The PA confirmed Tuesday that Hamas gunmen had stolen at least 60 liters of fuel meant for the Gaza power station in order to fill their own vehicles. The fuel was being stored on the Palestinian side of the Nahal Oz fuel terminal. Mojahed Salam, head of the Palestinian Authority's gas agency, told Israel Radio that his workers were threatened at gunpoint and that he instructed them to obey the orders of the armed men so they wouldn't be harmed. "They took control of the fuel and fired toward the terminal in order to torpedo the flow of fuel to the Strip and to pressure Egypt into reopening the Rafah border crossing," said Salam.
Right, well in other news today:
During this week's General Conference, the United Methodist Church will be reviewing a number of resolutions urging divestment from companies doing business with Israel and the Sudan. As with most divestment drives over the last few years, this one begs the question of why Israel - a tiny country acting against a backdrop of perpetual terror targeted at it - is lumped together with the Sudanese regime responsible for close to two million deaths in its south and 200,000-400,000 (and growing) in its state of Darfur.
Well, I suppose the short answer might be that the United Methodist Church is simply upholding the longstanding Christian tradition of anti-Semitism.
3 comments:
With respect and without opening up a whole kettle of fish and without supporting the United Methodists and without denying the longstanding Christian tradition of anti-Semitism (even with we Scots Presbyterians and our heavy leaning on the Pre-Jesus Bible), can you consider advise upon how a Christian or a Chrisitan church or even a secular Christian community could express disastisfaction with the policies state of Isreal without risking the charge that they/one are simply upholding the longstanding Christian tradition of anti-Semitism? And I don't mean that question rhetorically but honestly.
You are trying to skip over question two without fully examining and answering question one.
Israel is a small country; in fact, Israel can be quite rightly described as even a tiny state. In terms of serial human rights abusers - Israel does not even rank up there in the current top ten or rank among the top 50 in the last 60 years. During the last 10 years, more people have died as a result of the ongoing conflict in the Congo than have died in total from all of Israel's wars in the last 60 years. But funny how there never are any cries from the churches like the Methodist or even United Church for divestment from the likes of countries of like say - Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Libya, or even the Congo.
Christian groups don't appear overly concerned for what is going on in the Congo – a country with a Christian majority.
And yourself just why is there such a Christian pre-occupation with all the alleged on-goings within the Jewish state’s affairs?
In fact, I would give you another food for thought. The per capital income of the average Congonese is three times lower than the per capital income of a Gazan Palestinian but it Gaza which is reported constantly to be always on the verge of a dire humanitarian nightmare/crisis. But not only that, Christians under the direct authority of the PA and the Hamas in the Gaza Strip face horrendous trials and persecutions with nary a word of reproach issued by the organized Christian Churches towards the dominate Palestinian governments. If one were cynical, one would say it is because there are no ‘jews’ involved in these scenarios. Personally, I put it down to a rather new and modern twist on a very old libel.
Furthermore, it might not be pc to say it, but after almost 2,000 years of overtly zealous persecution accumulating in the holocaust against the Jews - there is simply no moral standing left for any Christian clergy/church/organization to stand in judgment of the Jewish state. None - as in nada. As far as individuals go, I am quite critical of the current and previous Israeli governments and the only charges of anti-Semitism I have faced is being accused of being single-handedly responsible for the rise of modern anti-Semitism.
I did see both points and I entirely agree with the facts of the Congo as well as the whole heart of darkness and the farce that is the West's failings there - which coupled with crapping on Gen/Sen Dallaire's trip into madness after bearing witness to the eastern edge of such pure evil still makes him my favorite Canuck. And I also agree entirely with your comment:
"...And yourself just why is there such a Christian pre-occupation with all the alleged on-goings within the Jewish state’s affairs?"
Agreed - there is a whole evangelical and Book of Revelations thing associated with it that (but for the whole belief in the birth of the Messiah thing) should be utter unintelligible for the current residents.
But, with respect, these things do not absolve the other thing. They do not make it that I cannot read internal criticisms from within Israel (agreed, a tiny country with the duty to defend itself and well even if not unilaterally supported by the West) and suggest they kinda make sense. Or that I might have my own opinion, however knee jerk (or not), and know that opinion is not based on anti-Semitism but other things like notions of good governance and such. You once asked me (quite fairly) why I did not write about a certain matter. I believe I indicated that (or at least more cowardly knew that) I did not want to walk into the fire that I knew I would receive. The same or worse is the case here: how can one who is not Jewish (and fundamentally not involved at all as a partisan, other than being pro-freedom and pro-people) speak to the question of Gaza at all, perhaps daring to voice an opinion that the problem is not all one-sided the without risking receiving that label of anti-Semite? Put in shorter form - can one be non-Semite, pro-Semite (if there is an opposite to anti-Semite) and unhappy with a major policy of the state of Israel?
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