WorldNetDaily has, shall we say, an interesting attitude when Israel disrespects Christians. Joe Kovacs wrote in an April 20 article:
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing “harsh disciplinary action” against the IDF soldier who was caught on camera bashing the head of a Jesus statue in Lebanon with a sledgehammer.
“I was stunned and saddened to learn that an IDF soldier damaged a Catholic religious icon in southern Lebanon,” Netanyahu said Monday.
“I condemn the act in the strongest terms. Military authorities are conducting a criminal probe of the matter and will take appropriately harsh disciplinary action against the offender.”
Netanyahu continued: “While Christians are being slaughtered in Syria and Lebanon by Muslims, the Christian population in Israel thrives unlike elsewhere in the Middle East. Israel is the only country in the region that the Christian population and standard of living is growing. Israel is the only place in the Middle East that adheres to freedom of worship for all. We express regret for the incident and for any hurt this has caused to believers in Lebanon and around the world.”
Mel, the co-host of the Previously Prohibited podcast, was not thrilled with Netanyahu’s description of the Jesus statue a “Catholic religious icon,” saying: “He took a sledgehammer to a statue of Christ on the cross. Stop trying to downplay it as if it wasn’t a direct attack on Christianity itself. We all see what you’re doing here trying to make this a ‘Catholic’ thing. You are such filth.”
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee noted: “Swift, severe, & public consequences are needed.”
[…]The IDF released its own statement, indicating: “Following the completion of an initial examination regarding a photograph published earlier today of an IDF soldier harming a Christian symbol, it was determined that the photograph depicts an IDF soldier operating in southern Lebanon. The IDF views the incident with great severity and emphasizes that the soldier’s conduct is wholly inconsistent with the values expected of its troops.
The next day, however, Kovacs seemed to have decided that all was forgiven:
In the wake of international outrage over an Israeli soldier smashing the head of a Jesus statue in Lebanon with a sledgehammer, the Israel Defense Forces have replaced the image with a new one, while two IDF soldiers have been sentenced to 30 days in military detention.
The IDF announced on Tuesday: “A short while ago, in full coordination with the local community of Debel in southern Lebanon, the damaged statue was replaced by IDF troops. The Northern Command worked to coordinate the replacement of the statue from the moment it received the report of the incident.
“The IDF expresses deep regret over the incident, and is working to ensure that it does not happen again in the future.”
[…]The conclusion of the inquiry also stated: “It was decided that the soldier who damaged the Christian symbol and the soldier who photographed the act will be removed from combat duty and will receive 30 days of military detention. The remaining troops who stood by have been summoned for clarification discussions that will be held later on, after which further command-level measures will be determined.”
Kovacs made no apparent effort to identify the IDF soldier who committed the offense — something that would be unlikely if, say, an American did something similar.
On a similar note, Michael Brown spent an April 24 column playing whataboutism on a similar deplorable behavior by Israelis:
With increasing frequency, I hear from Christians who are outraged by reports of Israeli Jews spitting on Christians. “Have you seen the videos?” they ask. “And we’re supposed to support Israel?” What is striking is that many of these same Christians say little or nothing about the wholesale slaughter of Christians by Muslims worldwide. Yet they are deeply exercised over fringe religious Jews in Israel spitting at (or on) Christians, as if this were the norm throughout the land.
To be clear, as a Jewish follower of Jesus, I am embarrassed by the ugly actions of some Israeli Jews, however fringe they may be and however strongly their behavior is condemned at a national level by both religious and secular leaders. There have even been instances of churches being vandalized by religious Jews, with hateful graffiti on their walls.
[…]In stark contrast, there is not a single Muslim-majority country in the world where Christians enjoy all of these freedoms together. (Please verify this if you have doubts. It is not a controversial claim.)
Brown then tried to justify the spitting:
Moreover, the issue of “spitting” at Christians – as rare as it is in Israel – must be understood in historical context. These individuals are not spitting on the Jesus Christians worship. Rather, they are reacting to what the cross has represented to Jews over the centuries: forced conversions under threat of death during the Crusades, or torture and extermination at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators, many of whom identified as Christians.
[…]Contrast that with the fact that, on average, a Christian is murdered every two hours in a Muslim-majority country or in a region where persecution is driven by Islamist ideology.
Whataboutism — of course.