I don’t know what to make of that statement. First you alleged that there was a campaign of bible burning in Israel in the 80s, but I’m not sure where you got that information from.
I got the information from a reference to Shahak’s book. I even provided a link for you to examine it further if you wanted to.
I can’t personally verify it. I’m going on the word of an Orthodox Jewish man who survived the holocaust and lived in Israel and has claimed this happened on March 23, 1980.
It wasn’t a religious campaingn to remove Chrsitianity Valke2. It was a public expression of a religous belief.
Look. I don’t live in Israel-- so I can’t verify this.
Send an email to stillsmallvoice. He lives there. He could verify whether these facts are true or not.
Valke2:
Now you are saying Israel has a long history of doing things like this. What sort of things? Are you referring to ultra right religious groups? And if so, what actions? Israel is a country, and like any country it is going to have people who commit hate crimes.
I don’t know if they’re hate crimes. But there does appear to be some kind of non-Jewish discrimination going on there.
In 1992 a US State Department report on human rights discussed Israel’s rule of non-Jews in the occupied territories. In effect, the report claimed that there was a dual system of law.
For example, sentences given to Israelis for killing Palestinians were generally much lighter than sentences handed down to Palestinians convicted of killing either Israelis or Palestinians.
Israeli settlers were also effecitvely immune to many forms of disciplinary actions and restrictions which were placed on Palestinians too. Examples included restrictions on movement and travel, detention without charge or trial, closure of schools and universities, and many other examples.
Things may have improved since this time. But I honestly don’t know for sure since I don’t live there.
Nonetheless, a pattern of profaning Christian sites did apparently begin early in the history of a the re-emerging nation of Israel. Outrageous incidents of anti-Christian desecration have led to official protests from from the UN, other countries, and sometimes by international Christian bodies.
For example, the CUP (Christian Union of Palestine) led the way in 1948 by issuing a statement denouncing the destruction and descreation of Christian holy places that took place as a part of the war to establish the Stae of Israel.
In the preamble to their statement, the CUP said…
Because of this dreadful situation, We, the representatives of the Christian Communities, deem it our solemn duty to raise our voice of protest against the violation of the sanctity of our Churches, convents and institutions.
The report that followed detailed 26 of the worst cases that had occured during the course of the war. Consequently, this wasn’t simply the normal sort of casualties that one would expect during wartime. In fact, since that time, incidents of vandalism have increased rather than diminished.
Me personally? I’m not sure what to make of these reports. But it seems to me that there is indeed a long history of things like this happening in Israel since it’s rebirth. It isn’t just Shahak making these claims.
