Category Archives: Israel

Apocalypse Watch: The Man Who Knows Squat

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Bible and Holy Land, Israel, Luke R. E. Publican, Palestine

Most people find it hard to take cartoons seriously, apart from political satire and that can become a deadly issue, depending on the target. Given the recent Danish cartoon controversy it would seem that comics and religion do not mix well or at least settle well for the believers who see themselves as the target. But what about comic relief for the political struggle between Israel and the Palestinians? Fundamentalist tract artist Jack Chick, whose comic empire is dedicated to winning souls for Christ by drawing on God’s hate, has been using his pen to spread a rather sinister version of the fundamentally reduced Gospel for over 40 years. One of his more recent offerings is called “The Squatters” and it provides a virtual roadmap to apocalypse. Continue reading Apocalypse Watch: The Man Who Knows Squat →

The Tirade against Tyre

Bible and Holy Land, Israel, Lebanon


[Illustration: “Tyre, from the Isthmus” by David Roberts]

The Lebanese port city of Tyre has seen the wrath of the IDF. Many villagers fleeing the unrelenting bombing in the south fled to Tyre as a safe haven, only to find that the leaflets dropped from the sky lied. There is no peace in Tyre. Perhaps the message dropped should have been purely biblical, Psalm 83 for example. Most Christians in American can recite a line or two from the 23rd Psalm, the idyll of the good shepherd and a message of hope. It is oft read from the pulpit. But when was the last time you read Psalm 83. Continue reading The Tirade against Tyre →

Naked and with Shame

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Iraq War, Israel, Palestine

The front page of today’s New York Times has a tabloid flavor: a group of charging Palestinian men stripped down to their underwear and running shoes. The event on Tuesday was an Israeli raid on a Palestinian prison in Jericho. This time the walls came tumbling down due to tanks and bulldozers and the power was outside rather than inside the walls. At stake were six Palestinians previously held in Israel, remanded to the Palestinian authority under a shared incarceration process and now reclaimed by Israel. It seems the British and American monitors decided to leave in fear for their own safety and immediately (perhaps in as little as 10 minutes) the Israeli authorities moved in. As hard as it may be to believe, there are even deeper levels of trust in the volatile Arab-Israeli crisis. Fearing that Hamas might break the agreement, Israel decided to do a preemptive breaking of the agreement themselves.
Continue reading Naked and with Shame →

Smiting Pat Robertson for Spiting Ariel Sharon

Bible and Holy Land, Israel

The White House has just announced that Pat Robertson’s 700 Clubbing of ailing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday is “wholly inappropriate and offensive.” According to an article by Daniela Deane, posted at 2:54 pm on the Washington Post website, “White House press spokesman Trent Duffy made the comment to reporters traveling on Air Force One with President Bush this morning. He added that Robertson’s comments ‘don’t have a place in this or any other debate.’” The White House, even with an evangelical sitting in the oval office, is not willing to whitewash the latest off-the-cuff remarks of Mr. CBN. Continue reading Smiting Pat Robertson for Spiting Ariel Sharon →

What Would Jesus Ride

Bible and Holy Land, Israel

In The Guardian yesterday reporter Conal Urquhart wrote about “Plans for Holy Land theme park on Galilee shore where Jesus fed the 5,000.” Several evangelical Christian groups under the spirited guidance of Rev. Pat Robertson are negotiating with the government of Israel for land to build a 50 ha (125 acre) theme park tentatively called the “Galilee World Heritage Park.” If this seems like a joke, I note that “Sea of Galilee & its Ancient Sites” is listed on the online wish list of world heritage sites. It is no joke to righteously motivated investors trying to raise 60 million dollars. Nor to Syria, which disputes the take-over of its territory along the Sea of Galilee in the 1967 war. Nor is it likely just a joke to Jews, who Pat Robertson and his followers think are about to suffer the worst persecution ever as soon as a soon-to-be Rapture transports all Bible Believers to meet their Lord in the air. But I can’t help but wonder, in this biblically based theme park what would Jesus ride? Continue reading What Would Jesus Ride →