Santa Claus was originally Saint Nicholas, a Bishop. Followers of the Mohammedan religion who made this bizarre film are unaware that Christianity is supposed to be about love, forgiveness, etc. But then, after observing the idiocy of some present-day bishops, who can blame them?

The Archbishop of Canterbury said they were "here to say to the people of Bethlehem that they are not forgotten. We are here to say: what affects you affects us. We are here to say, your suffering is our suffering too, in prayers and in thought and in hope."

He continued: "We are here to say, in this so troubled and complex land, that justice and security are never something which one person claims and the expense of another, or which one community claims at the expense of another. We are here to say that security for one is security for all. And for one to live under the threat of occupation or of terror is a problem for all."

Terrorist attacks and attempts at self-defence from terrorist attacks are the same to this 'moral leader'?

Naim Ateek's teaching about Jesus is not so much holy as holey. Misusing Jesus shines a light through this intellectual sieve. The article is from "The Christian Century" via Solomonia.

...Another problem arises when forms of Palestinian liberation theology appropriate Jesus for political ends. Any writing that separates Jesus and his first followers from Jewish identity, associates these proto-Christians with the Palestinian population and reserves the label Jew for those who crucified Jesus and persecuted the church is not only historically untenable but theologically abhorrent.

Also dishonest, and driven by the hatred of Jews more than the love of God - but read the whole article.

The Independent, not normally noted for its promotion of Christianity or Christian ideals, has jumped on the Christmas Blood Libel bandwagon.

'What would happen if the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem today?'

I have not linked directly to The Independent’s site (remember, this is the rag which published a Der Stuermer style blood libel cartoon of a Jewish leader eating a Palestinian baby). Instead, I have linked a site whose commenters provide a number of realistic answers to the question.

One suggests:

As a young Jewish mother who had not been married nine months quite yet, I think it is rather obvious what the Palestinians would do to her. There is no question she would be tortured and killed.

Another, ploome hineni, does some swift detective work and discovers another article by the same author, Johann Hari, this time in the Guardian.

....it was pretty tough for me to figure out which, if any, of the assembled delicious Nazis were gay, and which just looked it. I know I should have been so repulsed by these fascists that the thought of sex was abhorrent; but when you are actually confronted with the reality of extremists (and I've met quite a lot of them), it is very hard to actually take them seriously. Sure, they rant about Jews and gays (the two minorities closest to my heart), but it just seems so absurd that I can't help but smile and do my job: pretending to be one of them.

As she says: ...the backstory is always so interesting, n'est pas?

And Hari says Jews are one of "the two minorities closest to my heart". Does that means some of his best friends are...? well, you know the usual claim.

I’ve said it before, and now Melanie Phillips says it – although much more skilfully than I ever could. Christmas seems to be replacing Holy Week as the Blood Libel Season.

English Church leaders are visiting Bethlehem, as part of what is turning into an annual Christmas ritual of demonising the Jews. Fr Madden, an English Catholic priest, indulges in an exercise in malice-with-a-caring-face, by replacing the Christmas crib with a replica of the Jewish anti-terrorist barrier.

Melanie Phillips writes about both these rituals of hatred in The Church and Israel

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.

Ruth Gledhill’s sane voice also cuts across the hypocritical whining noises, with the clarify of the child pointing out that the emperor has no clothes, in O crazy town of Bethlehem.

Yet when it comes to the undoubted plight of Christians in the Holy Land, it is strange that there is so little criticism of Hamas, under which a tiny minority of Christians are struggling to survive, and so much of Israel, where Christians in general flourish.

Both articles are well worth reading, and while you are at it, Dry Bones has his own personal experience of the dire effect of the Palestinian take-over of Bethlehem.

I was going to write about the Three Wise Men from the Christmas story – but there are four of them in this tale, and none of them seem to be wise, so I’d better begin again.

Four Church leaders from England, ignoring the suffering of their fellow Christians in so many parts of the world, rush to give solace to the Arabs of the Holy Land, most of whom are Muslims oppressing Christians

Melanie Phillips smells an anti-Semitic rat here.

If you want to follow their adventures, as they follow the star and go to find the birthplace of a false god called ‘the Palestinians’, they offer us a blog. (Note the links – the BBC Israel and Palestinian territories Profile, Patriarchate of Jerusalem, etc. Not exactly unbiased.)

Already the Archbishop of Canterbury has been shocked by the 'wall'.

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was visibly shocked yesterday as he encountered the 30ft high security wall built by Israel around Bethlehem when he led a pilgrimage of British Church leaders to the birthplace of Christ.

Any signs of shock at the atrocities carried out by Palestinian terrorists against Jews? Not shocked by murdered babies, even? No, I thought not.

My, the lies are being scattered as widely as the stars in a Christmas sky.

I told you Christmas was replacing Holy Week as the traditional Christian season for stirring up hatred against Jews. Here is the latest effort. The anti-Zionists-Semites are as busy as Santa’s elves, only instead of a nice, friendly activity, like wrapping presents for children, they are engaged in something more vicious.

Open Bethlehem (and Let the Terrorists Get at the Jews) has cooked up a poisonous pot of Christmas pudding, containing a big dose of moral polonium, and shared it around various Church news outlets , in the hope of irradiating as many Christians as possible with their hate.

A survey claims that most US Christians don’t know where Bethlehem is, and think it has a mixed Jewish and Muslim population. Those responsible for the survey then try to take advantage of this alleged ignorance by making the usual claim that the Christian Arab population is shrinking because of the Israeli anti-terrorist barrier.

The truth is that Christians are being driven out of the formerly Christian town of Bethlehem by Muslim persecution.

Catholic news outlet, Asia News tells us all about it in Christians in Palestine and daily extremist hostility

Bethlehem (AsiaNews) – Christians in Palestine have warned of increasing hostility against them in an atmosphere of intimidation and abuse by Muslim extremists who are largely allowed to act with impunity. Members of the Bethlehem community told AsiaNews what has been going on, asking to remain anonymous because of the precarious situation.

And you can also read the truth in the Telegraph

"My son, Nazar, when he was just 13, used to come home from school and the Muslim boys of his age from the local refugee camp would run after him shouting 'Nazarene, Nazarene', which is a derogatory local term for Christian. Once they caught up and threatened to beat him unless he said Allah was his god and Mohammed his only prophet. We had to move house, but now my son has left university and cannot get a job, so every day he says we must leave."

Meanwhile, here is a Challenge to Archbishop Rowan Williams

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.’

For those who have ever seen a school Nativity Play, it’s not too difficult to imagine. Small children wearing teatowels, intended to make them look Middle Eastern, are Joseph, shepherds or the inn-keeper. One of the shepherds picks his nose, while another wriggles about and whispers loudly that he needs to go to the toilet. A little girl with a big blue veil, clutching a doll is Mary. She looks very smug because she got the best role, after the doll. One of the angels gets stage fright and bursts into tears. The ox and ass start pushing each other and this develops into a fight.

In a strange reversal of roles, a priest has decided to replace the Christmas crib scene in his church with a replica of Israel’s anti-terror ‘wall’.

Each year hundreds of people come to the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in St. Ives in Cambridgeshire to see the live sheep, a cow and donkey, and actors who occasionally have brought their newborn babies to play the role of Jesus for the Nativity scene.

But this year visitors will be staring up at an imposing gray replica of a portion of the wall built by the Israeli government in 2002 to keep Palestinian suicide bombers at bay.

Fr Paul Maddison “wants to highlight the plight of the Palestinian people suffering as a result of the wall.” He doesn’t want to celebrate all the Jewish lives saved by the same ‘wall’, evidently.

Meanwhile, Hamas vows to dress up Jesus’ birthplace.

It needs it. So many Christians have been driven out by Muslim persecution, there’s hardly anyone left to decorate the place.

A few neon stars are nailed to storefronts on the main streets. The only decoration on the Lutheran Christmas Church in a busy market area is spraypainted graffiti below the pointed steeple that reads “Islamic Jihad” — a Muslim militant group.

Perhaps Hamas are hoping to put on an exciting firework display, using some of their stock of explosives. They might add to the noise of celebration by firing their guns a lot – either into the air, or into members of Fatah.

I am really hoping they will put on a Nativity tableau, though. The shepherds won’t need to wear tea towels, already possessing the correct headwear. I can just see this lady pretending to be Mary, and holding this baby.

How sweet. And if a fight breaks out between the terrorists dressed as the ox and the ass, that should be more interesting than usual.

If someone is anti-Semitic, which is bad, is it surprising if they do other bad things?

Naughty, naughty Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal, Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem is accused of corruption.

The chief pastor of the Anglican community in Israel, Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal, is facing mushrooming allegations of nepotism and graft which have clouded the end of his tenure in office, church officials said Wednesday.

The corruption charges, the subject of a four-month internal church committee investigation, have prompted long-time opponents of the bishop to call for his immediate resignation.

The internal church inquiry committee examined the allegations. It concluded that El-Assal arranged to have a tender for the insurance policy of employees of the church's two schools here issued to a company that promised to give half the commission to his son-in-law.

A little reminder about the behaviour of Bishop Riah here

He is currently complaining about being imprisoned behind walls and fences in Bethlehem. How appropriate.

The Tablet online has a Questionnaire on The Holy Land, but only for the next couple of days.

Quick – click here, go to “Complete Survey now” and let them know what you think about the Cardinal and Archbishop’s visit, Open Bethlehem, and the priest who instead of a Christmas crib has put a replica of the anti-terrorist ‘wall’ in his church.

Reminder: "Open Bethlehem" should be re-named "Open Israel to Terrorists". They want the anti-terrorist barrier removed, even though terrorist leaders admit that it works. And here is the real reason why Christians are leaving Bethlehem.

Between them they make a good Santa Claus. Cardinal Murphy O’Connor has the right coloured clothes while Archbishop Rowan Williams provides the fluffy beard.

Together they are visiting Bethlehem. Their intention is to comfort the Christian community – although there are so few Christians left that their arrival will probably bring more comfort to Muslims, especially the terrorists among them.

Ekklesia dishonestly pretends that the fall in numbers is mostly the fault of – yes, you guessed it.

Many thousands of Christian Palestinians have been forced to emigrate because of high unemployment. Others no longer live in Bethlehem because their homes and businesses which has been annexed by Israel by the construction of the 30 foot high security wall that has been built around the town, separating it from Jerusalem.

Asia News tells us the real reason: Christians are being driven out of the formerly Christian town of Bethlehem by Muslim persecution. (See yesterday’s post for details.)

Both archbishops have given their support to the Open Bethlehem project, which is encouraging personal visitors and businesses to visit Bethlehem.

Open Bethleham? The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster and Archbishop of Canterbury want Jews to stop defending themselves from terrorist attacks? Even though Islamic Jihad admit that the defense barrier is thwarting the terrorists.

They are visiting a largely Muslim town, a centre of terrorism, where the few remaining Christians are persecuted by their Mohammedan neighbours. Instead of protesting the persecution of their fellow-Christians, they seek to give comfort to the persecutors and support genocidal terrorists by pressing for the Jews to stop defending themselves.

You can just hear them, can’t you? “Ho ho ho! A merciless Christmas to you!”

It’s that season of the year again! In the old days, Good Friday was the time for stirring up Christians against Jews.

The ninth century produced new forms of Jewish persecutions. Jews were accused of treason on a number of occasions. And a custom developed whereby on every Good Friday, in punishment for their supposed part in Christ's death, Jews received a facial blow.

Now Christian Arabs are trying to transfer this to Christmas, and make an annual event of it. Open Bethlehem pretends that destroying Israel’s defense barrier will make life perfect for everyone – in spite of admission by Islamic Jihad that it has succeeded in keeping terrorists out.

Open Bethlehem includes vicious, anti-Semitic hate material published by Pax Christi in time for Christmas. (A reminder, the leader of Pax Christi is Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, known to some as the Patriarch of Terror.)

This exercise in dishonesty, intended to incite hatred against the Jews of Israel as they try to defend themselves, is exposed in the light of the truth.

While Pax Christi and terrorist-supporting Christian Arabs try to tell us that the suffering of the Christians in the Holy Land is caused by Jews, the fact is that it is caused by Muslim persecution.

These reports appear now and again, but are swiftly hidden under a heap of the usual lies, told by the usual liars, and then forgotten.

Bethlehem (AsiaNews) – Christians in Palestine have warned of increasing hostility against them in an atmosphere of intimidation and abuse by Muslim extremists who are largely allowed to act with impunity. Members of the Bethlehem community told AsiaNews what has been going on, asking to remain anonymous because of the precarious situation.

The latest episode dates back to 4 November, when armed men belonging to the “Islamic Jihad” broke into Bethlehem’s International Centre run by the Lutheran Church. An evening activity was under way, attended by consuls from European countries, foreign representatives known for their commitment towards the Palestinian people, religious leaders and exponents of local civil society. All of a sudden, armed men invaded the hall, led by Issa Marzouq, an official of Bethlehem’s town administration, and affiliated to the “Islamic Jihad”. The man went on stage and accused those present of betrayal. “You should be ashamed,” he said. “People die while you are here making shows with singing and dancing.” Marzouq broke the microphones and ordered the public to leave within five minutes or else he would start shooting. Eye witnesses said: “Police quickly arrived on the spot but they just looked on.”

“foreign representatives known for their commitment towards the Palestinian people” and "religious leaders" were there? And they were silent about this?

The incident at the Lutheran Church centre is only the most recent one. Residents said that in mid-October, an argument between two youth – a Christian and a Muslim in Bethlehem – erupted into a hunt for Christians. A group of young boys were stopping students on the road, demanding to know what religion they belong to, with the clear intent of beating those who said they were Christian. Even this time, the police just looked on.

That is what is really happening in Bethlehem.

Another small episode in the long-running saga of Pope Pius XII and the Jews. There is evidence that he was not anti-Semitic – at least according to this account from the Palestine Post of 1944.

In 1941, Pius XII told a Jewish visitor: "Be proud to be a Jew!".

The author was the final individual to approach the Pope that day. He wanted to tell Pius about a group of Jews who were being interned by Italy's Fascist government on an island, in danger of starvation. He tried to speak in broken Italian, but the Pope invited him to use his native language, assuming that it would be German. "You are German, too, aren't you?" asked the Pope. The author then explained that he was born in Germany, but he was a Jew.

Pius invited the author to finish his story. He listened intently then said: "You have done well to come to me and tell me this. I have heard about it before. Come back tomorrow with a written report and give it to the Secretary of State who is dealing with the question. But now for you, my son. You are a young Jew. I know what that means and I hope you will always be proud to be a Jew!"

Pius then raised his voice so that everyone in the hall - including the German soldiers - could hear it and said (in a "pleasant voice"): "My son, whether you are worthier than others only the Lord knows, but believe me, you are at least as worthy as every other human being that lives on our earth! And now, my Jewish friend, go with the protection of the Lord, and never forget, you must always be proud to be a Jew!"

He may not have been personally anti-Semitic, but did Pius XII say enough about the persecution of the Jews during the War? According to the future Pope John XXIII, he failed in this.

An Israeli scholar has discovered evidence that a Vatican emissary and future Pope tried to challenge the Catholic Church's perceived indifference to the Nazi mass murder of Europe's Jews during World War II.

Searching the little-known papers of an Israeli emissary who worked to save Jews during the war, Dina Porat, a professor of Jewish history from Tel Aviv University, found evidence that that Giuseppe Roncalli - who later became Pope John XXIII - criticized the policies of Pope Pius XII, lobbied to save Jews and passed on information about the death camps at Auschwitz months earlier than the Vatican acknowledged receiving it.

The German bishops had managed to put a stop to the Nazi euthanasia programme by protesting about it

On August 3, 1941, a Catholic Bishop, Clemens von Galen, delivered a sermon in Münster Cathedral attacking the Nazi euthanasia program calling it "plain murder." The sermon sent a shockwave through the Nazi leadership by publicly condemning the program and urged German Catholics to "withdraw ourselves and our faithful from their (Nazi) influence so that we may not be contaminated by their thinking and their ungodly behavior."

If Church leaders (not just the Pope) had united in protest over the “plain murder” of the Jews, it is likely the Nazis would have backed down over that, too.

New and improved - that's what the blog says about itself.

Isrealli is "the new and improved Israel Video Blog"

This one tiny strip of land – covered in forests, deserts, Mediterranean beaches and snow-covered mountains – plays host to a multi-faceted society that welcomes creativity, passion and drive. And what are the results?

Tantalizing restaurants, uber-creative fashion houses and cities pumping with nightlife and cultural institutions (not to mention the wealth of scientific and technological breakthroughs that occur behind university walls).

So, why a blog? Well, we wanted to bring this, somewhat hidden, side of Israel to the world, up close and personally.

It's an antidote to the poison about that small country which is spread via the media and various 'human rights' (but not Jewish human rights, it seems) groups, including too many Christian groups and individuals.

This is supposed to be a blog about Christians and Jews, so I’m desperately trying to think of an excuse to post something about Ziggy the Zionist Cat

Ziggy invaded and occupied land which belonged to the RSPCA from time immemorial… or something. Maybe he damaged the precious RSPCA olive trees with his claws, as well. Not to mention firing on stone-throwing rats and mice from his Cat Tank. (Here he is preparing to board it).

Recently, Dr Irene Lancaster moved from Manchester to Haifa, while Ziggy has done the same journey in reverse, in rather less comfortable fashion. Irene's blog, which gives a fascinating account of life in Israel for the new citizen, often deals with the topic of relations between Jews and Christians there.

Also, Cat is the first part of the word Catholic.

Right, that’s my excuse. Now enjoy Simply Jews suggested media accounts of the tale of Ziggy.

One of the Elders of Christian Aid, Jenny Tonge, had to relinquish her position after some embarrassingly frank anti-Semitic words.

Baroness Jenny Tonge has stepped down as a trustee of the charity Christian Aid, a move believed to be related to comments she made about the "financial grips of the pro-Israel lobby" in September.

Remember, this is a woman who claimed that if she was a Palestinian she would consider being a suicide bomber. Any pretence that she is 'merely anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic', evaporates when she starts spouting traditional anti-Jewish conspiracy theory garbage.

At a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrat Party conference in September, Tonge said: "The pro-Israeli lobby has got its grips on the Western world, its financial grips. I think they have probably got a certain grip on our party."

It’s not clear whether she jumped or was pushed, but she managed to embarrass her own Party leader with her ravings.

Liberal Democrat Party leader Sir Menzies Campbell disassociated the party from her remarks and condemned Tonge for "clear anti-Semitic connotations."

Making frequent, disproportionate and unjust attacks on Israel and holding it to different standards from the rest of the world is the acceptable, covert form of anti-Semitism for Christian Aid. Behaving like a talking version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is not – it’s just too obvious.

With anti-Semitic Trustees like this, is it any wonder Christian Aid is so prejudiced against Israel? I know she's gone now but why did they keep her on for so long after her comments about being a suicide bomber?