Christian Attitudes

Link: http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=41991&eng=y

The Holy See has a new Nuncio for the Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, and Qatar - Lebanese archbishop Mounged El-Hachem.

They must wish they had appointed somebody else. His first
public interview caused dismay in the Vatican, as he made excuses for Islamist terrorism, and compounded this by misquoting Pope Paul VI to make him appear to share his sympathy with terrorists.

First, his own views:

I consider that terror is the result of repression, of suffering, of injustice directed against a person, a group or a particular people, who lose all that they possess and no longer have anything to regret or to lose…. … Terrorist acts flow from distress and from a despair of ever recovering one’s rights. And such is the despair, in some cases, that an individual may be driven to suicide as a means of protest and of drawing attention to his plight

I must emphasise that Pope Paul did not say the following. Archbishop El-Hachem, at one time the vice-director of the Holy See’s press office, made it up:

This reminds me of the distressing incident at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, when young Palestinians massacred Israeli athletes. I recall the shocked outcry throughout the world and the strong condemnation by the international community. At that time I was in the Vatican. It was a sunny Sunday and Pope Paul VI appeared at his window and addressed the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square in these words: “We too reprove and denounce the massacre in Munich, but we ask the following question: why have young Palestinians committed this act? We reply: because the Palestinian people (it was the first time anyone had spoken of the Palestinian “people”) have been the victims of the most dangerous of injustices in the history of humanity, an innocent and peaceable people turned out of their land, who have lost their roots and identity amid the indifference of the entire world… What impelled these young men to commit this act was to attract the attention of the world to their cause”.

But if you re-read the words Paul VI really spoke at the Angelus and at the Wednesday general audience before that, where he also commented on the massacre in Munich, you will find nothing of what El-Hachem puts into his mouth, even using quotation marks to give a false appearance of authenticity.

In the authentic words of Paul VI, one does not find the expression “Palestinian people,” nor, above all, the explanation of the massacre carried out by the terrorists as something animated by their condition as innocent victims.

You can read Pope Paul’s real words in the Chiesa article linked above, and they bear little resemblance to the Lebanese Archbishop’s fictional version.

We also deplore the manner [of the attack] – which has become common, almost fashionable – a devious method, because it is directed against persons who do not expect it, who cannot defend themselves. We cannot help but raise up our voices as well, and the swelling of our emotions, which still intend to be sentiments of fraternity, peace, and love in a world that remains so disturbed by this scene of violence and blood.

...terrorism is unworthy of civil and valorous men; it strikes innocents and shatters faith in peaceful coexistence;

El-Hachem tells us that ‘the first task of an apostolic nuncio is that of “representing the pope as the head of the Catholic Church.”’ His views on terrorism do not represent the views of either Pope Paul VI or the present Pope. Perhaps he should be given another job, where he can't do any harm. I suggest chaplain to an enclosed convent.

Link: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_05117separatiowall.shtml

Pax Christi held a vigil outside Downing street, to encourage the destruction of the barrier Israelis have built to protect themselves from mass-murdering terrorists. The organisers deliberately chose 9 November as the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The 9th November marks the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and Pax Christi have chosen this day to urge the British Government to do all it can to persuade the Government of Israel to dismantle the separation wall between Israel and Palestine.

Coincidentally, and perhaps more appropriately, 9 November is also the anniversary of Kristallnacht.

If organisations like Pax Christi had their way, perhaps history would repeat itself.

Link: http://www.indcatholicnews.com/mayorbeth.html

Dr Victor Batarseh, ’Christian’ Mayor of Bethlehem launched the Bethlehem passport campaign yesterday, describing it as a ‘prison town.’ He made wild claims that Bethlehem “may soon be lost to the world” and this will have a “devastating effect on the cause of open democracy in the Middle East” and will also have world-wide implications for “the relationship between the Christian countries and other nations.”

I’m only surprised he didn’t mention that it will also cause a tsunami to engulf all continents, while the simultaneous arrival of a giant meteor will wipe out all human life, because of – yes, you’ve guessed it - ‘The Wall’!

It is not, as the Israelis would claim, a security barrier... ...It even cuts through a cemetery, separating our dead from each other.

Apparently, the need for deceased Palestinians to lie side by side is more important than that live Israelis be allowed to continue in that happy state.

But there is more to the Mayor of Bethlehem than meets the eye.
Hamas, which controls Bethlehem, appointed the Mayor

Under laws established by the late Yasser Arafat when the Palestinian Authority took control of Bethlehem in 1995, only a Greek Orthodox or Catholic Christian can be mayor of Bethlehem, so Hamas could not field its own candidate. No problem! Hamas simply installed a “Christian” ally, Walid Victor Batarseh, 70, an atheist and Marxist from the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Batarseh replaces Hanna Nasser, a moderate Christian who supported peaceful coexistence with Israel. By contrast, Batarseh is suspected of involvement in terrorist activities. His attorney is a member of Hamas and his organization, the PFLP, was behind the assassination of Israeli Cabinet Minister Rehavam Ze’evi, who was gunned down in Jerusalem in 2002. “This was legitimate retaliation for Israeli state terror,” said Batarseh.

Hamas-Christian Mayor Batarseh blames the departure of Christians from Bethlehem on the security barrier, but here is the real reason:

The growing Islamic militancy in Jesus’ hometown is driving Christians out. “It is becoming impossible for Christians to live under the extremist Hamas-led government in Bethlehem,” said George, an Arab Christian who asked us not to use his full name. It was only because of our long friendship that George, whose family has lived in Bethlehem for centuries, agreed to speak to me.

“We have lost all hope of living here in Bethlehem,” he said, adding that Christians are moving to quieter pastures in Europe, the US, South America and Australia. “Batarseh is not a Christian, but an envoy of Islamic militants! I simply don’t understand how the Christian world watches the Moslems take over Bethlehem and does nothing. Where is Christian Europe? Likewise, Palestinian Christian clergy are also silent

Yes, when are Christian Churches going to protest about this real injustice against their own people, instead of the 'Wall' which protects Israelis from these monsters in Hamas?

Link: http://www.indcatholicnews.com/holdownst.html

Members of Pax Christi, described euphemistically as ‘the international Catholic movement for Peace’, will gather outside Downing Street on Wednesday, 9 November, for a prayer vigil on the theme 'breaking down walls' (and letting terrorists in – Ed.)

The President of Pax Christi is the Patriarch of Terror, Bishop Michel Sabbah.

A delegation will present Mr Tony Blair with postcards and a letter from the Pax Christi campaign
"People of the Holy Land need Bridges Not Walls".

They chose the date specially:

The 9 November marks the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and Pax Christi have chosen this day to urge the British Government to do all it can to persuade the Government of Israel to dismantle the separation wall between Israel and Palestine.

Reminder to Pax Christi: the Berlin Wall was constructed to keep citizens in, not to keep terrorists out. And you know it.

There is the usual whining about the inconvenience the ‘wall’ causes to Palestinians, without reference to the need to save Israeli lives, which Pax Christi evidently consider of little value.

If you want to make your views known to Tony Blair, you can email Downing Street before Pax Christi arrive there and start ‘praying’.

Link: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1130954356820&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

'The Myth of Hitler's Pope' by Rabbi David G. Dalin is the latest contribution to the long-running argument about Pope Pius XII's behaviour during WWII and whether he helped, or failed to help, the persecuted Jews. This book takes a favourable view of him.

When Mussolini's fascist laws forbade Jews to teach in Italian schools or universities, Pius XII promptly appointed several Jewish scholars to posts in the Vatican library.

Rabbi Dalin makes the interesting suggestion that accusations against the Pope were intended to distract us from a real villain: The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini.

But perhaps the most interesting and significant section of his book is the evidence he produces for a quite different and sinister scenario: the close relationship between Hajj Amin al-Husseini (grand mufti of Jerusalem from 1922) and Hitler's Nazi party. He suggests that Pius's critics have deliberately deflected blame from such pro-Nazi Islamic fundamentalists onto Pius XII. Certainly this thread of the argument was news to me and, I suspect, to many others, but Dalin produces disturbing evidence to support his case.

A reminder of some of the Palestinian Grand Mufti's own behaviour during the War.

Hajj Amin al-Husseini was known to have met Hitler privately on a number of occasions. He was a friend of Adolf Eichmann and visited Auschwitz. An implacable enemy of the Jews, he supported the destruction of European Jewry and did all he could to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state. He made frequent broadcasts on German radio, displaying virulent anti-Semitism with statements such as "the Jews live as parasites among the nations, suck out their blood, embezzle their property…"

Most telling of all, in Egypt in 1946 Hajj Amin al-Husseini met the young Yasser Arafat, who became his protege and went on to lead PLO terrorists for 40 years.