NEVER FORGET? The Holocaust yearns to return, by Hamas and its Jew-hating Western allies

The world has been shocked and ripped raw in grief and horror as Hamas Muslim jihadists attacked and killed, raped, and kidnapped Israelis, targeting women and children. The beheading of many of them, a central fixture in Islamic terrorism, has been confirmed. Islam is revealed once again in its full depravity, the spawn of Muhammad, the deviant false prophet and warlord.

By their own words: Muslim groups and Leftists support Hamas and Jihad Terrorism against Israel and Jews

Hamas top dog quotes Qur’an, tells Muslims to ‘kill them wherever you find them’

Fatah quotes Qur’an as it calls on ‘Palestinians’ to ‘slaughter everyone who is Israeli, by Allah, this is jihad’

Leftists Come Out in Support of Hamas Massacres, Send Money to Palestinians

CNN’s Tapper: Last Few Days Really Eye-Opening to ‘Antisemitism on the Left’

Black Lives Matter Organization Shows Support for Hamas Amid Terror Attack on Israel

‘Free Palestine’ Rally in Dearborn, Michigan, Cheers Hamas

Rod Dreher, from his Substack:

The mindless and simplistic Oppressor/Oppressed binary has led so many of that generation [Gen Z], steeped in wokeness, to lose their moral compass. The same people who took to the streets to protest the police killing of a drug addict named George Floyd have no problem with people taking to the streets to cheer on the terrorist killing of 1,300 Jewish civilians in the highest one-day Jewish death toll since the closing of the Nazi death camps.

Think about that.

Dr. Timothy Furnish: 'Hamas, Iran’s Bloodthirsty Sock Puppet'

Here is an excellent primer on Hamas' bloody, barbaric Islamic Jihad terrorist attack against Israel, from noted Islam scholar and author Timothy Furnish:


Hamas, Iran’s Bloodthirsty Sock Puppet

By TIMOTHY FURNISH | The Stream | October 9, 2023

Hamas has murdered, so far, over 600 Israeli civilians in its new war. Only the War of Independence (1948-49) and the Second Intifada (2000-05) killed more non-combatants. In addition, over 400 Palestinians have died. Both sides are sure to lose more. Especially the Gaza Palestinians. Because Israel’s wrath is kindled. And with good reason.

Hamas: Elected Terrorists

What is Hamas? It’s the Palestinian branch of the global Muslim Brotherhood. The name is actually an acronym from Arabic. Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyah, “Movement of the Islamic Resistance.” Founded in 1987, Hamas won the Palestinian elections in 2006. But it lost control of the West Bank to the non-jihadist Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Relegated to the tiny Gaza Strip, Hamas has spent the past 17 years periodically attacking Israel. It’s one of the 55 Islamic terrorist groups in the world (81% of the total). The vast majority of which are Sunni.

Iran: the Puppeteer

However, Hamas and some Sunni groups, like the related Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are supported by staunchly Twelver Shi`i Iran. Since the 1979 “Islamic Revolution” the ayatollahs fancy themselves leading a global Islamic insurgency. Not merely sponsoring terrorism. But insurgency against what, exactly? Against the West in general. And the United States in particular. Why? Because European-American civilization has dominated the globe for 500 years. In the past, Muslims saw the West as pushing Christianity on others. Now, it’s seen as imposing godless secularism and the LGBTQIA+ agenda. (Orthodox Christian Russia and officially Communist China also see the post-modern West as overbearing. Which is why the three civilizational blocs often cooperate against the U.S.)

The Little Satan is Closer

So what’s that have to do with Israel? Fundamentalist Sunnis and Shi`is agree on one thing, at least. That the Jewish state is the tip of the Western spear, embedded in the Muslim Middle East. A “foreign body” that must be expelled. Sunni Usama bin Ladin often referred to the “Crusader-Zionist” alliance. The Shi`i ayatollahs now say the same. But unlike UBL, they’re loathe to directly attack the Great Satan. Besides, it’s the Far (Away) Enemy. So they provide funding and weapons — especially rockets—to attack the Little Satan. Which is a convenient Near Enemy.

How Hamas’ War Benefits Iran

What do Iranian zealots get out of goading, if not directing, such horrible Hamas attacks at this juncture? Five benefits, in ascending order of importance.

First, a thumb in the eye of the Biden Administration, which recently “released” $6 billion to the Islamic Republic, to ransom hostages. Earmarked, say Bidenistas, only for “humanitarian purposes.” The ayatollahs are laughing all the way to the weapons market.

Second, sparking a major conflict in the Middle East gets Ukraine off the front page. This helps Russia, one of Iran’s patrons.

Third, the war makes the planned Turkish-Israeli rapproachment untenable.

Fourth, it scuttles the possible Saudi-Israeli normalization. Neither Turkish President Erdoğan nor Saudi ruler Muhammad bin Salman can meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Not when the IDF is leveling Palestinian buildings. With people inside.

Finally, there are some in Tehran obsessed with eschatology. These want to hotwire the apocalypse. Which means what? Destroying Israel in order to spark the return of the Twelfth Imam, the messianic Mahdi. In this view “the annihilation of the Zionist regime is one of the preconditions for the arrival of the Mahdi.” Iran’s President, and probable next Supreme Leader, is almost certainly of this mindset, too.

Hamas: Jihadist or Joker?

What does Hamas get out of this bloodletting? Many of its members will get a one-way ticket to the afterlife. Unfortunately, many of them have been convinced that they will be rewarded by Allah there with sensual delights. Instead, they will be punished by the true God for their evil deeds. Hamas’ jihadists truly exemplify that “some men just want to watch the world burn.”

Much more in the full article at The Stream...

Muslim Children in Philadelphia Proclaim True Islam: 'We will chop off their heads, subject them to eternal torture'

Is this what Muslims do in mosques when they think no one is paying attention? 

For context on this shocking video (and the transcript below), it is essential to know that four separate studies performed in the first decade of the new century revealed that upwards of 80% of mosques in the United States either openly taught violent jihad as an essential pillar of Islam or sold and distributed books and materials advocating for violent jihad to overthrow the USA.

These mosque studies predated the rise of ISIS/Islamic State by at least several years. In the age of ISIS we see similar disturbing levels of support for the Islamic State and violent jihad in America and around the globe.

With this context, here is the harrowing video from a mosque in Philadelphia:



CHILDREN IN PHILADELPHIA MUSLIM SOCIETY: WE WILL SACRIFICE OURSELVES FOR AL-AQSA; WILL CHOP OFF THEIR HEADS, SUBJECT THEM TO ETERNAL TORTURE

MEMRI, May 3, 2019:




On April 22, 2019, the Muslim American Society Islamic Center in Philadelphia (MAS Philly) uploaded a video of an "Ummah Day" celebration to its Facebook page in which young children wearing Palestinian scarves sang: "Glorious steeds call us and lead us [to] the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The blood of martyrs protects us… Take us, oh ships… until we reach our shores and crush the treacherous ones… Flow, oh rivers of martyrs!" A young girl read a poem praising martyrs who sacrificed their lives for Palestine, and she asked: "Will [Jerusalem] be a hotbed for cowards?"

Another young girl read: "We will defend [Palestine] with our bodies… We will chop off their heads, and we will liberate the sorrowful and exalted Al-Aqsa Mosque… We will subject them to eternal torture."

MAS Philly belongs to the Muslim American Society (MAS), which has 42 chapters in the United States and one in the United Kingdom. MAS' website says that its mission is to "move people to strive for God-consciousness, liberty and justice, and to convey Islam with utmost clarity," and that its vision is "a virtuous and just American society."


Following are excerpts:

Islamic Jihadists responsible for Arson Attack of Bethlehem Monastery

"A lot of work has to be done to change the way preaching is done in mosques because far too often they provoke people and foment hatred. Anti-Christian hatred and violence should stop."

Arson attack at Bethlehem’s St Charbel Monastery, probably the work of Islamic fundamentalists, says Maronite leader

Asia News — September 28, 2015

Bethlehem (AsiaNews) – Sobhy Makhoul, the chancellor of the Maronite Patriarchate in Jerusalem, told AsiaNews that the fire that broke out over the weekend at St Charbel Maronite Monastery (pictured) in Bethlehem was deliberately set. “It was an act of arson, not a fire caused by an electrical problem, an act of sectarian vandalism by radical Muslims.”

The fire caused no casualties or injuries because the building is currently unoccupied and under renovation, but the damage is evident and the local Christian community is now fearful of further violence.

'Islamic State in Palestine' tells Christians to leave by Ramadan’s end or be killed

Many Palestinian Christians stand in solidarity with their Muslims neighbors, yet this report from East Jerusalem, together with threats against Christians throughout the Palestinian territories, make it clear that Islamic supremacism is overwhelming whatever tolerant attitudes local Muslims used to hold for their Christian neighbors.

See also: Muslim Persecution of Christians worsens in Israel & Palestinian Territories; Influence of Islamic State grows

A Chilling Message Was Sent to Christians from the ‘Islamic State in Palestine’

by Sharona Schwartz, The Blaze, June 28, 2015 (via Jihad Watch):

A group calling itself the “Islamic State in Palestine” spread fliers in east Jerusalem warning Christians who live there to brace themselves for “revenge,” an Israeli television station reported.

Israel’s Channel 10 television reported Thursday that it was the first time such a leaflet attributed to the Islamic State group was distributed threatening Christian residents of Jerusalem. The text of the message vowed to take “revenge” on “heretics.”

According to the Jewish Press, the flier threatened Christians that they would be killed if they did not leave by the end of the current Muslim holiday month of Ramadan.

Muslim Persecution of Christians worsens in Israel & Palestinian Territories; Influence of Islamic State grows

Mob violence against Christians, anti-Christian billboards and graffiti, and imams at major mosques preaching jihad and jizya:

“When you face a polytheist enemy [i.e. a Christian who worships the Holy Trinity], you should give him three options – they must convert to Islam, or pay the jizya [tax on non-Muslims], or else you should seek the help of Allah and fight them. You should fight them even if they do not fight you.” —Sheikh Issam Ameera, imam at the Al-Aqsa mosque, Jerusalem

Christians Suspect Islamic State Influencing Muslims in Palestinian Territories, Israel; Increased radicalization seen in attacks, rhetoric.

Morningstar News — June 11, 2015

Muslim billboard in Nazareth, threatening Christians.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – After months of Islamic State (IS) committing horrific violence in the Middle East and North Africa, Palestinian Christians say a large number of Muslims in the Palestinian Territories and Israel have become “radicalized” and are much more aggressive toward them.

Anti-Christian hostility boiling under the surface for years has come into plain view in the past few months in the form of physical attacks, incendiary religious speeches and inflammatory billboards, they said.

Palestinian Christian leaders said not all Muslims in the Territories and Israel have become extremists, and elders within the Muslim community are trying to dampen the effects of extremist ideology, but enough Palestinians have become radicalized that many Christians feel unsafe or, at minimum, openly unwanted. Whereas tensions between Christians and Muslims previously were seen as issues between individuals, there is now a definite “us vs. them” mentality from Islamic extremists, Christian leaders said.

Orthodox Bishop: ‘We Palestinian Christians Say Allahu Akbar’

I hesitate to comment much on this story, except to point out that zealous Muslims all over the world routinely scream "Allahu Akbar" when slaughtering their victims. Out of over 25,150 Muslim terrorist attacks since 9/11/01, I think it's safe to estimate that in upwards of 25,148 of them, the Muslim terrorists were screaming "Allahu Akbar" when they were shooting, stabbing or self-detonating. What Christian, Arabic-speaking or not, would want to self-identify with that phrase?

I might also point out that in Malaysia, the Muslim community has been using everything from threats and open persecution of Christians, to the country's legal system, to forbid Arabic-speaking Christians from referring to God as "Allah." Malaysian Muslims would likely be rioting in the streets (or firebombing the church) if a Christian hierarch there made such statements.

Lastly, the situation for Palestinian Christians is considerably more complex and precarious vis a vis Muslims than this interview indicates, as per these reports:

• Christian Arabs beatify their Palestinian nightmare
• Muslim threats and attacks force Christians out of East Jerusalem church
• Treatment of Palestinian Christians “Medieval”
• Jihadists persecuting Palestinian Christians in Gaza
• Palestinian Christians fear their country might become an Islamic state

Orthodox Bishop: ‘We Palestinian Christians Say Allahu Akbar’

The only Palestinian Orthodox Christian bishop in the Holy Land speaking about the suffering of Palestinian Christians, their unity with Muslims in the Palestinian struggle, about Orthodox Christian martyrs, and Ukraine.

Nadezhda Kevorkova — February 3, 2015 — Pravmir.com

Nadezhda Kevorkova is a war correspondent who has covered the events of the Arab Spring, military and religious conflicts around the world, and the anti-globalization movement.

Archbishop Sebastia Theodosios (Atallah Hanna), 49, is the only Orthodox Christian archbishop from Palestine stationed in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, while all other bishops of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem are Greeks. The Israeli authorities had detained him several times, or stopped him at the border, and taken away his passport. Among all Jerusalem clergymen he is the only one who has no privilege of passing through the VIP gate in the airport – because of his nationality. “For the Israeli authorities, I am not a bishop, but rather a Palestinian,” explains his Beatitude. When talking on the phone he says a lot of words you would normally hear from a Muslim: “Alhamdulillah, Insha’Allah, Masha’Allah”. He speaks Arabic, and the Arabic for ‘god’ is Allah, whether you are a Christian or a Muslim.

Your Beatitude, what’s it like being the Palestinian bishop in the Holy Land?

Firstly, I’d like to confirm that I am the only Palestinian bishop in the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. A fellow bishop is serving in the city of Irbid in the north of Jordan; and there are also several Palestinian priests.

I take pride in belonging to this great religious institution that’s over 2,000 years old.

My church has been protecting the Christian presence in the Holy Land and the sacred items related to the life of Christ and Christian Church history.

I am proud of my religion and nationality, I am proud to belong to my fatherland. I am a Palestinian, and I belong to this religious people who are fighting for the sake of their freedom and dignity to implement their dreams and national rights.

I support Palestinians and share their cause and their issues. We the Palestinian Orthodox Christians are not detached from their hardships.

Muslim leader in Israel: “Entire earth” will be “subordinate” to caliphate

Joins numerous Muslim world leaders and clerics in predicting Islam's ultimate victory over the entire world.  

via Robert Spencer,  Jihad Watch — October 26, 2014

Iran’s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself once said: “Have no doubt… Allah willing, Islam will conquer what? It will conquer all the mountain tops of the world.” 

Sheik Ali Al-Faqir, former Jordanian minister of religious endowment, said this on Al-Aqsa TV on May 2, 2008: “We proclaim that we will conquer Rome, like Constantinople was conquered once…” 

Hamas MP and Islamic cleric Yunis Al-Astal said this, also on Al-Aqsa TV, on April 11, 2008: “Very soon, Allah willing, Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our Prophet Muhammad.”

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most prominent and renowned imam in the world, in writing about “signs of the victory of Islam,” referred to a hadith: 

“The Prophet Muhammad was asked: ‘What city will be conquered first, Constantinople or Romiyya?’ He answered: ‘The city of Hirqil [i.e. the Byzantine emperor Heraclius] will be conquered first’ – that is, Constantinople”¦ Romiyya is the city called today ‘Rome,’ the capital of Italy. The city of Hirqil [that is, Constantinople] was conquered by the young 23-year-old Ottoman Muhammad bin Morad, known in history as Muhammad the Conqueror, in 1453. The other city, Romiyya, remains, and we hope and believe [that it too will be conquered]. This means that Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror and victor, after being expelled from it twice – once from the South, from Andalusia, and a second time from the East, when it knocked several times on the door of Athens.”

_____

Israeli Islamist Leader Kamal Khatib: Jerusalem Will Be Caliphate Capital; PA TV Cuts Interview Off 

MEMRI, October 17, 2014:

In an interview with the official PA TV channel, Sheik Kamal Khatib, deputy leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, said: “Jerusalem will not be only the capital of the Palestinian state, but also the capital of the coming righteous Islamic caliphate.” After he repeated his views several times and said that “the entire Earth” would “become subordinate to the Islamic caliphate one day”, PA TV cut the interview short.

Following are excerpts from the interview, which aired on October 17, 2014.

Interviewer: Let us first watch what you said at the Al-Aqsa Mosque this week.

Kamal Khatib: I have said it before, and I say it again: Allah willing, Jerusalem will not be only the capital of the Palestinian state, but also the capital of the coming righteous Islamic caliphate…

Crowd member: Say: “Allah Akbar!”

Crowd: Allah Akbar!

Archimandrite Christophoros Atallah: Christians are aware that they will be persecuted in this world

The title sounds Christocentric and authentic, but as one reads through the entire text, one finds this to be a deeply conflicted message, mixing Christian teachings with Islamic nationalistic statements such as this:

"...These countries are our countries, the land is our land, the holy places are our places, and we are a fundamental part of their civilization. It is also because they want to rob our countries and our people of their civilizational, religious, spiritual and cultural identity, including the culture of Muslim-Christian religious coexistence in its Eastern Orthodox dimension... 

"We must likewise work persistently to hold on to and defend our national and ecclesiastical rights, no matter the obstacles that face us, demanding that we compromise our legitimate right to establish the State of Palestine with its capital in Jerusalem and a revival in our national Orthodox church through the participation of the people of this country in managing the affairs of their church and preserving a living Christian presence in our Holy Land."

See the torment caused by Islam? How it distorts Christian thinking into believing Islam, Fatah and Hamas are partners to the Church?  The idea expressed above of "the culture of Muslim-Christian religious coexistence in its Eastern Orthodox dimension" is incoherent nonsense born of centuries of Christians living as third-class dhimmis under Islamic oppression. A spiritual osmosis has taken place, the people of Jesus now infected with the germ of jihad, the equating of religion with territory, of linking a national Orthodox church with Palestinian Statehood with a Jerusalem capitol, of Christians as victims defending their "rights."

The very Muslims whom Archimandrite Christophoros thinks are his thoughtful ("tafkiri") allies today in creating a "State of Palestine," will tomorrow join the "takfiri" Islamic State Caliphate (or its successor) in finishing the final cleansing of the Middle East of all Christians, per the command of the prophet of Islam himself, Muhammad, recorded in a 'sound' hadith:

"I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslims." (Sahih Muslim 4366)

But not all is bad! This is a message with much to commend it; so much is written and phrased so perfectly, yet portions of it startle us as completely anti-Christian. It is at best a minefield, which I fear will confuse the faithful who may come across it without any benefit of context.

In sharp contrast to Archimandrite Christophoros' call for syncretistic nation building, seizing Jerusalem, and establishing a Palestinian State in alliance with Hamas, recall the description of first century Christians as recounted in the Epistle to Diognetus:

They love all men though they are persecuted by all. They are put to death yet they are restored to life... They are dishonored and yet in their very dishonor they are glorified...  

They dwell in their own countries but simply as sojourners. As citizens they share in all things with others yet they endure all things as foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country and every land of their birth a land of strangers...

God help us to avoid the infinite traps and temptations being spread by the enemy of mankind!

Archimandrite Christophoros Atallah: Christians are aware that they will be persecuted in this world

Notes on Arab Orthodoxy via Pravmir — August 9, 2014

O Christians of the Middle East,

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me” (John 14:1).

When we look at what is happening in Syria, Iraq, Gaza [where Hamas is launching missiles at Israeli civilians from Orthodox churches] and many of the countries around us and the international silence accompanying it, which is more deadly than instruments of death and destruction, we are confronted with a single fact: the breakdown of the moral, ethical, spiritual and humanitarian order in our world. This is the catastrophe.

The Governor Pontius Pilate, who knew that Jesus had been unjustly handed over for death by the Jews, believed that by washing his hands before the people he would exculpate himself from the sin and crime of giving the Lord and Savior over to death. Today this Pilate-like thinking and behavior has spread and become an approach and an attitude (making an excuse of sin) as though a power that is satanic wants to replace light with darkness, truth with falsehood, religion with ignorance, humanity with bestiality, things divine with things satanic. However, beloved, no matter how much the darkness rules, falsehood and injustice spread, ignorance becomes general, the barbarity of killing and destruction grows and Satan rules the world through people whose consciences are darkened and whose hearts are filled with hate, no matter how much evil conquers, there is an end to all this history. As long as there are hearts that believe in God, that know the truth, and that live love, the resurrection is inevitably coming.

Greek Orthodox Archbishop: 'Hamas Used Church to Fire Rockets' (VIDEO)

"Christ tells us we must love each other, our neighbors, and our enemies... No other religion says that except the Christian faith." — Archbishop Alexios of Gaza

The source news report for this post.

by George Thomas, CBN News — August 8, 2014

GAZA STRIP -- Air raid sirens sounding in the Eshkol Region on Wednesday afternoon turned out to be a false alarm. The 72-hour ceasefire appears to be holding for now.

Hamas is not only using mosques to launch attacks against Israelis. It has also used a church compound.

Archbishop Alexios is Gaza's most prominent Christian leader. His decision to open his church to 2,000 Muslims escaping the war surprised many of Gaza's residents.

"Christ tells us we must love each other, our neighbors, and our enemies," Bishop Alexios told CBN News. "No other religion says that except the Christian faith."

Orthodox Archbishop in Gaza: Hamas fired rockets from church

by Joel B. Pollak, Breitbart News — August 8, 2014

Archbishop Alexios, the Greek Orthodox Christian leader of Gaza, told CBN News on Wednesday that Hamas had used the church to fire rockets at Israeli civilians prior to the 72-hour ceasefire. The church was also being used at the time as a shelter for Palestinian civilians of all faiths who were fleeing the war's bombs and rockets.

Hamas used the church and the civilians as human shields--a war crime under international law--in order to deter Israel from striking the rocket launchers, and to cause Israel maximum public relations and diplomatic damage if it did return fire. At least two United Nations facilities housing civilians were struck in that fashion.

Though the White House called Israel's actions in those instances "indefensible," and other world powers rushed to condemn Israel, few bothered to consider that they were playing directly into Hamas's hands, and creating an incentive for Hamas and other terror groups to continue to use the same deadly tactics in future.

Bartholomew: Christians united, real catalysts for peace in the Middle East

We live in interesting times:

The Ecumenical Patriarch arrives today in Rome to take part in the prayer meeting with Pope Francis, Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas. The scope of the prayer meeting goes beyond immediate results.

Pravmir — June 7, 2014

Istanbul (AsiaNews) – The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew arrives tonight in Rome to participate in the prayer for peace tomorrow, at the invitation of Pope Francis.

The pontiff has invited Israeli President Shimon Peres and the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to pray for peace in the war-torn Middle East where the Christian element is about to disappear.

Temple Mount now central Israeli-Palestinian flashpoint

Jerusalem's importance grows as Israeli-Palestinian peace talks flounder.  Both Jewish and Muslim leaders call the situation a "war of religion." Apocalyptic clouds on the horizon?

by Ben Caspit, AL Monitor — April 22, 2014

The conflict around the Temple Mount is increasing as Israeli-Palestinian peace talks might be on the verge of collapse.

Israeli policemen run in front of the Dome of the Rock during clashes with stone-throwing Palestinians after Friday prayers on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, Feb. 7, 2014. (photo by REUTERS/Ammar Awad)

Assessments of the situation as well as in-depth intelligence reviews by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) regarding mounting tensions in the territories do not, for the time being, include warnings about a possible violent conflagration between the Palestinians and Israelis. For now, a third intifada is not featured among the working papers, forecasts or charts of plausible scenarios and expectations for the coming year. To extricate itself from its serious diplomatic and operational isolation and improve its standing among the Palestinian public, Hamas is trying to set the territories on fire. As a result, the number of terrorist attacks has risen steadily as has the number of disturbances.

The above notwithstanding, we are not talking about the orchestrated activity of organized cells, but more about what Israelis call “mood-based attacks.”

According to IDF and Shin Bet assessments, there is still no pent-up, popular energy just waiting for a volatile incident to turn it into a wave of violence. The Palestinian public has yet to forget the horrors of the previous intifada, which left some 4,000 Palestinians and more than 1,000 Israelis dead. Israel’s greatest fear is a “diplomatic intifada” — called here the “South African intifada” — which will be inflicted on it in UN institutions and accompanied by a series of international boycotts and anti-Israeli measures.

On the other hand, a well-known adage in the Israeli air force goes, “The one that will shoot you down is the one you can’t see.” With or without intelligence assessments, tension in the territories is growing. Clashes on the Temple Mount — pitting Palestinian youths, Hamas militants and Salafist activists against thousands of Jews, mostly right-wingers attempting day after day to get to the Temple Mount to exercise their freedom of religion — have reached a new peak during this year's Passover holiday in April.

Hamas deal last straw for Congress on US aid to Palestinians

This important, bi-partisan development in US Congress could help firm up US resistance to radical Islam in general.

by Julian Pecquet, AL Monitor — April 23, 2014

Wednesday's announcement of a reconciliation between the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah triggered an instant call for retaliation on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the author of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, called for an immediate suspension of US aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The 2006 law, passed after Hamas won that year's legislative elections, prohibits support for a "Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority."

"The Administration must halt aid to the Palestinian Authority and condition any future assistance as leverage to force Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] to abandon this reconciliation with Hamas and to implement real reforms within the PA," Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs panel on the Middle East, said in a statement. "U.S. law is clear on the prohibition of U.S. assistance to a unity Palestinian government that includes Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, and President [Barack] Obama must not allow one cent of American taxpayer money to help fund this terrorist group."

Her Democratic counterpart on the subcommittee, Ted Deutch of Florida, issued a similar warning.

"President Abbas now stands at a pivotal crossroad — does he want peace with Israel or reconciliation with Hamas?" Deutch said. "Be certain that the Palestinian Authority will face significant consequences if a unity government is formed that includes terrorist members of Hamas."

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, flatly said the move "jeopardizes US assistance."

PLO Official: Al-Qaeda To Target Lebanese Christians

By Jamie Dettmer — The Daily Beast via AINA — Feb 8, 2014

Foreign jihadists are recruiting among Lebanon's Palestinian camps and plan to start targeting Lebanese Christians with suicide bombings, according to a former top PLO official.

Al-Qaeda-affiliate jihadists are redoubling their recruitment in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and are likely to try to further fan sectarian tensions in the country by targeting Lebanese Christians in a suicide bombing campaign that until now has focused on Shia Muslims, warns a top Palestinian official.

Russian Church in Bethany meets Muslim resistance

ROCOR, via Byzantine TX
For more photos, visit the ROCOR source.

This year, Orthodox Christians in Bethany, near Jerusalem, suffered serious tribulations: Palestinian Muslim organizations began to build illegally right on the property of the church. At first they began on the property of a Greek monastery, now on a Russian parcel containing a branch of Gethsemane Convent with a monastic community, girls’ school and orphanage. The intercession of Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem did not meet with success: the first floor of a commercial building on the Greek plot is already operational. The Palestinian authorities could not prevent its construction, though they issued an order prohibiting it. The builders warned: anyone who tried to destroy the building would not live to see it happen. Such threats in the Muslim world are not idle. The Palestinian Authority has a very definite attitude towards Christianity: conversion to Islam is welcomed and rewarded, conversion to Christianity earns death. Since the Palestinian Authority is not yet an independent Muslim sovereignty, Christians are not massacred by the family, as they are in Syria and Egypt, but illegal seizure of Christian property, be it Greek or Russian, is an ominous phenomenon. Only this year, this began in the outskirts of Jerusalem. Islamists who began to build on the property of a Greek Church were emulated by some who began to build around a Russian parcel by three of its neighbors, one of them building right on Russian-owned land. Not only are they arrogant, but they have financial backing as well. Without a doubt, the roof of one of these new four-story buildings will soon be crowned with a minaret, most likely on the land of the Russian Bethany Community. The system of to building mosques next to churches is an age-old tradition. We even see this at the tomb of Righteous Lazarus in Bethany: a mosque stands closer to it than either an Orthodox or Catholic church. The mosque was erected in the middle ages, but is constantly renovated. Pilgrims see the same thing in the city of Lydda, near the Church of St George the Victory-Bearer, and in Abu-Goshe near the Benedictine Monastery containing Byzantine frescoes from the 12th century. They saw the need to build mosques everywhere in order to entice local Christians: maybe it is better to worship there? As part of the response to the seizure of Orthodox land in Bethany, the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem of the Church Abroad, and Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany, Overseer of the REM on behalf of its Synod, decided to build a new school building right next to the illegal Muslim structure, to prevent yet further illicit building, which would in fact mean the loss of this property to the Bethany Community for good. Funds are gradually being collected for this construction. The following is an interview with Archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky), Chief of the REM in Jerusalem of the Russian Church Abroad, taken by Deacon Alexander Zanemonets, teacher of Byzantine and Church history at various universities of the Holy Land, and Coordinator of the Russian Institute of Jerusalem ( zanemonets@yahoo.com ).