No Christmas where Christ was born

Dec 25 2021

Source: Al Mayadeen

By Rasha Reslan

In Palestine, particularly in Beit Lahm, the cradle of Christ, Christmas is celebrated under the Israeli occupation.

Christ’s birth is celebrated under the violence of the Israeli occupation.

Christians around the world simultaneously light up their Christmas trees to inspire joy and hope, and awaken the spirit of Christmas; but for Fouad, Christina, Iyad, Hanin, and many Palestinians in Beit Lahm,  Gaza, and the occupied West Bank, this is going to be yet another sad Christmas.

Beit Lahm in December 

No Christmas where Christ was born

A large Christmas tree and decorations do little to brighten up a Christmas celebrated under the Israeli occupation most notably in Beit Lahm. Like many occupied Palestinian cities and towns, Beit Lahm is deprived of having any guests, with the tree rejoicing no one but the city’s residents. 

No Christmas where Christ was born

“I hope that this coming year brings about good, despite all the problems and challenges, as well as the corona pandemic and Israeli occupation,” a Palestinian elderly from Beit Lahm told Al Mayadeen English.

All that he can hope for in such days is a life full of goodness and blessings and a year that witnesses the end of the occupation. 

The resilient Palestinian recalls how around this time of the year, the Israeli occupation forces hold Palestinian youth under administrative arrest. 

“They would take Palestinians and throw them in prison, depriving the people of Palestine of joy.”

Read More: Hunger Strikes: Palestinian Prisoners’ Last Resort

In an exclusive interview for Al Mayadeen English, he stressed that the Israeli violence would escalate during the holiday season in Gaza and the neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, and Al-Bustan, and in all of Palestine, not to mention the ongoing events and attacks across the occupied West Bank where Israeli settlers repeatedly assault innocent Palestinian people.

Read More: “It Is Fun to Shoot Palestinians”: Six Former Israeli Soldiers Speak Up

A Palestinian woman from Beit Lahm tersely stressed that Christmas is a special occasion where one gets to spend time with family and friends and visit wonderful Christmas holiday venues, as well as the Christmas market across Beit Lahm, but this is always not allowed in Palestine.

The Grinch that stole Gaza’s Christmas

No Christmas where Christ was born

Gaza has survived past crises, notably the latest Israeli aggression that has dampened its already critical situation, and residents are only surviving on hope.

“The atmosphere of Christmas in Palestine differs from the atmosphere of Christmas anywhere else in the world”, Palestinian youth Fouad Ammar told Al Mayadeen English.

Like all Gazans, Fouad has been suffering from a crippling Israeli siege since 2007. 

The celebration of Christmas by Christians in Palestine is limited to very minimal events and attendees inside the church. Regardless, joy prevails and shines from within the church, and it is reflected in a cohesive Palestinian community. 

Since March 1993, Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank (except for residents of Al-Quds) have been required to obtain permits from the Israeli occupation authorities.

On this issue, Fouad said, “We are facing the issue of permit denials due to Israel’s blockade. It is almost impossible here for anyone to get a permit to visit the Church of the Nativity or the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And then Israelis grow more insolent giving a permit for the son and denying it for the father or giving a permit for the father and denying it for the son.”

“As a result, our joy remains incomplete; we constantly face the issue of permits in almost every mention of joy. We also face the difficulty of bringing the family together on our holidays as Christians, which makes us a little desperate and sad,” he added.

He heartfully shared his personal experience with Al Mayadeen English. Fouad’s parents live in Yafa, and he lives in Gaza. From 2007 till this very day, he has been denied any permit to visit his family. Eventually, he celebrates religious festivals online and on social media. 

“The Israeli occupation is behind our suffering,” he concluded.

Whether it’s Christmas or any other day, there’s no joy whatsoever left. 

Christmas is no different from any other day of the year in occupied #Palestine.#Christmas #SantaClaus pic.twitter.com/RtFjO6voKr

— Laila Palestinian girl (@LailaPalestini1) December 25, 2020

Like all Palestinian youths from Gaza, Iyad Saba, wishes to be able to enter the occupied Palestinian towns without having to go through obstacles and visit the holy places in order to celebrate with his family and friends in the Church of the Nativity, in Al-Aqsa Mosque, or in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 

“We hope that next year we will be able to visit the holy places together. On every holiday, we go through the same pain, as half of the family is allowed to visit holy places, whereas the second half remains in Gaza”, he added.

The young Palestinian told Al Mayadeen English that his friends are waiting for him to get a permit to celebrate holidays with them.

“Israel insists on depriving us of any chance of joy,” he said, sighing heavily.

Atallah Tarazi, a Palestinian from Gaza, said the Israeli occupation is innately inhuman and brutal. 

“This is what [the notion of] occupation is; one people ruling over another, silencing the truth and repressing equality, and replacing justice with injustice. This takes its toll on all sects and groups,” he stressed.

Reiterating the endless suffering of getting permits, Atallah has only one wish which is to gain his freedom so that he can spend the holidays wherever he wants, “but I have no freedom; circumstances govern us,” he said.

On her account, young Palestinian woman Christina Al-Amash told Al Mayadeen English that some Gazans have family members who live outside Gaza, stressing that they would like to celebrate with them, but since Gazans live under an Israeli siege and they do not have permits, they are obliged to stay behind and celebrate in Gaza.

Christmas is a time of love, warmth – and often, huge family gatherings, yet not in occupied Gaza. 

“It is wonderful that the whole family gathers during holidays in Beit Lahm because it is the land of Christ’s birth and a holy symbol for us. Some of us are able to travel to Beit Lahm, but most of us cannot”, Hanin Al-Jalda, a Palestinian woman from Gaza said.

She went on to say that those who cannot leave Gaza contact their families in Beit Lahm through the phone. 

“A lot of us are not able to get out of Gaza. Our joy is incomplete. We are always at home, but we try to create a holiday spirit wherever we go, such as the cultural center. We make sure to decorate and light up our Christmas trees to celebrate and let the children rejoice and have fun, “she added.

Unity between Muslims and Christians 

A Muslim family has held the key to one of Christianity’s holiest sites for centuries. This is more than just a matter of custom. It is the essence of Al-Quds, and it is part of what makes the Old City’s cultural and religious history so unique.

It is the key to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This Church is one of Christianity’s holiest sites. Thousands of pilgrims from all over the world visit it during the holidays. Few people are aware of the role Muslim ancestors have played in the history of this holy site.

“Christians and Muslims live together – one home, one family,” Jad from the occupied West Bank told Al Mayadeen English. 

He stressed that Muslim brothers and sisters join Christians in Christmas celebrations.

No Christmas under occupation

No Christmas where Christ was born

Theodosius Atallah Hanna, the Archbishop of Sebastia from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of occupied Palestine, sent a heartfelt message, urging the whole world, most notably those celebrating this occasion, “to keep an eye on this land that was blessed with Christ’s birth.”

“When you celebrate Christmas, keep in mind that this land is under occupation and is struggling because of it. Palestine is enduring utmost levels of injustice, oppression, and tyranny,” the Palestinian Archbishop said.

In an exclusive interview for Al Mayadeen English, Hanna said we should call for the freedom, dignity, and retrieval of the stolen rights of Palestine. 

“Remember that Christ was born on this land, the bleeding Palestine, which is awaiting all the free people of the world to side with it and support its oppressed people,” he stressed.

The Palestinian Archbishop wished the whole world a Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Bleeding Santa 

A Palestinian man, dressed as Santa, suffocated after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli occupation forces. (Reuters)

On Christmas morning 2000, Abed was so excited to meet Santa and get his gift. He was 10 years old, yet his joy was turned into a lifetime trauma.

“There is an image from my childhood that doesn’t leave my mind. The image of a Palestinian man wearing Santa’s costume. He was confronting the Israeli occupation forces with a stone, when he was shot by a live bullet,” he told Al Mayadeen English.

Abed also said that he will never forget the 39-day siege of the Church of the Nativity by the Israeli occupation forces, where Palestinians were shot and killed by snipers inside the church’s compound.

“Many pictures come to my memory about Christmas. The joy is incomplete despite our Christmas procession and our attempts to share the Christmas spirit. Nonetheless, we have a constant feeling of dread that something is looming on the horizon. The Christ is Palestinian, he is one of us. I call him the first Palestinian revolutionary.”

“Our biggest joy will be when Palestine is fully liberated from the Israeli occupation forces,” he concluded.

The Israeli occupation has ruined another Christmas for Palestinians, with Santa’s arrival and much-awaited family gatherings intentionally repressed.

With each passing year, the occupation further takes the joy out of Palestine, the land where Christ was born.

Boris Johnson Flies the Israeli Flag over Number 10

By Stuart Littlewood

Source

Christians in the Gaza Strip are not allowed to visit holy cities such as Bethlehem and Jerusalem to celebrate Christmas this year.  Israel says so.

Gisha, an Israeli rights group, said the ban points “to the intensifying of access restrictions between the two parts of the Palestinian territory,” calling it “a deepening of Israel’s separation policy” for the West Bank and Gaza. Christian leaders in Jerusalem complain: “Other people around the world are allowed to travel to Bethlehem. We think Gaza’s Christians should have that right, too.”

I well remember Gaza’s Catholic priest telling me, some years ago, that he hadn’t seen his family for 9 years. They lived just a few miles away in the West Bank but the occupying Israeli authorities warned that if he left Gaza they would not allow him back and his ‘flock’ would be without a minister.

If that isn’t religious warfare I don’t know what is.

Meanwhile, sinister moves are afoot in the UK to preserve Israel’s impunity for its crimes against the Palestinians and its contempt for international law. Boris Johnson’s new government is to pass legislation banning public bodies from imposing their own boycotts, disinvestment or sanctions (BDS) campaigns against foreign countries, including Israel, on the grounds that these “undermine community cohesion”.

Where’s the harm in BDS? It’s a peaceful response to Israel’s thuggery. It urges non-violent pressure on Israel until it complies with international law by meeting three demands:

1. Ending its unlawful occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall (international law recognizes the West Bank including East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Syrian Golan Heights as occupied by Israel).
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality.
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

And how is Boris Johnson proposing to block BDS? Briefing notes accompanying the Queen’s Speech to Parliament, which sets out the Government’s program, say:

• ● We will stop public institutions from imposing their own approach or views about international relations, through preventing boycotts, divestment or sanctions campaigns against foreign countries and those who trade with them.
• ● This will create a coherent approach to foreign relations from all public institutions, by ensuring that they do not go beyond the UK Government’s settled policy towards a foreign country. The UK Government is responsible for foreign relations and determining the best way to interact with its international neighbors.

The notes point out that public institutions should not be pursuing their own foreign policy agenda with public money and there are concerns that such boycotts have legitimized anti-Semitism. The ban will apply to institutions across the public sector, not just councils, and will cover purchasing, procurement and investment decisions which undermine cohesion and integration.

Johnson is getting his knickers in a frightful twist over this. His party’s election manifesto had already pledged:

• “We will ensure that no one is put off from engaging in politics or standing in an election by threats, harassment or abuse, whether in person or online.”
• “We will champion freedom of expression and tolerance, both in the UK and overseas.”
• “To support free speech, we will repeal section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2014, which seeks to coerce the press.”

The Conservatives also promised to champion the rule of law, human rights, free trade, anti-corruption efforts and a rules-based international system – all of which Israel refuses to comply with.

Johnson and his underlings just don’t get it. BDS is a legitimate, peaceful way of opposing the Israeli occupation. Furthermore, the foreign policies of successive UK governments have not met the approval of the British people. Far from it. There is no “coherent approach” or “community cohesion” and never will be with US-Israel axis pimps in control at Westminster.

Just look at our government line-up.

Johnson calls himself “a passionate Zionist”. He praised the ‘genius of Israel’ at a parliamentary reception marking 100 years since the Balfour Declaration and said he was proud of ‘Britain’s part in creating Israel’.

When the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva adopted a resolution to set up an independent, international Commission of Inquiry to investigate all violations of humanitarian and international human rights law in the occupied Palestinian territory, with particular focus on recent events in Gaza, Johnson (then Foreign Secretary) couldn’t bring himself to vote for it.

Conservative glamour-girl Priti Patel, while International Development Secretary, had 14 meetings with Israeli politicians (including prime minister Netanyahu and his security minister) during a family holiday in Israel without telling the Foreign Office, her civil servants or her boss Theresa May, and without government officials present. This was not only a two-finger salute to the ministerial Code of Conduct but a gross breach of security. But what do you expect from a former vice-chair of Conservative Friends of Israel?

She was accused of freelancing in foreign policy and is said to have tried persuading colleagues to send British taxpayers’ money as aid for an Israeli forces project in the Golan Heights…. like we didn’t need the money here with 300,000 homeless and sleeping rough. She actually visited the Golan knowing it to be Syrian territory stolen in 1967 by the Israelis who have illegally occupied it ever since. Touring it with the thieving occupation army was a monumental diplomatic blunder. She was forced to resign. This bird-brain is now Home Secretary.

Muslim Sajid Javid, now Chancellor, remarked in December 2012: “Israel, the only nation in the Middle East that shares the same democratic values as Britain….” He honeymooned in Israel and is a Conservative Friend of Israel. And he has proscribed Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization. Hezbollah came into being as a resistance organization in response to the 1978 and 1982 Israeli invasions of Lebanon. Israel is delighted.

Michael Gove has described himself as “a proud Zionist” since he was a boy. He too is a Conservative Friend of Israel, believes BDS is anti-Semitic and that Israel is “free, democratic, liberal and western”.

Few people I know believe Israel has a friend in the whole world apart from those it has bought, threatened or terrorized into submission and, of course, the sad folk who have allowed themselves to be perverted by Christian-Zionist pastors and the Scofield bible.

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: “The campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) seeks to hold Israel accountable for its violations of Palestinian rights and of international law.

“Failing to take action to hold Israel to account makes one complicit. Israel has been engaged in a global campaign to have laws prohibiting BDS introduced so that it can act with impunity. All those who believe in international law, human rights and freedom of expression must vigorously oppose this legislation.”

Trump Threatens Syria for al-Qaeda Occupiers of Idlib

December 27, 2019

Miri Wood

Syrians celebrate Christmas in Damascus Abbasid Square

Trump wished the Syrian Arab Republic a belated Merry Christmas by tweeting yet another threat, warning the SAR not to liberate Idlib from the approximately 10,000 al Qaeda savages who have occupied this area of the country, since the beginning of the crisis.

Surely the 45th President of the USA knows these stats, supported even by the same UN that also wails for al Qaeda on a regular basis. Surely Trump heard Special Presidential Envoy to the alleged anti-Daesh Global Coalition, Brett McGurk when he emphatically stated that  Idlib province is the largest al Qaeda safe haven since 9/11.

The Trump threat comes on the heels of his signing the new NDAA law, which includes the Qatar-funded Caesar Hoax legislation, unprecedented peak colonialism which attempts to forbid Syria from protecting its citizenship from terrorists armed by NATO, within its own borders. The nasty Trump threat comes as Syria militarily enforces the Astana Agreement, already liberating more than 30 villages from the criminally insane al Qaeda savages. 

Perhaps Trump is seeking a bump in his approval ratings; the only time that he was revered, cheered, practically fellated, was when he bombed Syria for al Qaeda, based on the criminal lies of the British illegal whose medical license was permanently revoked due to his terrorism ties, via fake news!CNN, on 7 April 2017.

British undoctor illegal, Shajul Islam was the source of the Khan Sheikhoun chemical hoax, 4 April 2017.

British illegal, British terrorist in Syria was source for the GB hoax in Khan Sheikhoun

In the tweet where the POTUS threatens to again use the US military as al Qaeda’s second air force, Trump again gave his support to the caliph wannabe, rabid Erdogan, lying that the leader of Turkey — the country through which most of the 350,000 foreign killers entered, and without stepping on any of the almost 200,000 land mines still not cleared — was working to stop the carnage (“carnage” is a word he likes, having used it in his inaugural speech, when he promised that ”American carnage” would stop, though soon after, he flexed those “American carnage” muscles, bombing two bridges in Syria).

Though Trump has been consistent in supporting Erdogan’s war crimes against Syria — in late January 2017 he announced his support for Turkey’s invasion and occupation ofJarabulus — it is possible that the kissy faces in the tweet were meant as a request for Turkey to stop recycling its al Qaeda militias from Syria into Libya.

Donald J. Trump✔@realDonaldTrump · Dec 26, 2019

Russia, Syria, and Iran are killing, or on their way to killing, thousands of innocent civilians in Idlib Province. Don’t do it! Turkey is working hard to stop this carnage.

Fares Shehabi@ShehabiFares

Sure..

1758:17 PM – Dec 26, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy47 people are talking about this

Though Trump has been consistent in supporting Erdogan’s war crimes against Syria — in late January 2017 he announced his support for Turkey’s invasion and occupation ofJarabulus — it is possible that the kissy faces in the tweet were meant as a request for Turkey to stop recycling its al Qaeda militias from Syria into Libya.

H.E. al Jaafari quoting Egyptian Nobel Laureate Najib Mahfouz to the rabid & deaf UN hyenas [Archive].

The above quote from Laureate Najib Mahfouz is appropriate for the tripartite aggressors running the UN; it is also applicable to Trump’s menacing tweet, given that two prominent members of al Qaeda are on the US Treasury Department’s SDN list. Terrorist al Jolani has been designated since 2013 and also has a ten million dollar bounty on his head (again, the US taxpayer pays and pays: Pays for the weapons to arm takfiri in Syria, pays for the bombing of Syria, pays for the 501(c) ‘charities’ and think tanks that function as press liaisons for al Qaeda in Syria.).

Jolani donned Trump wig 7 April 2017.

Nusra Front Commander Jolani Meets Commanders of FSA Moderate Rebels in Idlib with help of Erdogan. [Trump does not know this?]

Saudi Muhaysini is also on the SDN list.

al Muhaysini is on the US Specially Designated Nationals list. Here he is with child soldiers he has trained.

Despite the ongoing economic terrorism inflicted on Syria, by the Trump regime, terrorists continue to have exceptional telecommunications access, courtesy of Trump’s pal, Erdogan. Saudi illegal and designee Muhaysini has recently condemned Christmas celebrations, enjoyed throughout the Syrian Arab Republic, except in al Qaeda occupied areas of Idlib.

Here is one of the icons of the Syrian “revolution”, the Idlib based Saudi Sheikh Abdallah Muhaysni, blasting Christmas day and admonishing Syrians who celebrate it. And we wonder why Christians support the legitimate government in #Syria5534:00 PM – Dec 26, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy443 people are talking about this

How very odd that the great Christian President Donald J. Trump wishes to protect these violent criminals of al Qaeda.

— Miri Wood

How Congress and the Federal Reserve Stole Christmas

Ron Paul | Infowars.com – DECEMBER 23, 2019

The bickering over impeachment did not stop the president and Congress from coming together last week to avert a government shutdown by passing a 1.4 trillion dollar spending package.

The bipartisan agreement has something for everyone — a 22 billion dollars increase to bring total spending on militarism to 738 billion dollars, and a 27 billion dollars increase to bring total spending on domestic programs to 632 billion dollars. It also imposes a national ban on selling tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, to anyone under 21.

The agreement was split into two bills. Both bills were unveiled last Monday afternoon. The bills passed the House on Tuesday, so only the House leadership and the members of the Appropriations Committee (and their staffs) who helped write the over 2,000-page deal had any idea what was in the bills. But most members voted for the spending bills because they were fearful of backlash over another Christmastime government shutdown. House leadership simply “waived” the rule requiring that all legislation be available at least three days before being voted upon.

The modern practice of funding the government via gigantic omnibus bills that are rushed into law puts the growth of government on autopilot. This practice also gives the president more influence over the budget, violating the spirit, if not the letter, of the Constitution’s grant of authority to Congress to appropriate funds, which was intended as a check on executive power.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve continues pumping billions into the repurchasing market. When the Fed began injecting money into the market in September, it said intervention was a temporary measure to address a short-term liquidity shortage. Three months later, the Fed is not only continuing to bail out the repurchasing market, it is preparing for other bailouts. This is further evidence that we are on the verge of another Fed-created economic crisis.

When the crisis hits, the best thing the Fed could do is not to lower interest rates below the levels set by the market. This would allow consumers, businesses, and government to liquidate their debt and restore a sound foundation for future growth. If the Fed did not interfere with the painful but necessary correction, it would only be a short time before a real economic boom commenced.

The Federal Reserve is unlikely to follow this path because of the short-term pain it would cause debt-ridden consumers and, more importantly, the pain it would cause politicians who would be forced to cut spending and/or raise taxes. But continuing to artificially lower interest rates will inevitably result in an economic crisis brought about by a rejection of the dollar’s world reserve currency status.

The Federal Reserve’s manipulation of interest rates depreciates the dollar’s value, enabling the growth of the welfare-warfare state while enriching the insiders who receive the new money before prices rise. The brunt of dollar depreciation is felt by middle- and working-class Americans whose paychecks do not keep up with the rising cost of living.

Inflation is nothing more than a hidden and regressive tax. Auditing and ending the Fed should thus be a top priority of those concerned about rising income inequality and poverty, as well as those dreaming of a Christmas free of 2,000-page omnibus spending bills.

ronpaulinstitute.orgThe views of individual contributors do not necessarily represent those of the Strategic Culture Foundation.

Tulsi Gabbard and her husband sing a quite beautiful Christmas song

December 25, 2019

I hope that this will bring some joy to those of you who celebrate Christmas today!
Kind regards
The Saker
PS: please don’t make this one about politics, okay? I am just happy to see a normal healthy couple simply singing together (pretty well, actually), that’s all. And while I don’t think that Gabbard has a chance in 2020 (“they” will never let her), at least there is one US politicians that doesn’t make me feeling like tossing a brick at the screen 🙂
Thank you!

Merry Christmas

DECEMBER 21, 2019BY GILAD ATZMON

This has been an intense year, we are very lucky to live through a fascinating time witnessing the truth unveiling itself against all odds. I wish you all a wonderful holiday and a happy new year.  

Talinka’s latest video clip: we work towards beauty & harmony:

Rainbow Over Kolonaki, Talinka Quartet

We are thrilled to present our new Talinka album Rainbow Over Kolonaki. Together, as a musical collective, we continue to pursue our search for that magic moment where different genres are merging into a song, a melody, a simple piece of beauty… 

The Album will be released in late January BUT you can already get yourself an online version here.

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Back at the Vortex Jazz Club during the Christmas Holiday

We are back at the Vortex Jazz Club for two nights on Friday and Sunday (27 & 29 December)

Gilad Atzmon and The Orient house Ensemble return to the Vortex with a new retrospective program. Two decades of intensive musical creativity are squeezed into a two hours journey: from Exile to Refuge, from Bird to Trane.

The OHE has just recorded its new album and the Vortex crowd will be the first Brits to hear the new repertoire.

To Book on-line:

Friday 27 December click here

Sunday 29 December click here

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This Miracle is about to repeat itself in Islington (tonight)…

A Miracle in Islington

Peace and love

Gilad

An open Christmas Greeting to a few Labour Politicians

December 24, 2018  /  Gilad Atzmon

 

Dear Rt Hon. Jeremy Corbyn, Chris Williamson MP, Cllr Richard Watts and members of the Islington Council,

I would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

I want to assure you that during the holiday I will not respond to the biased and unprovoked punitive ban that you imposed on me, and to the shame you have brought upon yourselves and your party. I want to allow you sufficient time to rethink your unreasonable actions. I do want to assure you that this story is not going to go away.

As soon as 2019 settles in I, along with the very active movement that has supported me in recent weeks, will push for answers.

 We will ask:

1.     The director of Likud-Herut UK threatened his absence at the concert in case of Gilad Atzmon being present. How is it that Islington Labour Council went out of it way to appease a right-wing pro-Israel activist? At the very least it appears  that Likud UK is connected to a  foreign government that has been hostile to the Labour party and its leader. This is when the Likud’s political philosophy is in direct opposition to the values that Labour espouses.

2.     How is it possible that an impoverished Labour Council that has been forced to make significant cutbacks in essential services finds the funds to hire one of Britain’s most expensive law firms and appears ready to spend tens of thousands of pounds just to stop one of the world’s leading musicians from making a living and entertaining an audience at a Christmas event?

3.  How do you justify that you, as a party,  claim to care for the ‘many and not the few,’ yet you managed to cause a complete and blatantly prejudiced mess in response to a single pro-Israel campaigner and ignored the mass protests against your decision. A petition with thousands of signatures and hundreds of complaints were not addressed at all. Apparently, you ignored the ‘many’ to appease the ‘one.’

4.     We will publish all the relevant documents and correspondence issued by the Council relating to this matter. Not a single document contained any comment I made or wrote that was hateful or discriminatory. It is of note that the quotations contained in the Council’s evidence were cut and pasted and/or taken entirely out of context. Instead, nearly all of the Council’s writing seemed sourced from  hard core Zionist outlets such as the Jewish Chronicle, Jerusalem Post, Ynet, and the ADL, all of whom spew hatred towards me and my work. We must remind British officials of their obligation to be impartial. We will also publish the document in which the council dismisses as ‘anti-Semitic’ some of the greatest living humanists, quoting again the opinions expressed about them in the ultra right wing Zionist media.

5.     We have further learned that one of the lawyers  hired by the Council to encounter the menace of Gilad Atzmon’s saxophone also represented the ultra Zionist and leading Likud (and Trump) donor Sheldon Adelson. Did the Council take any steps to ensure that this representation did not interfere with its own impartiality?

6.     In the last few days, the press has quoted a “Labour spokesman” who called me a ‘vile anti-Semite.’  Are political parties entitled to accuse law-abiding  citizens of ‘hate crimes’?  Would  Labour also accuse a private British citizen of paedophilia or murder without any official record?  Further, if  Labour did find me guilty of hate speech and can substantiate it, why have they failed to notify the police?

This is enough for you to reflect upon. I will start to dig into these matters in early January. Your decision to operate in a Stasi-like manner, crudely interfering with the arts, freedom of speech, and my obligation to earn a living, suggests that you have become an existential threat for all of us and what we believe in.

We will deal with all of this in due course.

For the time being I hope that you can learn about my position on different matters that concern you through my Christmas Message:

njoy your holidays.

All the best

Gilad and thousands of very concerned citizens

P.S. I do accept that you are somehow fearful of good music but here is a rare opportunity to watch Santa Claus performing with the Blockheads. Give beauty a chance.

To sign a petition in support of Gilad click here

Lodge a formal complaint with Islington Council: https://www.islington.gov.uk/contact-us/comments-and-complaints?status=inprogress

Email: assemblyhall@islington.gov.uk

Contact the Council: +4420 7527 2000

To support Gilad’s legal battles:  https://donorbox.org/gilad-needs-additional-support

A Christmas Miracle in Islington

December 24, 2018  /  Gilad Atzmon

Background:

On 4 December, Richard Watts, ‘Labour’ politician and leader of the impoverished Islington Council, rapidly acquiesced to a request from Martin Rankoff, director of Likud-Herut UK, that I be removed from the Blockheads’ Christmas concert at the Islington Assembly Hall. It seems Cllr Watts bought into the absurd idea that Jews would be upset by my sax playing. I was vaguely amused by Watt’s ludicrous decision. Until recently, we would have thought that it was down to musicians to make the choices with regard to their music. Clearly this is not the case in Islington in 2018. Our Labour leaders seem inspired by the USSR 1970s model or even Germany in 1938.  I naively believed that Watts and his ‘Labour’ council might change their decision once they realised they had been manipulated by an ultra right wing pro Israel activist who has displayed gruesome and contemptuous views of the Labour party.

 

Obviously, I was wrong. The dysfunctional Labour Council and their leader fell into every trap, as we will learn in more detail in the new year. By 17 December, I realised that I had to prepare a saxophonist and one at least as sexy as I, to perform the extended solo feature in Clever Trevor. Due to the Christmas theme, I decided that Santa Claus was the perfect candidate for the job.

This is where we started:

Gilad Atzmon and Islam

January 14, 2018  /  Gilad Atzmon

Introduction GA: In the following book review Jay Knott suggests that  Being in Time scores a very high mark on many fronts, however, the text fails to attack Muslims and Islam. In the last two decades I have been accused of many things but this is the first time I am criticised  for ‘not being an Islamophobe.’ I have met Knott before and I think that regardless of the peculiar premise of this text,  it deserves attention. 

Gilad Atzmon And Islam

Book Review by Jay Knott

A review of Being In Time – a post-political manifesto, Gilad Atzmon, Skyscraper Publications, 2017

“There is just one point where I have encountered a difficulty” – Russell to Frege, 1902.

I introduced a talk by Gilad Atzmon, and organised a reading group to discuss his first book, “The Wandering Who?”, about Jewish identity politics. We had many criticisms of it.

The new book is much broader, and better. I have only one major criticism. This article is about that criticism, but though as a result it’s mostly negative, I actually think this book is a major contribution to understanding the times we live in. It explains Donald Trump, Brexit, the left, identity politics, political correctness, and especially, US support for Jewish supremacy in the Middle East. It is undogmatic, finding inputs from a wide range of sources. Atzmon even manages to get something useful out of the book “The Bell Curve” while rejecting its central premise, IQ. I mostly agreed with much of “Being in Time”.

But chapter four, “United Against Unity”, woke me up with a jolt.

But what about Hammed, a metal worker from Birmingham? Hammed identifies as a ‘Muslim’ – can he join a Left demonstration against the War in Syria? It’s a good question and the answer is not immediately obvious because it’s no secret that many of those who subscribe to ‘progressive’ and ‘liberal’ ideologies and especially activists, are rather troubled by religion in general and Islam in particular.

You could have fooled me. In 2003, I attended a large Palestine solidarity demonstration in London. There was a small group of Muslim extremists shouting “Hamas! Hamas! Jews to the gas!”. They were tolerated. Far milder expressions of white identity are violently excluded from left-wing events.

Shortly after criticising political correctness, Atzmon writes

What about Laura? She’s a Muslim convert who often hides her face behind a veil. Does she feel comfortable in ‘progressive’ or liberal gatherings? Not really.

“Feel comfortable”? This is political correctness!

The progressive left on both sides of the Atlantic is more than tolerant of Islam, the most regressive section of Western society.

The American women’s march against Donald Trump selected Muslim misogynist Linda Sarsour as one of its organisers,

and German feminists applauded Islam too.

Atzmon is right to say that a British patriot would not be welcome at an anti-war protest. But he’s completely wrong about the left and Islam.

One of the reasons Muslim men were allowed to get away with raping hundreds of underage girls for decades in Britain is that most of them live under Labour Party-controlled councils. Paralysed by political correctness, sending social workers who noticed that it was primarily “Asians” trafficking the girls, on “diversity” courses, they ignored the problem, or suppressed attempts to expose it, for fear of being called “racist”.

When Labour’s left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke in the House of Commons about the Grenfell tower disaster, he rightly pointed to Orgreave and Hillsborough as examples of police malfeasance, then he mentioned the Rotherham child-trafficking scandal as another example, again rightly. But he didn’t mention the other major factor: the overwhelming overrepresentation of Muslims among Rotherham’s child traffickers, and the influence of political correctness on allowing them to rape children. Instead, he went out of his way to make a gratuitous remark about Muslims breaking from prayers to help their neighbours in the Grenfell fire:

A more extreme example of the leftist attitude to Islam is the Socialist Workers Party arguing against Islamic terrorism – on the grounds that it wouldn’t work: Socialists Stand With The Oppressed.

Atzmon’s book is pretty good about the connection between identity politics and Zionist power in the West. He’s also right about the overrepresentation of self-identified Jews in the origins of the most sophisticated variants of movements designed to take advantage of Western self-doubt – Franz Boas’s anthropology, Theodor Adorno’s psychology and sociology (the Frankfurt school), Freud, postmodernism and the “anti-racist” anti-science of Stephen Jay Gould. But it’s not only Jewish activists who exploit this loophole. Political correctness also undermines the West’s defence against the influence of Islam.

EXAMPLES

Page 48: “Jewish ethnocentrism and even Jewish racial exclusivity is fully accepted, while other forms of ethnocentrism are bluntly rejected.”

In fact, the left tolerates prejudice from black activists, usually against white people. “African-American Studies” is positive, whereas the study of “Whiteness” is invariably negative. One can easily find dozens of examples by checking out the sites “The College Fix”, “Campus Reform”, Sargon of Akkad’s videos on Youtube, or reading up on the 2006 Duke University Lacrosse rape case. I suspect that’s the main reason for the left’s support for the socially conservative ideology of Islam – most of its adherents have dark skin.

Page 81: Atzmon claims that the Guardian does not mind offending ‘Islamists’, on the basis of its broadcast of one televised debate between two Zionist Jews.

He’s right about the paper’s hostility to the white workers. When hackette Zoe Williams went to Rotherham to investigate Pakistani taxi drivers raping underage white girls, she dismissed the mostly-white English Defence League as “racist”, instead asking for the opinions of… Pakistani taxi drivers. Atzmon doesn’t realise that this is normal. Muslims usually get gold in the Oppression Olympics. Here are six examples of the Guardian’s Islamophilia:

Zoe Williams: “This brutal blame game pays little heed to justice in Rotherham”

Suzanne Moore: “Poor children are seen as worthless, as Rotherham’s abuse scandal shows”

Jonathan Freedland: “Rotherham inquiry: the ‘PC gone mad’ defence is itself a form of racism”

Nazir Afzal: ‘There is no religious basis for the abuse in Rotherham’

Chi Onwurah – “The grooming of girls in Newcastle is not an issue of race – it’s about misogyny”. In a way, she’s right. It’s not about race, and it is about misogyny. Muslim misogyny. But she doesn’t say that.

The Guardian ran a story “Muslim women ‘blocked from seeking office by male Labour councillors’”. Notice that the religion of the women is mentioned, but not the men. Can you guess why?

Page 125 – ID Politics – the belief that the personal is political unless you are Muslim or white. This reiterates the idea that the left encourages identity politics for all except Muslims and white Europeans. He’s fifty percent right.

Page 129 – Atzmon argues that Islam and Christianity are similar, but Judaism is different, because it’s based on “an obedience regulatory system”, in which “God-loving is not voluntary”. And again on page 197. He argues that Christianity and Islam are universalist, as opposed to the sectarian attitudes of Judaism – “the chosen few”. He’s right about Judaism, and the myth of “Judaeo-Christian”, but he substitutes the equally false “Islamo-Christian”. The only way Islam is universalist is that anyone can join it, and many had no choice. If you haven’t signed up, or especially if you leave it, it’s not a bit universal. Its God is close to the vengeful monster of the Old Testament, not at all like his son, the pacifist who founded Christianity. “Judaeo-Islamic” is a more accurate neologism.

Page 144 – “Real Jewish power is actually the power to silence criticism of Jewish power”. Right. But what is the power to silence the defence of a scientific view of gender differences inside Google? The need to fire a black diversity officer at Apple who said it’s ok to be white? The show-trial of student Lindsay Shepherd, for showing a video clip of a debate on “gender pronouns”? The fact that Nobel Prize-winning biologists can be fired for an opinion, or a joke … and dozens of similar examples, too numerous to mention, and no doubt hundreds which have never attracted the publicity of these cases. Some of them can be found here: “The Left-Wing Campaign Against Liberal Values”. This is political correctness. Jewish power is one of its results.

CONCLUSION

Social Justice has taken over, not just academic humanities departments, but large sections of the media, and, amazingly, the most important corporations in the world, such as Apple and Google. “Cultural Marxism” is not a paranoid right-wing conspiracy theory.

It’s my contention than Zionists use the same mechanisms as SJWs to manipulate Western societies to do things which are opposed to the interests of most of their inhabitants, rich and poor. Like professors of “African-American Studies”, they use false, or meaningless, allegations of racial prejudice to take advantage of our morality. We can kill both of these birds with one stone.

Support for Israel is a result of political correctness, the expression of a weakness in white European people and societies. The immigration of millions of Muslims, among them many who don’t accept Western values, is another. Atzmon dismisses concern about Islam altogether. But read “Being and Time”. Apart from its blind spot regarding ‘Islamists’, it’s damn good.

VIDEO: Palestinian Christians Protest Patriarch Who Sold Church Land to Israel

January 7, 2018 4:27 AM 

 IMEMC News & Agencies

07 JAN 4:27 AM

Palestinian Christians from around the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Israel came out in harsh opposition, Saturday, to a visit by Greek Orthodox Church Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, to the southern occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Theophilos III, along with several other religious and political figures, were visiting Bethlehem as part of celebrations for Greek Orthodox Christmas Eve.

Despite an intense presence of Palestinian security forces who attempted to open roads near Bethlehem’s Manger Square, for the patriarch’s car, angry protesters swarmed around the procession, holding signs, Palestinian flags, and chanting slogans against Theophilus III.

According to Ma’an News Agency,  some people threw stones and smashed windows of the car that the patriarch was riding in as they demanded he be stripped of his titles and removed from the church.

Theophilos III is accused of orchestrating the sale of more than 500 dunams (123.5 acres) of Palestinian land belonging to the Arab Orthodox Church in Jerusalem to Israelis belonging to Zionist and settler groups.

The protest was not the first of its kind in Bethlehem — visits by Theophilus III to the biblical town have been boycotted in the past.

On Saturday, heads of the municipalities of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour boycotted the reception, along with several religious organizations affiliated with the Greek Orthodox Church.

The church has been accused numerous times, over the years, of selling its leasing rights over land in Jerusalem to Jewish Israeli investors, with Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist revealing late last month that the Orthodox Patriarchate had sold the rights to 500 dunams, in August 2016, for 114 million shekels ($32 million), a move to be effective in 2050, when the Jewish National Fund’s lease of the land is set to expire.

Detractors have accused the patriarchate of contributing to Israeli plans to “Judaize” Jerusalem by selling or leasing off large amounts of land to Israeli authorities and business people, betraying the church’s responsibility to protect Palestinian lands that were handed under its care during the Ottoman period.

In 2015, a patriarchate spokesperson denied that the church was selling off lands in Jerusalem — a claim that did not convince many members of the faith, at the time.

Related story:

12/07/17 Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour Engage in “Christmas Blackout” to Protest US Jerusalem Decision

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Merry Christmas! Orthodox Christmas Service in Moscow

Source

Posted on January 5, 2018 

by Richard Edmondson

From Sputnik:

Orthodox Christians in Russia celebrate Christmas on January 7. There is a 40-day Lent preceding Christmas Day. On the eve of the significant event, orthodox observers attend liturgies in churches all over the country that last well into the early hours of the morning.
The main mass in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior is led by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Commentary is provided by Sergei Brun, academic fellow at the Museum of the Russian Icon in Moscow, and RT journalist Daniel Bushell.

Putin Wishes Russian Children a Happy New Year

Posted on December 28, 2017 

by Richard Edmondson

A time of mounting excitement in Moscow as the city gets set for the holidays–in Russia, New Year is celebrated before Christmas, rather than after it. The Russian Orthdox Christmas will be observed on January 6-7, 2018. What I find most striking about the video is the extent to which the Russian children seem to idolize Putin–almost as if he’s a rock star or something. I would find it hard to imagine any group of American children displaying such frenzy and adoration upon the appearance of a US president.

You’ll note also that some of the children in the video are from Sevastopol. The city is located in Crimea, and for many of them it’s their first trip to Moscow. Obviously they are quite impressed!

A little bit about Russian Orthodox Christmas:

People in Russia celebrate Christmas Day with activities such as having a family dinner, attending a Christmas liturgy and visiting relatives and friends. There is a 40-day Lent preceding Christmas Day, when practicing Christians do not eat any meat. The Lent period ends with the first star in the night sky on January 6 – a symbol of Jesus Christ’s birth. Many Orthodox Christians go to the church to attend a Christmas liturgy that evening. (Source).

Merry Christmas Day with Bolero at Sunrise

December 25, 2017  /  Gilad Atzmon

I performed the the Bolero Together with Konse Big Band  (led by Prof. Johannes Berauer)  at Klagenfurt Jazz Club,Austria,  four days ago.

Bolero at Sunrise was arranged by the  Callum Au

Merry Christmas

Gilad

IN PHOTOS: ISRAELI FORCES CLASH WITH PALESTINIAN SANTA CLAUSES ON CHRISTMAS EVE

South Front

24.12.2017

On December 24, Palestinians, many of them dressed as Santa Claus, staged a rally in the city of Bethlehem in the West Bank protesting against to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s true capital.

Israeli forces used tear gas and stun grenades against the protesters near an Israeli military tower in Bethlehem. This rea is widely known as the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ.

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Merry Christmas Everyone, Joy to the world: Jesus is a celebrated prophet in Islam, too, peace be upon him

Joy to the world: Jesus is a celebrated prophet in Islam, too, peace be upon him

 Christmas in Bethlehem is a special time for all children – Muslim and Christian

In the interest of peace, Safdar Khwaja from CAIR reminds us that Muslims revere Jesus highly, and believe in the divine origin of the holy books of all three Abrahamic religions. She reminds us of the need to work together, for there is much to be done in our broken world.

At the end of the article, If Americans Knew offers you some photos of Christmastime in Bethlehem, where there is genuine interfaith peace.

by Safdar Khwaja, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Christmas season brings lights, cheer and charity across America and prayerful celebration of the Christian savior’s birth in churches across the world. Greeting cards proclaim “Joy to the World,” though people might wonder just how to spread joy.

Christian Americans also might wonder how non-Christians perceive the festive Christmas season — particularly Muslims, given all the controversy about them that’s been stirred up in recent election cycles.

It may come as a surprise to many people that Muhammad, peace be upon him (pbuh), recognized Jesus (pbuh) as the promised final leader for mankind. As recorded in multiple Hadith (sayings of the Prophet) ( Bukhari, Vol. 3, Book 34, No. 425 et seq.), “… Jesus (pbuh) son of Mary, will descend amongst you as a just ruler, kill the anti-christ, and abolish unfavorable practices. Money will become in abundance so that no one will accept it as charity.”

This significant Hadith is neither unique nor an isolated forecast in Islam. As the youngest of the three major Abrahamic faiths, Islam recognizes all of the revelations and commandments of a singular God (Eloh in Hebrew, Alah in Aramaic, Ilah in Arabic, Allah as “the-God” in Arabic), as a continuum of God’s messages. The Scrolls (Abraham, pbuh), Torah (Moses, pbuh), Psalms (David, pbuh), Gospels (Jesus, pbuh), and Quran (Muhammad, pbuh), are all recognized as of divine origin and included in the faith of Islam.

Quran 2:136: “Say: (Oh Believers) ‘We believe in God and in what was sent down to us and what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and what was given to Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets by their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we devote ourselves to Him (God).’ “

Followers of these divine revelations are recognized as “People of the Book,” with marriages allowed among them, which has led “mixed” families over the centuries to develop close relationships.

Jesus is mentioned 25 times in the Quran in many contexts, including as a messenger of God, as the Messiah, as the “word” and “sign” of God, as endowed with healing miracles, as ascending into heaven, as promising to return.

The Quran mentions the virgin birth of Jesus many times. He is the only prophet who is mentioned along with his mother. The Quran’s chapter 19 is dedicated to Mary (Maryam), who holds a singularly exalted place in Islam, being the only woman named in the Quran. She is referred to 70 times in multiple chapters, and she explicitly is identified as the greatest of all women.

To Muslims in America, celebration of the life of Jesus and acts of charity during the Christmas season are very similar to their own traditions. The two major Muslim celebrations, or Eids, feature charity, prayers and festivities. They occur following the month of fasting (Ramadan) and at the commemoration of Abraham’s (pbuh) commitment to personal sacrifice. Celebrations such as Christmas and Eid are meant to renew the foundations of our beliefs.

Sadly, we see anxiety and suspicion between Christians and Muslims, which are politically inspired and cause us to overlook our shared heritage. If we were true to the teachings of our faiths, we would see that the values we collectively cherish are rooted in a common history. Such a realization could become the basis for cooperation, for friendship, for truly spreading “Joy to the World.”

Humanity has massive challenges to overcome; disease, poverty, hunger, ignorance, war, the list goes on. These challenges require a new paradigm of collaboration among people of all faiths, or no faith, from the local to the global level.

Interfaith dialogue is growing here in Pittsburgh, but participation remains sparse. In our “home of the brave,” we need more brave souls who are willing to listen to the narratives of people who are very different from themselves.

Here is my wish for this holy, festive season:

May our leaders be brave. May they employ their energies and talents toward bringing us together rather than driving us apart. May they help us solve the intractable problems we face by harnessing our common values and humanity. May this spirit of cooperation bring us joy.

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Safdar Khwaja is president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States.

 

Palestinian Christians celebrate the lighting of a Christmas tree in Manger Square, outside the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015. Christmas Eve is a major event for the biblical town, drawing thousands of foreign tourists each year. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

 

Another view of Manger Square

A member of the Palestinian Authority security services patrols in front of the nativity scene in Manger Square

Greek Orthodox Liturgy in the Church of the Nativity

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Bell tower in the background is the Church of the Nativity, built over the site traditionally believed to be where Christ was born

Santa is an equal-opportunity acceptor of donations.

Catholic clergymen outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

A Christian worshipper prays after lighting a candle on Christmas Eve at the Church of the Nativity, built atop the site where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born, in the West Bank

Rabbi Warns that Jews May Be Headed for a ‘Cataclysmic Disaster’

Posted on December 18, 2017 

by Richard Edmondson

Is Patagonia to Become the New ‘Promised Land’?

By Richard Edmondson

Bible scholars have pointed out that the Gospels of Matthew and Luke appear to have been written with two different audiences in mind. The Gospel of Matthew seems to have been directed at a Jewish audience, while the Gospel of Luke would appear to have been written with a primarily Gentile audience in mind.

One passage in Matthew where we can see the intended audience was Jewish is in the story of Jesus’ birth. Here we encounter a reference to the Old Testament book of Micah–a citation which not only  prophesies the birth of Christ but which clearly  presents the Israelites as divinely chosen. The passage in question is Matthew 2:1-6. The setting is Herod’s court in Jerusalem, where the three wise men from the east have just stopped off in their quest to find the newborn Christ child:

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd[d] my people Israel.’”

The quote in verse 6 containing the words “my people Israel” is a cross reference to Micah 5:2. It’s rather amazing that the gospel writer supplies us with these words in the story of Jesus’ birth…but then later goes on to give us the following passage in the account of his death:

24 So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” 25 Then the people as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

It is almost as if the Jews have gone from being divinely blessed in the early part of the gospel…to divinely cursed in the gospel’s closing chapters.

The reason I make mention of the birth story from Matthew is not solely because we’re in the Christmas season, but for a couple of other reasons as well. One has to do with a commentary published recently by a rabbi by the name of Brant Rosen; the other in regard to some interesting information presented recently by Thierry Meyssan of Voltairenet.org. Let’s take Rosen’s commentary first.

Rabbi Brant Rosen is an advocate of justice for Palestinians as well as the founder of Tzedek Chicago, a “non-Zionist” synagogue in Chicago. He also maintains a blog, Shalom Rav, where he recently published an article entitled “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.” In the article he discusses the intersection of Zionism with Jewish messianism, this in the context of Trump’s recent decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem–and he comments that “Zionism has always been, in its way, a kind of false messiah.”

He also warns that Jews today may be headed for a “cataclysmic disaster,” and he quotes Gershom Scholem, a Jewish scholar of the 20th century who authored a biography of Sabbatai Zevi, a Jewish false messiah who gained a huge following in the 1600s. Scholem’s perspective on the subject, written in 1928, reads in part:

The messianic phraseology of Zionism, especially in its decisive moments, is not the least of those Sabbatian temptations which could bring disaster to the renewal of Judaism.

Rosen then goes on to comment:

I genuinely believe that the disaster Scholem wrote of has already come to pass. This zealous drive for political sovereignty and control over Jerusalem as the “eternal undivided capitol of the Jewish people” is a form of idolatry that has all but highjacked a venerable spiritual tradition. Now I fear a much more cataclysmic disaster is waiting in the wings.

Perhaps Rosen isn’t the only Jew worried about a cataclysmic disaster at this point–and this brings me to Meyssen’s article.

Entitled “What is Israel’s Project in Argentina?“, the piece was posted December 12 at Meyssen’s Voltaire blog. In it the author discusses Jewish billionaire Joe Lewis of Britain, who has purchased vast amounts of land in the region of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego in southern Argentina. Meyssen notes that the properties Lewis has acquired “cover areas several times larger than the State of Israel”; that hundreds of thousands of houses have been built upon them, as well as a private airport capable of handling military aircraft; and that 8,000-10,000 Israeli soldiers journey there every year for “holiday camps.”

A  few other interesting points Meyssen makes are:

• Google Earth has neutralized satellite photographs of the region just as it does with NATO military installations
• Israel has now secured a submarine base in the area courtesy of neighboring Chile, while “tunnels have been dug in order to survive the polar winter”
• George Soros is now believed by some inhabitants of the region to be financing a secessionist movement, presumably to “liberate” Patagonia from Argentina

Meyssen comments that it is “impossible for the moment to determine if Israel is engaged in a programme for the exploitation of Antarctica, or if it is building a rear base in case of defeat in Palestine.” Of course if nuclear war breaks out between the US and Russia, Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego would probably be among the less severely impacted parts of the planet–so that might be a factor in the thinking as well. I don’t know.

In any event, I suggest people read Meyssen’s article in its entirety, because there’s a lot of interesting information in it that I haven’t covered here. As for Rosen’s article, while I look somewhat askance at a comment he supplies about “Christian supremacy,” I do note that the remark is made in regard to Christian Zionist pastor John Hagee, and while I confess I find Rosen’s characterization of Judaism as a “venerable spiritual tradition” a tad puzzling, I’ll go out on a limb and guess that he has passages like Exodus 23:9 (“you shall not oppress a stranger…” etc.) more so in mind than the exhortations to blood and genocide. I’m guessing he does not include Talmudic supremacy as part of that “venerable spiritual tradition.” And I’m also guessing he would take strong exception to comments of such as Rabbi Saadya Grama:

Jewish success in the world is completely contingent upon the failure of other peoples. Jews experience good fortune only when gentiles experience catastrophe…The difference between Jews and gentiles is not historical or cultural, but rather genetic and unalterable.

But the fact is that numerous other rabbis, despite this ‘venerable’ spiritual tradition, hold views similar to Grama’s. Whether theirs is a theological ideology or a political ideology, it is an ideology nonetheless that has brought “catastrophe” upon Syrians for the past seven years–and upon Palestinians for the past seventy years.

It may at some point bring catastrophe upon others as well, including Americans. Given the unemployment rate and the totally unprecedented degree of wealth disparity we’re seeing, some might say it already has.

If Jews who subscribe to Talmudic precepts should continue in their endeavors at foisting these catastrophes, the result is going to be a “cataclysmic disaster” upon Jews themselves–if that is the point Rosen is trying to make, then I agree with him and I think his prediction is correct.

What I would say to Jews in general is that moving to Patagonia is not going to save you. Unless you change your ways, you’re going to be hated and resented there just as you are presently hated and resented in Palestine, and just as you have been hated and resented most everywhere else you have settled and lived for the past two millennia, going all the way back to the riots of Alexandria in 38 A.D.–or even earlier.

The only way to break this cycle is by learning to act with kindness, to treat others with love and compassion–which of course were the precise teachings of your messiah–that is to say your true messiah–Jesus.

Doing this would not only save you, it potentially would save humanity as a whole, for the entire planet is teetering on the edge of the abyss right now.

Merry Christmas Russia!

Posted on January 6, 2017

by Richard Edmondson

January 7 is celebrated as Christmas day by millions of Orthodox Christians around the world. A midnight liturgy is scheduled for tonight at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior.  You can watch the service here. Merry Christmas to all!

Related

 

Russian Soldiers Distribute Christmas Gifts to Syrian Children

Posted on January 5, 2017

by Richard Edmondson

Speaking on Tuesday of this week, CIA Director John Brennan accused Russia of waging a “scorched earth policy” in Syria. I think clearly we can see evidence of this in the above video.

All kidding aside, Christian charity seems very much alive in Aleppo, and Russian soldiers apparently are quite in the Christmas spirit (The Russian Orthodox celebration of Christmas takes place this Saturday, January 7). The children in the video reportedly are saying “Thanks Russia” in both Arabic and Russian.

The video below is a tad bit older, having been uploaded back in September of 2016, though a similar spirit of giving is very much on display.

But getting back to Brennan…

“What the Russians have done in Syria in terms of some of the scorched earth policies that they have pursued that have led to devastation and thousands upon thousands of innocent deaths–that’s not something that the United States would ever do in any of these military conflicts,” the CIA director said in an interview with PBS.

And perhaps predictably he also gave a back-handed slap to Wikileaks, referring to Julian Assange as “not exactly a bastion of truth and integrity,” while doing some Putin-bashing as well:

We see what he’s done in places like Crimea and Ukraine and in Syria. He tends to flex muscles, not just on himself, but also in terms of Russia’s military capabilities. He plays by his own rules in terms of what it is that he does in some of these theaters of conflict.

Playing by our “own rules” is of course something that the US and its “special” friend Israel both excel at, but I don’t suppose we’ll hear Brennan admit to that anytime soon. In any event, it’s good to see the children of Syria experiencing the joys of Christmas despite the scorched earth policies directed against them–not by Russia, of course, but by terrorists backed by the West and its allies.

Lebanese Writer Answers Netanyahu’s Bogus Claim About Christmas

Posted on December 29, 2016

by Richard Edmondson

Christmas tree in downtown Beirut

[ Ed. note – The writer of the piece below is Elie Fares, who maintains the blog A Separate State of Mind. The language he uses is a bit “colorful” in places, but he makes some good  points about a bogus claim that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made yesterday. In a diatribe against Secretary of State John Kerry–and given in response to a speech Kerry made earlier in the day–Netanyahu claimed, falsely, that Israel is the “only place in the Middle East where Christians can celebrate Christmas.”

I put up a post about the Israeli leader’s rant yesterday entitled Spitting Vitriol. ]

***

No Netanyahu, Israel Isn’t the Only Middle Eastern Place Where Christians Can Celebrate Christmas

A Separate State of Mind

In his increasingly childish bitchfit against the international political establishment that saw his country’s transgressions through settlements on Palestinian land finally made illegal with a UN resolution banning Israel – yeah, right – from building more of them, the Israeli PM is lashing out at his country’s closest ally and the reason Israel has been off the hook in everything it’s done for years, the United States.

As part of a rant aimed at US Secretary of State John Kerry whose tone was very moderate towards the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, with him recognizing the plight of Palestinians and their refugees, the land grab they’ve been victim of, among other things, Netanyahu figured it best to remind Kerry, and by extension of his buzz words that you know will circle Fox News for months to come, other Americans and Westerners who see Israel as the only worthy beacon of civilization in the Middle East that – and I quote:

Continued here

Christmas in Syria: Syrian President and his wife visit Saïdnaya Convent

Protectors Of Syria’s Pluralism

Tuesday, 27 December 2016 10:51

Bashar and Asma al-Assad Visit Saidnaya Monastery For Christmas, Reaffirming Their Status As Protectors Of Syria’s Pluralism

by Jonathan Azaziah

December 26, 2016

Gotta love Bashar and Asma al-Assad. The Syrian Arab Republic’s President and First Lady, as well as their daughter Zein and two sons Karim and Hafez, spent Christmas Day at Our Lady of Saidnaya Monastery in the ancient Aramaic-speaking town of Saidnaya, which rests on the slopes of the rugged Qalamoun Mountains that were liberated from Takfiri terrorist occupation by Hizbullah and the Syrian Arab Army last Spring. The Assads visited with the nuns and orphans of the Monastery and spent the day eating, laughing, snapping photos, unwrapping gifts and just generally enjoying the holy occasion.

“God bless you!” is what Bashar and Asma were hit with when they first entered the Monastery, and as they made their way down into the courtyard where they were adorably mobbed by loving children, they were also told by the nuns, “Now we are truly feeling the holiday spirit!” ‘Twas one of those moments in which you realize that these individuals, Dr. Assad and First Lady Asma, truly are FOR the people, OF the people and BY the people. This is the kind of popular support that cannot be bought, nor staged, nor forced. One simply has it or one does not. Clearly the Assads ABSOLUTELY have it.

And this is the essence, isn’t it? Every drop of Zioganda that the mainstream media has spewed out like an obese ‘Israeli’ settler with a torn stomach tract over nearly 6 years is rendered useless with scenes such as these. If Syria’s First Family was as despised by “everyday Syrians” as the Zionist press says they are, why the warm welcome and embrace from nuns and orphans, i.e. some of the most vulnerable persons in all of Syria, especially during this “conflict”? If the Assads were so petrified of their well-being because of this aforesaid hatred from “the people”, why’d they travel to an area as volatile as Saidnaya, which had been attacked by Takfiri gangs at numerous points, with nothing but basic security?

And if Bashar, Asma and their children were “divorced from reality” as a cornucopia of officials from Western ZOGs, “activists” of the NGO-Human-Rights-Industrial-Complex and terrorist-sympathizers the world over have suggested since the opening days of the manufactured rebellion in March 2011, wouldn’t they be holed up in some mountaintop mansion bunker somewhere instead of traveling around Syria to be with their countrymen in these most desperate times? Yes. Certainly. Dr. Assad and the First Lady are in fact very much in tune with Syrians, hence why they were voted back to the People’s Palace in overwhelming numbers by Syrians, why the SAA is supported just about entirely by Syrians and why Syrians view the Assads’ leadership as a trusted source of guidance.

For posterity’s sake, let us be fully lucid: The Saidnaya visit was not some kind of publicity stunt or media operation but the latest stop in the routine nationwide rounds made by the Assads. The Syrian President has recently been in Kafar Souseh to celebrate Mawlid al-Nabawi and was also on the front lines of Aleppo to mark the liberation of the city. Asma, for her part, has been seemingly even busier, visiting wounded soldiers, the disabled, orphans, shellshocked students and the families of martyrs in and around Damascus, Latakia, Hama and Tartous.

Can the same be said about the Takfiri terrorist darlings of Washington, the EU, the GCC and ‘Israel’? No. Because celebrating Mawlid al-Nabawi and/or Christmas in the ever-shrinking “rebel”-held areas is grounds for lashes and beheadings. Zio-NATO’s proxies continue tormenting Syrians from all ethno-sectarian backgrounds and from every age bracket. And the only “martyrs” that these Wahhabi mercenaries have any interest in receiving are the ones who bring disgrace and dishonor to the very concept of martyrdom, i.e. those who are brainwashed as well as manipulated, among them children, into unleashing suicide operations on Syrian civilians.

Indeed, Christmas Day highlights the genuineness of the Assads along with the stark contrast between their commitment to upholding and safeguarding Syria’s pluralism vs. the hateful, destructive barbarity of the Takiri scourge. Imagine for a moment what life would be like for the people of Saidnaya, or Maaloula, or Halab, or Armenian Kessab in Latakia, or Wadi al-Nasara (Valley of Christians) in Homs if the Assads were no more and all that remained was the Christmas-hating Wahhabi fanatics bankrolled, armed, trained and politically supported by the US-‘Israeli’ Empire.

Let that sink in and try not to scream from the horror. So if it comes down to the democratically elected Resistance Axis leader and his brilliant, compassionate, composed-but-fierce and elegant missus, or the head-chopping maniacs that Zio-Imperialist powers keep referring to as “revolutionaries”, check the scenario: I’ll take the “dictator and his wife” over the “democratic freedom fighters” each and every day of the week plus twice on a beautiful Christmas Sunday in Damascus.

And you know what? Syrians–from liberated Aleppo to protected Saidnaya–would, and do, agree. Emphatically. #LongLiveSyria #LongLiveTheAssads #MerryMouqawamistChristmas

 

http://mouqawamahmusic.net/author/admin/

 

Dr. Mohammad Abdo Al-Ibrahim

alibrahim5656@hotmail.com

President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian First Family joined the sons and daughters of the martyrs for Christmas celebration in Saidnaya Convent.

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