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 It Used To Be "First The Saturday People, Then The Sunday People." But Moslems Can't Hardly Wait GrassTopsUSA Exclusive Commentary By Don Feder 11-16-10 As a Jew, I don’t ask Christians to support Israel because of God’s promises to the Patriarchs, affirmed by the Prophets. There are millions of Christians who believe as I do that His promises to the Jewish people are eternal and that the land of Israel was given to them in perpetuity. Other Christians believe that by refusing to accept Jesus as the messiah, the old covenant was nullified, the Church became the new Israel, and Jewish claims to the land are no more valid than Arab claims to Andalusia – perhaps less so. While I may not agree with these Christians, I’m not about to tell them what to believe. Instead, I remind them that my enemies are their enemies, and that what starts with the Jews never stops with the Jews. A recently concluded Vatican synod of 185 bishops from the Middle East went further than the boilerplate calls for an “end to the occupation of Palestinian lands.” Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros, head of the Synod, said the idea of a land promised to the Jews was preposterous. “For Christians, one can no longer talk about the land promised to the Jewish people. There is no longer a favored people, a chosen people; all men and women of every country have become the chosen people.” Does that mean Swedes and Samoans get a piece of the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? BTW, as far as the precious Palestinians are concerned, Tel Aviv, Haifa and West Jerusalem are as much occupied territory as Ramallah and Hebron. The Archbishop’s pronouncement (also known as replacement theology) caused WorldNetDaily Editor-in-Chief Joe Farah (like Bustros, a Lebanese-born Christian), to wonder “what version of the Bible Bustros is reading.” Farah observes, “Without the fulfilled prophecies (of a Jewish return to the Promised Land), the Christian faith itself is neutered.” Repeatedly, throughout what's called the Old Testament, God promises all of the Holy Land to the Israelites and their descendants. When Abraham first appears in the Biblical narrative, God tells him to “go to the land I will show you.” Later, He tells the father of the Jewish people, “All the land which you see I give to you and your descendants.” The same pledge is made to each of the Patriarchs in turn, and periodically repeated throughout the Five Books of Moses. One Bible scholar says the promise is made 69 times in Deuteronomy alone. The refrain is then taken up in by the Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Hosea, Obadiah and Zephaniah) – God will “have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land,” “will bring them out from the people and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land,” and “will plant them upon their land, and shall no more be pulled out of their land which I have given them.” Did God change his mind? Sometime in the first century, did He say, “Hey, that’s it; I’ve had it with these stiff-necked Jews. I promised Israel to them for all time. But now they’ve lost it. Thanks for playing. As a consolation prize, they get Grosse Pointe and Scarsdale?” I wonder if Bustros ever wonders why every ancient people has vanished from the face of the earth, except the Jews. (Try programming Babylonia or Assyria into your GPS.) Does he think it’s a coincidence that the Jews – and only the Jews – returned to their land after 2,000 years of exile? As I said, I don’t ask Christians to accept my interpretation of the Bible - even though it's the only one that makes sense. I do ask that they think long and hard about what’s going on today – that there’s a religious/political movement aimed at global domination. For every Jewish victim, it produces a mountain of Christian corpses. As Israel goes, so goes Italy, Britain and the United States. On November 11 (as the Brits observed what’s still called Armistice Day over there) in London, a Moslem mob – protesting the “illegal and unjust war in Afghanistan” – shouted insults and carried signs that read “British Soldiers Burn in Hell!” and “To Hell With Democracy.” This attitude, so typical of the religion of peace, would not have surprised a British statesman of another era, who warned almost a century ago: “Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.” Churchill added: “No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith.” The Turkish slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians (1914-1918) wasn’t in response to the Israeli “occupation of Palestinian land.” (There was no state of Israel until 1948.) The Moslem conquest of Constantinople (accompanied by rape, pillage, slaughter and enslavement), was not precipitated by a Zionist conspiracy to seize Arab lands. The genocide in the Sudan – whose Moslem militias have been playing Nazis and Jews with Christians in the south for two decades now – isn’t a protest against what the left calls Israeli apartheid. I wish the Vatican would think about this: When Jews are insulted, they whine about it. (We call it kvetching.) When Moslems are offended, people die. The Synod may recall the reaction to Benedict XVI quoting an obscure 12th century Byzantine emperor in a 2006 speech at Regensburg University. (“Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”) The pontiff’s historical reference led to rioting across the Moslem world, the firebombing of West Bank churches, a condemnation by Pakistan’s parliament, calls for the Pope’s death (“We will smash the cross!”), forecasts of the fall of Rome, and the murder of an Italian nun in Somalia. And this was after Benedict apologized. Australia’s Cardinal George Pell said the “violent reactions … showed the link for many Islamists between religion and violence, their refusal to respond to criticism with rational arguments, but only with demonstrations, threats and actual violence.” Seven centuries after Manuel II Palaiologos, the emperor’s observation regarding Islam’s fondness for the scimitar were seconded by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of Iran’s terror state and arguably the Moslem who had the greatest impact on the 20th century. “Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males, provided they are not disabled or incapacitated, to prepare themselves for the conquest of (other) countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country in the world.” Moreover: “Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those (who say this) are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all!” Barack, your madrassa is calling. In the Third World, that edict is written in blood:
In 1914, Christians represented an estimated 26% of the Middle East’s population. Now, they’re down to around 6%. Once 60% of the population, Bethlehem’s Christians now comprise no more than 15%. Interviewed by a German journalist, a young Christian in the city of Jesus’ birth said he would speak of persecution only if his name wasn’t used, or he would be “a dead man.” “Either they would blow my brains out or accuse me of collaboration with Israel. Then I would also be tortured.” Crimes against the Christian minority range from rape and murder to shakedowns – tactics intended to make Bethlehem Christian-rein. You might call it Moslem displacement theology. “Our church leaders and the Christian politicians also are afraid and don’t want to make things worse. That’s why they remain silent,” the anonymous Christian discloses. Can you guess the only place in the Middle East where Christians can practice their religion in peace? It’s also the only place in the Middle East where the Christian population is growing, as well as the only place where Christian holy sites are treated with respect. When Jordan controlled the West Bank, they were closed to tourists. Give up? It’s the country whose legitimacy Archbishop Bustros seeks to undermine. The persecution of Christians in the Moslem world is another result of the Islamic resurgence, which started in the ‘60s, spurred by oil wealth, a surplus population, and a return to the religion’s glorious roots. Absent Israel, none of this would change. It would only free up resources and fighters for other fronts in the international jihad. In the 1950s, the Moslem Brotherhood had a saying: “First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people.” But thoroughly modern Moslems can't hardly wait. Don Feder is a former Boston Herald writer who is now a political/communications consultant. He also maintains his own website, DonFeder.com.
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