Anti-Semitism Today by Oriana Fallaci

I find it shameful that in Italy there should be a procession of individuals dressed as suicide bombers who spew vile abuse at Israel, hold up photographs of Israeli leaders on whose foreheads they have drawn the swasitka, incite people to hate the Jews. And who, in order to see Jews once again in the extermination camps, in the gas chambers, in the ovens of Dachau and Mauthausen and Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen et cetera, would sell their own mother to a harem.

I find it shameful that the Catholic Church should permit a bishop, one with lodgings in the Vatican no less, a saintly man who was found in Jerusalem with an arsenal of arms and explosives hidden in the secret compartments of his sacred Mercedes, to participate in that procession and plant himself in front of a microphone to thank in the name of God the suicide bombers who massacre the Jews in pizzerias and supermarkets. To call them "martyrs who go to their deaths as to a party."

I find it shameful that in France, the France of Liberty-Equality-Fraternity, they burn synagogues, terrorize Jews, profane their cemeteries. I find it shameful that the youth of Holland and Germany and Denmark flaunt the kaffiah just as Mussolini's avant garde used to flaunt the club and the fascist badge. I find it shameful that in nearly all the universities of Europe Palestinian students sponsor and nurture anti-semitism. That in Sweden they asked that the Nobel Peace Prize given to Shimon Peres in 1994 be taken back and conferred on the dove with the olive branch in his mouth, that is on Arafat. I find it shameful that the distinguished members of the Committee, a Committee that (it would appear) rewards political color rather than merit, should take this request into consideration and even respond to it. In hell the Nobel Prize honors he who does not receive it.

I find it shameful (we're back in Italy) that state-run television stations contribute to the resurgent antisemitism, crying only over Palestinian deaths while playing down Israeli deaths, glossing over them in unwilling tones. I find it shameful that in their debates they host with much deference the scoundrels with turban or kaffiah who yesterday sang hymns to the slaughter at New York and today sing hymns to the slaughters at Jerusalem, at Haifa, at Netanya, at Tel Aviv. I find it shameful that the press does the same, that it is indignant because Israeli tanks surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, that it is not indignant because inside that same church two hundred Palestinian terrorists well armed with machine guns and munitions and explosives (among them are various leaders of Hamas and Al-Aqsa) are not unwelcome guests of the monks (who then accept bottles of mineral water and jars of honey from the soldiers of those tanks). I find it shameful that, in giving the number of Israelis killed since the beginning of the Second Intifada (four hundred twelve), a noted daily newspaper found it appropriate to underline in capital letters that more people are killed in their traffic accidents. (Six hundred a year).

I find it shameful that the Roman Observer, the newspaper of the Pope--a Pope who not long ago left in the Wailing Wall a letter of apology for the Jews--accuses of extermination a people who were exterminated in the millions by Christians. By Europeans. I find it shameful that this newspaper denies to the survivors of that people (survivors who still have numbers tattooed on their arms) the right to react, to defend themselves, to not be exterminated again. I find it shameful that in the name of Jesus Christ (a Jew without whom they would all be unemployed), the priests of our parishes or Social Centers or whatever they are flirt with the assassins of those in Jerusalem who cannot go to eat a pizza or buy some eggs without being blown up. I find it shameful that they are on the side of the very ones who inaugurated terrorism, killing us on airplanes, in airports, at the Olympics, and who today entertain themselves by killing western journalists. By shooting them, abducting them, cutting their throats, decapitating them.

(There's someone in Italy who, since the appearance of Anger and Pride, would like to do the same to me. Citing verses of the Koran he exorts his "brothers" in the mosques and the Islamic Community to chastise me in the name of Allah. To kill me. Or rather to die with me. Since he's someone who speaks English well, I'll respond to him in English: "---- you.")

I find it shameful that almost all of the left, the left that twenty years ago permitted one of its union processionals to deposit a coffin (as a mafioso warning) in front of the synagogue of Rome, forgets the contribution made by the Jews to the fight against fascism. Made by Carlo and Nello Rossini, for example, by Leone Ginzburg, by Umberto Terracini, by Leo Valiani, by Emilio Sereni, by women like my friend Anna Maria Enriques Agnoletti who was shot at Florence on June 12, 1944, by seventy-five of the three-hundred-thirty-five people killed at the Fosse Ardeatine, by the infinite others killed under torture or in combat or before firing squads. (The companions, the teachers, of my infancy and my youth.)

I find it shameful that in part through the fault of the left--or rather, primarily through the fault of the left (think of the left that inaugurates its congresses applauding the representative of the PLO, leader in Italy of the Palestinians who want the destruction of Israel)--Jews in Italian cities are once again afraid. And in French cities and Dutch cities and Danish cities and German cities, it is the same. I find it shameful that Jews tremble at the passage of the scoundrels dressed like suicide bombers just as they trembled during Krystallnacht, the night in which Hitler gave free rein to the Hunt of the Jews.

I find it shameful that in obedience to the stupid, vile, dishonest, and for them extremely advantageous fashion of Political Correctness the usual opportunists--or better the usual parasites--exploit the word Peace. That in the name of the word Peace, by now more debauched than the words Love and Humanity, they absolve one side alone of its hate and bestiality. That in the name of a pacifism (read conformism) delegated to the singing crickets and buffoons who used to lick Pol Pot's feet they incite people who are confused or ingenuous or intimidated. Trick them, corrupt them, carry them back a half century to the time of the yellow star on the coat. These charlatans who care about the Palestinians as much as I care about the charlatans. That is not at all.

I find it shameful that many Italians and many Europeans have chosen as their standard-bearer the gentleman (or so it is polite to say) Arafat. This nonentity who thanks to the money of the Saudi Royal Family plays the Mussolini ad perpetuum and in his megalomania believes he will pass into History as the George Washington of Palestine. This ungrammatical wretch who when I interviewed him was unable even to put together a complete sentence, to make articulate conversation. So that to put it all together, write it, publish it, cost me a tremendous effort and I concluded that compared to him even Ghaddafi sounds like Leonardo da Vinci.

This false warrior who always goes around in uniform like Pinochet, never putting on civilian garb, and yet despite this has never participated in a battle. War is something he sends, has always sent, others to do for him. That is, the poor souls who believe in him. This pompous incompetent who playing the part of Head of State caused the failure of the Camp David negotiations, Clinton's mediation. No-no-I-want-Jerusalem-all-to-myself. This eternal liar who has a flash of sincerity only when (in private) he denies Israel's right to exist, and who as I say in my book contradicts himself every five minutes. He always plays the double-cross, lies even if you ask him what time it is, so that you can never trust him. Never! With him you will always wind up systematically betrayed.

This eternal terrorist who knows only how to be a terrorist (while keeping himself safe) and who during the Seventies, that is when I interviewed him, even trained the terrorists of Baader-Meinhof. With them, children ten years of age. Poor children. (Now he trains them to become suicide bombers. A hundred baby suicide bombers are in the works: a hundred!).

This weathercock who keeps his wife at Paris, served and revered like a queen, and keeps his people down in the shit. He takes them out of the shit only to send them to die, to kill and to die, like the eighteen year old girls who in order to earn equality with men have to strap on explosives and disintegrate with their victims. And yet many Italians love him, yes. Just like they loved Mussolini. And many other Europeans do the same.

I find it shameful and see in all this the rise of a new fascism, a new nazism. A fascism, a nazism, that much more grim and revolting because it is conducted and nourished by those who hypocritically pose as do-gooders, progressives, communists, pacifists, Catholics or rather Christians, and who have the gall to label a warmonger anyone like me who screams the truth.

I see it, yes, and I say the following. I have never been tender with the tragic and Shakespearean figure Sharon. ("I know you've come to add another scalp to your necklace," he murmured almost with sadness when I went to interview him in 1982.) I have often had disagreements with the Israelis, ugly ones, and in the past I have defended the Palestinians a great deal. Maybe more than they deserved. But I stand with Israel, I stand with the Jews.

I stand just as I stood as a young girl during the time when I fought with them, and when the Anna Marias were shot. I defend their right to exist, to defend themselves, to not let themselves be exterminated a second time. And disgusted by the antisemitism of many Italians, of many Europeans, I am ashamed of this shame that dishonors my Country and Europe. At best, it is not a community of States, but a pit of Pontius Pilates. And even if all the inhabitants of this planet were to think otherwise, I would continue to think so.

There were many true Christians who were killed by the SS, many because they risked their lives to save Jews. However, as a Christian, I want no fellowship with darkness, and there are photos (I can post them) of Catholic priests with the Nazis.

Dietrich Boenhoffer was shunned by most other Protestant pastors who wanted to compromise with Hitler. My husband went to school with some engineering students from Germany who assured him that Nazism wasn't so bad and their parents were good Nazis and good Lutherans.

Yes, atheism has killed far more, but there are far too many wolves in sheep's clothing in the churches' histories and in the present.

Sid Roth, a Messianic Jew writes in Time is Running Short:

Warped Theology: A Tragic Heritage (Christian Anti-Semitism)

Trouble in the Family

Who can hurt you the most? Can a complete stranger get to you as much as a member of your immediate family? Jews and Christians are from the same family. We have the same God. A Jew is the physical seed of Abraham; a Christian the spiritual seed. We believe in and accept the same Holy Scriptures (OT). All the events described in all the Gospels, except for a short visit to Egypt by Joseph, Mary and Jesus took place in a Jewish land, Israel. Every one of the New Testament authors was Jewish, except Luke, and he was a proselyte to Judaism. Jews and Christians are forever connected by deep mishpocha (family) relationships and yet there is trouble in the family.

How has the devil managed to build such distrust between close family members? Primarily through his very nature--lying. The big lie did not start with Hitler, but the devil. A warped understanding of theology taught by the early Church said the Jews were solely responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. Few Christians are aware of the horrors inflicted on the Jewish community because of this teaching. If only they had read the Scriptures, and THOUGHT FOR THEMSELVES. Jesus put it this way: "If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit" (Matt. 15:14)

For the record, God tells us who killed Jesus in Acts 4:27:

For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both HEROD, and PONTIUS PILATE with the GENTILES, and the PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, were gathered together...

So who killed Jesus? When you get the Jews and Gentiles together you have the whole world. And yet even the whole world could not have killed Jesus unless it was part of God's plan. The Scriptures say: "For GOD so loved the WORLD that HE GAVE his only begotten son...(John 3:16)> And Jesus said, "...I LAY DOWN MY LIFE for the sheep" (John 10:15. No one person or group killed Jesus; He laid down His life voluntarily as the Passover Lamb that takes away the sins of the world. Jesus died because of sin, not because of Jews.

"Christian" Anti-Semitism The second major strategy to divide Jews and Christians was introudced by an influential early church leader, Origin of Alexandria. He was the first to interpret all Scripture allegorically rather than literally. Certainly there are biblial passages that have an allegorical meaning. However, this method of interpretation replaces the literal meaning with an allegorical one. It claims that the Israelites permanently lost all their blessings and calling by rejecting Jesus as the Messiah. These covenants now belong only to the church--the "new Israel" Then it goes on to say the Jews have no future as a chosen people.

Through the centuries, accusations and statements by church leaders against Jews have led to a vicious form of Christian anti-Semitism. Here are a few examples:

Justin Martyr (d. AD 167) was one of the first to accuse Jews of inciting to kill Christians.

Origen (d. AD 254) accused Jews of plotting in their meetings to murder Christians.

Eusebius (c. AD 300) alleged that Jews, each year at the holiday of Purim engaged in ceremonial killing of Christian children.

St. Hillary of Poiters said that the Jews were a perverse people, forever accursed by God.

St. Ephraem wrote many of the early church hymns, some of which maligned Jews, even to the point of calling Jewish synagogues "whore-houses".

St. John Chrysostom said there could never be expiation for the Jews and that God had always hated them. He said it was "incumbent" on all Christians to hate Jews. The Jews were assassins of Christ, and worshippers of the devil.

Malcolm Hays writes "The violence of the language used by St. John Chrysostom in his homilies against the Jews has never been exceeded by any preacher whose sermons have been recorded" In one of these homilies, St. John Chrysostom stated: "The synagogue is worse than a brothel...it is a den of scoundrels and the repair of wild beasts...the temple of demons devoted to idolatrous cults...the refuge of brigands and debauchees, and the cavern of devils."

St. Cyril gave the Jews within his jursidiction the choice of conversion, exile or stoning.

St. Jerome, translator of the Latin Vulgate, "proved" that Jews are incapable of understanding the Scriptures, and that they should be severely persecuted until they confess the "true faith".

St. Augustine called Judaism a corruption. The true image of the Jew he said, was Judas Iscariot, forever guilty and ignorant spirtually. Augustine decided that Jews for their own good and the good of society, must be relegated to the position of slaves. This theme was later picked up by St. Thoams Aquinas, who demanded that Jews be called to perpetual servitude. According to Professor F. E. Talmage, St. Augustine believed that "because of their sin against Christ, the Jews rightly deserved death. Yet, as with Cain who murdered the just Abel, they are not to die...For they are doomed to wander the earth..the witnesses of their iniquity and of our truth, the living proof of Chirstianity.

Crusaders (AD 1099) rounded up all Jews into the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem. When they were securely inside the locked doors, the synagogue was set afire. And the misguided Crusaders, with the lies of perverted sermons fresh in their ears sang as they marched around the blaze, "Christ, we adore Thee."

Martin Luther added fuel to the fire by saying the Jews should not merely be slaves, but slaves of slaves, that they might not even come into contact with Christians...he said the Jews were ritual murderers, poisoner of wells, he called for all Talmuds and synagogues to be destroyed...He wrote, "What then shall we Christians do with this damned rejected race of Jews? Since they live among us and we know about their lying and blasphemy and cursing, we cannot tolerate them if we do not wish to share in their lies, curses and blasphemy..We must prayerfully and reverentially practice a merciful severity.

Some may question why I am rehashing this sad history. Let me quote from the Encyclopedia Judaica as it comments on Martin Luter's statements: "Short of the Auschwitz oven and extermination, the whole Nazi Holocaust is pre-outlined here." Adolph Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, "Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.

We Jewish people know of these poisoned words written by Christian leaders. And worse, our enemies know these words and have used them to kill us. Most Jewish people have lost one or more relatives to anti-Semitism. Rose Price, a Holocaust survivor, lost nearly all of her family to the Nazis. When she entered the concentration camp, on the archway it read, "We kill you because you killed Jesus" When she got out, she wanted to burn churches. I am not excusing this, but can you blame her? What would you have done in her situation?

When I was sharing the Messiah with several of my own relatives that survived the Holocaust, they could not hear my Good News because they were so filled with hurt and anger toward God and Christianity. One cousin told of S.S. troops that ripped her infant son from her arms and threw him out the window to the cement pavement from a second-floor apartment. When I pleaded with them that these were not true Christians, my cousin said: "The belt buckle of the S.S. read, "In God we trust." Try to proclaim the Gospel to some of my family members...

Only the love that God gives can cut through all the sad history of Christian anti-Semitism. Corrie ten Boom saw her father and sister suffer agonizing deaths because they chose to hide Jewish people from the Nazis. One day, many years after the war, Corrie recognized a guard from the concentration camp where she and her sister had been sentfor hiding Jews from the Nazis. The guard was in the audience at a church where Corrie was speaking. He came forward and said, "You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk. I was a guard there. But since that time," he went on, "I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well...will you forgive me? What would she do? What would you do to someone who brutalized and killed your sister? What would Jesus do? It would be difficult, if not impossible, to forgive him in your natural strength. As Corrie willed to forgive him, the love of God shot like an electric current through her body, bringing tears to her eyes. "I forgive you brother!" she cried.

Remember Rose Price, the Jewish woman who had wanted to burn down churches because she thought Christians were responsible for killing her family? One day, the love of God reached through all the hurt and anger and she made Jesus Lord. Many years later, she was invited to Germany to share her testimony. She had promised herself she would never go back to the land that had spilled so much Jewish blood. But the love of God compelled her to go to Berlin. In the same stadium where Hitler swore the master race would rule for 1,000 years, she told the German Christian audience, "I forgive you" The stadium was draped with Israeli flags, German youths had Stars of David around their necks and several former SS guards ran up with tears in their eyes asking for forgiveness." Jesus said "Everything is possible for him who believes." Mark 9:23

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