ISRAEL DESTROYING CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES WITH APPROVAL OF BUSH
(Bush is following a pro-Zionist anti-Christianity policy in Israel. Will Kerry stop this anti-Christian bashing by Israelis?)
Michael Hoffman
Aug 5, 2004
In April of this year Bush and his cabinet were sent outraged letters of protest about the damage being done by their Israeli allies to sacred Christian sites. One of these protests was penned by none other than Congressman Henry Hyde, the renowned Illinois Republican, who demanded that the Bush administration stop Israeli construction of the southern parts of the Israeli wall (or "separation barrier" as it is known in the media).
Hyde lashed out at the route of the Israeli wall now under construction, telling the Bush administration: "I am writing to express my concerns over the plight and security of Christians in the Holy Land, and other issues which they confront as a result of living in the vicinity of Israel's separation barrier now under construction... If the Christian character of Jerusalem is not preserved, I fear that important religious sites will become museums for commercial purposes and will will no longer be maintained as places of spiritual worship shared by billions across the world.
Hyde continued: "The Administration should work with the Israeli government to change the route of the barrier, without moving it further east into the West Bank, so as not to infringe on Christian life in the Holy Land. Specifically, there should not be any physical barrier separating Bethlehem from East Jerusalem and Bethany at the Mount of Olives. Those residing at monasteries or convents should not be required to travel long distances in detours to reach their Holy places."
Elsewhere in the letter, the congressman wrote, "The current route of the separation fence as proposed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense will divide Bethlehem from Jerusalem, which threatens to stifle Christian life by preventing access to holy sites, places of prayer, and the contiguity of the Christian population."
Rep. Hyde outlined "some of the more serious examples of which [he] is now aware" with regard to the damage the fence is causing to Christian interests, noting: "In several cases, the barrier will follow a route through a number of religious sites, including the Rosary Sisters Convent, which just spent $6,000,000 building a new school that serves 2,000 female students. The proposed route will separate the convent from the school, creating an untenable situation. Also in the case of the Russian Orthodox Convent of St. Mary Magdalene, which runs a school in Bethany, the proposed route will separate the school from the Mother Church. The route of the barrier will also block access to the Sisters of Emmanuel Monastery in the hills north of Bethlehem.
"The dwindling Christian community is also threatened by the expropriation or confiscation of its lands. This is the principle cause for the decreasing Christian population in the Holy Land. In 1948, Christians comprised more than 18 percent of the population, a number which has dwindled to 2 percent today. The proposed route will take land from hundreds of families in Beit Sahour, better known as Shepherds' Field, and Beit Jala. Shepherds' Field is the place where an angel appeared announcing the birth of Jesus.
"In December 2003, USAID completed construction of a road at a cost of $260,000 north of Bethlehem leading to the Cremisan Monastery of the Salesian Fathers. Only days after completion on January 11, 2004, without notice, the Israeli Defense Forces (army) destroyed the road, leaving it useless by the people it was meant to serve. My office has been unable to find any justification for this destruction. If the measure was necessary for security purposes, why didn't the Israeli government communicate such information to the United States Government prior to the investment of U.S. funds?
"The construction of an eight-meter-high concrete wall in Bethany on the Mount of Olives near the Bethpage monasteries is near completion. This will completely enclose the only remaining passage from Bethany to the Mount of Olives and will place undue restrictions on religious freedom by preventing the procession of Palm Sunday from Bethpage into Jerusalem in commemoration of when Jesus began his triumphant entry into Jerusalem... the Administration should ensure that the Stations of the Cross are not cut off from each other, preventing the normal celebrations of Easter and the commemoration of the last days of Christ."
Bush refused to lift a finger in response to Congressman Hyde's plea. Bush continues to lavishly fund and arm the Israelis who are imposing the thoroughly wicked, anti-Christ measures outlined by Hyde, and by way of reaction, Bush is rewarded with chants from Catholic lemmings for "Four More Years!" of destruction to Christianity in the Holy Land. Insanity is too anemic a word to describe the diabolic Kabbalistic twist at the heart of the Catholic embrace of Bush.
Support by President Bush for the Israeli government while the Israelis engaged in attacks on Christian-Arabs and Christian sites in the Holy land has a long and ignominious history. For example, on April 2, 2002, the Israeli Army attacked the area around Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, reputed to be the site of the birthplace of Jesus. With cash, munitions and military hardware provided by the Bush administration, US-made Israeli helicopter gunships, backed by F-16 fighter jets, hovered over Manger Square machine-gunning Palestinians near Jesus'traditional birth site. Some ten Palestinians were killed in the onslaught, including an 80-year-old man. At the nearby Santa Maria Convent in downtown Bethlehem run by the Salesians (an order of nuns), a Palestinian mother and her son were also killed: 64-year-old Samieh Abdeh and her 38-year-old son Khaled, were wounded by Israeli fire, then bled to death after Israelis prevented ambulances from reaching them.
A reporter for al-Jazeera satellite television, Majdi Benoura, was shot in the neck by Israelis as he was photographing the Israeli assault on Bethlehem from the roof of a hotel.
Israeli forces have invaded Bethlehem, which has a population of 150,000 Palestinian civilians, several times since the year 2000. During an Israeli assault in October, 2001 the Church of the Nativity was hit by bullets. Holy Family Church in Bethlehem was also been shelled by the Israelis, as recently as March 15, 2002.
In an April 2, 2002 appeal to President Bush, which fell on deaf ears, the pastors of all the Christian churches in Jerusalem asked him to "stop immediately the inhuman tragedy" taking place as a result of the latest Israeli rampage in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. About 100 priests and Franciscan brothers also marched from Jerusalem's walled Old City to the official residence of Ariel Sharon, demanding an end to the Israeli attacks on Bethlehem. They were rebuffed and Bush stepped up his moral support for Sharon during this time, along with military and financial aid.
On April 8, 2002, after Bush had ignored these desperate requests, the Israeli Army, knowing they had Bush in their corner, started a blaze in the Basilica of St Catherine, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity. Israeli soldiers had stormed the church by a roof, opening fire and throwing stun grenades into the churchyard, which ignited a fire in the church.
Jesus' birthplace was assaulted by Israeli troops in 2002. President Bush refused all pleas for assistance from Christian clerics in Bethlehem at the time. Bush continued to fund and support Ariel Sharon during and after the attacks.
The Franciscan pastor inside, Father Amjad Sabbara, told the BBC that a Palestinian man killed by the Israelis was not shooting at them but had been trying to douse the flames. The Israeli soldiers killed him because he was trying to extinguish the flames and save the church. After the Palestinian was murdered, the blaze burned for an hour before Israeli forces allowed firefighters access to extinguish it; the fire destroyed altar cloths and ceremonial cups and damaged mosaics inside the Basilica of St Catherine. The exterior of the Church of the Nativity has been scarred by Israeli gunfire. A spokesman for Catholic monks in the Holy Land testified that Israeli soldiers were guilty of an "indescribable act of barbarity." Israelis had broken their international obligations and risked "long-term and incalculable" consequences, Father David Jaeger said. Moreover, Christian clerics from Jerusalem were prevented by Israelis from entering Bethlehem on April 8, 2002 to investigate.
Not one Catholic Cardinal or member of the Knights of Columbus in Dallas on August 3, 2004 publicly challenged Bush's financial and military support for an Israeli government that is hell-bent on interdicting the practice of Christianity in Palestine and harming Christian sites there, including obstructing sites sacred to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Instead, these wretched fools heaped praise on Bush for his empty, pro-life cant. I call it cant, because when the chips were down in a closely watched primary battle in Pennsylvania last spring, Bush supported pro-abortion Senator Arlen Specter against pro-life Congressman Pat Toomey. Specter won the primary as a result.
Furthermore, how can the President claim to be pro-life, when reckless US carpet-bombing in Afghanistan and Iraq has resulted in the deaths of thousands of children, including infants? Are children only sacred in the womb, and legitimate targets as soon as they emerge from it?
When Bush is not made to pay a political price for being a member of a masonic secret society, for betraying a pro-life candidate in favor of a vile abortionist, for supporting with money and arms the desecration of Catholic churches and monasteries by the Israeli army, then Christians are basically telling President Bush and his rabbinic masters, "Go ahead, punch and kick us dumb goyim again, please!" |
