Israel General Discussion: Annus Horribilis

[(no subject)]

Every December for the past decade a meme, known as the "Banksy Christmas Card", has popped up all over the internet. It depicts Joseph and Mary travelling to Bethlehem to give birth to Baby Jesus, but unable to get there, because the nasty old Israelis have built their nasty old wall in the way.

This is an interesting speculation, isn't it, fellow biblical scholars? First, we might note that the star did not shine over Bethlehem for Joseph and Mary, it shone for the Wise Men. But that's a minor point.

Much more important is the fact that Yossi and Miriam were Jews. They were travelling from Nazareth, which is in northern Israel, to Bethlehem, which is in the West Bank under control of the Palestinian Authority.

In this image, therefore, they are approaching Bethlehem from the Israeli side of the wall. The wall is doing what it was built to do, protecting them and all other Israelis from being attacked by Palestinian suicide bombers and knife-murderers. Any Jewish couple who arrived in Bethlehem today seeking room at the inn would probably be lynched.

So now Yossi and Miriam can turn around and go back to Jerusalem and have their baby Josh in a nice modern hospital. Here endeth the lesson for today,

[(no subject)]

The Palestinian political parties and militias have caused that hatred to be fair. No wonder Abbas and Hamas don't want to embrace liberalisation or free and fair elections.

Again, we should only feel sorry for the Palestinian *people*. They hate their self appointed leaders and the thugs that they hide behind as much as Western governments do.

[(no subject)]

The Palestinian political parties and militias have caused that hatred to be fair. No wonder Abbas and Hamas don't want to embrace liberalisation or free and fair elections.

Again, we should only feel sorry for the Palestinian *people*. They hate their self appointed leaders and the thugs that they hide behind as much as Western governments do.

We know you don't care about the Palestinian people.

If you treat the self-appointed political and military leadership as their actual representatives, then neither do you.