Raymond Ibrahim: Exploiting Christian Persecution to Demonize Israel

The following by Raymond Ibrahim is reposted here with permission of Middle East Forum:

Exploiting Christian Persecution to Demonize Israel

by Raymond Ibrahim
Human Events
November 5, 2013
http://www.meforum.org/3660/christian-persecution-demonize-israel

Raymond Ibrahim

What's worse than the silence of Western Christians concerning the Muslim persecution of their coreligionists in the Islamic world? Answer: Cynically exploiting that persecution for a political agenda—in the case of a recent Daily Beast article, to excoriate the state of Israel and its supporters.

Titled "Why Won't the West Defend Middle Eastern Christians?" and written by Diarmaid MacCulloch, a Fellow of St. Cross College, the article touches on the persecution of Christians, but primarily as a springboard to attack American Christian support for Israel. Consider the following excerpt:

… one of the silences which I find most frustrating is precisely the lack of noise from Western Christians about the fate of ancient Christianities in the Middle East. At the heart of the problems in the Middle East is seven decades of unresolved conflict between Israel and Palestine…

Yes, Western silence vis-à-vis the plight of Mideast Christians is as real as it is frustrating, but exactly how is MacCulloch able to jump to the conclusion that the Arab-Israeli conflict is "the heart" of the problem?

Arlene Kushner On Artificially Equating Palestinian Textbooks With Israeli Textbooks

From Arlene Kushner:
February 7, 2013

As Situations Stand

Returning to little Zakkai for a moment.  The family has asked me to express gratitude to all those who wrote to me to say they were praying, wished him well, etc.  It matters to them a great deal.

Then I was asked to post these mitzvah opportunities in merit of good surgery and healing for Zakkai, for those who would like to participate:

• challah baking
• 25-hour tehillim rally

~~~~~~~~~~

Turning to our world...

Barry Rubin has written a particularly important article.  Its title makes clear what he's talking about: "Not a Mistake, Misunderstanding, or Well-Intended Criticism But a Deliberate Campaign to Bash Israel."   (Emphasis is added)