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Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
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December 27, 2018
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For
Some Palestinian Factions, Christmas is Either Manipulated or Banned
by IPT News • Dec 27, 2018 at
2:13 pm
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Palestinian factions in the West Bank and Gaza can't make up their minds
about Christmas. Some fabricate the holiday's origins in an attempt to make
it fit with their cause while others coerce their populations to outlaw it.
The Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees'
(PRC) military wing, disseminated flyers just before the holiday depicting a
burning Christmas tree and threatening those celebrating Christmas. The PRC
is an umbrella organization encompassing various Palestinian terrorist
groups and represents the third largest Palestinian faction in Gaza after
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
A Quranic verse on the flyer warns Muslims "not to go the way of
the Jews and the Christians, indeed God is not for the evil people."
There are only about 1,000 Arab Christians living in Gaza who undoubtedly
feel threatened by Islamist factions seeking to ban Christmas.
According to a government source speaking to the Jerusalem Post, Israel granted
special permits to more than half of Gaza's Christian population to ease
their travel a week before Christmas.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah have continued their
long tradition of spreading misinformation around the Christmas holiday and
presenting Jesus as a Palestinian, according to
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).
"Christmas is one of the permanent Palestinian symbols, and the
whole world follows Mass in Bethlehem...The children of Khan Al-Ahmar are
happy about the lighting of this tree, as it is the symbol of the first
Palestinian, Jesus, peace be upon him," PLO Executive Committee member
and senior Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmad said Monday.
PMW had documented numerous examples of Palestinians expropriating Jesus
as a "Muslim Palestinian," despite being born Jewish 600 years
before Islam. For example, the PA's Minister of Education shared a picture
last year of Jesus wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh, with the
English-language text: "Made in Palestine."
Palestinian factions were not the only organizations spreading
misinformation about how some groups commemorate Christmas. The New York
Times published an article on Tuesday framing Hizballah, a designated
terrorist organization that has killed hundreds of Americans and Israelis,
as a tolerant movement devoted to helping Lebanese celebrate Christmas.
The article failed to note that Hizballah battled Christians and other religious groups in
Lebanon during its early years and is only accommodating Christian
expression in Lebanon for pragmatic reasons to widen its support across the
country.
Among critics chafing at the Times article, Hizballah
expert Hanin Ghaddar, who "grew up in a Muslim community in Lebanon,"
tweeted about how Hizballah used to fight against Christmas and only promoted Shi'a
religious holidays.
Whether trying to outlaw or expropriate Christmas, some Middle Eastern
terrorist groups and factions continue to exploit Christmas for cynical
political reasons.
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