If these protesters want to claim Jesus as their own, they are also going to have to claim him as the ruler of Israel
The war on Christmas has a long and ignoble history, but pro-Palestinian supporters trying to disrupt Santa Claus when he is Ho-Ho-Hoing with kids at a Canadian mall takes it to a whole new level.
This past weekend saw mobs descending on malls in Ottawa and Toronto; a threat in front of a policeman to put someone “six feet deep” and the chant of dishonest propagandists proclaiming, “Jesus was Palestinian.”
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At Ottawa’s Bayshore Mall at the weekend, pro-Palestinian demonstrators decided it would be a good idea to harass shoppers and children, because, you know, it’s the run up to Christmas so why not inject a little hate into the proceedings.
“While you’re shopping, bombs are dropping,” said the protesters on a video posted to Twitter, now X, while a mother can be seen trying to put a small child on Santa’s lap amid the mayhem.
Meanwhile, others chanted, “Jesus was Palestinian.”
This seems to be becoming more popular of late and understandably so. If you can make the claim that the little divine infant child was, in fact, a Palestinian, then obviously it is going to attract support for your current cause: Jesus was a Palestinian. Jesus was born at Christmas. Targeted airstrikes on Palestinians in Gaza at Christmas are therefore wrong.
Couple of problems with this though and not just with faulty logic. According to the Gospel accounts in Matthew and Luke, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a town now in the West Bank and under Palestinian control. But in A.D zero it was known primarily as being the city of the Israelite king, David, in the region of Judea.
And the birth of Jesus appeared to fulfil a prophecy that the ruler of Israel would be born in the town.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel,” says the book of Micah.
And, as it’s Christmas, what about the chorus in the carol The First Noel which announces the news: Born is the king of Israel.
So, if these protesters want to claim Jesus as their own, they are also going to have to claim him as the ruler of Israel. This might not fit into their worldview.
It was a hundred years after the death of Christ, following a Jewish uprising, that the Roman rulers of the region decided to rename the area Syria Palaestina.
However, for the anti-Israel protesters, it doesn’t matter that the propaganda is untruthful, only that it is chanted again and again.
But this historical revisionism also underscores a deeper lie and a deeper desire for Hamas and its followers. If Jesus was Palestinian then there can have been no land called Israel, no land in the past and no right to exist in the present or the future.
It is still bizarre, however, that these demonstrators would account Jesus as one of their own. Because, if baby Jesus had been around on Oct. 7 he would have found himself butchered and beheaded with the creche burnt to the ground with Joseph and Mary inside. Not because he was “Palestinian” but because he was a Jew.
Meanwhile, in Toronto’s Eaton Centre and in the city’s Yorkdale mall similar scenes played out to those at Bayshore. At the Eaton Centre one protester threatened to put someone “six feet deep” right in front of a police officer.
Toronto MP Kevin Vuong tweeted, “How does harassing families saying hi to Santa advance the cause for a just & durable peace in the Middle East? Your right to freedom of expression does not mean you can disrupt others. Have some respect for Canadians.”
But these well-organized shows of force are not going to stop, because no one has even tried to stop them. The anti-Israel crowd have become emboldened by their mob disruption, successful in their aims to disrespect the cultural norms of Canadians and confident in their ability to harass, scare and intimidate people.
They use the tactics of the bully and the thug and matters can only get worse.
National Post
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