#9. To: Gatlin (#1) I like that ...
I would bet that tens of thousands of churches in America will be showing that greeting to their congregations this week.
Bibi is masterful at corraling his American allies and using his office to maximum effect.
This is how he gets away with giving our boy president an impromptu lecture in the WH on Israeli security needs, no matter how much glaring he got from the Kenyan.
Smart man, knows how to play his hand.
TooConservative posted on 2011-12-19 14:33:37 ET Reply Trace
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#11. To: TooConservative (#8)
Bibi isn't worried that Israel will turn Christian. However, Israel is the ONLY Middle East country where the number of Christians increased in the last 60 years, instead of shrinking. There were 34,000 Israeli Christians in 1949 and 160,000 today.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Copts of Egypt, the Assyro-Chaldeans of Iraq, the South Sudanese, and the Lebanese Christians, to try to obtain independence. But the Islamic powers in the region denied these Christians their right to self-determination. At the expense of the Middle East Christians, Arab identity and Islamic domination were firmly established. Only the Jews of Israel were able to establish a non-Islamic nation in the region. Israel has suffered perpetual war and terrorism for that accomplishment.
Marguerite posted on 2011-12-19 14:48:12 ET Reply Trace
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#15. To: Gatlin (#1)
I like that ... I was struck by his comfort in mentioning visiting Galilee. I don't think I ever heard an Israeli official say the name of Jesus before. Bibi is bold because some folks in Israel might not like it so well but Bibi is playing a political angle here, very deftly too.
Also notable was his expression of pride in Israel's growing Christian community and Israel's commitment to pluralism (though he couldn't resist that reference to the Islamic hellholes around Israel that are persecuting Christians). This is new ground for an Israeli PM AFAIK.
Actually, this was probably more of a Christian greeting than Bush ever gave as president. Bush seemed to have never read the New Testament at all and only quoted the Psalms or Torah in his holiday greetings. I always thought Bush just hadn't finished reading the book. : )
TooConservative posted on 2011-12-19 15:04:46 ET Reply Trace
