Muslims in Gaza blew up the YMCA library. Why? To protest the Danish publication of the Mohammed cartoons. Because it follows, logically, that when Danes “insult” Mohammed, Gazan Christians must be punished.
Unidentified gunmen blew up the YMCA library in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning. No one was hurt, but the library was completely destroyed.
Sources in Gaza told The Jerusalem Post the attack was in response to the re-publication of cartoons “ridiculing” the Prophet Muhammad in a number of Danish newspapers last week.
The sources said at least 12 gunmen participated in the assault, the latest in a series of attacks on Christian figures and institutions.
“The attackers kidnapped the two guards before they stormed the building in the Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City,” the sources said. “Then they entered the library, where they detonated a number of explosive charges, causing heavy damage.”
One of the guards, Abdel Mu’ti Abu Khoussa, 52, said the attackers also stole computers and other equipment from the offices of the YMCA. Only some of them had masks on their faces, he said.
Issa Saba, secretary-general of the YMCA in the Gaza Strip, said all 8,000 books were destroyed. He said the gunmen also stole a vehicle belonging to the organization.
And of course, Hamas and Fatah are pointing the fingers at each other. Oh, come off it. It was probably a partnership deal. There are only a few thousand Christians left in Gaza. Who cares, right?
The Palestinian Christian population has dipped to 1.5% of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, down from at least 15% a half century ago, according to some estimates. No city in the Holy Land is more indicative of the Christian exodus than Bethlehem, which fell under full Palestinian control last decade as part of the Oslo Accords. The town of 30,000 is now less than 20% Christian, after decades during which Christians were the majority. Elsewhere in the PA territories, only about 3,000 Christians, mostly Greek Orthodox, live in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, among a strongly conservative Muslim population of 1.4 million.
But every year, Reuters, the AP, the BBC, the New York Times, and the rest of the news media blame Israel for the lack of Christians in the town where Christianity was born. Why not? The world learned a long time ago that you can never go wrong blaming the Jews.
I remember when the leftwing YMCA leadership got on the anti-Israel bandwagon and blamed Israel for all of the problems in the ME [and the rest of the world]. I wonder what twisted logic excuse they will come up with now to blame Israel for what happened in their hell hole Gaza YMCA?
Also, still waiting for the MSM to cover this anti-Christian book burning by the religon of peace and tolerance!
Herschel, you silly boy. If it weren’t for the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank none of this would be happening. Yeah, yeah, the Israelis have left Gaza, but the effects of their oppression remain.
If…and it’s a bit “if”…people like the Presbyterians and Episcopalians notice this at all, any bets that they’ll say something like that?