Tony Blair is now a Catholic.  What does that mean?

Just a few days ago I dealt with Michel Sabah's vicious anti-Israel remarks.  Two years ago, I became involved with an effort to block the Roman Catholic takeover of Mt. Zion (and more info here, it seems the site of the Committee to Save Mt. Zion is down).  It seems that starting with Herzl, the Catholic Church remains still a very implacable foe to Zionism.  Back in January 1904, the Pope explained to Herzl why there was to be not recognition of the Jewish aspiration for national renewal.  Possession of the Holy Land by the people who deny the divinity of Jesus is to be denied and no aid extended.

Following Sabah's outburst and the Church's demand for Mt. Zion, is Mr. Blair the right person as the EU mediator for Middle East peace?

I think not.

It seems that news agencies are reporting that Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch rejects Israel's Jewish identity and according to Reuters:

Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch criticised Israel on Wednesday for insisting Palestinians recognise it as a Jewish state and said God made the Holy Land for Muslims and Christians too. Michel Sabbah, the Holy Land's Roman Catholic leader, said in his annual Christmas message that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had unleashed "forces of evil" across the Middle East and it was up to Israel to make a relaunched peace process work.

...Sabbah said he was concerned about Israeli demands, rebuffed by the Palestinians, that Israel be recognised as a Jewish state because that would discriminate against Muslims and Christians. "God made this land for all three of us, so a suitable state is one who can adapt itself to the vocation of this land," said Sabbah, who was born in Nazareth, a town where Christians believe Jesus was raised and which is now part of Israel. If it's Jewish, it's not Muslim or Christian...If there's a state of one religion, other religions are naturally discriminated against," Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah told reporters at the annual press conference he holds in Jerusalem before the Christian holiday...Sabbah said Israel should abandon its Jewish character in favor of a political, normal state for Christians, Muslims and Jews. "This land cannot be exclusive for anyone," he said.

Well, this is a bit of a problem. Instead of lashing out at the persons or the culture or the political framework which is killing Christians, raping their women, torching their churches and causing them to exit their homes - the Palestine Authority, if my intention is not clear (see here and here and better, here), - Sabbah not only ignores the harsh reality, he is seen to be covering up while also illustrating a quite vicious theological interpretation which I am sure the many non-Jewish readers of this blog do not share.

First of all, as any theologian knows, there is a difference between the "Land" as intrinsically being geographically sacred, whether to Judaism, Christianity or Islam, and as to what degree, and the "State" which is but a political framework. Whereas Christianity may separate the two ("Render unto Cesar the things that are Caesar; and to God, the things that are God's" - Mark 12:17), we Jews do not. The Jewish rule permits and encourages the better aspects of the Holy Land to be apparent. But that intrinsic character does not mean absolute exclusion. Christians and Muslims have not been ghettoized in Israel as Jews were in Europe and the Arab Middle East. Pogroms and Farhud were the lot of the Jews but not of Arabs here.

But secondly, the Bible assure mankind that there will be an era of redemption. Here's Isaiah, Chapter 2:

2 It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be raised above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. 3 Many peoples shall go and say, "Come, let's go up to the mountain of  the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; And he will teach us of his ways, And we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge between the nations, And will decide concerning many peoples; And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more.

Can Sabbah presume to stand in the way of Biblical prophecy? Is he negating the scriptual word? There will be nations and peoples and no one is forced to become Jewish. Indeed, I will even suggest that you don't have to be Jewish to do Jewish.  But the ultimate message there is that G-d, as the Divine presence and motivating force, will be recognized by all. And that is why the Jews need to be sovereign in the Land of Israel. Not to exclude but to permit all the nations and beliefs to benefit from the spiritual, moral and cultural advantages that the Jews have highlighted throughout their history.

Of course, if the land is Jewish it is not Christian or Muslim. Jesus knew that when he came, as a worshipper, to the Temple. The Islamic Haddith sought to identify Muhammed with Jerusalem although the Quran and the historical record attest otherwise. But I don't seek to extend Jewishness to Mecca where no non-Muslim can be in nor to Rome from where Sabbah's authority stems.

Isaiah speaks not of war but of peace. Would that other religious leaders learn that simple message that we Jews know.

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Sababa means "great!, fine!, wonderful!"

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P.S.  Something is wrong so for the links, go over to here.

For some other Christian news with me, see here.

This site reported Thursday evening that Woman Strips at Kotel, is Taken into Custody and the details:-

A woman in her early 20s remained in protective custody on Thursday after removing her clothing in the men’s prayer section at the Kotel (Western Wall) on Tuesday.  The woman walked into the prayer area as men were saying the Amidah, a silent prayer that cannot be interrupted, took off her clothes and lay on the ground. 

According to Maariv, the woman repeated phrases such as “It’s from heaven” and “the Temple,” indicating that she was mentally disturbed.  A Kotel worker covered her with his coat while waiting for police to arrive.  Police took the woman in for a psychiatric evaluation. 

I was wondering.  If Ehud Olmert is intent upon stripping Israel from its national, religious and cultural ethos; if he is intent upon stripping Israel and the Jewish people from its most sacred sites; if he is determined to strip Israel of its security in the face of Arab terror and much more, maybe he requires psychiatric evaluation and consultation?

This is no tease.

Israel's electronic media and its print press are notorious for their lack of media ethics as well as their overall left-wing bias.  In my previous position as Director of Israel's Media Watch, I proved this theme, almost daily.

Everyone is up for criticism - except, largely, the journalists themselves.  A politician may be carrying on a dalliance but do we ever hear/read about the shennaigans of journalists?  Are their pecadilloes ever headlined?

I recalled this imbalanced situation whereby the public gets to know whatever the journalist and his/her editor want you to know about public figures - politically, financially, morally, etc., - but we rarely find out what's going on behind the cameras and computers.

This past week, a small item did make it into the papers, albeit in an almost begligent way:

Journalist Rafiq Halabi was convicted yesterday in the Civil Service Commission's disciplinary tribunal of conduct unbecoming a civil servant and of sexual harassment. Under a plea bargain, Halabi pled guilty to verbal harassment of an employee of the Israel Broadcasting Authority during the period he worked there.

The verdict said that even though Halabi's harassment had been verbal, "sexually-tinged statements are also serious." Halabi will receive a reprimand.

More than the incident itself, you should realize that this is the man who, when still a reporter, published The West Bank Story way back in 1985.  He is a Druse and successfully manipulated himself out of previous ticklish incidents by claiming discrimination against him.

Well, his harassment of M.A. (name known to me) finally brought him down.  All power to women as well as Amos Goren, a member of the three-person tribunal and a personal friend of mine.

I joined the Betar Zionist youth movement when I was 16.  Among other things, my madrichim imbued us with a dislike of "hyphenated-Zionism".  What did they mean by that term?

Well, all during the 1920's and 1930's Zionism after Herzl became divided up into conflicting loyalties.  There were the Socialist-Zionists.  There were the General-Zionists.  There were the Cultural-Zionists.  And there were the Religious-Zionists.  Ze'ev Jabotinsky insisted that we must be monistic in our approach.  There must be an over-riding, primary goal for all Zionists: the State that needs to be established.  Afterwards we can argue about the content and character of that state. 

Of course, that monistic concept, termed chad-nes (one flag) in Betar ideology, was misinterpreted by Jabotinsky's opponents and, in the end, his own party became known as the Revisionists-Zionists.  And now, 60 years into statehood, we have the new Ehud Olmert brand of hyphenated Zionism: the Pay-As-You-Go Zionism. 

About 12 years ago, Dedi Zucker and MK Anat Maor of Meretz adopted a Peace Now idea.  Offer the revenant residents of Yesha money to pry them loose from their homes.  Do it on a sliding scale.  Those who leave immediately, get 100% compensation.  Those who wait to see will receive, say 50%.  And those that resist to the end and get thrown out of their homes receive 0%.  Quite invidious those left-wingers.

The plan has been revived numerous times, most recently by Meretz MK Avshalom ("Abu-Vilan") Vilan from the Kibbutz Artzi Negba Kibbutz.  MK Penis-Paz of Labour has jumped on and even Defense Minister Ehud Barak has started pushing the idea.  PM Olmert has suggested it's still too early to discuss the matter.

National Union MK Uri Ariel is quite a logical person and so, he has suggested that if any bill is tabled for legislation regarding this early compensation theme, he will table one that will adopt the very same principles but apply them to Arabs.  All's to be fair in politics.  And if the Arabs have been complaining about discrimination and unfairness, well, now they have been equlaized with the Jewish population.  No racism here.

That move was to be expected.  However, my friend Gonen Ginat, former editor of the HaTzofeh news daily, published an article in which he struck out at the heart of Mr. Abu-Vilan's home turf.  He is suggesting that the state of Israel start paying kibbutz members who are stuck in out-dated ideological frameworks of minor communism/major collectivism where the younger population has left and only the old, infirm and still ideological die-hard members are left.  There are dozens of such kibbutzim (and, for sure, there are many that are quite successful, both financially and socially).  There are other kibbutzim that are suffering daily Qassam attacks near Gaza.  They are another category which could benefit from Ginat's scheme.

Of course, what this all boils down to is that with the peace process which began in 1992-93, the criteria is no longer the Zionist ethos, the security of Israel or even some sort of peace.  It's the "New Middle East".  Pay everyone off, Arabs and Jews, and we'll all be happy and satisfied.  Set up industrial parks at the borders and all will participate.  Problems?  Pay.  In Gush Katif, the greenhouses were bought for the Arabs - who promptly pillaged and burned them.

Now, some strange Jews with weird ideas think that they can buy off Jews from their homes.  I imagine they will find a few dozen out of 280,000 Jews in Yesha (and another 300,00 in east Jerusalem neighborhoods) who will provide them with the headlines they need.  But Zionism isn't a commercial venture.  And those politicians who push such a line will lose their value very quickly.

While it is true that oil plays a major role in the scheme of Middle East politics, even blinding moral-based persons in American politics, we Jews, at this time of Chanukah, recall the other, better use for oil.  The spirtual one.  The one involving the Temple.

Have an enjoyable Holiday of Chanukah and, in my unique Hebrew-language fashion: חג מדליק!