In this astonishingly insightful article, Reuters reports that Christmas is not very much celebrated in Israel. Huh. Imagine that. The Jewish state doesn’t have the Christmas spirit.
Dec 20, 2006 — TEL AVIV (Reuters) – A glimmer of tinsel, a miniature Santa Claus and a cluster of plastic fir trees in a shop window are among the few signs that Christmas is on its way in the land of Israel.
December 25, the anniversary of the birth of Jesus, is a regular working day in the Jewish state and passes with little fanfare.
While residents in Arab Christian areas such as Nazareth, Jesus’s home town, decorate trees and hang lights on homes and churches, and Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank receives many pilgrims, life in most of Israel carries on as normal.
Of course, Reuters has to spin it in a negative way:
That makes it hard on the many Christians among large number of migrant laborers who have come to Israel to work. As most live in Jewish towns and cities, their main religious holiday arrives with barely any sense of Christmas.
“It is a little bit sad, a little bit lonely,” said Hilda Laconsay, 35, from the Philippines who works as a carer for the elderly. “There is no Christmas feeling here.”
I challenge anyone to find me a similar Reuters article on how Jews feel isolated on Christmas in countries like, say, the U.S. You simply will not find such an angle, because it can’t be spun anti-Jewish. Well, it could, but then the Rotters bias would be even more obvious.
So, why exactly would Israel celebrate Christmas?
There are an estimated 80,000 legal foreign workers inside Israel, and a further 100,000 living illegally whose permits have expired or been revoked by the authorities. A large percentage of them are Christians from Asia and Africa.
As far as Israeli citizens go, there are about 145,000 Christians in the Jewish state, most of them Arabs, of a population of just over 7 million. Almost 80 percent of Israelis are Jewish and the rest Muslim.
Uh-huh. Eighty percent of the country is Jewish. The Chanukah festivities commenced last Friday, quite probably unnoticed by Reuters, which also does not notice Passover, but sometimes mentions the High Holy Days (in as negative a way as possible).
Read the whole article. It gets even worse. And once again, eff you, Reuters, and your anti-Israel writers and editors.
By the way, a Google News search on Hanukka (in its various spellings) and Reuters came up with zero articles. Shock.
One of my favorite things about spending a year in Israel was the blessed lack of 24/7 Christmas songs on the radio. Bleh, the crappy music keeps starting earlier and earlier every year and I still have not heard RUN DMC’s Christmas in Hollis.
I’m just guessing, but I bet there are more Cristmas displays in Israel than there are in most Muslim countries.
Shtetl G:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6ufRrgnSEdU
Hmmm. Does the Reuters reporter know that the Jerusalem Municipality gives out free Christmas trees to Christian families?
Ms. Laconsay should consider herself lucky that she’s living in a country that has allowed her to work there and worship freely, the only democracy in that vicinity. She should try singing Jingle Bells in Saudi Arabia.
I think the reporter should try to fly into Jeddah with a Bible and a Christmas Tree.
Will Reuters get the head and body back on the same flight or different flights?
Appears to me that the Reuters genius has never spent a Christmas in the South…but would she then say that it is hard to be Jewish in Georgia at Christmas? Naaaaah! But she might say that it is hard to be a Muslim in Georgia at Christmas (although my friends would say otherwise.)
But maybe she was communing with our erstwhile bete noir Barbara “Cry, cry for Arafat) Plett?
Those foolish Jews, using Christmas decorations to decorate for a Jewish holiday.
Good grief. The only reason the Palestinian Arab Christians have trees and lights up is for the tourists. Those were never a Christmas tradition until the Europeans popularized them.
Did Reuters manage to find a Christian in Israel experiencing antagonism over their Christmas or other Christian activities?
Well, we already knew anti-Semites don’t need excuses to vilify Jews.
Of course in Israel they sell Succah decorations made out of tinsel, the “thre fathers” Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov; Avraham, Sarah and baby Yitzchak; etc, etc. You can always find a market for unused Xmas decorations.
Yes, Don, that’s a good point, although one I rather doubt Reuters bothered pursuing. Where in the entire Middle East can you find Christians openly celebrating Christmas, putting up decorations, and generally getting in the Christmas spirit? There is one country. Leave aside Saudi Arabia, I would bet that there isn’t much in the way of open festivities among the millions of Copts in Egypt, say.
Of course, that’s Israel’s fault because…well, everything is Israel’s fault. I blame Israel for the continuation of the designated hitter rule.
I wonder if Pat Robertson will sue Israel for not putting up Christmas trees.
Awwww…it’s so nice that Rueters is so concerned with the poor illegal christian immigrants in Israel and their lack of christmas celebrations. It is truly endearing.
I’m suprised that Rueters has not yet done an expose on the absence of the false holiday of Kwanzaa and how few Israelis celebrate it.
Shame on those Israeli jews for their lack of christmas and kwanzaa spirit.
“I challenge anyone to find me a similar Reuters article on how Jews feel isolated on Christmas in countries like, say, the U.S.”
No but the new york times has two articles (that I’ve seen) touting Jewish celebrations of Christmas.
But that’s in keeping with proper schlessinger family values.