In another case of what if they were Muslim, Israeli settlers spurred by a mandate from G-d attacked a West Bank Mosque, sprayed graffiti on it and burned Qurans inside of it. Of course this isn’t big news for most, and we will see the likes of Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer and Rabbi Jonathan Hausman either remain silent on this or somehow justify it. (hat tip: retaane)
Settlers attack West Bank Mosque and burn holy Muslim books
Suspected Jewish settlers today attacked a mosque in the northern West Bank, burning holy books and spraying threatening graffiti in Hebrew on the building, Palestinian officials and Israeli police said.
Extremists broke into the mosque in the village of Yasuf, near the city of Nablus, and burned Muslim holy books and prayers carpets, while sprayed slogans on the floor reading “Price tag - greetings from Effi.”
The so-called price tag is the Jewish settlers’ policy of attacking Palestinians and their property in retribution for any Israeli government curb on settlement expansion. Effi is a Jewish name.
The dawn attack appeared to be the work of hardline settlers furious that the right-wing government of Binyamin Netanyahu has given in to US pressure to try and enforce a temporary freeze on the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, where some 300,000 settlers live.
Related LinksWhile the attackers escaped, the Israeli government was quick to condemn the attack. “This is an extremist act geared toward harming the government’s efforts to advance the political process for the sake of Israel’s future,” said Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, whose department is overseeing the freeze.
When they discovered the desecration of their mosque, Palestinian villagers started throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, whom they often accuse of complicity with settlers when they carry out such attacks on them and their olive orchards. Two Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were hurt in the clashes.
There have been rising tensions since Mr Netanyahu announced the proposed freeze last month, in an effort to meet US and Palestinians demands for a total halt on settlement construction, deemed illegal by the international community but often backed by the Israeli state.
Thousands of angry settlers gathered for a demonstration close to the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem this week, vowing to continue building and condemning Mr Natanyahu’s decision to bow to pressure from Barack Obama, the US president. They carried banners that said “Obama wants us frozen, God wants us chosen,” and “God’s Bible gave us this land.”
The settlers believe that the West Bank - which they call by its Biblical name, Judea and Samaria - should be part of a greater Israel, and are adamantly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.
They have torn up freeze orders delivered by the Israeli authorities to settlements in the West Bank, and blocked inspectors trying to enforce the building ban. Last week at the settlement of Qedumim, close to Nablus, residents prevented inspectors from entering while cheering as trucks of building materials were brought in.
A right-wing cabinet minister said that the freeze was largely a sham and that the settler population could grow by as many as 3,000 people in the next 10 months, the period of the proposed moratorium.
“This is neither a freeze nor a suspension,” Benny Begin, the son of former prime minister Menachem Begin, told a conference in Tel Aviv, according to an Israeli newspaper. “Construction in Judea and Samaria will continue in the next 10 months.”
“We are … saying that we don’t intend to restrict or suspend new building permits,” he added.
And Mr Netanyahu has tried to temper anger by allocating special development grants to tens of thousands of the settlers, sparking anger from Mr Barak’s centrist Labour party, which has threatened to vote against the measure.
December 11th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Like I said in the other page where I added news url’s about the Jewish Taliban growing, I wonder how this bodes for the future. Was this just bcuz Bibi ordered the settlements stopped or is it a growing religous trend to be more intolerant?
December 11th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
This is a calculated move by Netanyahu and the Israeli government. He announces a freeze on Jewish settlements (although he has no intention of doing it), knowing that it would enrage Jewish extremist settlers. This would create violence between Palestinians and the settlers as shown with this “incident” of mosque and Qur’an burning. Then Netanyahu will have to argue that because of the violence from the Palestinians and the “threat” to Israel, we have to continue settlement building and wars against the Palestinians. That way he can argue that Israel wanted to move forward with peace, but the Palestinians wanted nothing to do with it and Israel has been completely innocent.
It’s not an isolated incident. Never trust Israel. If you don’t believe me, go look at what terrorist Sharon did to provoke the Second Intifada.
December 11th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
sharon also authorized the qibya massacre where 60 innocents were slaughtered. The US was so enraged that they pulled the plug on all israeli aid. Sharon should have been convicted for that. Israel doesn’t give a rats ass about justice. If they did Sharon would have been jailed in 52 for qibya.
December 12th, 2009 at 3:34 am
If somehow, the Palestinians could be restrained in their response (no violence) it would be more beneficial to them.
Rather than then be accused of “radical violence” themselves, they should keep the moral upper ground by a calm and restrained response. I know that is asking too much, but it would be the ideal way to show up the settlers for what they are. Netanyahu would also fail in his bid “to incite”. He won’t of course admit it openly, but that is what the Likudniks, like him want, an excuse to say “see, the Palestinians are nothing but savages”.
If only the Palestinians had a leader who thought that like that, they would succeed in rousing world wrath against the settlers. Ironically if you look at the religous right wing blogs today, they all feel they are “victims of a world conspiracy to steal our land”.
By the way, one of the biggest funders of the settler movement (Lev Leviev), the Israeli head of Africa Israel, who recently moved to London, is near to bankruptcy. The settler movement has suffered from lack of funds from it’s overseas philanthropic donors in the US and elsewhere, due to the recession.
December 12th, 2009 at 4:05 am
This is not a “Jewish Taliban,” it’s just Zionism in action.
December 12th, 2009 at 5:20 am
Zionism started as a secular nationalist movement, Israel is ruled by secular laws, and the Likud is secular. Neither the left or right wing of Israeli’s like the settlers, they see them as religious extremists.
Dr M, you said
“This is not a “Jewish Taliban,” it’s just Zionism in action”
The settlers are mainly religious Zionists not secular ones. The secular right wing Zionists that Netanyahu represents are often at odds with the religious ones.
The right wing Zionists who are secular (Likud party) do not want religous laws governing Israel like the religous settlers do. They’re represted by the religious parties (Moshe Feighlin’s for example), who want a theocracy. The secular right wingers are nationionlists who don’t care for religion, and Netanyahu’s coalition consists of some religous parties whom he has to please or risk losing. It looks like his coalition will fall apart in the near future, if evacuations go ahead.
December 12th, 2009 at 5:37 am
Yes doc, you’re really in a position to critique zionism when your blog supports hamas and speaks highly of amin el husseini. *Clicks sarcasm off.*
December 12th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
When Hamas stormed a mosque a while back, some right wing blogs asked, “What would the reaction be if Israelis did this?” Apparently, nothing much and this time they actually vandalized the mosque.
December 12th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Hannah,
You’re fooling yourself. Zionism is Zionism. There is no difference between conservative, liberal, religious, or secular Zionism. The only thing they may disagree on is the number of missiles they drop on innocent children.
DrM’s statement is 100% correct. This IS Zionism, not an isolated incident of religious extremism. Israeli “secular” politicians use these settlers for their political goals.
December 12th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Here are some examples of Israeli religous right wingers calling for using Israeli nuclear might against their enemies, destroying Mecca and Medina, destroying churches and banning Christianity in Israel. The samson Blinded author is an Israeli politician, and Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef is one of the most influential Israeli’s.
Raze the domes
http://samsonblinded.org/blog/raze-the-domes.htmBesides the political issue, there’s an explicit commandment to refrain from selling Jewish land to idolaters. And are the Orthodox Christians not idolaters? They revere weeping icons! That’s right, some of the most revered Christian icons “weep” occasionally, and are worshiped for that very behavior. Let’s not presume the ancient Greeks to be so stupid as to believe that their statues are really enlivened; ancient idolaters worshiped their images as a symbol of divinity—just like the Orthodox Christians worship their icons, which feature their deity (a good Jew, actually). Worse, the Orthodox Christian churches in Jerusalem picture what they believe to be God. However one interprets the prohibition of graven images, it doubtless covers false images of God.
Tolerating the Nazi-like, idolatrous Orthodox Christian churches in Jerusalem is, moreover, worthless. Jews don’t gain anything by brazenly violating the commandments.
http://samsonblinded.org/blog/a-nuke-for-a-nuke.htm
Israel must deal a crushing blow to Islam. Just like the destruction of Jerusalem in CE 135 signaled a change of Judaism from a state-oriented religion into a purely spiritual one, so the nuclear destruction of Mecca and Medina, with the concomitant radiological contamination, will render the concept of jihad senseless. The idea of ripping out the heart of Islam is ambitious but doable and feasible.
By Donald Neff
Former Israel Bureau Chief for Time Magazine
Excerpted from Fifty Years of Israel
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/rel-christians.html
The next year Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, considered a political moderate, issued a religious ruling that copies of the New Testament should be torn out of any edition of a Bible owned by a Jew. Israeli scholar Yehoshafat Harkabi wrote that he was disturbed by “these manifestations of hostility-the designation of Christians as idolaters, the demand to invoke the ‘resident alien’ ordinances, and the burning of the New Testament.” Observed Harkabi: “Outside of the Land of Israel Jews never dared behave in this fashion. Has independence made the Jews take leave of their senses?”
Desecration of Christian property and churches—arson, window breaking, burning of the New Testament—had long marred relations between the two communities. A small but fanatical group of Jews wanted no Christians, whom they considered fallen Jews, in Israel. This virulent strain of prejudice had been present since before the Jewish state was founded.
December 13th, 2009 at 4:43 am
The Jewish extremists in Israel like the ones shown by Loon Watch above have a lot of support in the USA from Christian Zionists, notably, CUFI and from the likes of Joel Rosenberg. The Israeli right wing, Likud etc. are allied to these extremists who see each other as convenient allies with a mutual use contract. Christian Zionists want to provoke a war in the Middle East for the Armageddon, hence their support for Islamophobic groups in the USA.
Whilst the official Israel policy does not support the Christian Zionist idea of expanding Israeli territory and blowing up the Al Aksa mosque, or the genocide/expuslion of Palestinians, the far right extremists in Israel and outside Israel regard Christian Zionists as their best allies because they they DO support these beliefs for the Armaggedon where they believe Jews will convert to Chrisitanity or die and the rest will be raptured up to heaven whilst all else burn for their disbelief.
Israel is secular at the moment, and doesn’t tolerate the religious extremists but if Israel were ruled by religious law, then all of the below would probably be a reality.
David Ben Ariel an American Christian Zionist was deported from Israel and had his visa revoked when he was found to be plotting to up blow up the Al Aqsa mosque. At his website (see below) Beyond Babylon, he decries Shimon Peres calls for peace as treachery. Christian Zionists are usually the only ones who support the Israeli extremists.
Christian Zionists: Jewish People Must Blow up the Al-Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem!!!
http://vodpod.com/watch/1348035-onward-christian-zionists
GSS seeks to deport US citizen for plotting to blow up Al-Aksa Mosque
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/62490032.html?dids=62490032:62490032&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+8%2C+1996&author=BILL+HUTMAN&pub=Jerusalem+Post&edition=&startpage=NOPGCIT&desc=GSS+seeks+to+deport+US+citizen+for+plotting+to+blow+up+Al-Aksa+Mosque
Israel Sentences Mystic in Plot to Blow Up Shrine
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-09-20/news/mn-6339_1_jewish-mystics
JERUSALEM — An Israeli court has sentenced the ringleader of a cave-dwelling group of Jewish mystics to eight years in prison for plotting to blow up the Dome of the Rock Muslim shrine
Christian-Zionist Response to Shimon Peres’ AIPAC speech
http://beyondbabylon.blogspot.com/2009/05/christian-zionist-response-to-shimon.html
Christian-Zionist David Ben-Ariel’s strong response to Shimon Peres’ weak AIPAC speech, condemning the lying peace process, collaboration with the Vatican and warning about UN Resolution 181 as the Final Solution!
WHY ISRAEL SHOULD DEMOLISH THE ‘AL-AKSA MOSQUE
by Stephen Schecter
http://www.think-israel.org/schecter.alaksamosque.html
December 13th, 2009 at 7:45 am
What is wrong with burning a few books? Spraying a bit of graffiti? They didn’t hurt anyone, did they?
December 13th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Another group also burned books and wrote things in public places.
They were called Nazis.
December 14th, 2009 at 12:28 am
I’m pretty sure your being sarcastic. One, the books were holy books, the Quran. If this happened in a Jewish Synagogue, geller, spinster and company would have an orgasm of calling to war against Muslims. Two, they burned half the Mosque. Haven’t you seen the pictures online? This is also another example of the radical Zionism that is, as you Islamophobes like to say, creeping into Palestine. Israel, with the backing of the government, illegally settle on Palestinian land while claiming victim status that they are being attacked by the scawee wadical Mooslims. It’s pathetic and a crystal clear image of them. Some Israelis want peace. Alot of them don’t.
December 14th, 2009 at 12:36 am
Ibster,
Zionism and Nazism are two sides of the same coin.
December 14th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Yusuf
To be fair, Palestinians in the past, have been guilty of burning Torah scrolls, and desecerating Jewish holy places (Rachel’s Tomb) which are sacred to Muslims too, even though Islam forbids desecrating or abusing other religions literature and houses of worship leave alone those of the Book religions.
Israel’s Chief Rabbi and senior Israeli officilas including Netanyahu did condemn what happened at the West Bank Mosque.
December 14th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Nabeela,
You defend Israel too much so that you can be more accepted by Western non-Muslims. That’s clear. While you defend Islam against Islamophobes, you try to be more even-handed with Israel because they’re considered a Western country and are darlings of liberals and conservatives alike. Peace is impossible with an illegitimate state that finds it their Biblical duty to conquer the Levant in anticipation for their false messiah. Don’t forget: from the Nile to the Euphrates.
December 14th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
“You defend Israel too much so that you can be more accepted by Western non-Muslims”
I don’t need anyone’s “acceptance” Yusef. I support the two state solution, and oppose all those who oppose that, including those on our side too. Havn’t you seen my attacking neo cons, and Armeggedonites and who pretend Palestinians don’t exist? You cannot deny there are those on our side too who oppose peace too and want to drive the Jews out, no matter what. The occupation is there for the world to see, it speaks for itself. It will have to end, and the Palestinians should get a state.
It’s not defending Israel when you state facts. Remember, Israeli’s defend Palestinians too, Gideon Levy, Amira Hass, Jeff Halper and other Israeli’s play a hand in bringing Palestinina suffering to the attention of the world.
The Palestinian right to a state is a worthy goal in itself because it’s the right thing.
I couldn’t care less what the “westerners” think of me. I care that Palestinians get their state the right way.
“While you defend Islam against Islamophobes, you try to be more even-handed with Israel because they’re considered a Western country and are darlings of liberals and conservatives alike.”
No, that’s not the reason. Israel is a Middle Eastern country. Hebrew and Arabic are so similar if you speak one you can understand the other.
The reason is that most Israeli’s support the two state solution Yusuf, I fight only those that oppose that. Even Netanyahu (a right wing coalition) was voted in, with the aim of bringing about the left wing majority solution.
“Peace is impossible with an illegitimate state that finds it their Biblical duty to conquer the Levant in anticipation for their false messiah”
All 3 book religons believe in a Messiah. The point is, the Messiah can come if the land is shared, we just need to learn to live in peace. Fight those that oppose it, but support those that support it. Most Israeli’s want a secure country.
“Don’t forget: from the Nile to the Euphrates.”
There are differing interpretations of that Yusuf, which i won’t go into here, suffice to say, taking the most extreme interpretation and applying it as a generalisation for all Israeli’s, is no better than neocons saying Muslims want to force Islamic rule on the whole world just because a few extremists say that. Rabin died for peace.
December 15th, 2009 at 10:02 am
I can’t believe you actually believe these things Nabeela. Rabin died for peace? Did you research his military history? He was an ethnic cleansing colonial general! The Oslo Accords were designed to increase Israeli control over the Palestinians. After they were signed, you’re so-called man of peace continued settlement building. You should know this.
I am completely opposed to a two-state solution because it will be a stateless state for the Palestinians, meaning a state that is actually in control by Israel. There may be Israelis and Jews interested in a peace deal, but there’s no way that the country is. History has shown that Israel is only interested in attacking its neighbors. You can’t make peace with a rogue state.
And the Nile to the Euphrates is the correct interpretation, the rest are apologetic covers.
I don’t care if you feel my views are extreme. “israel” = racist European colonial settlement in Palestine. It does not have any basis or right to exist (no country does btw). It does not even have a religious basis to stand on. The Holy Land is for the righteous and has always been conditional. Religious Zionists need to read their Bible.
December 15th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Yusuf
We’re getting off subject here because this isn’t about the Israel Palestine politics, and in any case there are differing opinions on this, and there is more to this “a european colonial outpost”. There were a lot of complicated factors that led to the situation as it did. Even from an Islamic religous point of view, there are differences (see below)
“It does not even have a religious basis to stand on. The Holy Land is for the righteous and has always been conditional. Religious Zionists need to read their Bible.”
Shaykh Palazzi and others would disagree with that statement.
http://www.amislam.com/
I find in the Qur’an that God granted the Land of Israel to the Children of Israel and ordered them to settle therein (Qur’an, Sura 5:21) and that before the Last Day He will bring the Children of Israel to retake possession of their Land, gathering them from different countries and nations (Qu’ran, Sura 17:104). Consequently, as a Muslim who abides by the Qur’an, I believe that opposing the existence of the State of Israel means opposing a Divine decree.
Every time Arabs fought against Israel they suffered humiliating defeats. In opposing the will of God by making war on Israel, Arabs were in effect making war on God Himself. They ignored the Qur’an, and God punished them. Now, having learned nothing from defeat after defeat, Arabs want to obtain through terror what they were unable to obtain through war: the destruction of the State of Israel. The result is quite predictable: as they have been defeated in the past, the Arabs will be defeated again.
In 1919, Emir Feisal (leader of the Hashemite family, i.e., the leader of the family of the Prophet Muhammad) reached an Agreement with Chaim Weizmann for the creation of a Jewish State and an Arab Kingdom having the Jordan river as a border between them. Emir Feisal wrote, “We feel that the Arabs and Jews are cousins in race, having suffered similar oppressions at the hands of powers stronger than themselves, and by a happy coincidence have been able to take the first step towards the attainment of their national ideals together. The Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement.”
“I don’t care if you feel my views are extreme. “israel” = racist European colonial settlement in Palestine. It does not have any basis or right to exist (no country does btw). It does not even have a religious basis to stand on. The Holy Land is for the righteous and has always been conditional. Religious Zionists need to read their Bible.”
————-
Agreement Between the King of Hijaz and Khadim al-Haramayn as-Sharifayn, Emir Feisal Ibn al-Hussein al-Hashemi, and the President of the World Zionist Organization, Dr. Chaim Weizmann (January 3, 1919)
http://www.amislam.com/feisal.htm
Excepts from an articled by Sharif al-Hussein Ibn Ali al-Husseini, published in “al-Qiblah” (the daily newspaper of Mecca al-Mukarramah) on March 23, 1918
The resources of the country [Western Palestine] are still virgin soil and will be developed by the Jewish immigrants. One of the most amazing things until recent times was that the Palestinian used to leave his country, wandering over the high seas in every direction. His native soil could not retain a hold on him, though his ancestors had lived on it for 1,000 years. At the same time we have seen the Jews from foreign countries streaming to Palestine from Russia, Germany, Austria, Spain, America. The cause of causes could not escape those who had the gift of a deeper insight. They knew that the country was for its original sons [abna'ihi-l-asliyin], for all their differences, a sacred and beloved homeland. The return of these exiles [jaliya] to their homeland will prove materially and spiritually an experimental school for their brethren who are with them in the fields, factories, trades, and in all things connected with toil and labour.
December 15th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
You’re right Nabeela. We are getting off-topic. I will refer you to Imran Hosein’s on the subject of Israel and Islam. Check out his lectures on google videos.
http://www.imranhosein.org/
December 17th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Yusuf, if you believe this
“I don’t care if you feel my views are extreme. “israel” = racist European colonial settlement in Palestine. It does not have any basis or right to exist (no country does btw).”
So you are saying Arabs can have fifty plus states, and Jews cannot even have one Yusuf?
If you feel we are not entitled, on what basis are Moslems and Christans entitled to land? Only Jews are to be held to different standard? Zionism is a home for the Jewish people. You have sovereigty over so much of the world, why do you begrudge us the right to just one Jewish country. You would rather we wander the world living under peoples feet and their kindness. We are not entitled to sovereignty over a small part of the Middle East, according to you.
December 18th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
While settlers in the West bank are burning Quran’s, Jerusalem Palestinians are losing their residency rights
At M J Rosenberg’s weblog, he has this entry with a video, from Haaretz
The Ugly Suppression of Jerusalem’s Palestinians (VIDEO Too)
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/15/the_ugly_suppression_of_jerusalems_palestinians_vi/
The Israeli government is determined to maintain that Jewish majority and is doing everything it can to suppress the Palestinian population, most notably stripping Arabs of residency rights (as the Ha’aretz article reports).
The authorities are also prohibiting Palestinians from building in Jerusalem. While the Israeli government rebukes President Obama for calling for any limits on settlement expansion (many settlers are not from Israel at all), the same government refuses to permit Palestinians to add a bathroom to their homes and, using the pretense of “illegality,” tears down Palestinian homes with abandon, leaving them homeless or living in a tent where their home had been.
It’s an appalling situation, one that the United States tolerates.
Check out this short film about what Israeli right-wingers and settlers are doing to Jerusalem in their effort to suppress Arab population growth.
December 24th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
There shouldn’t be any Nazi Muslim mosques or hostile Arabs in the Jewish homeland. Both Bible-believing Christians and Jews testify to this truth.
December 24th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Mr Ariel, a Messianic Christians tries to be more Jewish than Jews
Christians in Jerusalem want Jews to stop spitting on them
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=487412&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
By Amiram Barkat