We have been discussing the criminalization of Christmas celebrations by the Sultan of Brunei. Now, as if to show that Muslim extremists have no monopoly on crazy, Benzi Gopshtain (also reported as “Gopstein”), who heads the far-right Lehava organisation, has called for the same prohibition in Israel. Indeed, the statement of Gopstein and those of the Muslim clerics in Brunei seems almost indistinguishable.
The clerics insisted that “Some may think that [celebrating Christmas] is a frivolous matter and should not be brought up as an issue. But as Muslims and as a Zikir Nation, we must keep it (following other religions’ celebrations) away as it could affect our Islamic faith.”
They will get no argument from Gopshtain who said that Christians are “vampires” and “Christmas has no place in the Holy Land.” Gopshtain actually is more extreme than his Muslim counterparts who were willing to allow Christians to celebrate “in their communities.” (Though there is still a major difference from a wing nut like Gopshtain and the head of a country like the Sultan). Gopshtain insisted that such celebrations represent the “fall of the line of defence of the Jewish people for hundreds of years against our enemies, the Catholic Church.” He added “[t]he mission of those vampires and bloodsuckers remains. If Jews cannot be killed, they can be converted. We must remove the vampires before they drink our blood once again.”
Just in case you thought that this was a joke, Gopshtain has been repeatedly investigated for hate speech and there is a new call for such an investigation. Ironically, while Gopshtain is a hateful and grotesque person, I strongly disagree that such comments should be treated as criminal matters. In the free speech community, we are often faced with defending people with whom we disagree or people we despise. Yet, this is political and religious speech. Raw and hateful to be sure but it is still part of the debate over religious freedom. The solution to people like Gopshtain is more not less speech. It is not hard to expose his prejudice and intolerance. It is better for people like Gopstein to identify themselves and subject themselves to public ridicule than to force them underground.
The real debate should be over the public funding of extremist organizations by Israel. Gopshtain has been the public relations director of Hemla, which dedicates itself to “saving the daughters of Israel” from mixed marriages with Palestinian men. The state of Israel has supported the organization annually, public monies that have also supported Gopshtain.
My point exactly:
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“Jewish extremists are a ‘ticking bomb’ for Israel
Published time: 25 Dec, 2015 12:31
© Debbie Hill / Reuters
Benjamin Netanyahu condemning violence as Israel cracks down on Palestinians is a double-standard, says Yehiel Grenimann from Rabbis for Human Rights. Jewish extremists are a “ticking bomb” and should be dealt with before for Israel becomes a healthy democracy, he adds.
An Israeli TV channel broadcast a wedding video in which Jewish Radicals were dancing with guns and stabbing the photo of a baby who was burnt to death this summer. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the celebration saying these people pose a danger to society and the country’s security.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “The shocking pictures that were broadcast this evening show the true face of a…
RT: Do you think there are a lot of right-wing extremists in Israel?
Yehiel Grenimann: There is a core group of a few hundred people who are very extreme. There are thousands of people who support their approach. It is a significant population, it is not insignificant.
RT: What makes youth radicalized to the extent they are ready to kill whole Palestinian families?
YG: There’s a process. First of all, there’s a background of the trauma of World War II passed on through families and amplified by rabbis, educators using that background. Then, there is the experience of generations already of terrorism. And on the top of that, there was the trauma of the withdrawal from Gaza by the Sharon government of settlers and the shock that they did not have popular support…
Read more
A relative of 18-month-old Palestinian baby Ali Dawabsheh, who was killed after his family’s house was set to fire in a suspected attack by Jewish extremists, shows his picture at the burnt house in Duma village near the West Bank city of Nablus July 31, 2015 © Abed Omar QusiniRadical Orthodox Jews stab photo of murdered Arab baby at wedding ceremony (VIDEO)
RT: But that does not justify the extremism and violence that they use on other people does it?
YG: There is no justification. You asked me to try to explain why this developed. It is clearly forbidden by Jewish law. It is shocking; I am a child of Holocaust survivors, to see this kind of hatred at the wedding as positively shocking. Torah preaches and teaches love and peace. I don’t justify that behavior in any way or form. Our group has been campaigning against such hate crimes. We are members of a coalition called Tag Meir of 51 Israeli religious and educational organizations who’ve been pushing and lobbing for stronger acts by the government, warning that this kind of thing might happen before it did happen. Finally, there is now some move on the part of the government to do something about it…
RT: On the one hand, we see Benjamin Netanyahu condemning violence, condemning those attacks and on the other the crackdown on Palestinians still goes on. What is it? Is it just pure rhetoric or is it double-standards, what is it?
YG: I think it is an element of double-standards. I think the right-wing government is now concerned. They’ve put more money and forces into dealing with these Jewish extremists. These extremists have political protectors in the system who are pushing Netanyahu to go soft. I think now the right-wing government is worried and now they are being accused of using torture against these extremists.
We as a Human rights group are opposed to use of torture. The claim is [that] when there is a ticking bomb – it’s justified. Some of these people clearly are a ticking bomb and they’ve already caused the death of innocents. It is very difficult to deal with right-wing Jewish extremism when Jews and Israel feel attacked. But that is what has to be done if we want the country to be a viable healthy democracy.
The statements, views and opinions express
Merry Christmas https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1137175186312771
Po; The Sufi’s are such beautiful people.
“The greatest trick of the mind:
The greatest trick of the mind is to give you the idea of that which you are not, and to help you feel that you are already that.
Gurdjieff used to tell a parable…. There was a magician who was also a shepherd. He had thousands of sheep to look after and he was a very miserly man so he didn’t want many servants and he didn’t want many watchmen. He did not want to pay anybody and he did not want his sheep to be lost or taken by the wolves. But it was very difficult for him to take care of all the sheep alone. He was very rich and he had many sheep.
So he played a trick on the sheep. He hypnotised them — he was a magician. He hypnotised them and told every sheep, ‘You are not a sheep. Don’t be afraid.’ To some he said, ‘You are a lion.’ To some he said, ‘You are tigers.’ To some he even said, ‘You are men. Nobody is going to kill you. Don’t be afraid and don’t try to escape from here.’
The sheep started believing in his hypnosis. Every day he would butcher a few sheep but the others would think, ‘We are not sheep. He is butchering only sheep. We are lions, we are tigers, we are wolves, we are this and that…’ even that they were men. Some were even told that they were magicians — and they believed it. It was always some sheep which was to be butchered. They remained aloof, distant. They were not worried. And by and by they were all butchered.
As told by Osho in “Sufis the people of the path”
“”Deceit is of such universal occurrence that he who speaks truth is as a rule branded the greatest of liars.”
– From Ingmar Bergman’s The Magician
Go look at the real origins of Christmas…
http://historicalchristmas.blogspot.com/
Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Italy, France, Canada, the U.S. are all in bed together. They all follow the same playbook.
.Bethlehem Celebrates Another Occupied Christmas
Whether the city of Jesus’ birth will be a symbol for peace or for war lies in the hands of Israel’s leaders. Can they respect the legal and moral imperative to respect Palestinians’ inalienable rights?
Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah Dec 23, 2015 1:00 PM
Welcome to Bethlehem, where ‘teargas has become our perfume’
At this holy time of the year, Bethlehem, the city of the Nativity, stands at the center of attention of the whole world. What the world might overlook as it watches is that the very city where Jesus was born celebrates yet another occupied Christmas. This year, Israel, a self-proclaimed “safe haven” for Christians, has presented to Bethlehem a few unwelcome Christmas gifts.
Israel’s Christmas gifts to Bethlehem this year serve towards consolidating the separation between Bethlehem and its twin city, Jerusalem; the city where Jesus was born and the city where he was resurrected – the essence of the Christian faith. Aside from the daily violations that the besieged Bethlehem suffers as a result of the occupation, Israel issued a military order last week announcing that it has confiscated 101 dunams of Bethlehem’s northern lands. In the same week, the Israeli government approved the expansion of the illegal settlement of Gilo – built on privately owned lands of Bethlehem – by 891 new housing units.
Right to the west of the Gilo settlement lies the Cremisan valley in Beit Jala with its two Salesian monasteries and privately owned agricultural lands. Despite a nine-year legal battle, tremendous diplomatic lobby efforts and civil resistance, Israel continues to build the annexation wall in Cremisan, leaving 58 Palestinian Christian families robbed of their lands. Where do these families go now and to whom do they have recourse?
Despite Israel’s claim that it is the only country in the Middle East where Christians prosper, the unspoken message it sends on the ground is that it has no respect whatsoever for their rights as Palestinians and for their existence in their homeland. It is claimed that Islamic extremism is the reason behind the massive emigration of Palestinian Christians. In reality, the problems of Palestinian Christians stem essentially from the fact that they are Palestinians living under the Israeli occupation. What drives a Palestinian Christian out of his homeland to seek a better future elsewhere is the daily harassment of the occupation, and Israel’s land confiscation policies fall at the heart of the matter.
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.693394
Thank you Po. You remind me of a friend of mine who belongs to a group called “Jews for Jesus”. The TRUE teachings of the enlightened ones is always Love and Awareness. Aren’t they always telling people to AWAKEN???
http://www.jewsforjesus.org/
And in other related news:
Published on Dec 19, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBw172_dLA8
Jeff is interviewed by Dave of the X22 Report, topics include: the geopolitical situation in the middle east, a new Pearl Harbor, USA started ISIS, proxy wars, the petrodollar system, global domination toward a one world government, the wholesale removal of individual rights and freedoms, the US is now more communist than Russia and China, the role of central banking, the world is moving away from the US dollar, hyperinflation vs gold and silver, sharp rise in capital and travel controls, the Shemitah unfolding pretty much as predicted, ever increasing debt and money printing, the US is highly vulnerable to interest rate rises, US the most bankrupt and indebted country in history!”
The vampires are the ones that conspired to murder Christ, St stephen, countless martyrs and saints including little Hugh of Lincoln and Saint Simon of Trent. Add to that the millions of aborted children of Christians terminated by Jewish abortionists too. Throw in a few million Christians starved and executed by Lazar Kaganovich. No, we’re not counting, we lost count. Let’s just say, its way north of Six Million. Do you think we forgot them just because all the bigwigs are afraid of the Jews? We plebs got your number alright.
If you wonder what Muslims do for Christmas, compared to this extremist rabbi, bambam, here it is https://www.facebook.com/celebratemercy/photos/gm.1550388141919636/10153139073957167/?type=3&theater
A Blessed Christmas to everyone, and may the light of Jesus As enter the heart of all and heal us from hypocrisy, hard headiness, and darkness of the heart as it makes us demonize others for the sake of our idols, fear and hatred.
May our Palestinian christian friends be allowed the celebration of such a tremendous day, and may they be protected from the oppression and repression that is their lot.
And may God restraint the hands, the spit and the vehemence directed at them…and may He stir the hearts of their Christian brethren in the west, who speak much but do little, supporters as they are of the oppression of their folks.
May the divine light through which He created Jesus As shine in the world and be peace to the world, heal it and guide us…
…oh yeah, and may we gain reading comprehension too.
A beautiful song!
Po; “Hild, with some i exchange ideas, with others, I joust… sometimes it is as effective as going to the gym 🙂
By the way,second best thing out of Israel? Bambam!”
Either there are glitches in this WordPress site or the moderator didn’t like the Infected Mushroom video I posted or….? Anyway this reply from you shows up in my email but not on this site and Tom Nash says his comments are disappearing too.
Regardless of all that, whether this post makes to the big screen, I wish you all the love of the season as Jesus would have wanted it. Kiss and make up now kids! Love is the only true religion. “All else is mind-churning dreams.”
Oh and don’t forget to use the other half of your brain once in a while. You know, the one for whom logic is a poor substitute for direct divine knowing? If the left brain weren’t so overly developed we wouldn’t have 9/10ths of these horrific problems. Logic by itself is Hell itself.
From the point of view of an outsider from another planet I will give you my take on the “view”. Go to the rear of your abode and get a five gallon bucket. Put some honey in the bottom. Come back the next day and observe. You will see ants, bees, spiders, cockroaches and other things you deem to be creatures. It is much like I see when I see Christians, Hebrews, Draft Brews, Muslims, and the Irish.
Tom,
Any honest person that believes Israel has a legitimate right to exist as a nation-state would not have any difficulty providing a qualified answer to that question. For example, yes but not the Golan Heights. Even yes but nowhere they currently claim would have been a positive response. Po cannot even even say no. That’s what he thinks of Israel. That’s his tell; that’s his worldview.
He is a deceptive one, that is for sure.