Sabbah's Hypocrisy (On The Moral Justice Of Israel As A Jewish State Alert)

'There is discrimination linked to the nature of the state. Israel says simply 'I am a Jewish state' and that creates discrimination with regard to non-Jews."

Once again last week, the Jewish people and the world were treated to the opinion of the Palestinian leadership - the "moderate" one with which a peace process is supposedly being conducted - that the State of Israel must not be allowed to exist as a Jewish state.

The speaker who delivered the words above last Wednesday in Jerusalem was not PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat, who famously said a month ago that Palestinians wouldn't recognize Israel as a Jewish state since "no state in the world connects its national identity to a religious identity."

While Erekat's assertion may be downright laughable - the Palestinian Authority's Basic Law dealing with its Legislative Council declares that "Islam is the official religion in Palestine" - he was merely maintaining the tradition of the decrepit Palestinian political class that, besides spearheading an international campaign to vilify Israel, has achieved nothing for its people in 15 years of international legitimacy and lavish funding.

No, the speaker last week was a scholar with a doctorate from the Sorbonne, by all accounts a compassionate man, and a devoted servant of the pope - Latin Patriarch and Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah, since 1987 the highest Catholic prelate for Israel, Jordan, Cyprus and the West Bank and Gaza.

Besides the deep insult inherent in the patriarch's Christmas message, it is hypocritical, significant and damning that Sabbah did not apply his universal principle equally by demanding the de-Islamicization of his native Palestine, from which his flock continues to flee en masse.

Indeed, he excoriated only Israel: "The strong party, the one with everything in hand, the one who is imposing occupation on the other, has the obligation to see what is just for everyone and to carry it out courageously."

The first Palestinian to serve as Latin Patriarch, Sabbah was following the line of the Palestinian elite regarding the innate illegitimacy of Jewish self-determination.

According to this logic, the Jews are not a people upon which a state can be built, but rather - and despite what they may say about themselves - merely a religion. And unlike with Islam, which is present in the formal name of four states - Iran, Pakistan, Mauritania and Comoros - and enjoys an official status in 57, the Jews cannot be allowed to connect their religion with their state.

It is impossible to escape the conclusion that Sabbah was not speaking as a Catholic, but as a Palestinian, drawing not from the declared position of the Holy See in Rome but of the PA in Ramallah.

Here, in the commitment of the entirety of the Palestinian leadership to the view given by Sabbah, lies the Achilles heel of the peace process. For years, the Palestinian leadership claimed it was ready for peace, but that its people, radicalized by occupation, were not "ripe" for concessions.

But we are now being shown time and again that it is the Palestinian leadership, from the Latin patriarch to Mahmoud Abbas himself, and not just the people, who do not understand the nature of the conflict in which they are engaged.

Instead of recognizing that the deep tragedy of this conflict derives from the fact that both sides are legitimately demanding self-determination and sovereign independence, the Palestinian leadership continues to insist that there is, and will forever be, no justice to the Jewish demand.

This rejection means that the Palestinian elite is divided between the "moderates" who want a cease-fire with an evil enemy in order to rebuild a devastated Palestinian society, and the "extremists" who follow the logic of the moderates themselves in concluding that such a compromise amounts to treason, since compromise with evil is itself evil.

There is only one act that can offer presumably well-meaning men such as Sabbah a way to keep their moderation in the face of alleged evil from becoming treason, thereby sabotaging any negotiation.

The Palestinian leadership must come to recognize the compelling moral justice of Israel's claim to sovereign rights, and to educate their people accordingly.

Until then, as long as they continue to demand their freedom at the expense of ours, the Palestinians will continue rushing headlong, both diplomatically and militarily, into our own natural, vital and correct commitment to self-preservation.

The moral justice of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish State is unassailable. Yet we see the Palestinian moderates, such as Archbishop Michel Sabbah and the Palestinian extremists like Hamas, both deny Jews have any legitimate right to self-determination and nationhood. Quite simply put, God has given the Jewish people the best of enemies: one who will never recognize the divine and natural right of the Jewish people to exercise its sovereign rights in its homeland. There is nothing to negotiate.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

Jews are racist for wanting their own country; but, when they live in the world, everyone else tries to exterminate them. Now that’s being caught between a rock and a hard place.

Five hundred million Arabs; five million Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it.
- Larry Miller, 04/22/2002, Weekly Standard

Six million Jews. The world does not care what Jews do in the Galut. But it cares very much what they do in Eretz Israel since Jews living there bring out their holiness and demonstrate the hidden presence of G-d actively at work in renewing the Redemption of both History and Man. It is a process that cannot be stopped and the nations imagine the only way to discredit G-d is to destroy the Jewish State. If the Jewish State ceases to exist, there is no G-d. That is why the nations stir up their wrath against Israel. For they know that G-d sits in judgment of them even as they presume to sit in judgment of Israel. By removing Israel or so they think, that will cancel the Divine Decree against them. How little do they know how history truly unfolds. No one can raise his hand against the Holy One Blessed Be He. Such a person can only come to grief and so will the nations who raise their hand against God's Anointed likewise come to grief.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

Apparently, being muslim isn’t the thing which makes Palestinians crazy since even Catholic palestinians are crazy too.

Maybe living their entire lives as second class arabs which no other nation wants has permanently damaged their psyches and they are unable to exist along side anybody - of any religion or nationality.

I’m not defending Sabbah’s statements, but do you think that maybe he said those things because he was worried about what might happen to his flock if he didn’t? The Moslems basically have the Christians scared for their wellbeing and their lives.

Apparently, being muslim isn’t the thing which makes Palestinians crazy since even Catholic palestinians are crazy too.

Maybe living their entire lives as second class arabs which no other nation wants has permanently damaged their psyches and they are unable to exist along side anybody - of any religion or nationality.

The problem with the Palestinians is that there are too many of them. Try to integrate them into Jordan? Hashimites are already a minority. Lebanon and Syria both have other ethnic groups(Druuze, Maronite Christians, Alawites etc...) that have no interest in being overwhelmed by the Palestinian tide either.

Palestinians aren't crazy per se, they're stuck in a position where because of their extreme numbers and poverty they'll completely overwhelm any country which tries to take them in.

That's also why the Israeli's are so keen on a peace deal no matter how seemingly self-defeating. Once the Palestinian focus moves from radicalism to suffrage Israel(as a coherent nation) will cease to exist. A semi-independent Palestinian state is the only viable alternative.

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Sabbah is about as genuinely Catholic as “cardinal” Roger Mahony of Los Angeles. He isn’t speaking as a Catholic, he’s speaking as an Amalekstinian. If he’s a “moderate Palestinian”, then the moon is made of green cheese.

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