demanded that Israel accept U.N. resolutions calling for an end to its occupation of Arab lands, and told Israel it shouldn't use the Bible to justify "injustices" against the Palestinians. ...In response to the statement, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said "[t]he synod was hijacked by an anti-Israel majority."
The Mideast meeting at the Vatican involved about 185 participants, including nine patriarchs of the Mideast's ancient Christian churches and representatives from 13 other Christian communities. A rabbi and two Muslim clerics were invited to the meeting as well.
Uh - what? "Hijacked by the majority?" Um, I think you're a little confused about this "democracy" thing that Israel supposedly has nailed down.
Footnote: Ayalon also called the statement "in the best history of Arab propaganda," which does prompt a "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" (John 8:3-9) thought, but surely it would be odd to address a New Testament reference to an Israeli official.
Except it wouldn't, it seems: Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor made exactly that reference in grousing about the bishops' assertion that Israel shouldn't use Biblical arguments to justify injustices.
"This has never been a policy of any government in Israel, so this position sounds particularly hollow," he said. "Let he who has never sinned cast the first stone."Maybe he wanted to use the New Testament since the Old Testament describes justice as "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." (Exodus 21:23-25) Be that as it may, I hate to break it to friend Palmor, but every time your government uses the terms "Judea and Samaria," every time it refers to Jerusalem as the "undivided and eternal capital of Israel," using the Bible to justify oppressing Palestinians is precisely what you are doing.
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