"We Should Not Treat Israel As A Normal State; It Is Dysfunctional": Festive Bad Tidings In Full Swing Again

"We Should Not Treat Israel As A Normal State; It Is Dysfunctional": Festive Bad Tidings In Full Swing Again

Yes, that time of the year is upon us when the Israel-demonisers intensify their Open Season on the Jewish State.

As usual there are the alternative Israel-demonising lyrics to familiar carols, and the Israel-demonising cards sold by a number of NGOs, some even depicting Jesus not as a Jew but as a Palestinian.  I wrote about this in detail a couple of years ago, and as NGO Monitor demonstrates here it's the same story this year.

In Ireland, the University College Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign has issued such cards, one depicting

"Mary and baby Jesus surrounded by pictures of violence and suffering among which is a photo of what looks like an Israeli soldier aiming his rifle a Palestinian mother and child.

That particular postcard comes with a letter the publisher, the UCC Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the perpetuates the popular Irish myth that were Mary alive in our days, she would be unable to deliver Jesus as recorded in the New Testament because Israeli soldiers would have detained her at the Bethlehem checkpoint, because Mary was a Palestinian! As such, Mary would have been forced to give birth at the checkpoint, as all Palestinian women are apparently forced to do...

Another card shows the three wise men on the way to visit Jesus after his birth,but they are unable to reach Bethlehem because of the Israeli security wall."

In response to such provocation and ignorance, the Israeli Embassy in Dublin posted to its own Facebook page the following comment:

"A thought for Christmas... If Jesus and mother Mary were alive today, they would, as Jews without security, probably end up being lynched in Bethlehem by hostile Palestinians."

An immediate furore followed, and after half an hour or so the comment was removed and this one substituted:

"To whom it may concern, an image of Jesus and Mary with a derogatory comment about Palestinians was posted without the consent of the administrator of the Facebook page. We have removed the post in question immediately. Apologies to anyone who may have been offended. Merry Christmas!"

Concluded socialist parliamentarian and Irish Anti-War Movement chairman Richard Boyd Barrett regarding the incident:

"We should not treat Israel as a normal state.  It is dysfunctional."

(Boyd Barrett, who apparently once campaigned for Hezbollah bigwig Ibrahim Moussawi to be allowed to address a conference in Dublin, is on record as saying declaring that Israel is "a state built on violence, oppression and apartheid" and "has no right to exist as long as it denies rights to Palestinians".)

 Opined a spokeswoman for the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign:

"It is indicative of the racism that underpins the whole Zionist project."

 But as Nurit Tinari Modai, deputy chief of mission at the Israeli embassy, explained later:

"The use of the symbols of Christianity in a political context is considered acceptable as part of anti-Israel campaigns, Ireland! These symbols have been used in such a way many times in the past decade. Jesus and Mary have become a weapon in the hands of those who hate Israel in Ireland, and our post on Facebook should be seen in the context of this local discourse and as a response to the anti-Israel Christmas cards....

The identification of Mary and Jesus as Palestinians is clear, and is quite pervasive. Not a few of the Irish actually believe that Jesus was an Arab Palestinian! In a Christian country like Ireland, it shouldn't be a sin for us to occasionally point out the historical fact that Jesus was a Jew."

Read more here and  here

Still on the subject of Irish Israel-haters, these perpetual activists (complete with giant open letter to Her Majesty) against the presence of the Steinmetz diamond among temporary exhibits at the Tower of London (see my earlier post here) to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, seemed positively perplexed to learn that they've been demonstrating in vain, the diamond being no longer on display:

To save face, they're claiming it as a BDS victory, despite the fact that the diamond was undoubtedly  returned to its owners in the normal course of winding down of celebrations to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee!

(Video uploaded by a veteran of the anti-Ahava campaign in London)

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2012/12/we-should-not-treat-israel-as-normal.html