In Theory:

A conference at a Pasadena church to discuss Middle East issues has touched off tension between area Christians and Jews. Many Los Angeles rabbis and other Jewish leaders have criticized All Saints Episcopal Church for agreeing to host a conference sponsored by a Jerusalem-based ecumenical Christian group that advocates a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation. Some say it is wrong for the group’s founder to compare the suffering of Palestinians to that of Jesus and the early Christians. Do you think All Saints Episcopal Church handled the issue insensitively?

I think they handled it insensitively. What is the intent of their meeting? What will they accomplish by this that has not said before?

One would ask: Is this sensationalism, to simply attract attention?

To compare the “suffering” of the Arab people who once lived in the British territory called Palestine in the 1900s to the suffering of the early Christians is ridiculous. Israel never took away Arab homes and lands; they gave them a democratic government that would have improved their lives.

Unlike the Romans who tortured the Christians, the Jews instead offered the Arabs peace and prosperity in a Jewish State.

The early Christians were martyrs who died for their fate and were peaceful to the Romans. Conversely, look at Arab terrorists who murder.

To create a separate Arab State that would not be passive, but militant, is simply crazy. Past performance is indicative of their future intent and hatred of Israel, not Jews.

Many of the Arabs detest Israel and the Jewish State. In the first century, Pompeii in Italy was a city populated by Jews, Romans and Christians in relative peace before its destruction by volcano.

Unlike the 1st century Christians who did not want a separate political entity, the Arabs who live in Israel want to create another Arab State to “throw the Jews into the sea,” to use famous Egyptian words of past decades.

Aren’t there enough Arab States already? The aftermath of the Holocaust has not allowed even one Jewish State, smaller than the size of New Jersey, to exist in peace after 60 years of trying, and they want to divide it up again and weaken the Jewish people. Be fair to Israel.

Why should a well-intentioned group such as this meet to once again blame Israel and Jews for the present world crisis? Lethal activism against Jews often takes the form of anti-Zionism.