Let me tell you about the least surprising story of the year. It’s a tale not so much of double standards but of triple and even quadruple standards. But with one linking theme. When Jews behave badly, all hell breaks loose. But when others behave in exactly the same way – in this case, a group of Muslim worshippers – then no one says a word.
A video has been doing the rounds on social media over the past week of a group of Jews in Israel abusing Christian women tourists in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Vile and inexcusable https://t.co/AUxapUGU1j
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) September 12, 2023
It’s awful. Men and boys grab the dress of one of the women, wave what look like batons at them and generally intimidate them.
Not surprisingly, their behaviour has been widely condemned. And even less surprisingly, it’s been taken up with particular gusto by those who jump at any chance to attack Israel (and Jews), with comments on social media such as “Zionist children attack Christian tourists. They learn from childhood to hate non-Jews”, “It is plain and simple - they are EVIL” and “That is why they are the persecuted people.”
One TV presenter with over half a million followers on Twitter/X wrote: “This is a hate crime. It's a fact that anti-Christian sentiment is rising in Israel. But I have yet to see any of the neocons who shill for the country call attention to this.”
It indeed looks awful - because it is.
But as well as looking awful, the video is also deeply misleading, because it has been edited to leave out the vital context – as blogger Israeli Cool has demonstrated.
They weren’t just random Christian tourists who stumbled into trouble. They were in fact Christian missionaries who had planned where and when to loudly and unrelentingly demand that the Jews convert to Christianity.
@gods.mob209
♬ original sound - Gods.Mob209
And they were doing it – screaming it - in the Jewish Quarter on Shabbat, and using microphones and speakers when, of course, electrical devices are banned.
@gods.mob209 ♬ original sound - Gods.Mob209
That doesn’t excuse the physical response of the Jewish victims of these ranting missionaries, but it shows that the story is far from being one-sided.
It is, of course, entirely unsurprising that the social media reaction was to jump on the Jews without any attempt to look at what actually happened.
But that’s not the only unsurprising thing about all this. Because it wasn’t just Jews that the missionaries targeted. And it wasn’t just Jews who responded as they did. The missionaries also targeted Muslims outside mosques, including Al Aqsa.
Sarah and her followers unfortunately take it upon themselves to attempt to convert Jews & Muslims to Christianity. Mainly on our Sabbath when such a reaction can be expected although not condoned.
— GnasherJew®גנאשר #IStandWithIsrael (@GnasherJew) September 13, 2023
Here she is harassing Muslims too but @CensoredMen only mentions Jews - why is… https://t.co/DODnLHRPPU pic.twitter.com/9Z5RliXDmb
They screamed that the Muslims would go to hell unless they embraced Jesus.
And how did the Muslims being shouted at by these maniacal proselytising Christians react?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MDNw0aHxuF8&feature=youtu.be
In exactly the same as the Jews who had been targeted – with anger and, at times, physically.
Again, it’s wrong and they should not respond physically. But the provocation was unrelenting.
But you will struggle to find any mention on social media of how the Muslims responded (which was revealed by Gnasher Jew). And you will struggle even more to find any acceptance that it was wrong to single out the Jewish men and boys for their physical reaction, because that was the reaction of the Muslims, too.
Because there is, as we all know, one rule when it comes to attacking Jews, and another altogether when it comes to everyone else.
