah, the leader of the Northern Islamic League for allegedly referring to the medieval blood libel about baking bread with the blood of non-Jewish children when opposing Israeli attacks on the worshippers at the Al Aqsa mosque. Even though Salah denied having made any such statement and an examination of his remarks confirms that he made no mention of Jews (he maintained he had been referring to the Spanish Inquisition) he was convicted and sentenced to 9 months. For a thorough investigation of the affair see the Sheik Raed Affair and May warned of weak case against Sheikh Raed Salah and Jonathan Cook’s The real preachers of hate: Britain’s arrest of Sheikh Raed Salah

Bentzi Gophstein

Prominent settler Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, ruled that burning churches outside of the Land of Israel “isn’t our job for now”, but in Israel “the issue is more complicated”.

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner (Photo: Wikimedia)

Avineir is a state official and draws a public salary as the rabbi of a major settlement Beit El. He is also the rabbi of a prominent settler Yeshiva (Ateret Yerushaliam, formerly Ateret Cohanim), ‘He  is considered to be one most important rabbis of the religious nationalist sector.’

After the fire in Notre Dame Cathedral, Aviner was asked:

“The great Christian Church in Paris is on fire. Should we feel sorry for that, or should we rejoice, as it [the cathedral] is idolatry, which is a mitzvah to burn?”

Aviner replied:

“This isn’t our job for now. There is no mitzvah [a religious commandment] to seek out churches abroad and burn them down. In our holy land, however, the issue is more complicated. Indeed, the Satmar Rabbi noted one of his arguments against immigrating to Israel, that here it is indeed a mitzvah to burn churches; and by not doing so, those [immigrating to Israel] are committing a sin.’

The problem is further compounded by the fact that if Jews do burn down churches ‘we’ll have to rebuild, and it’s a greater sin to rebuild [a church] than leave it standing.’

Gurvitz commented wryly:

‘(Oh, yes: American Jewish readers, I probably need to stress this – this is not a parody or a satire. This is actual rabbinical discourse in 2019 Israel.).’

Screenshot of Aviner’s opinion re church fires.

The point however is that many churches (and mosques) have been burnt in Israel in the last few years, and the police have been disinterested in capturing the arsonists. In several cases, the arson was accompanied by slogans familiar from ‘price tag’ attacks in the West Bank (mostly along the lines of Jewish vengeance). 

Gurvitz writes that:

‘Several immensely important rabbinic rulers, most prominent among them Maimonides, ruled that churches are places of idolatry and ought to be destroyed. The rulings are very clear. However, to support those rulings today would lead to violence, probably to a rise in anti-Semitism, and will jeopardize the alliance between the settler movement and the evangelical movement. There is also a chance of getting prosecuted for incitement for hatred, which is a crime in Israel – but then again, the law has a special exemption for “religious studies”, and the prosecution has been very leery of prosecuting rabbis for hate speech, making “religious discussions” the prime way of legally-protected incitement.’

Below is an article on the deliberate destruction of Gaza’s mosques by the Israeli military in the course of successive attacks on Gaza from 2008-2014 in Operations Protective Edge, Cast Lead and Pillar of Defence and the hypocrisy of Western indifference to this compared to the tears over Notre Dame.

Notre Dame of Gaza: our mosques and churches are also burning

Ramzy Baroud April 25, 2019

Palestinians walk past a mosque which witnesses said was destroyed by an Israel air strike during the offensive, on the second day of a five-day ceasefire, in Gaza City on August 15, 2014. (Photo: Ezz Zanoun/APA Images)

As the 300-foot spire of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris tragically came tumbling down on live television, my thoughts ventured to Nuseirat Refugee Camp, my childhood home in the Gaza Strip.

Then, also on television, I watched as a small bulldozer hopelessly clawed through the rubble of my neighborhood mosque. I grew up around that mosque. I spent many hours there with my grandfather, Mohammed, a refugee from historic Palestine. Before grandpa became a refugee, he was a young Imam in a small mosque in his long-destroyed village of Beit Daras.

Mohammed and many in his generation took solace in erecting their own mosque in the refugee camp as soon as they arrived to the Gaza Strip in late 1948. The new mosque was first made of hardened mud, but was eventually remade with bricks, and later concrete. He spent much of his time there, and when he died, his old, frail body was taken to the same mosque for a final prayer, before being buried in the adjacent Martyrs Graveyard. When I was still a child, he used to hold my hand as we walked together to the mosque during prayer times. When he aged, and could barely walk, I, in turn, held his hand.

But al-Masjid al-Kabir – the Great Mosque, later renamed al-Omari mosque – was completely pulverized by Israeli missiles during the summer war on Gaza, starting July 8, 2014.

Hundreds of Palestinian houses of worship were targeted by the Israeli military in previous wars, most notably in 2008-9 and 2012. But the 2014 war was the most brutal and most destructive yet. Thousands were killed and more injured. Nothing was immune to Israeli bombs. According to Palestine Liberation Organization records, 63 mosques were completely destroyed and 150 damaged in that war alone, oftentimes with people seeking shelter inside. In the case of my mosque, two bodies were recovered after a long, agonizing search. They had no chance of being rescued. If they survived the deadly explosives, they were crushed by the massive slabs of concrete.

In truth, concrete, cements, bricks and physical structures don’t carry much meaning on their own. We give them meaning. Our collective experiences, our pains, joys, hopes and faith make a house of worship what it is.

Many generations of French Catholics have assigned the Notre Dame Cathedral with its layered meanings and symbolism since the 12th century.

While the fire consumed the oak roof and much of the structure, French citizens and many around the world watched in awe. It is as if the memories, prayers and hopes of a nation that is rooted in time were suddenly revealed, rising, all at once, with the pillars of smoke and fire.

But the very media that covered the news of the Notre Dame fire seemed oblivious to the obliteration of everything we hold sacred in Palestine as, day after day, Israeli war machinery continues to blow up, bulldoze and desecrate.

Palestinians and Palestinian security forces inspect the damage inside a mosque torched and vandalized by arsonists in the West Bank village of Qusra, near Nablus, Monday, Sept. 5, 2011. Arsonists tossed two tires into the first floor study hall of the mosque. (Photo: Wagdi Eshtayah/APA Images)

It is as if our religions are not worthy of respect, despite the fact that Christianity was born in Palestine. It was there that Jesus roamed the hills and valleys of our historic homeland teaching people about peace, love and justice. Palestine is also central to Islam. Haram al-Sharif, where Al-Aqsa mosque and The Dome of the Rock are kept, is the third holiest site for Muslims everywhere. Yet Christian and Muslim holy sites are besieged, often raided and shut down per military diktats. Moreover, the Israeli army-protected messianic Jewish extremists want to demolish Al-Aqsa and the Israeli government has been digging underneath its foundation for many years.

Although none of this is done in secret; international outrage remains muted. In fact, many find Israel’s actions justified. Some have bought into the ridiculous explanation offered by the Israeli military that bombing mosques is a necessary security measure. Others are motivated by dark religious prophecies of their own.

Palestine, though, is only a microcosm of the whole region. Many of us are familiar with the horrific destruction carried out by fringe militant groups against world cultural heritage in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Most memorable among these are the destruction of Palmyra in Syria, Buddhas of Bamyan in Afghanistan and the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul.

Nothing however can possibly be compared to what the invading US army has done to Iraq. Not only did the invaders desecrate a sovereign country and brutalize her people, they also devastated her culture that goes back to the start of human civilization. Just the immediate aftermath of the invasion alone resulted in the looting of over 15,000 Iraqi antiquities, including the Lady of Warka, also known as the Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia, a Sumerian artifact whose history goes back to 3100 BC.

A Palestinian protester holds a cross during a demonstration against acts of vandalism on Christian sites including smashing headstones in a Christian cemetery in Israel and the occupied West Bank, outside Jerusalem’s Old City October 6, 2013. (Photo: Saeed Qaq/APA Images)

I had the privilege of seeing many of these artifacts in a visit to the Iraq Museum only a few years before it was looted when US forces failed to protect the site. At the time, Iraqi curators had thousands of precious pieces hidden in a basement in anticipation of a US bombing campaign. But nothing could prepare the museum for the savagery unleashed by the ground invasion. Since then, Iraqi culture has largely been reduced to items on the black market of the very western invaders that have torn that country apart. The valiant work of Iraqi cultural warriors and their colleagues around the world have managed to restore some of that stolen dignity, but it will take many years for the cradle of human civilization to redeem its vanquished honor.

Every mosque, every church, every graveyard, every piece of art and every artifact is significant because it is laden with meaning, the meaning bestowed on them by those who have built or sought in them an escape, a moment of solace, hope, faith and peace.

On August 2, 2014 the Israeli army bombed the historic al-Omari Mosque in northern Gaza. The ancient mosque dates back to the 7th century and has since served as a symbol of resilience and faith for the people of Gaza.

As Notre Dame burned, I thought of al-Omari too. While the fire at the French cathedral was likely accidental, destroyed Palestinian houses of worship were intentionally targeted. The Israeli culprits are yet to be held accountable.

I also thought of my grandfather, Mohammed, the kindly Imam with the handsome, small white beard. His mosque served as his only escape from a difficult existence, an exile that only ended with his own death.