I'm not sure why, but this didn't make the nightly news...
Israeli media sources reported on Wednesday that a group of extremists had set a church on fire located in the central of the occupied city of Jerusalem in the early hours of Wednesday morning.So long as the ADL condemns it, I guess it's forgivable:
The church sustained severe damage and bibles were destroyed in the fire, church sources said.
This is not the first time this church in attacked. It was burned down in 1982 by a group of Jewish extremists.
Israeli police told media that no arrests had been made yet but there is an indication that the assailants may be Jewish extremists.
The official story that was published by Israeli media says that attackers entered the church after destroying the front doors and windows then set fire inside the church in three different locations.
The Anti-Defamation League strongly condemned this arson and apparent hate crime. We urged authorities to do everything in their power to protect all religious sites and see that the perpetrators of the crime are brought to justice.But I wonder... if a Palestinian set a Jerusalem synagogue on fire, would that be labeled a "hate crime" too - or would that be TERRORISM?
Eh, who cares. Never mind reality, it's clearly ISLAMO-FASCISM that's reduced the Christian community of Palestine to less than 2% of the population.
(Tarboush tip: this whole post is basically Fadi's)
7 comments:
Allow me to ease your confusion.
Israel has a code of law which makes what happened a criminal act. Once the perpetrators are caught they will be tried and punished for their crimes. This a crime, not terrorism. Terrorism has a political component, in that the violence it seeks to create is designed to shift government policy in some way. What happened was an act of hatred and destruction, not designed to influence government policy.
When there is no legal framework that is able to punish perpetrators of attacks on others, the entire society is held responsible (for not establishing the rule of law). There is a biblical case study for this; if anyone is interested, I can elaborate.
If the Palestinians caught, tried and punished those who launch attacks against Israeli civilians, there would not be a need to hold the Palestinian people accountable as a whole.
To be a nation is not simply about rights, it is also about responsibilities. Compatriots are responsible for the acts of their own. Normally this responsibility is translated into a government that can take action against criminals.
This is why terrorism is so savage. Not only does it hurt those it targets, but it knowingly invites attack on the people from which it stems. Terrorists cynically hope to use the suffering of the larger population to feed their own power and force an otherwise peaceful population to join their case.
...to join their cause.
Very strange, but on the same day...
Vandals set fire to synagogue in West Bank outpost
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380658873&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Nadeem, I think it's really uncool that you identify these terrorists by their religion, and therefore lable the whole religion by their actions.
What's more important is not how we identify THEM but how THEY identify themselves. If they consider themselves as fighting for a Jewish cause by burning down churches, then they are Jewish arsonists.
More from Haaretz:
Palestinians set fire to West Bank synagogue for second time
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/917402.html
"Palestinians set fire to a synagogue near the Dolev settlement in the West Bank early Friday.
"Worshippers who arrived at the site to find the building in flames, its contents - including prayer books and torah scrolls - destroyed."
What do you guys have against Hamas anyway??
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