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Monday, December 17, 2012

Abbas' Christmas message of hate and hypocrisy

Mahmoud Abbas has written a "Christmas Message from Palestine to the Christians of the World" which may be the most hypocritical thing he has ever done. And that's saying a lot.

First he says that Israeli settlements are making the life of residents of Bethlehem a "living hell." He goes on to say
The geographical map of Bethlehem and its social fabric are all at risk of extinction more than ever, due to Israeli policies and practices, which aim to Judaize the whole earth... Because the identity of Bethlehem is deeply tied to the birth of Christ the messenger of peace and love, it is considered a great national and religious heritage, one that all us Palestinians, Christians and Muslims, are proud of, and we will not accept any one that deprives it of that legacy or alters its identity.
In 1990, when Bethlehem was under full Israeli control, it was 60% Christian. Since the PA took over control of the town, that Christian population has gone down to around 15% or less, even as its total population has increased!

Who is responsible? well, it isn't the Jews. There must be another set of people there who are forcing the Christians out.

And this other group has been openly stealing Christian-owned land under the watchful eye of Mahmoud Abbas' government, with no known arrests or court cases to combat the phenomenon.

In an interesting historical note, in 1967, before the first Christmas after the Six Day War, Abbas' Fatah party explicitly threatened any Christian pilgrims who wanted to visit the city.


The rest of the message is not a message of peace but one of rabid incitement against Israel, one that makes his recent UN speech look tame. Abbas is using his Christmas message as an excuse for brainwashing Christians to hate Israel - it simply cannot be read any other way.

The real question is, how many Christian leaders will respond to this message of hate and hypocrisy with the contempt it deserves?