March 17, 2004

To help past the time, The Guardian publishes a commentary calling Zionism a "moral one-sided" and xenophobic force and blames Israel for all of the Arab refugees the War of Independence produced. In addition to denying Jews the same right to a nation of all other peoples the author engages in a bit of outright lying. He states: Between January and the end of May 1948, a mere two weeks into the war, a third of the Palestinian population (my own family included) had left, most of them expelled. The "war" itself was more of a civil conflict and could not alone have accounted for the mass exodus. The Arab armies were notoriously ill-equipped and poorly trained and no match for the superior Zionist forces. Though ultimately ineffective, they came to defend the hapless Palestinians and to prevent their territories from being totally overrun. This is bizarre. While Israel successfully increased the size and capabilities of its armed forces throughout the war to state that Arab armies were no match for Jewish forces in May 1948 is outright lying? If not how else did Egypt capture Beersheba, and Jordan capture the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Etzion Block whose inhabitants were massacred. Of course by the end of the war Israel did prevail over the Arab armies in most areas, with the notable exception of Jordanian occupied Jerusalem but that is not this author’s argument. 11:34:23 PM

An idea we don’t need Hopefully the Government of Canada will not follow the example set forth by the British government and bill wrongly convicted people such as Donald Marshall for their food and lodging while they were imprisoned. (via Hit & Run) 11:08:08 PM

Using Mel’s Movie for Hatred Dr. Ezzeddin Ibrahim the Cultural Adviser to the Presidential Court of the United Arab Emirates views Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ in a standard anti-Semitic way. He blames Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus stating: Or are the Jews asking Christians to clear them, in past and present, of responsibility for Jesus' innocent blood and to solely hold the Romans guilty for his death? The fact is, Pilate, the representative of a cruel imperial power, was reluctant to crucify Jesus and finally washed his hands in front of the crowd to declare his innocence of Jesus' blood. Further blaming Jews he states: The scenes are also criticised because they are too violent and bloody. True. But can anyone deny the overtly violent way in which Jesus was tortured? Yes, it makes sense to reduce the bloody scenes, especially the one portraying his torturing by Roman soldiers for five full minutes. But this also has its narrative functionality because, by doing this, the Romans wanted to satisfy the Jews, and convince them not to demand Jesus' killing. The writer then tries to enlist Mel Gibson in his hatred. Gibson is a member of a Catholic community that doesn't approve forgiving Jews for their killing of Jesus. This may be the reason behind his recent effort to keep this past event a living memory. This is surely an unpleasant memory. Gibson has denied that he holds this view. Then he starts to make stuff up, stating: However, even this bloody effort didn't pay because the Romans hadn't comprehended the Jewish philosophy of crucifixion. Jews believe that the "crucified are damned by God," so the priests insisted on the crucifixion of Jesus to demonstrate his damnation before their people. Hence, the Holy Quran has denied that Jesus died on the cross. Jews did not even use crucifixion as a means of execution at any point in their history and only Romans could do that within the Roman Empire. There is some unintentional humour in his writing. Midway through the peice the writer states: However, the actual scenario that has been in place since 1948 is precisely the contrary. The original inhabitants, who have been living in Palestine for about 5,000 years, are subjected to continuous oppression by Jews under the cover of western military support. This after watching a movie in which everyone in Jerusalem other then the occupying Romans were Jews? Who are these "original inhabitants"? And it's called Judea, a Roman or Jew of that era would have no idea what "Palestine" was. Given this level of hatred, if it is in fact the typical response of viewers of The Passion of the Christ in Arab countries maybe Mel Gibson should disassociate himself from its distribution in those countries. 12:24:50 AM