Here at the Zundelsite, I am constantly besieged to take a stand on either
one of roughly two sides regarding
"Christianity-vis-a-vis-the-Jews-and-Israel".
One side points to two thousand years of cherished Christian values that helped build Western civilization by drawing on the virtues articulated in the Sermon on the Mount - in contrast to what the Talmud prescribes to its tribe.
They want to know: "Who shed His blood for you? You cannot win this by yourself! Where's Christ in this nationalist struggle?"
The other side wants me to take a firmer stand on what they see as the root of our Aryan weakness - the built-in Biblical mandate to see the Jews as "Chosen" - because the authoritarian fellow of the Old Testament has slammed down his gavel and said so.
They want to know: "Why in the name of common sense - and in the face of so much bloodshed of those spineless martyred Christians - worship yet another Jew?"
I take the middle road - not out of ideological ambivalence but simply because our comrades will come eventually, I believe, out of that pool of snoozing and befuddled Christianity. There are far more of them in the former group than the latter, and they are of ***our*** tribe.
Why alienate good folks whose values include truth over lies?
There is also a practical aspect to this: We don't need a religious war - such as they have in Northern Ireland. If our common enemy succeeds in getting traditional Christians to take on those whom they can be taught to perceive as "satanic" - i.e., non-Christian Aryans - we'll have another divisive, possibly even fratricidal mess.
As we all know, it will not be the first time our enemies have wildly succeeded in setting brother against brother.
And some Christians are waking up to what is happening, albeit very slowly. This can be clearly seen in the Identity movement - look how those folks are vilified by mainstream Christianity and Jews alike! The Polish Crosses "Mexican stand-off" at Auschwitz was certainly a rough example of outraged Catholic Christians asserting themselves against Jewish meddling and ideological encroachment - discovering that they still have a spine. Ordinary outraged Catholics!
As far as I know, very little of what happened at Auschwitz in the Polish Crosses controversy has been dealt with in the mainstream Catholic media, but the Internet is awash with angry Catholics who are fed up with Jewish pushiness at Auschwitz and who cheered those who held up their crosses, even in crass defiance of Rome - just like that priest we watched with such fascination in the disturbing film "The Exorcist".
Now there are rumblings that the same Christian belligerence has reached at least some thinkers at the Vatican - a place besieged for quite some time to force them. too, lick the boots of Israel.
A recent AP article gives us some toothsome details. The post below appeared in one of the newsgroups - which a friend sent me with the comment:
"Looks like (name deleted) is not the only fish in the Catholic sea standing up for what is right in this day of genuflecting toward Tel Aviv."
The disected article posted in a newsgroup goes as follows:
Vatican Official Miffed at Israel
By Sari Bashi
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, July 20, 1999; 2:48 a.m. EDT
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) -- A papal representative shocked listeners at a conference on anti-Semitism by saying that Israel is to blame for tensions between Jews and the Catholic Church.
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: Indeed she is. Apparently there are people there who feel it is an opportune time to revert to those thrilling days of yesteryear when Christians were denounced, arrested, and murdered by anti-Christian Jewish bigots....They must be longing for the days of Domitian and Stalin.
AP: The Rev. David Yager said at the conference Monday that Roman Catholic institutions are no longer anti-Semitic . . .
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: They never were!
AP: . . . and that Israel's anti-Catholic attitude is preventing relations from warming as Israel prepares to greet millions of Christian pilgrims at the start of the new millennium.
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: We have seen an example of this warm welcome recently when I posted the law which was passed concerning Christians who try to proselytize in Israel: A sentence of 5 years imprisonment! And this law was passed on Christmas day, adding insult to injury!
AP: The priest, who represents the Holy See on a bilateral committee to improve relations with Israel, said that Jewish mistrust of Catholics was unjustified and that Israel was creating antagonism. He claimed, for example, that the commonly used Hebrew word for Jesus, Yeshu, is actually an acronym for ``May his name and memory be erased.''
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: In fact, this is exactly how Christ is referred to in the Talmud and other Jewish writings.
AP: Jewish researchers suggest that Yeshu is merely the Hebrew corruption of the Greek version of ``Joshua,'' believed to be Jesus' birth name; or that it is the shortened version of the Hebrew word ``Yeshua,'' which means savior.
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: Who cares what they suggest? It is a lie.
AP: The mutual recriminations are hampering preparations for the millions of Catholics expected to visit Israel next year, particularly if the Pope fulfills his announced desire to visit the Holy Land in March of 2000.
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: Let whatever happens, happen. It is long overdue.
AP: "The Catholic Church and the Jewish people are now allies, friends and lovers," Yager said. But, he said, Israel has angered the Vatican by refusing to acknowledge Catholic overtures of friendship, including recent official declarations against anti-Semitism.
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: Give them time . . . the Vatican will learn, just as I and others have learned in this (news group).
AP: He said Israel aimed to keep the Vatican on the defensive, pointing to Israeli reminders of Pope Pius XII's alleged failure to speak out against Nazi atrocities during World War II, which he called a "blood libel."
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: Of course it is, but libel means nothing to these people unless they imagine it is directed against them.
AP: Israel has sharply criticized a proposal in the Vatican to beatify Pius, the last step before making him a saint, saying his public silence on the genocide of 6 million Jews facilitated collaboration with the Nazis.
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: Who gives a damn about their silly, hateful criticisms. Pius will be canonized and all the howling in Israel will never prevent it. Only two Popes in the entire history of the Catholic Church were graced with a vision of Christ the Messiah - Peter, and Pius XII. So, the Jews can reject the beatification and canonization just as they reject the Messiah - Catholics will be unconcerned.
AP: The Vatican says Pius acted for Jews behind the scenes, and that public activism would have endangered Catholic lives.
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: This is a fact.
AP: Jewish participants said Yager was glossing over 2,000 years of Catholic anti-Semitism.
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: A Jewish BLOOD LIBEL against Christianity. Jews, in fact, were the first among those to persecute early Christians unto death:
Christ the Messiah
St. Stephen
St. Barnabas
St. Polycarp
St. Pionius
St. Paul (Almost murdered on numerous occasions. Beaten, scourged, etc.) Hundreds of Jewish Christians murdered by Bar Kokba with the blessing of Rabbi Akiba, who himself was later executed by the Romans.
It is a fact that Jews orchestrated massive denunciations and persecutions of Christians in the first two centuries AD in an effort to exterminate the unwelcome rival which supplanted the Old Covenant with the New.
AP: "Our questions, our desires to search the truth are not blood libelous,'' said an angry Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League.
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: A very poor attempt at humor.
AP: Foxman praised efforts by the current pope, John Paul II, to remove anti-Semitism from Catholic liturgy, but said the message was not filtering down to churches at the grass-roots level.
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: In other words, these people expect Catholics to censor and delete the entire New Testament! Anything these Jews object to, is to be expunged!
AP: "We both have responsibilities that we haven't fulfilled,'' (Foxman) said, suggesting that levels of anti-Semitism were still higher-than-average among Catholics.
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: It is their responsibility to acknowledge and atone for the numerous crimes, offenses, and insults committed against Catholics and Christians throughout the world, from the time of Christ to the role played by Jewish executioners and persecutors of Christians in Soviet Russia, Poland and the Eastern Bloc, to present-day anti-Christian legislation passed in Israel.
Christians are owed an apology and restitution. Catholics and Christians should also DEMAND that insulting and blasphemous references made in the Talmud, Sefer Toldoth Yeshu and other Jewish Books and Commentaries, be stricken from the volumes or that a full page renouncement and apology for these offenses be included with all new editons of the same.
AP: The Vatican and Israel established full diplomatic relations in 1993, reaching a peak in efforts to reconcile the Jewish people and the Roman Catholic church. But relations remain strained . . .
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: . . . thanks to Israel, who apparently wishes for Christians to genuflect in the direction of Tel Aviv, yet are unwilling to acknowledge their own seedy role in these disturbed relations over the centuries.
AP: Rabbi David Rosen, an ADL representative to the Israel-Holy See committee, said that after 2,000 years of church-sanctioned anti-Semitism, it would take time for Jews to regain trust in the Vatican.
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: Rather, it will take the WORLD time to regain trust in Israel!
AP: "The major educational onus is on the Catholic side," (Rabbi Rosen) said, noting, for example, that many priests still believe that suffering was brought upon the Jewish people because they rejected Jesus -- although that doctrine was officially renounced in the 1960s, with the Vatican II council.
NEWSGROUP COMMENT: Vatican II does not and never DID speak for the majority of Catholics. The New Testament as well as the Old are quite explicit as to the guilt incurred by those Jews who rejected the Messiah and brought about His murder as well as the murder of the Saints and martyrs - from Rome to Soviet Russia.
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Thought for the Day:
"We plan to continue in 1954 a program of visits to Catholic parochial schoos. . . New efforts will be made during the coming year to seek the publication of revised editions of Catholic textbooks through the good officers of the Catholic Biblical Association. In addition, we will help the Committee on Citizenship of the Catholic University of America in the preparation of texts on Jews and Judaism and articles for youth magazines."
(American Jewish Committee, as quoted in "Judaism in Action", page 154)