Thank you, father

Any church that aids and abets the jihad agenda is suicidal at best, morally depraved and debauched at worst. Let's hope many of the US Methodist churches heading in this direction change course.

Huge props to David Hallam, who preaches in Methodist churches around Birmingham. He accused his own church of wasting funds to pursue a vendetta against the Jews. The individual can change the course of human events. Hear! Hear!

Methodist preacher to sue his own church over claim of anti-Israel bias Telegraph (hat tip danielle)

A Methodist preacher is preparing to sue his own church over claims it is using charitable donations to pursue a campaign of discrimination against Israeli Jews.
Former Methodist preacher, David Hallam Photo: DAVID ROSE

The legal dispute has been prompted by a controversial resolution passed at the Methodist Conference which called for a boycott of some Israeli goods.

If the legal action is successful, it would likely bring to an end all similar campaigns that boycott Israeli goods and services.

David Hallam, who preaches in Methodist churches around Birmingham, has accused his own church of wasting funds to pursue a vendetta against Israel. There are no Methodist churches in either Israel or the Occupied Territories.

Mr Hallam, 62, a former labour MEP, said: "What I object to is money which I am putting on the collection plate on a Sunday being used to fund a political campaign against the Jewish state. This is both discriminatory and a misuse of a charity's funds.

"The Methodist Church seems to think it has a God given right to tell Jews how to run their affairs. It is very disturbing we are getting involved in a territory where we don't have any members or churches."

Mr Hallam has recruited Paul Diamond, a barrister with expertise in human rights law and religious law, to bring the case.

Mr Diamond will argue that the Methodist resolution passed in the summer is in breach of European human rights law and a wide-ranging European Union directive on racism.

By singling out Israel, rather than other countries with often worse human rights records, Mr Diamond will claim the church is being deliberately prejudiced against the Jewish state.

Last week the Methodist Church defended the resolution, pointing out the boycott was only of goods made in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.
Atlas Shrugs

Western Confusions Concerning Palestine

Cliff May argues that if President Obama reads Mosab Hassan Yousef's Son of Hamas, he might understand why his Middle East policies are all wrong.

The problem for Hamas, writes Mosab Hassan Yousef, has never been “Israel’s policies.” The problem for Hamas is “Israel’s very existence.” Hamas, Yousef adds, is “animated by religious fervor and the theology of jihad,” and it is “dedicated to the extinction of Israel.”

...

Then came Camp David: In 2000, Pres. Bill Clinton put pressure on Israeli prime minister Ehud Barack, who offered Yasser Arafat, president of the Palestinian Authority and leader of Fatah, “about 90 percent of the West Bank, the entire Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem as the capital of a new Palestinian state.” Additionally, Mosab writes, “a new international fund would be established to compensate Palestinians for property that had been taken from them. This ‘land for peace’ offer represented a historic opportunity for the long-suffering Palestinian people, something few Palestinians would have dared imagine possible. But even so, it was not enough for Arafat,” who rejected the offer, refused to negotiate further, and launched a bloody intifada against Israel.

Why? Yousef explains: “Yasser Arafat had grown extraordinarily wealthy as the international symbol of victimhood. He wasn’t about to surrender that status and take on the responsibility of actually building a functioning society. . . . For Arafat, there always seemed to be more to gain if Palestinians were bleeding. Another intifada would surely get the blood flowing and the Western news cameras rolling once again.”

...

He wrote Son of Hamas because, he writes, “When Middle Eastern nations — Jews and Arabs alike — start to understand some of what I understand, only then will there be peace.”

And it would help if President Obama were to read his book and realize that Israel’s policies — least of all its plans to build housing for growing families in a Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem — are the least of the obstacles standing in the way of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

The problem is that Obama would probably just dismiss Yousef as a traitor.
Israel Matzav

The Pacifist Confusion

Gaza's thin red line one year later
Eva Bartlett, The Electronic Intifada, 22 January 2010
"The last Israeli attacks were the hardest, the most dangerous. It wasn't a war, it was a massacre. They shot anyone walking, anyone outside of their home, in their home ... it didn't matter. And it didn't matter if the victims were children or adults; there was no difference."
Ali Khalil, 47, has served as a medic with the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

If I was a resident of Gaza, I would do anything to persuade my neighbors to cease hostilities against Israel. After 61 years of warfare, the situation for Palestinians has worsened.
As a resident of Israel, I resent being a target for Iranian missiles. Following my own advice, I insist in telling everyone within earshot that violence is not a solution. My argument fails to the continued onslaught by hostiles.
Most regrettably, the self-styled pundits outside the region issue a flood of suggestions for policy changes directed towards peace. Almost always the advice is one-sided. The advisers assume victory in war should prompt concessions from the Israelis. Whenever the Israelis fail to make the concessions, they are vilified.
This one-sidedness persuades the Palestinians that the western nations will destroy Israel for them. Consequently, they believe there is no need to participate in a peace effort.

How Did the Tiger Get into the Bath Tub?

How Did the Tiger Get Into the Bath Tub?
Over the years I have come to realize that many tough-talking politicians are little scared cats. To adjust for this, they exaggerate the threats coming from their target group. In my day Harry Truman was a leading proponent of scare tactics. In 1950 the fledgling military/industrial needed a ruthless opponent to justify huge military expenditures especially in times of relative calm. Harry Truman detailed the USSR [International Communism] as villain number one. Suddenly, every actor on radio became an American Spy. Ronnie Reagan became involved with foreign-born women with throaty accents. [Apparently, American girls stayed home to bake cookies.] The listener never knew where her loyalties lay till the end of the episode.
Shortly after this, US employers developed the Loyalty Oath. It placed everyone on the front line so to speak. Of course it was nonsense. Any Communist Agent worth his salt would lie. The oath became a trap for artists and intellectuals who had independent thoughts about the meaning of good citizenship. This loyalty business became a curse when many Americans lost their livelihood by resisting the bullying tactics to such as the House Un-American Activities Committee.
A number of witch hunt victims were Jewish.
This is partly why I went into partial shock when a number of right wing fanatics suggested a Loyalty Oath for Palestinian Israelis. Although it was voted down by the Knesset, it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Other citizens [Palestinian] wiser than I, mocked the proposed oath into nothingness.
Reacting to the "loyalty law", The Other Door has written a sarcastic post in the personae of various Palestinian citizens of Israel:

I am Mohammed Al Safoori. I swear by the Torah of the Jews that I will be a loyal citizen to the State of Israel, and will respect traffic regulations, pay my taxes and put up a picture of Mira Awad [represented Israel at Eurovision] in my living room.

I am Salima Al Jebaili. On the soul of my dead father, I swear I will be loyal to Israel and bake only kosher bread.
I am Sulaiman Ladwai. I swear by Almighty God that I knew and named my eldest daughter Walaa' [loyalty] as a premonition of allegiance to the state of Lieberman. My whole family and I will be loyal to the state. We will see you at Yarkon Park on Independence Day. Arabs are allowed to enter, right?
I am Mahmoud Abu Daqa. I was called Mahmoud after my grandfather who was martyred with the resistance fighters in ’71. My grandfather was martyred for the sake of the nation, and I will continue on his path, and swear an oath of allegiance to the State of Israel.

I am Jameel Khouri from Efrat. On the life of Virgin Mary I swear to be loyal to Israel.
[…]
I am Nora Majdalawi and my friends call me Nurit [a Jewish name].You too all seem to betray… I am committed to be loyal to the state and also recognize it as a democratic Jewish state. I hope peace will manifest itself every country of the world, just has as it has for us. I would like to send greetings to my friends in the civil defense at Nahariya Hospital.
I am Murad Al Abed. I swear by God, by the mosque and by the prophets, by my love and your love, by my eyes (which I hope will be eaten by worms if I lie), by heaven, by my mother, by my father’s testicles, by prostitutes, and by the life of Najla Fathi, that I love Israel, and that we are against terrorism.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/06/05/israelpalestine-commemorating-the-nakba-and-

Same Old Story in Gaza

Old Troubles with Gaza

The Gazans have failed to get the point of Israeli actions over the past few years. The high fence that separates the sovereign nations put the message into concrete. The Israelis want no contact with Gaza whatsoever.
Here is a good understanding of Palestinian feelings on the matter.

“Israel, despite its airstrikes and bloody incursions, has been unable to halt the rocket fire from Gaza or free Cpl. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured in the summer of 2006. Continued collective abuse and starvation will not break Hamas, which was formed, in large part, in response to Israel's misguided policies and mounting repression. There will, in fact, never be Israeli-Palestinian stability or a viable peace accord now without Hamas' agreement. And the refusal of the Bush administration to intercede, to move Israel toward the only solution that can assure mutual stability, is tragic not only for the Palestinians but ultimately Israel.
And so it goes on. The cycle of violence that began decades ago, that turned a young Palestinian refugee with promise and talent into a militant and finally a martyr, is turning small boys today into new versions of what went before them. Olmert, Bush's vaunted partner for peace, has vowed to strike at Palestinian militants "without compromise, without concessions and without mercy," proof that he and the rest of his government have learned nothing. It is also proof that we, as the only country with the power to intervene, have become accessories to murder.”
Excerpt from http://www.alternet.org/audits/74588/?page=2


Before nationhood the Palestinians had an arguable case. The world owed them a living as amends for their suffering under occupation. They had a right to resist the occupiers by any means possible.
After Israel withdrew and democratic elections took place, the people became a nation with responsibilities for her actions.
Instead, they elected terrorists to represent them.