Anti-Israel rhetoric in the Methodist Blogosphere

The blog owner (Richard Hall) refused to publish this comment:

What I don’t think Richard Hall (or Paul Martin) quite understand is that the ONLY thing which will appease fundamentalist Islam is the dismantling of Israel and the evacuation or death of all Jews in the region. Until that happens there will always be a “resistance” to the “occupation” in the guise of Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, etc etc.

Some people think sacrificing Israel is a price worth paying if it keeps us in the UK safe in our beds. I do not.

Fundamentalist Islamic ideology does not tolerate other religions. Not Judaism and not Christianity. There are countless examples of this all over the world. Furthermore it does not tolerate political dissent. This is the same ideology that thinks acceptable forms of political activism are to bomb school buses, launch rockets into peoples’ homes, or to hold 700 school children hostage in Chechnya before murdering 200 of them.

The only salvation for people and institutions that do not “conform” to totalitarian Islamisist doctrines - that includes Christians, as well as Jews, homosexuals, women who do not wish to wear a full face veil and only speak when spoken to - is liberal, democratic Israel, which jealously protects the rights of its more vulnerable citizens through the rule of law and, when necessary, through military force. For that reason they are hated by those that wish them harm, and that hatred is poisoning the discourse on the subject.

Israel (much like Lebanon) is a dangerously vulnerable country with many disparate and frankly nasty groups having a vested interest in its demise. Those groups are winning. They - NOT JEWS - have the political leverage and the money to influence world opinion and government policy, and are prepared to use violence against people that do not agree with them in order to stifle dissent.

If people within the Methodist Church think that the correct way to show solidarity with Arab Christians is to lend support to the most radical elements of Palestinian society - those that call for economic attacks against Israel - then that is their choice. Personally I think it is a betrayal of more moderate voices, and is a dangerous and immoral stance which will ultimately cost lives and will destabilise the region beyond repair.

I don’t think they will realise what their efforts have achieved until the Church of the Nativity becomes a mosque. By then it will be too late.

I will end this post with a plea to those of fair mind reading this blog to seek out and listen to other points of view from the region - Christian or otherwise. There are plenty.

Kind regards

Why?