Israel hate crimes 'poison atmosphere' for pope visit

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=696640

HAIFA (AFP) -- The head of the Roman Catholic church in the Holy Land said Sunday that Israeli hate crimes against local Muslims and Christians are souring relations ahead of a papal visit.

"The unrestrained acts of vandalism poison the atmosphere -- the atmosphere of co-existence and the atmosphere of collaboration, especially in these two weeks prior to the visit of Pope Francis," Latin Patriarch Fuad Twal said.

"It is also a blight on the democracy that Israel ascribes to itself," he told a news conference in the northern port city of Haifa.
---
On Friday, vandals spray-painted anti-Christian graffiti on a Jerusalem church, just days after the Roman Catholic church demanded that Israel act following the discovery of racist slogans daubed on a Vatican-owned property elsewhere in the city.

[Israeli]

1. Amos Oz: 'Price tag' vandals are 'Hebrew neo-Nazis'

Acclaimed Israel author Amos Oz slams price tag attacks and those behind them, claiming perpetrators 'enjoy support from nationalistic and even racist legislators.'

One of Israel's best known writers, Amos Oz, said that Israelis behind 'price tag' attacks against Muslims and Christian are "Hebrew neo-Nazis."

The award-winning author said that the term 'price tag', widely used to describe the attack, and 'hill top youths', the term used to describe the radical settler youths behind the attacks, are sanitized euphemisms.

They are "sweet names for a monster that needs to be called what it is: Hebrew neo-Nazi groups," Oz said at an event in Tel Aviv, which marked his 75th birthday and publication of his new book.

"Our neo-Nazi groups enjoy the support of numerous nationalist or even racist legislators, as
well as rabbis who give them what is in my view pseudo-religious justification," he said at the event.

Oz is staunch supporter of the two-state solution.

Earlier Friday, vandals spray-painted anti-Christian graffiti on a Jerusalem church, despite police stepping up security around religious sites ahead of a visit by Pope Francis later this month.

"Price tag... King David for the Jews... Jesus is garbage" was written in Hebrew on the wall of St George's Romanian Orthodox church near an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.

Police also said "Death to Arabs" was found written on a house in the Old City in east Jerusalem, and swastikas were scrawled on the wall of a west Jerusalem apartment.

After Hebrew graffiti reading "Death to Arabs and Christians and to everyone who hates Israel" was daubed on its Notre Dame complex in Jerusalem on Monday, the Roman Catholic church demanded Israeli action.

"The bishops are very concerned about the lack of security and lack of responsiveness from the political sector, and fear an escalation of violence," the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.

The attacks on Christian property come amid a rise in anti-Arab property crimes. Israeli ministers held an emergency meeting Wednesday, pledging to enforce harsh measures against perpetrators.

Although police have made scores of arrests, there have been nearly no successful prosecutions for such attacks, and the government has come up under mounting pressure to authorize the Shin Bet internal security agency to step in.

Source : http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4518061,00.html

[Israeli]

2. more :....

Yes, there are Hebrew neo-Nazi groups

Op-ed: After sparking a row with his verbal attack on 'price tag' vandals, author Amos Oz explains why he stands behind his comments.

I have been talking about the occupation and the settlements from the moral aspect for almost 50 years now. On Friday, during an event at Tzavta (a cultural center in Tel Aviv), I wanted to say something about it from the godly aspect.

If there will not be two states very soon, there will be one state – and it will be an Arab state. And if there is an Arab state, I feel no envy for the Jews who will live in it. It will be one of the most difficult exiles.

Get off Benjamin Netanyahu's case. He is not in control of the government. The Likud's Knesset faction is a faction of radical settlers. Netanyahu is nearly the most leftist person in the Likud's Knesset faction.

The real government in Israel is controlled by the rabbis of the territories, and there is one person to blame for this situation. His name is Yair Lapid, and he has the power to bring this government down whenever he pleases.

The names "price tag" and "hilltop youth" are embellished names. We must look the monster in the eye and call it by its name. We wanted to be a nation like all nations. We hoped that one day there would be a Hebrew thief and a Hebrew prostitute.

We also have Hebrew neo-Nazi groups. There is nothing the modern neo-Nazis in Europe are doing that these groups are not doing here.

The only difference may stem from the fact that our neo-Nazi groups enjoy the support of quite a few nationalistic, perhaps even racist, lawmakers, as well as a few rabbis who provide them with a foundation which I see as pseudo-religious. This is, in my opinion, the great difference between the Jews and the Jews' words.

I considered the comments I made at Tzavta carefully. When I address an audience, I plan for hours and think about every word. I am a man of words. This is my profession.

Source: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4518174,00.html

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

3. Thank you for posting this, Israeli.

I'm sure some ...ahem... community leader will be by shortly to denounce you and your treasonous words sooner or later.

[Israeli]

4. Yeah well ....

easy to denounce me .... not so easy when its Amos Oz .

[Jefferson23]

5. How sad is that? ugh. K&R