(NCR) - Recently, the Jerusalem Post carried a piece quoting Rabbi David Rosen, a veteran of Catholic/Jewish dialogue, acknowledging that incidents of ultra-Orthodox Jews spitting at priests, nuns and other Christian clergy is “a part of life” in Jerusalem. Such incidents have been occurring for the last twenty years and are now on the rise, according to the story, although they appear to be limited to Jerusalem.The reason why 'The Catholic Knight' brings this up is to counter the pro-Judaism and pro-Zionist movement permeating the Evangelical Christian world, and trickling into the Catholic Christian world. Let me make this perfectly clear to every Christian who will listen (Evangelical or Catholic). Neither Judaism nor Zionism is compatible with Christianity, and religious Jews are not necessarily "friendly" toward Christians. I applaud the Israeli religious and civil authorities for condemning these actions, but the fact that they had to condemn them in the first place illustrates the prevailing bitter and hateful anti-Christian attitude of many Israeli Jews.
The piece quoted a Texas-born Franciscan, Fr. Athanasius Macora, who heads the Christian Information Center inside the Jaffa Gate, who said that he’s been spat upon by ultra-Orthodox Jews as much as fifteen times in the last six months – not only in the Old City, but also outside his Franciscan friary.
The Rev. Samuel Aghoyan, an Armenian Orthodox cleric, said he’s been spat upon fifteen to twenty times, most recently in November.
“I was walking back from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and I saw this boy in a yarmulke and ritual fringes coming back from the Kotel, and he spat at me two or three times,” Aghoyan said.
“Every [Christian cleric in the Old City] who’s been here for awhile, who dresses in robes in public, has a story to tell about being spat at,” Macora said. “The more you get around, the more it happens.”
Israeli authorities have taken these reports seriously enough that the Foreign Ministry convened a meeting with municipal officials in Jerusalem and representatives of the ultra- Orthodox Haredi Community. In a sign that the Israelis are worried about possible international repercussions, that meeting was announced in a press release issued this morning by the Israeli Embassy to the Holy See in Rome...
read full story here
I have written of this in a previous entry, and once again it seems confirmed that the malicious attitude spawning such assaults is prevalent among the younger generation of Israeli Jews. It's hard to imagine the Holocaust generation, and Six-Day War generation, behaving in such an unsightly way. This new generation coming up in Israel is bitter, supremacist, inciting and militant. What we have here is the product of Zionism - a generation that thinks the world owes them. I fear what will happen when they are old enough to assume political control.
Christians of all types (especially Catholics and Evangelicals) need to understand something. God wants us to treat the Jews the same way we would treat any other ethnicity or group of people. God wants us to treat them with love and respect. He also wants us to evangelize them with the exact same effort as we would apply toward any other group of people, no more and no less, as if they are no different.
At the same time, Christians of all types (especially Catholics and Evangelicals), need to understand that the modern nation-state of Israel was founded by Zionism, a secular-political movement that is man-made with roots in Freemasonry. It has nothing to do with God's will, and opposes the Church established by Jesus Christ. That's because the Church is the "Israel of God."
"But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God." - Galatians 6:14-16 RSVChristians are not supposed to support Zionism. Nor are Christians supposed to support Judaism, as the religion itself seeks to undermine Christianity by sponsoring a new religion for Gentiles called "Noahidism." Make no mistake about it, the purpose of this religion is to replace Christianity in the distant future.
Not all Jews are Zionists. In fact, I would dare say there are more Christian Zionists in the Western world than there are Jewish Zionists in the whole world. Zionism has found it's home mainly among American Evangelicals, but it's starting to spill into other Western Christian denominations as well. As I said, not all Jews are Zionists. In fact some vehemently oppose Zionism entirely. Some examples of Jewish organizations opposing Zionism are Jews Against Zionism, Neturei Karta and Jews Not Zionists.
This matter should be obvious. Sadly, it is not. Sadly, Christians all over the Western world (especially in the United States) are being conned into sending money to Zionists, and blindly supporting Israel both politically and militarily, all because some pastor or television evangelist told them to. To those Christians "The Catholic Knight" would just like them to know where their money and political support is going. For their monetary support of Zionism, Western Christians can be proud of having their brothers and sisters in Christ spat on in public, while their churches and shrines are defaced by militant Zionist youth. For their blind political support of Israel, Western Christians can be proud of the military conflict between Zionists and Muslims that has led to the impoverishment of their Christian brethren and destruction of their homes.
Listen, we all know Jews need a safe place to live too. The fact is however, that Jews were living relatively safely in Palestine long before the formation of the State of Israel. Furthermore, Jews continue to live safely in the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, and many other nations. Let us not forget that there are more Jews living in the United States than in the entire nation of Israel. The nation with the highest Jewish population in the world is the United States not Israel. If one were to look for a material city of "Jerusalem," New York City would qualify just as much as the Jerusalem in Israel/Palestine, by virtue of it's Jewish population alone. The point I'm trying to make here is that Jews have always had safe places to live, as well they should, just as any ethnic or cultural group should have. The notion that the State of Israel is the only land the Jews have left is positively absurd. The point I'm making here is that anti-Zionism does not equate to anti-Semitism. One can love the Jewish people without loving the Secular Nation-State of Israel. The two are not one in the same.
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