A wall is not equivalent to a suicide bomber: Denis MacEoin responds to Bethlehem Unwrapped

This is a follow-up to the TW post yesterday that was titled: Op-Ed: Israel vs. Islamists: Setting the Record Straight.

 

CiF Watch  "There has been an enormous uproar over the decision by the Church of St. James at Piccadilly to erect a mock version of a wall that is part of Israel’s security barrier around the West Bank. The barrier is seen in black-and-white, politically biased terms, something that has become commonplace among politically motivated Christians in the UK, for whom there is only one narrative in the Middle East, namely the Palestinian narrative.

"The attack on Israel that it represents is high-minded, inarticulate, and without compassion for the Jewish people. It is also without compassion for those Christians who live in the West Bank and are attacked, persecuted, and expelled by their Muslim neighbours: an outrage St. James’s and its clerics fail to address."....

... "The West Bank barrier is only one of over 30 walls and fences round the world. Most of those are also anti-terror fences. Some are electrified and have killed many people — over 4000 in one instance, the barrier between Ceuta and Morocco. The long North Korean barrier is policed by two million soldiers. Yet St. James does not build mock-ups of any of these walls, nor does it preach about the deaths they cause. The clergy at St. James just concentrate on part of a security barrier that has saved lives. Shame on them for their blatant hypocrisy coupled with the assumption of moral superiority. Shame on them for their adroit negotiation of meaning, portraying themselves as champions of human rights while they show a streak of anti-Semitism in their routine assignment of evil only to the Jewish state."

One solid case for building a wall is this, lest we forget: Itamar massacre: Fogel family butchered while sleeping    "Names of Itamar attack victims cleared for publication Saturday evening: Udi Fogel, 36, Ruth Fogel, 35, and their children Yoav, 11, Elad, 4, and three-month-old Hadas were stabbed to death."  Emphasis added; need we explain why?

More on the UK Guardian's point of view about Israel vs. the Arabs: Why the Guardian will support the next Palestinian Intifada

"Welcome to CiF Watch, dedicated to monitoring antisemitism and combating the assault on Israel’s legitimacy at the Guardian and its ‘Comment is Free’ blog."

Hat tip to Allyson’s Geo-Political Inspections

Don't mess with this attorney general

http://terrellaftermath.com/

FBI Called In For Christie Bridge Case

Weasel Zippers

 

"When do you suppose the FBI will start, erhem, I mean finish, their intensive Benghazi investigation?
"It took them three weeks to even reach Benghazi, but they’re on the hop in this case.
"Paul Fishman, the U.S. Attorney behind this call, is a Hillary Clinton fundraiser and Christie’s Democratic successor in that post."

 

From Thursday's Tunnel Wall: If lane closings end Gov. Christie's career, what about Obama's closing of national monuments and parks?   

“We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.”   “ 'It’s a cheap way to deal with the situation,” an angry Park Service ranger in Washington says of the harassment. “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.' ” 

Gates reveals Obama coldness regarding our soldiers

American Thinker  ... "Clearly, Gates is referring to soldiers injured or killed in the line of duty.  One recalls that George Bush gave up golf - a sport he loved-during his presidency - because he felt it unseemly and insensitive for a commander-in-chief to swing golf clubs while Americans were in harm's way. Barack Obama, in contrast, has never stopped playing golf.

"There are many other examples of Obama's lack of knowledge or concern regarding our military."
....
"He also just doesn't care much for America or Americans. He is not only a notorious loner who "does not like people" (in the words of a former aide).  He has an empathy deficit, a character trait I wrote about over three years ago in "Obama's Empathy Deficit."

"He is the textbook example of a narcissist. And a very cold-hearted one at that. He only saves his warmth to flamethrow Republicans."

Obama’s Insincere War   "John Kerry famously asked during the Vietnam War: How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? Now the secretary of state should pose a version of his long-ago rhetorical question to his boss. Obama evidently has been asking men to die for what he considers a mistake for years now."

Obama Admits He Uses Our Troops for Photo Ops

 

The massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane; the town left as it was on that day (UPDATED)

In the news on Jan 9th: Prosecutors charge 88-year-old man over 1944 Nazi massacre at Oradour-Sur-Glane – where 642 villagers were shot and burnt
 "An 88-year-old former member of an SS armored division has been charged with murder and accessory to murder for allegedly taking part in the massacre of 642 French villagers by Nazi soldiers during World War Two.
"The man, named only as Werner C, from Cologne, has been charged with 25 counts of murder  and hundreds of counts of accessory to murder in connection with the slaughter in Oradour-sur-Glane.   Video


Video with narration

Oradour scrapbook
 "The map shown above was scanned from a book which I purchased in the book store of the Center of Memory at Oradour-sur-Glane. It shows the six killing sites where the 190 men were murdered and the location of the Church where the women and children were killed."

The village has purposely been left untouched since the massacre, to serve both as a shrine to those who died and as a constant reminder of the unremitting evil of the Nazis

"The investigation into the massacre where almost the entire population of the village, including more than 400 women and children, was gunned down or burned alive on June 10, 1944, was re-opened by German prosecutors last year."
A close look at the village as it is today

The remains of the church in which 247 women and 205 children were 

 trapped and killed  by the Nazis. The middle window behind the altar is

the one through which the only survivor Marguerite Rouffanche escaped

Oradour-sur-Glane  "The original population was destroyed on 10 June 1944, when 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company. A new village was built after the war on a nearby site but on the orders of the then French president, Charles de Gaulle, the original has been maintained as a permanent memorial and museum."
Another video
 

Oradour-sur-Glane in a picture taken not long after the troops left and survivors were left to pick up the pieces

..."They marched into the town and separated the men from the women and children.

"The men were taken to six barns and shed while the women and children were locked in the church while the village was looted.

"The men were said to be shot in the legs before being doused in petrol and set alight."
From the testimony of Marguerite Rouffanche, one of the few  survivors of the massacre.

Q and A on the village
 

 Significant locations within the town  Scroll down at the link

 

... "Protests followed from Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel; General Gleiniger, German commander in Limoges; and the Vichy government. SS-Standartenführer Stadler felt Diekmann had far exceeded his orders and began a judicial investigation. Diekmann, 29 years old, was killed in action shortly afterwards during the Battle of Normandy, and a large number of the third company, which had committed the massacre, were themselves killed in action within a few days, and the investigation was suspended."

The SS commander, Adolf Otto Diekmann

Brief history of the unit

Ex-SS soldiers face massacre charges  "Mr Brendel said the six former SS soldiers, all aged 85 or 86, served with the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion of the Der Führer Regiment of the SS's Das Reich Division."
 

 Pronunciation of Oradour-sur-Glane by a Dutch citizen 

 UPDATE: Oradour-sur-Glane scrapbook  Contains a number of before and after photos.

"On 10 June 1944, the idylic French village of Oradour-sur-Glane was completely destroyed and 642 innocent men, women and children were massacred by soldiers in Hitler's elite Waffen-SS army. The ruins of the martyred village have been preserved as a reminder of German barbarity."

 

Ruins of Catholic Church in Oradour-sur-Glane

 

 

  More links in this site.