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.

[yonif]

"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.

[aposiopetic]

I know of no widespread systematic effort to kill members of any of the other groups you mentioned. Yet such an effort, targeting Jews, was undertaken in the last century. Now we find that Jews are unabashedly blamed for the world's problems, from the media to the Middle East, by heads of state and financiers.

We ignore parallels to historical precedent at our peril.

[Nachum]

Really? You should chat with my formerly French Jewish friends who left France.

[RightWhale]

It has been there all along, but right now it is being expressed more openly. Political Correctness doesn't actually cure anything, doesn't resolve the problem. Instead it forces the problem out of public consciousness. Out of sight, out of mind. Then suddenly it flares up in public view and many, in their ignorance of reality, are surprised. Nothing has changed, this has been going on for centuries.

[Arpege92]

These "nut cases" are attacking everywhere! France, the United States, Israel, Iraq, Afghanastan....shall I go on?

[StolarStorm]

No other Systemic efforts? What? Need I really detail all of the horrible genocides that have occured through history? The most recent occuring in Africa. The Irish faced an extermination program against them. Gypsies have faced it countless times. To our own shame, American Indians suffered from a systemic effort to kill them off. Jews are not the only ones who've suffered. At some point, every group/creed/race has been a victim. Horrible yes, but at some point the extreme sensitivity has to stop. It only drives people toward that which you attempt to stop. Accuse someone of something enough times, and they will start to hate you and may live up to your expectations. That's just human nature.

Continue to cast the anti-semitism accusation with blanket statements such as the one referenced in this article, and you will get resentment and it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

[StolarStorm]

Sure, there is some anti-semitism. I've also witnessed Jews discriminating against non-Jews as well. Thankfully, there aren't nearly as many of these boneheads as one would expect by reading this sort of article.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

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.

Nope. The Jews aren't being rounded up. However, the barrage of articles on this site help FReepers keep informed and ensure that steps towards rounding up the Jews doesn't happen.

[StolarStorm]

I don't think accusing people of anti-semitism is an effective method of reducing anti-semitism.

[GETMAIN]

Statement 1: Around the globe, and within the USA itself, there is a growing anti-Americanism finding a voice amongst the Left.

-- Do you find that statement to be true? If so, do you find it to be cause for concern or a valid topic for discussion?

Statement 2: The nation and people of Israel are in a most precarious position as the result of Arab Intifadah, to which their ability to respond has been hampered by pressure from the UN (and even the US).

-- Do you find that statement to be true?

Statement 3: Among the nations putting pressure on Israel's ability to defend herself, there has been a documented rise in anti-Israelism among their civilian populaces and their government/military officials.

-- Do you find that statement to be true?

Statement 4: Some of this anti-Israelism is rooted in explicit or implicit anti-Semitism, and some of it has sprouted explicit or implicit anti-Semitism.

-- Do you find that statement to be true?

Statement 5: There is a potential, if not an already-current trend for the use of anti-Semitism (and now anti-Israelism) as a political rallying point in the nations mentioned in statement 3.

-- Do you find that statement to be true?

Statement 6: There is a historical precedent in which statement 5 came to fruition, with disastrous consequences.

-- If you agree with statement #1, I would be curious to hear your rationale for dismissing out of hand the "CONSTANT barrage" of articles dealing with, among other things, statements 2 through 5.

[aposiopetic]

I wrote (No. 22):

I know of no widespread systematic effort to kill members of any of the other groups you mentioned.

The groups you mentioned are enumerated in this excerpt from one of your posts (No. 10):

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.

The groups you then trot out in your subsequent post (No. 26)

No other Systemic efforts? What? Need I really detail all of the horrible genocides that have occured through history? The most recent occuring in Africa. The Irish faced an extermination program against them. Gypsies have faced it countless times. To our own shame, American Indians suffered from a systemic effort to kill them off.

were not mentioned in your previous post.

You have produced no evidence to contradict the claim that Jews are reflexively blamed for all manner of ills and are to this day the target of systematic homicidal and genocidal efforts, to which the groups you mentioned in the first-cited post of yours (No. 10) are not similarly subject.

I will let others continue the discussion in my absence; what they say will likely make a better impression.

[StolarStorm]

The orginal statment could have included the groups I mentioned that have suffered genocide... so what is your point? If you think that the Irish, Gypsies and so forth have not been blamed for countless transgressions, you would in effect be saying that your theory that blame leads to persecutions isn't accurate... unless you claim that persecution can result without blame.

I didn't disagree with your assertion at all, blame can lead to persecution. My point was that many groups get blamed for something everywhere and all the time. Jews are not unique it that nor for suffering genocide.

For some that are obsessed with Jews, or being Jewish, every event is expanded greatly in importance. Where one may see a horrible anti-semitic incident, another might just see a minor sneer or something else which may not be racist related at all.

I've had to expain to friends, that they weren't being treated poorly because they are Jewish, but because they were being A-holes at the time. But if you look at everything through a paranoid lens, you might just see everything as being a sinister result of anti-semitism or anti-something. I choose not to look at the world that way. If I do see genuine racist actions, I act on it. But whining about perceived racism viewpoints is a waste of time. Let the French complain, they complain about everyone else too, not just Jews. If they even come close to acting on their bitching, then we act.

[SJackson]

At first I didn't get your comment paranoia,everyoneisouttogetme,whining

After all the [whining?] Rev. Hagee said

……………………………

"Global anti-Semitism is growing unlike anything I have seen in my lifetime," Rev. John C. Hagee told

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,"

[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,"

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"

……………………………

Mostly accurate, the Europe comment a bit over the top, particularly if one doesn’t recognize the Islamic infusion into Europe as a component of conglomeration. I do, radical Islamists have found like-minded individuals to keep company with. I wouldn’t accuse the Reverend of whining. Then I read your comments.

……………………………

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.

Hell, Americans get blamed for everything. White people get blamed for all the ills of minorities

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

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.

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.

Sure, there is some anti-semitism. I've also witnessed Jews discriminating against non-Jews as well. Thankfully, there aren't nearly as many of these boneheads as one would expect by reading this sort of article.

I don't think accusing people of anti-semitism is an effective method of reducing anti-semitism.

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,"

……………………………

Voila!

I see the whining.

Personally I don’t bother with threads that don’t interest me. Try it, you won't feel inundated any longer.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

I don't think accusing people of anti-semitism is an effective method of reducing anti-semitism.

Depends on whether they are anti-Semitic or not. Nu?

[StolarStorm]

Of course I was whining about the whining. :) Sometimes you have to counter like with like. I comment on these threads because I don't want any poor saps to be pulled into the "everyone is out to get Jews" mentality. It isn't a productive viewpoint and it just isn't true. No need to encourage impressionable minds to constantly look around corners and under the bed wary of the anti-semite bogey man.

[StolarStorm]

Even if they are, how is that an effective strategy for dealing with it? Consider that when you accuse an entire country or group of people you're likely to catch many non-racists in your net, that now will be angry at the accusation.

Try walking up to a group of youths and accuse them of being punks. Some of them may be punks, but even the ones that aren't are going to want to bash your head for the insult.

[Salem]

"...one would might think that Jews are being rounded up all over the world."

That's an exaggerated statement designed to denigrate and mock the intent of the article.

..."It just isn't true and it gets real old.

Jew-hate is in fact, on the rise throughout the world, and especially in Europe, your idea that it is all a self-induced hoax imposed on the world by over-zealous FReepers notwithstanding. If it's "old" and bothers you, don't read the threads.



If you'd like to be on or off this
Christian Supporters of Israel ping list,
please FR mail me. ~
    
There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had
spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)
Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
'Final Solution,' Phase 2 ~

[StolarStorm]

Fine, tell you what, how about we encourage everyone that thinks that their group is being persecuted or discriminated against to post EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE they can find out there pertaining to their own race/creed/age/sex and so forth. We may need to increase the hard drive capacity. Get your donations ready!

[Celtjew Libertarian]

Even if they are, how is that an effective strategy for dealing with it? Consider that when you accuse an entire country or group of people you're likely to catch many non-racists in your net, that now will be angry at the accusation.

People aren't being called anti-Semites in hopes of changing them. They are being called anti-Semites as a warning to others.

Perhaps the term is being used too widely at times. Yet in much of Europe anti-Semitic views are becoming more acceptable. Even those who aren't anti-Semitic are often failing to challenge anti-Semites.

If you want to say calling people and societies anti-Semitic is too wide a net, then you may have a point, at least in some cases. However, there has been a growth of anti-Semitism, being accepted in "polite" circles, and it needs to be called.

Try walking up to a group of youths and accuse them of being punks. Some of them may be punks, but even the ones that aren't are going to want to bash your head for the insult.

Mind you, if they already were planning to bash your head in, it doesn't matter what you call them. And it may warn other people about them.