Comments on: Israeli Santa and Palestinian Santa: Email Exchange

By: don land

don land — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:41:03 +0000

if Hitler was able to finish off the self rightous and pugnatious jews NONE of this would be happening.

after forty years of jewish tyranny I have had enough of thier pity party and shuting people up with the nazi card…of which I am certian someone will pull when reading this post,…YOU jews have held the world hostage to your history and your shame..yes shame..YOU let yourselves be herded like cattle and murdered, YOU massacre innocent people in thier own homes and occupy land and destroyed a nation in MY life time….you are insolent and racist of the worst order and greatest violence, YOUR lies and your Tyranny is revolting and inhuman…for the sake of peace and humanity as a whole …Isreal needs to be wiped from the face of the Earth and all records and History erased it ever existed and your names blotted out from the minds of man….ONLY then will Humanity move on beyond the tyranny of….YOU

By: programmer craig

programmer craig — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:07:52 +0000

Well, Sean, since you seem to think there's no more religious discrimination in the middle east than there is in Japan or the US, I doubt anyone with a 3 digit IQ would "set their watch" by your understanding of just about anything, Sean. It isn't rocket science. Either you're dumb as a box of rocks or you're deliberately being deceptive.

By: Sean2009

Sean2009 — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:55:19 +0000

I wouldn't set my watch by your understanding, Craig.

By: programmer craig

programmer craig — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:15:44 +0000

I'm not aware of any study of how many Palestinian Muslims don Santa hats or how many Jews decorate trees, but they do exist:

Right. Well, I know of one Muslim Iraqi blogger whose family celebrates Christmas too. She even posted pictures of their Christmas tree. Doesn't change the fact that Christians in Iraq have been persecuted terribly by Muslims for half a dozen years now. My understanding is that Palestinian Christians are not happy campers these days, either, so it seems more than a bit absurd to try to bring Christianity into the Arab/Israeli conflict. Especially when the editorial stance seems to be that Muslims have the moral high-ground on the issue, because while some are obviously worse than others there isn't one Muslim country that treats Christians citizens well. And that's a fact, Sean. There is even serious persecution of Christians in Indonesia, and Indonesia is a secular utopia compared to the Arab world.

By: Sean2009

Sean2009 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:01:44 +0000

And can you document the large numbers of Palestinian Muslims and Israeli Jews who celebrate Christmas, Sean? Because it sounds like a bunch of crap, to me. I'm not aware of any study of how many Palestinian Muslims don Santa hats or how many Jews decorate trees, but they do exist: Palestinian Muslims celebrate Christmas: http://www.palestine-family.net/index.php?nav=6-2... Israeli Jews buy Christmas trees: http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3... Christians and Muslims pray together http://www.zhelp.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArt... "So much of the fear and antagonism we see today against Muslims come from ignorance. In Palestine, Christian and Muslims have lived together in harmony for centuries, and particularly in Bethlehem, they have not only shared Christmas celebrations, but even the Muslim feasts Eid al-Fitr at the end of the Ramadan fast and Eid al-Adha. As one young Bethlehem tour guide commented in 2002: We know how to celebrate together, because we know how to weep together. We have suffered as one people under 35 years of occupation. The same week that Mary, a Muslim mother of seven was killed in Beit Jala, Johnny, a 17-year-old, died in Manger Square as he was coming out of the Church of the Nativity, both shot by Israeli snipers. We're all inmates together, Muslims and Christians, in the same miserable prison called Palestine. We have no freedom, no peace, no jobs, no money for winter heating, no travelling to Jerusalem or between towns and villages, no future."

By: programmer craig

programmer craig — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:15:42 +0000

I don't know why you insist on lying about what he wrote. Plenty of people who are not Christians celebrate Christmas and foster belief in Santa Claus in their kids.

And can you document the large numbers of Palestinian Muslims and Israeli Jews who celebrate Christmas, Sean? Because it sounds like a bunch of crap, to me.

Japan has less Christians than Palestine does, but Christmas is a major celebration there among non-Christians who embrace it as an imported cultural, rather than religious, holiday.

Well, we aren't talking about Japan, are we? We are talking about the middle-east, where Christians, Jews and Muslims have a very troubled history.

Fact is Christmas in America is more a commercial spendfest for the majority of people than it is a religious holiday. Why are you trying to turn Hanitizer's post into a Christians vs Muslims vs Jews screed?

Because that is what it was? Why are you trying to turn a post about celebration of a Christian holiday by Muslims and Jews in the middle-east into some version of what people do in Japan and the US?

By: ALERT

ALERT — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:51:14 +0000

Five Muslim American students in their 20s from northern Virginia, were detained this week in Pakistan for trying to join a jihad, or holy war. Sons of immigrants from Muslim countries are being drawn to violent Islamist militancy. Meanwhile, Will supports the Taliban.

By: Sean2009

Sean2009 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:35:23 +0000

I don't know why you insist on lying about what he wrote. Plenty of people who are not Christians celebrate Christmas and foster belief in Santa Claus in their kids. Japan has less Christians than Palestine does, but Christmas is a major celebration there among non-Christians who embrace it as an imported cultural, rather than religious, holiday. They also like traditional Christian church weddings and celebrate Valentine's Day. Hanitizer's article states that many Russian Jews also celebrate Christmas and miss putting up trees. I have Jewish friends who put up Christmas trees as well. For all these people Christmas and its assorted traditions like trees, gift-giving and Santa Claus is just a fun cultural event like Cinco de Mayo or Day of the Dead, and not religious–though Santa doesn't seem to face as much risk of getting beaten by religious fanatics or spit on in Japan as he does in Israel.

By: Rudy

Rudy — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:54:01 +0000

Christianity is follwed by 6% of the Palestine population and 1.8% of the Israeli population. So it is not at all surprising that there are more Santa believers in Palestine than in Israel, as the article claims..

By: programmer craig

programmer craig — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:29:05 +0000

I'm not sure why you find it "brilliant", Aisha. The vast majority of Palestinians are Muslim and the vast majority of Israelis are Jewish. Neither Jews nor Muslims celebrate Christmas as far as I know. I don't understand why Hanitizer is attempting to use Christianity as a weapon against Jews. Especially on behalf of Palestinian Muslims. How much sense would it make for Pakistanis to be using persecution of Christians as a weapon against Indian Hindus? They both persecute Christians, don't they? Brilliant? I'd say it is weird.

Hani, please leave Christians out of it. Thanks!