So where’s the outrage?!
But just imagine it, especially among Evangelical Christians in the United States, if Palestinians were doing this:
Christians in the Gaza Strip will not be allowed to visit holy cities such as Bethlehem and Jerusalem to celebrate Christmas this year, Israeli authorities said on Thursday. …
Israel tightly restricts movements out of the Gaza Strip, territory controlled by Hamas, an Islamist group that it considers a terrorist organization.
(Reuters, December 12, 2019)
Foremost, I feel obliged to share this from “Hamas ‘Terrorists’ Win Legitimate State Power!’ January 27, 2006:
____________________
I’m not sure who was more shocked by the outcome of Wednesday’s Palestinian elections:
The victorious Hamas Islamic group (branded a terrorist organization by governments around the world) and their wipe-Israel-off-the-map’ Islamic sympathizers — led by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; or the defeated Fatah Party and their ‘you’re-either–with-us-or-against-us’ democracy crusaders — led by American President George W. Bush. …
Frankly, the only appropriate reaction to these elections is to embrace them as a profound lesson in democracy.
Self-righteous governments (especially in Israel and the United States) are vowing to have nothing to do with Hamas. But it behooves them to recognize and accept responsibility for their unwitting contribution to this outcome. After all, they enabled egregiously corrupt Fatah officials (most notably the improbable billionaire Yasser Arafat) — who fleeced foreign aid with impunity for years. This fed resentment among long-suffering Palestinians, which led inexorably to Fatah’s justified demise.
Now the people have spoken. Let Hamas govern as best they can!
____________________
Alas, neither Israel nor the United States has ever accepted Hamas as the democratically elected government of the Gaza Strip. This makes all efforts to sanction or undermine Hamas more a reflection of their hypocrisy than its villainy.
Apropos of which, you’d be hard-pressed to cite any Evangelical leader who has voiced any concern about Israel blocking Christians there from visiting those holy cities. But even this should not be surprising.
Because it follows that, having sacrificed their souls at the altar of Donald Trump, Evangelical Christians now ask not what would Jesus do — they ask what would Donald do.
This, of course, is the Donald who has defied countless US and international norms just to appease Israel. This was the case, for example, when he
- colluded with Netanyahu to undermine President Obama’s Mideast policies;
- yanked the United States from the Iran nuclear deal;
- recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital;
- used the US embassy in Tel Aviv to curry favor among Jews by moving it to Jerusalem; and
- signaled his intent to endorse Israel’s occupation of any part of the Palestinian territories it pleases.
All of which suggests there’s nothing this wannabe King Cyrus would not do to burnish his pro-Israel bona fides. Never mind that he probably knows less about the persecution of Christians in Gaza than he does about the persecution of Uyghurs in China. (And, trust me, what little he knows about the latter stems from aides explaining how he could use it as leverage in trade negotiations with China.)
Meanwhile, just as Evangelical Christians hail Trump as God’s chosen one, they hail Israelis (i.e., Jews) as God’s chosen people. And just as they cite that divine ordination to excuse Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors, they use the same to excuse Israelis’ crimes against humanity.
That, notwithstanding this religious perversion:
I’ll spare you my sermon on the ‘biblical’ alliance between these two polarizing religious sects. Suffice it to consider the condescension/bigotry inherent in these Christians deeming it an article of their faith – not only to protect Jews (whom they hail as ‘God’s chosen people’), but also to convert them to Christianity to ensure they make it into Heaven.
Never mind the contradiction inherent in God needing self-professed Evangelicals to convert his chosen people for his rapture.
(“Alas, Bush Still Being Misled/Goaded by Cheney,” The iPINIONS Journal, May 4, 2015)
Such is the eschatological mix of religion and politics that constitutes the unbreakable bond between Evangelical Christians and Zionist Jews. And no US president in history has been more willing to exploit that bond for personal political gain than Trump.
Mind you, it’s arguable that he does things to appease Israel only because Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu lavishes even more hosannas on him than Evangelical leaders do. Nothing demonstrates this quite like Netanyahu having a coin minted that depicts Trump as a latter-day Cyrus, the biblical savior of the Jews. Yes, this president of the United States really is that much of a sucker for flattery …
In any event, I have written many commentaries lamenting this dance of death between Evangelical Christians and Israeli Jews, including most recently “Trump – Sent by God to Save the Jews…?” March 26, 2019. Sadly, Evangelical Christians turning a blind eye to Israeli Jews persecuting Palestinian Christians is just the latest twist in this dance.
Related commentaries:
Hamas…
Trump sent by God…
Trump sucker for flattery…
playing Trump like puppet…
Republicans worshiping Trump…
Legacy Note: With over 5,600 posts spanning 20 years, I am easily the most prolific blogger on the most eclectic array of topics on the web. That makes The iPINIONS Journal an unparalleled archive of informed political and cultural commentary. Visit the ARCHIVES section in the sidebar or search by topic. You won’t find a more consistent, independent voice on world affairs.