What? Israel let hundreds of Gazans out? To go to the Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem. Contrast this with Hamas refusing to let Fatah members out to go on Hajj last year. And oh yeah, tourism is up. There was almost no criticism of their dhimmi overlords, but some slipped out:

Rev. David Neuhaus, the Roman Catholic vicar for the Hebrew-speaking Christian population in the Holy Land, said violence against Gaza Christians was largely the work of “Islamic fundamental vigilante justice,” and not the Hamas regime. Nonetheless, he said Christian daily life was extremely difficult.

“They are not targeted by authorities but life is not simple when you live minute by minute according to the mores of a different religion,” he said. “The Islamic lifestyle that is being imposed is foreign to how Christians lead their lives.”

Oh, yeah. Tourism in Bethlehem is way up over the last few years, but nobody’s making as big a stink about that as they did several years ago when they essentially accused Israel of killing Christmas (though it was the terrorism that did the trick). Let’s see, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2005, 2005, and the one in 2005 where the news services admitted that Christmas was happening in Bethlehem, after all. Mostly unmentioned: Muslim persecution of Christians.

The Really, Really Free Market: Apparently, my city has a Christmas giveaway going on. Well, that’s nice. It’s like a yard sale, but free! (Wait ’til the IRS finds out people are trading things to one another without paying taxes. It’ll get shut down. Oh, wait. Good news! Good news!)

It’s a Saturnalia miracle*: A woman who lost the use of her legs 13 years ago can walk again.

*I did remember to tell you that I’m currently obsessed with Big Bang Theory, didn’t I?

Witness:

Christmas in Bethlehem festive, Gaza violent
Christians celebrated Bethlehem’s merriest Christmas in eight years Wednesday, with hotels booked solid, Manger Square bustling with families and Israeli and Palestinian forces cooperating to make things run smoothly.

The festivities in the West Bank town contrasted sharply with Hamas-run Gaza. While revelers in Bethlehem launched pink fireworks from a rooftop, militants fired more than 80 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and villages, sending people scrambling for bomb shelters.

The latest attacks, and an Israeli air strike on rocket-firers that killed one person and wounded two, appeared to have buried an unwieldy six-month cease-fire that expired last week.

But 45 miles away, outside the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, good-natured crowds of pilgrims and townspeople gathered ahead of the midnight Catholic mass that is the holiday’s highlight.

Witness:

While Gaza teeters on the brink of a major crisis following the end of a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas Islamists in control of the strip, a decline in violence in the West Bank has tempted back tourists who no longer fear gun battles in the streets.

Israel attributes this partly to the barrier it is building in and around the occupied West Bank. For Bethlehem, the barrier takes the form of a daunting concrete wall 4 meters (13 feet) high with watchtowers.

Tourism collapsed here when a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began in 2000. But this Christmas, the Palestinian tourism minister says, hotel occupancy is rising.

And in a stellar example of a writer denying the evidence of his own facts, Reuters adds this paragraph to the above story:

Palestinians say the Israeli barrier is a major obstacle to peace that cripples trade and turns off foreign tourists.

Witness:

Crowds gathered around nightfall outside Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, ahead of the midnight Catholic mass that is the holiday’s highlight. A dozen pilgrims from India, Canada, Britain, the U.S. and other countries sung impromptu renditions of Christmas carols.

“Jesus was the prince of peace, and he can bring that peace to you. We pray for you,” David Bogenrief, a 57-year-old trumpet player from Sioux City, Iowa, told a gaggle of local children who gathered to listen.

Not long afterward, Israeli aircraft over southern Gaza targeted militants firing rockets, killing one and wounding two others.

The AP also offers Hamas propaganda about how the rockets aren’t really all that dangerous.

The situation is dramatically different in Gaza, controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas which seized the territory by force in June last year. An Israeli blockade prevents Gazans from leaving the territory and causes shortages of fuel and basic supplies.

The missiles fired from Gaza are inaccurate and Israelis are well drilled in taking cover, so no one was injured Wednesday, though dozens were treated for shock.

Right. I love the way the AP offers up more explanation of why the rockets aren’t dangerous, and yet drops the following information (which was in one of their editions earlier today). The lack of casualties is due to luck and the hand of God.

The lives of three children – aged four, five and eight – were saved Wednesday, as a Grad missile fired from northern Gaza hit their home, moments after they managed to run into the fortified room of the house.

Arie Lazar, the children’s father, told Ynet that “this was definitely a miracle. Were suffered a direct hit to the house. We were in the living room when the Color Red alert sounded and the kids ran right in the fortified room.

So while aren’t getting “Israel is killing Christmas” stories the way we did last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that (really, go check my archives around Dec. 23-25th each year. You’ll see), we are still getting the usual anti-Israel media drek.

Merry Christmas from the mainstream media, hey?