NUMBER OF DAYS UNTIL THE ISRAELI ELECTION: 26
ISRAELSTREET endorses NAFTALI BENNETT for Prime Minister
Head of “HaBayit HaYehudi” (The Jewish Home) political party
SPECIAL NOTICE:
To all israelstreet readers who celebrate the holiday, your humble servant wishes you a very Merry Christmas!
UPDATES 5 pm Israel time Tuesday:
*A few hours ago, Shin Bet announced that another PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) terror cell has been broken up in the Binyamin region. The cell had intended to kidnap IDF soldiers.
*On Route 4, a suspected terrorist bomb has been found under the Geha bridge. IDF sappers are in route.
*A roving band of “young Arabs” attacked Jews in Akko this afternoon. This follows a street attack on Akko’s Chief Rabbi several days ago.
*53 members of the long lost tribe of Menashe immigrated to Israel yesterday–after being separated from Israel for more than 2700 years.
Members of the tribe of Menashe arriving in Ben Gurion airport yesterday--after an exile of more than 2700 years.
221 more members are immigrating next month. According to its oral tradition, the tribe was expelled from the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians and then wandered through through Persia, Afghanistan, China and India–eventually settling on the Indian-Burmese border.
TODAY’S BLOG:
The scene in Manger Square in Bethlehem last night. Note the minarets of nearby mosques in the background.
On this Christmas Day in 2012, Bethlehem is indeed a tale of two cities.
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First we have the Bethlehem of international so-called “human rights” organizations, Western governments, and Christian clergy. The Bethlehem of these groups is a city “under Israeli siege” as described by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Mairead Corrigan-Maguire yesterday.
In a lengthy diatribe against Israel written for the Palestinian news site Ma’an, Maguire declared:
“As Christians all over the world prepare to celebrate Christmas, we should also remember what that little town of Bethlehem, where Jesus was born over 2,000 years ago, looks like today.
Since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank began in 1967, some of the largest settlements blocs have been built between Bethlehem and occupied East Jerusalem. Today there are 22 of these settlements established on Bethlehem’s land, while the illegal separation wall that surrounds most of Bethlehem . . .
The Israeli occupation has also severely affected freedom of worship in Bethlehem. Not only does a harsh permit system restrict access to holy sites in Jerusalem for both Christians and Muslims, the settlements and separation wall hamper religious ceremonies in [Bethlehem].”
Maguire’s tale of Bethlehem is nauseating on so many levels that your humble servant hardly knows where to begin. The suggestion that Israel has changed the character of Bethlehem, the suggestion that Jewish communities have been built on “Bethlehem’s land”, the suggestion that the separation wall “surrounds most of Bethlehem”, the suggestion that Israel has restricted “access to holy sites”–all of these suggestions are so egregiously false that they demand reply.
Israel has changed the character of Bethlehem:
The simple fact is that Christians in Bethlehem are becoming an endangered species. Where once the Christian population numbered 90% of the city, it now totals less than 20%–a dwindling number that has precipitously dropped since the PLO took over administration of the city in 1995. Muslim gangs now often roam the city confiscating Christian property with impunity and firebombing Christian homes and businesses. The same Muslims, despite the attempt of Israelis, have built mosques in front of city’s Christian churches. Adding insult to injury, Muslims also intimidate Bethlehem’s Christians by reading from the Koran in front of Bethlehem’s Christian schools and praying to Allah on their prayer rugs in Manger Square.
“Bethlehem’s land” and the “wall that surrounds most of Bethlehem”:
There is not one scintilla of evidence that the land on which Jewish communities have been built is somehow “owned by Bethlehem”. As to the separation fence (which was built when the PLO started sending suicide bombers from Bethlehem into Israel), it only exists in the direction in which Bethlehem borders Jerusalem–and is only concrete in an area in which Palestinian terrorists were shooting at Israeli motorists.
Israel has restricted access to holy sites in Bethlehem and in Jerusalem:
As has been reported in this blog, during the most recent Ramadan period, Israel restricted Jews from worshiping on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and allowed more than 1,000,000 Muslims to worship there. According to the PLO, “millions of tourists come to Bethlehem every year”, and some 100,000 tourists have packed into Bethlehem’s streets today alone.
What is the real Bethlehem? Certainly not the one described by Maguire. The real Bethlehem is a city under siege by Palestinians Muslims, not Israelis. It is a city whose Christian population is being systematically eradicated by Palestinian Muslims, not Israelis. It is a city in whose streets Jesus would not be free to walk–not as the Jew that he was, and not as a member of the Christian faith that his followers created.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.