Ruth Gledhill, the religion correspondent of the Times and a Christian, takes a characteristically decent, moral and courageous position in criticizing the appalling misrepresentation of the Church of England of the plight of Bethlehem’s Christians and the scapegoating of Israel for their situation by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Ruth also draws attention to another grotesque development in churches around the country, as a direct result of the hatred of Israel that has now been whipped up by the church through its campaign of lies and distortion about Israel and the Arabs:
But just before anyone thinks I’m making a fuss out of nothing, and putting an unnecessarily negative slant on what is, I agree, a mission undertaken in hope and faith, just look at a few of the things happening in the UK around this area. In St Ives, the well-know Live Crib event has been abandoned by the local Roman Catholic church. Instead, they have erected their own ‘wall’. This protest exemplifies the views of so many Christian communities outside Israel.
This is not just happening in CofE churches. A reader sent me this article from the Catholic Herald, followed by her own remarks:
‘…this year, instead of the spectacular [Christmas] tableau, visitors will be staring up at an imposing grey replica portion of the wall built by the Israeli government to keep Palestinian suicide bombers at bay. In place of the crib will be a grim 30ft by 6ft assemblage of painted polystyrene floor insulation materials. This will be flanked by protest banners and ’stark photographs’ to drive home how ‘desperate and ugly the situation is in the Holy Land’. The piece continued that Father Paul Maddison, the parish priest ‘wants to highlight the plight of the Palestinian people’ and a description followed of the ‘Israeli wall’ that ‘will eventually become a 400-mile-long barrier of concrete slabs and barbed wire fences separating Israel from the West Bank.’ Reportedly, “Fr Maddison believes it has ‘devastated’ the lives of ordinary Palestinians. ‘Friends and family are separated, earning a living becomes more and more difficult, access to health care is severely restricted all in the town of Bethlehem that we sing about at this time of the year’”. However he ‘added that he could understand Israel’s need for security but argued that it was wrong to build the wall on Palestinian land. ‘”Israel has the right to live within safe and secure borders…No one can dispute that.’” The ‘replica’ wall will be erected on 15 December and taken down on 27 December. An Israeli Embassy spokesman was quoted at the end of the report, saying the ‘wall’ was a ‘cheap stunt’, that ‘over half of the Israelis’ killed by terrorists in 2005 “were killed by terrorists who came from or through Bethlehem. Today the town is ruled by the terrorist Hamas government. The Security Fence, which is less than four per cent of the total wall, has meant a 93 per cent decrease in terrorist attacks.’
Thus the report was presented with an attempt at balance, but what disturbed me was that, reportedly, the announcement of the ‘replica’ barrier was ‘announced to ’spontaneous applause’” at Sunday Masses at the church in question. I think this is a political rather than a religious stance - many Catholics are left wingish - and seems to reflect the stance of groups like CND and Campaign Against the Arms Trade. I’ve dropped out of both because of their anti-Israel campaigns. There are some who like me respond to items in the Catholic press but we are not organized; perhaps it is time we were. A couple of years ago there was a letter in one of the papers on Jewish responsibility for the crucifixion; a couple of us trounced the person concerned with Church teachings, especially from Vatican II - it turned out he was a member of that part of the Church that broke away in protest at Vatican II, so I don’t think he was typical in terms of theological opinion, especially as the issue didn’t resurface. As I say, I believe the ‘barrier’ story is indicative of a political rather than religious stance, exacerbated by ignorance encouraged by our biased media; it seems this ‘left-right’ split also applies to Jewish opinion, from what I can gather from the Jewish papers? I started to read them when I was studying for a degree in Jewish Christian relations and confess to being baffled by the stances on Israel - however it does go to show what rubbish the ‘Jewish Conspiracy’ is - one would have expected a greater degree of unanimity for a decent conspiracy, after all.
Quite apart from the lies and distortions embodied by these displays, what also comes across is a distressing echo of the most ancient prejudice of all against the Jews. For the replacement of the traditional nativity by Israel’s security fence carries the unmistakeable message that the Palestinians are the modern version of the suffering Christ, being persecuted by the Jews. It’s the crucifixion libel all over again.
Other Christians, I am happy to say, are now standing up and saying to all this ‘not in my name’. Here for example, is a fine and robust response to Rowan Williams from Tony Pearce, pastor of The Bridge Christian Fellowship’
Dear Dr Williams,
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 on 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. In this way we in the west are already submitting to Islamic demands and behaving like ‘dhimmi’ citizens subject to the rule of the mosque. I find this utterly shameful and a betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Truth and decency do still live on in these darkest times.
