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July 2, 2009
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The hallmark of a person
Abe Novick: Up, up, and aliya
July 1, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: The Road Taken
The Kosher Gourmet
by Marialisa Calta: Get into the holiday spirit with these Star-Spangled desserts
June 30, 2009
Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg: What makes a great parent?
Caroline B. Glick: Ideologue-in-Chief
June 29, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Beware of 'Caveat Emptor'
Steven Emerson: ACLU pushing for more money for Hamas
June 26, 2009
Rabbi Yoni Posnick: Learn the secret to a healthy marriage from a scriptural villain
Caroline B. Glick: Barack Obama vs. International Law
June 25, 2009
Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf: The Absurd Power of Truth
Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip:
Everything's Relative
June 24, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Advancement of technology is a wake-up call for humanity
The Kosher Gourmet by Andrea Weigl: Summer on a stick: Making frozen treats can be easy, creative and fun
June 23, 2009
Martin M. Bodek: 'On Surnames': And so, We Begin
Caroline B. Glick: The Obama Effect
June 22, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Working for a corrupt firm
N. Richard Greenfield : Where are American Jews?
June 19, 2009
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Emotion v. intellect
Caroline B. Glick: Israel's rare opportunity
June 18, 2009
Jonathan Rosenblum: Sometimes it is more essential to define the nature of evil than good
Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip:
Everything's Relative
June 17, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Language of Confusion
The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Nothing pleases Dad more than a thick, juicy onion-smothered steak. Add home-Baked Potato Chips and …
June 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Career v. Careersism
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's losing streak and Israel
Richard Z. Chesnoff: Palestinians: Never Missing an Opportunity …
June 15, 2009
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: How Judea and Samaria can become 'Palestine'
Daniel Pipes: Where Netanyahu's speech failed
June 12, 2009
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Some big thoughts about not acting so big
Caroline B. Glick:
Obama's High Commissioner
June 11, 2009
Victor Davis Hanson: Our historically challenged President
Mitch Albom: Beware the True Believers
Lewis Grossberger: What we learn from the new Hitler photos
June 10, 2009
Mort Zuckerman: What Obama and his advisors won't -- or refuse to -- grasp about Israel and the Muslim world
The Kosher Gourmet
by Steve Petusevsky Lotsa pasta: Tips, techniques and (amazing) taste
June 9, 2009
Anne Bayefsky: Obama's stunning offense to Israel and the Jewish people
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: America's first Muslim president?
June 8, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Merchant must take responsibility for careless shopper?
Mark Steyn: A superpower that feeds on mediocrity cannot survive for long on leftovers from the past
Richard Z. Chesnoff: How do you say 'kumbaya' in Arabic?
June 5, 2009
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: In quest of spirituality
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's Arabian dreams
Charles Krauthammer: The Settlements Myth
June 4, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The War Comes to Little Rock
The Kosher Gourmet
by Judy Hevrdejs: Splash it on! Tap your inner jazz musician and improvise when stirring up a vinaigrette
June 3, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Should terrible teacher be exposed?
Jonathan Rosenblum: The Israel Lobby: Missing in Action
June 2, 2009
Dennis Prager: The Speech President Obama Won't Dare Give in Egypt
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Pressure on Israel raises war risk
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)
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Jewish World Review
May 26, 2005
/ 17 Iyar, 5764
Greek Orthodox Patriarch refuses to resign after synod attacks him for enabling expanded Jewish settlement in Jerusalem
By
RACHEL RASKIN-ZRIHEN
|  Ex-Greek Patriarch Irineos I |
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Irineos I dared to lease to Jews land that "Palestinians" want for the capital of a future state
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
There's a huge controversy brewing over what is described as "explosive"
allegations that the Greek Orthodox Church's patriarch in Jerusalem sold
property in that city to Jews.
Clearly a tragedy and an outrage. I mean, property in the Jews' holy city
being bought by Jews. Imagine that.
If some group in the United States threw a hissy fit over property being
sold to or bought by members of racial or religious group, my guess is that
the outcry would be over the hissy fit. But the Arab world is definitely not
the United States.
The Arab world, particularly the Palestinians, are reportedly up in arms
over what they term "the Judaizing" of Jerusalem.
Specifically, the Church's patriarch, Irineos I, is being pressured to
resign because one of his top aids may have made 198-year leases with Jews
for some church property, according to the Associated Press. AP also reports
that World Orthodox leaders voted Tuesday in Turkey to stop recognizing
Irineos I, asserting a rare unified position during a rare "pan-Orthodox"
gathering. Irineos refuses to resign.
Let's examine this.
It is apparently grossly unacceptable for the Christian owners of property
in Israel, in Jerusalem, the city of David, built by the Jews in antiquity,
to sell or lease any of it to Jews.
Doesn't this show a rather intense anti-Semitism, while simultaneously
illuminating that fact that there is property in Israel owned by members of
other faiths. In fact, there are churches and mosques all over the place
there, where adherents are left unmolested to worship as they choose. This
is not generally the case in the 40-odd Arab/Muslim countries, where being a
non-Muslim is a definite handicap, and being a Jew can be fatal.
These houses of worship of various faiths remain standing in the Holy Land,
even since Israel's rebirth. An impartial comparison between Israel and
probably any place overtaken by Arabs/Muslims in the past thousand years,
would surely reveal a marked lack of tolerance for any other faith on
Islam's part. The Muslim tradition, in fact, has been to destroy any vestige
of a peoples' past culture or religion when-and-wherever Islam has gained
the upper hand.
In no other arena is the qualitative difference between the Jewish and
Muslim cultures more evident than in the fact that there are millions of
Arabs living and working in Israel, some even serving in the military and
the parliament, working as doctors and nurses in Israeli hospitals and
generally enjoying the same freedoms and responsibilities as Jewish
Israelis. This seems to strike no one as strange, though it stands in marked
contrast to the treatment of Jews in the Muslim world. Somehow, though, the
idea of Jews living in "Palestine" or most other Arab countries, strikes
many people as an unacceptable and dangerous provocation.
I find that curious and not a little aggravating, especially since, despite
the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Israel, and not the Arab/Muslim
world, has been labeled by many as racist.
Irineos I is under siege for leasing to Jews land Palestinians want for the
capital of a future state.
Why would Jerusalem and not Ramallah or some other West Bank or Gazan city
be the capitol of a future Palestinian state? Jerusalem is holy to Jews as
the sight of the ancient temples of David and Solomon. It is Judaism's only
holy city, mentioned in the Torah hundreds if not thousands of
times. It's holy to Christians as the place Jesus preached and died, and is
mentioned many times in the Christian Bible, too.
Jerusalem is said to be holy to Muslims as the place from which Mohammed,
who historically never actually set foot there, ascended to heaven riding a
winged beast. Jerusalem is mentioned in the Quran exactly zero times.
Jerusalem's famous and admittedly beautiful gold-domed mosque was
constructed atop the ancient temple and bigger than the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher, as a symbolic raspberry -- it's importance to Islam artificially
inflated.
The Israel/Palestinian situation is an impossible quagmire, with the
Israelis seemingly unable to win for losing. It should get out of Gaza, it
shouldn't get out of Gaza. It should get out immediately, but not too soon.
It has the right to defend its citizens against bloodthirsty terrorists, but
not to do so effectively.
Where is the Messiah when you need him?
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for our daily update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment on JWR contributor Rachel Raskin-Zrihen's column by clicking here.
12/30/04 The U.N's politics of humanitarianism
05/04/04 And the world still remains silent
03/08/04 Are lunatics running the Arab asylum?
04/21/03 Big Lies at Passover
04/01/03 How the Arabs outsmarted the West and have no reason to stop
© 2005, Rachel Raskin-Zrihen
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