Friday, December 4, 2009
On Sunday I told the story of a group of activists who went to politely communicate their displeasure with St. Peter's Episcopal Church for their hosting a fundraising drive for the "Gaza Freedom March" -- a Hamas funding cover being supported by a long list of hard-leftists and well known anti-Zionists (see: Church Hall of Shame: St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Central Square, Cambridge (Protest Report)]. The story is continuing, with other efforts to get in to hold events in Churches, some more successful than others, but more on that in a future posting.
The phenomenon appears to be a trans-Atlantic one, and I recommend this must-read post at Harry's Place: Carols with Caryl and more. The posting describes a similar picket outside a UK Baptist Church where a "caroling" event on behalf of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign is taking place inside. See the posting for details and context, but here's the video everyone is talking about:
There is a clear push this time of year to co-opt a usually well-meaning Christian Community by getting their message, and their bodies into the churches. The local groups are clearly pushing to get in to Christian houses of worship, even when they're not particularly wanted, and even when there are other venues more easily available. Now why is that do you suppose? The use of Churches in this manner for the demonization of Jews is particularly chilling for a host of reasons. Cue the countdown to the staged Santa pictures. Truly charitable Christians with a sense at least of history, if not current events, would be pushing back hard against this.
The stuff on this video is way beyond Israel hate.
It's pure Jew hate. There's nothing subtle about it. It is outrageous. The fact that's cloaked in "Christianity" makes it all the more shocking and disturbing.
Equally wierd, Jews are told on the one hand to go back to Israel and on the other hand that Israel shouldn't exist.
Here are some direct quotes courtesy of Harry's in case you don't have time to go through the video:
"“Everybody in Britain can see what a nasty unpleasant type of people the Jewish people are in England … if you’re living in England and you behave like this, you’re parasites. You should take the part of English people. English people are basically Christian … and you should be abiding to the type of life we live in England…. I’m doing the talking, not you: You cannot discuss with Jewish people … that is your philosophy…You should be part of Britain, it’s a culture Israeli or Jewish people do not understand. You’re not part of my country, and I’m British…. You’re Jewish and you’re prey to the Israeli Zionists … do you know anything about the Christian religion? It’s ‘love thy neighbour’. Have you got anything similar? It’s ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’ … it tells you you’re a cruel and unpleasant people in this respect … not in most respects …. I’ve got friends who are Jews … they are not Zionists…. If you look through history, Jewish people are vindictive and probably evil and probably very unpleasant…. Israeli zealots and Zionists …. Most English people would tell you to f*** off back to Israel … if you’re in England you should be more English than I am… I hope I’m a little bit more educated than you are… To everyone in England, if you’re Jewish please adhere to the English way of life”"
http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/12/02/carols-with-caryl-and-more/
Also, Caryl Churchill was there...
Here's more straight up antisemitism, this time in the Holocaust Denial/Jews Caused/Bankrolled the War category:
http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/12/04/holocaust-denial-unrecognised-on-guardian-letters-page/
If this isn't frightening will somebody please tell me what is.
What on earth is going on in Britain?
Unfortunately, it's not just the British churches. There are churches right here in the Boston area that say and do things which veer way beyond anti-Israel activity into true Jew-hatred. The Episcopal churches, of which St. Peters is one, are particularly nasty in this regard, but others are happy to join in as well. The University Lutheran Church in Harvard Square, which hosts student groups from surrounding universities, held an 'art' exhibition which bordered on (actually many would say was) blood libel just a few months ago, and thumbed its nose at both JCRC and others when they objected. More churches are joining in the fray. Many of us can look forward to some old-fashioned Jew-hating this season, courtesy of the church down the street.