US pastor warns anti-Semitism growing fast

Jerusalem Post ^ | Nov. 12, 2003 | ETGAR LEFKOVITS

[yonif]

Global anti-Semitism is growing at a pace unprecedented in the last half century, a prominent American evangelical pastor said this week.

"Global anti-Semitism is growing unlike anything I have seen in my lifetime," Rev. John C. Hagee told The Jerusalem Post during his 21st solidarity mission to Israel this week. Calling Europe a conglomeration of anti-Semites, Hagee said that the weakness of the Western world is that it does not grasp the mind-set of Islamic fundamentalist fanatics willing to murder other people and then call it a moral act of God.

"The West feels that if you talk enough and give enough a compromise can be reached with the fanatics, and this is simply not true," he said.

Calling Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat "an international terrorist for the last 40 years who has more Jewish blood on his hands than anyone in our generation since Adolf Hitler," Hagee said Israel would be best served by deporting him.

The Texas-based Hagee, 63, who serves as the president and CEO of Global Evangelical Television, said that his "unfiltered" message to 90 million homes is that, US State Department warnings notwithstanding, it is safe – and crucial – to visit Israel during the country's troubled times.

Hagee accused the international media of employing a "distinct double standard" when reporting about Israel, charging that the mainstream American media are "obsessed with a political correctness" that leads them to minimize or even omit reports inconsistent with their ideology.

"The US has sent its troops half way around the world to fight Osama bin Laden, paid $20 million to shoot the sons of Saddam Hussein, and would gladly pay $30 million to anyone who will tell us where Saddam is so that we could shoot him, but when Israel seeks an intelligent solution to impasse in the peace process, by deporting Arafat, the press treats it as an outrageous thought and Israel's hands are shackled," he said.

Hagee said the unusual alliance between evangelical Christians and Israeli conservatives is purely "Bible and faith-based," and, despite the strikingly divergent religious beliefs between the two, comes with "no hidden agenda or ulterior motives." Hagee, who led a 100-strong delegation, held meetings with top politicians from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on down during his 10-day trip.

[StolarStorm]

paranoia,everyoneisouttogetme,whining

[aposiopetic]

I don't think so. In this article Hagee nowhere says anyone is out to get him, and I read of no whines, either.

[jmstein7]

BUMP!

[StolarStorm]

"Calling Europe a conglomeration of anti-Semites"

I would say that this statement is absurd. Sure, there are anti-semites as there are semites who are anti-non-semites, there are also people who don't like fat people, tall people, short people, gypsies, polacks, catholics, baptists and so forth. Thankfully, those anti-whatevers are few in number. However, reading the constant barrage of "anti-semitism" articles we all get inundated with here on FR, thanks to propogandists and self-obsessed (and race/creed obsessed individuals), one would might think that Jews are being rounded up all over the world. It just isn't true and it gets real old.

[NRA2BFree]

Ping!

[aposiopetic]

Jews are being blamed for all manner of things. History tells us that the transition from scapegoating to persecution is seamless.

[StolarStorm]

Hell, Americans get blamed for everything. White people get blamed for all the ills of minorities. Corporations get blamed for unemployement. Arabs are now blamed for all terrorism. Many Jews blame Catholics for not doing anything about Hitler. Women blame men, for keeping them down. Men blame women for countless transgressions. Whoopdie do. Guess we are all going to be persecuted! Oh wait, we all are, somewhere.

[NRA2BFree]

John Hagee is a great preacher. He doesn't sugar coat the message from the pulpit either. He's always been a true supporter of the Jewish people.

[Arpege92]

"One might think that Jews are being rounded up all over the world. It just isn't true and it get real old."

You mean like the Jews in World War II? Don't be so sure that history will not repeat itself!

[EternalVigilance]

What you neglect to mention is the fact that sometimes blame is not misplaced.

[StolarStorm]

The whining isn't referring to the article, it is the CONSTANT barrage of "anti-semitism" this "anti-semitism" that articles coming from some posters. Get a grip people. Except for a few nut cases (many in the middle east though) nobody is out to get you. Those few nut cases are out to everyone else too.

[StolarStorm]

"How easy it is for someone whose family has never been a victim of genocide to repeat these tired old racist jibes. "

Mine has. You assume and make an A** out of yourself.

The only racism on this thread is the automatic assumption from some that one's viewpoint on a topic stems from racism.

[Arpege92]

"Except for a few nut cases (many in the middle east though) nobody is out to get you."

What do you call 9/11? I'm almost certain that the attacks on Americans here and abroad will continue to happen even after we pull out of Iraq.

[StolarStorm]

That is true. But really, who makes that decision?

[SF Republican]

The dems are po'd that they are leaving for the Grand Old Party.

[StolarStorm]

9/11 was done by a few nut cases, as a percentage of world population. 9/11 wasn't just a strike against Jews, it was strike against Americans in general.