Sorry Pat, but you don't ACT very Christian
By Bonnie Chernin Rogoff (07/25/06)
Syndicated columnist and political analyst Patrick J. Buchanan is a very intelligent man. He is an articulate man and when he writes, people read and listen. That's what makes him all the more dangerous.
Patrick J. Buchanan wrote two articles published in World Net Daily replete with the most vile anti-Israel, anti-Jewish statements that I have seen or read for awhile. His articles are so disturbing that even Mr. Joseph Farah, publisher and CEO of World Net Daily wrote a stinging rebuke(1) to Pat Buchanan.
Here are some select quotes from Mr. Buchanan's piece, Where are the Christians?
Now, Israel's rampage against a defenseless Lebanon - smashing airport runways, fuel tanks, power plants, gas stations, lighthouses, bridges, roads and the occasional refugee convoy - has exposed Bush's folly in subcontracting U.S. policy out of Tel Aviv, thus making Israel the custodian of our reputation and interests in the Middle East.
The Lebanon that Israel, with Bush's blessing, is smashing up has a pro-American government, heretofore considered a shining example of his democracy campaign "Bush sounded less like the leader of the Free World than some bellicose city councilman from Brooklyn Heights."
But what Israel is doing is imposing deliberate suffering on civilians, collective punishment on the innocent people, to force them to do something they are powerless to do: disarm the gunmen among them "Such a policy violates international law and comports neither our values nor our interests. It is un-American and un-Christian."
Pat Buchanan neglects to mention all the Israeli citizens that have been killed. For 15 years Israel controlled the Security Zone in southern Lebanon and seven Israelis were killed. Just in the seven days since the start of this new conflict, 20 Israeli civilians have already been killed. Hundreds have been seriously injured in Haifa and the surrounding communities. The unprovoked and indiscriminate launching of rockets into civilian areas of Israel is what triggered the IDF's response. A secure and terrorist-free southern Lebanon would ensure the safety of the innocents on both sides of the border.
To state that Lebanon is defenseless is outrageous. He omits the fact that southern Lebanon was annexed by Hezbollah to launch its terror campaign against northern Israel. The Jerusalem Newswire reports that Tehran ordered Hezbollah to attack Israel and divert military defenses to allow for a possible Iranian missile attack on Israeli cities. This comes from a group of Iranian exiles (Azadegan Foundation) that placed an ad in the Washington Times on Wednesday, July 19. The missile attacks against northern Israel were planned and executed by the Islamic Republic because they want to divert Israeli missile defense systems.
His despicable comment that President Bush sounded like a so-called “bellicose city councilman from Brooklyn Heights” leaves little to the imagination and harks back to Buchanan’s comment years ago about Israel’s “amen corner” in the United States.
As for Israel’s response in Lebanon being “un-American and un-Christian”, apparently Buchanan does not believe that keeping Israel’s northern border secure would ultimately protect Christian holy sites in Israel if an Iranian assault would be launched.
These quotes are from Buchanan’s second piece entitled “No, this is not our war:”
“One wonders if these Christians care about what is happening to our Christian brethren in Lebanon and Gaza, who had all power cut-off by Israeli air strikes, an outlawed form of collective punishment, that has left them with no sanitation, rotting food, impure water and days without light or electricity in the horrible heat of July.”
“But there is no evidence Iran has any tighter control over Hezbollah than we have over Israel, whose response to the capture of two Israeli soldiers had all the spontaneity of the Schlieffen Plan. And then again Hezbollah attacked Israel, not us.”
The Israeli counter attacks against Hezbollah have had some unintended consequences for both innocent Christians and Muslims in Lebanon. While very regrettable, these defensive actions were necessary to protect civilians from these terrorists. Israel has always protected Christians and their holy sites within its borders.
Buchanan is incorrect when he states that Iran has no influence in Lebanon. The Hezbollah movement is backed, funded and armed by Iran. In 1982 Iran founded a Lebanese branch of Iranian Hezbollah – Party of God. Soon thereafter foreign nationals in Lebanon were being kidnapped and killed, culminating in the deaths of 241 U.S. Marines and 56 French paratroopers. Today, Hezbollah has outposts in over 20 countries around the world.
The xenophobic Buchanan continues to urge Americans to turn a blind eye to the Middle East conflict and Israel’s plight because he claims it does not affect us. He forgets that ultimately this chaos may reach our shores again.
There will always be those who are friends of Israel and those who are enemies. There are many Christian writers, such as Joseph Farah, Cal Thomas and others who understand what’s at stake in the Middle East if the United States pressures Israel into scaling back its offensive. Real Christians support Israel. Pat Buchanan, you have never been a friend of Israel. You are what you write, and you don’t ACT very Christian.
Copyright 2006 by Bonnie Rogoff
1) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51152
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