Latest posts on Christian Aid

Why 'Christian Hate?'? An introduction to the blog

Places Christians shouldn't go A quick tour of Christian Hate?'s case against Christian Aid

Christians and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Read all my posts on this topic

Monday, June 13, 2005

Hall of Shame

Eight places Christians shouldn’t go – high/lowlights of Christian Hate?’s case against Christian Aid



World’s worst?


Over the last seven issues of Christian Aid News more than 17 pages were devoted to Israel and Palestine. Most of this coverage involved political criticism of Israel. The most coverage any other conflict zone got was 4.5 pages for Angola – barely a quarter as much. Sudan, scene of more than two million deaths in the civil wars of the past two decades and, in the UN’s words, “the worst humanitarian crisis in the world”, got 2.5 pages. These include a full page feature about a woman who makes perfume. It tells you her recipe.


Partners in denial


Partnership with Christian Aid helps the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights maintain a website where it lists by name every single Palestinian killed by the Israeli security forces during the Intifada – and not one of the Israelis killed by terrorism (sorry, I should say “hostilities against Israeli targets”).


Israel screws up the whole Middle East


“A key to lasting peace and justice in the Middle East is an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories through a peace process based on international law” says the postcard Christian Aid printed for its supporters to send to Tony Blair in 2002. Dictators? Fundamentalists? Suicide bombers? Don’t blame them, they’re all just doing what they do because they’re so upset about Israel.


Wall balls


Christian Aid takes a bishop to view Israel’s security fence, and he tells them it’s like the Berlin Wall only worse. Hmmm, run that past me again - one built to keep in people who wanted to be free, the other to keep out people who want to commit murder. Did the Right Rev forget to pack his brain? Read more...


Selective sound-bite


The Archbishop of Canterbury has some hard things to say about the security fence. He has hard things to say about Palestinian terrorism too – but Christian Aid don’t seem to want us to know that. Read more...


The power of the image


Take a large picture of an armed Israeli soldier at a checkpoint, and put it alongside a picture of Palestinian women taking their babies to a clinic. Then protest that you condemn all violence equally. Read more...



Building bridges?


A Muslim writes to congratulate Christian Aid for its anti-Israel stance. Jews are welcome to the love feast too – so long as they join in the Israel-bashing. If our correspondent finds anything sub-optimal in the Muslim world he keeps it to himself. Read more...


Child of Bethlehem Christmas appeal


The Christmas baddies are Jewish, the Christmas child isn’t. Sorry Christian Aid, this won’t do at all. Read more...

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

China has been in occupation of another country, Tibet, for over fifty years and has virtually wiped out the Tibetans' culture and religion. Why do the Christian not protest about that?
Russia is carrying out ethnic cleansing in Chechnya, without comment from Christians. How many MILLIONS have been murdered in Darfur, with no Christian protest. It seems that Christians know only how to protest against Jews - could it be that they are simply old fashioned anti semites -and defend those whose propaganda is predominately lies, such as the Jenin massacre which never took place and those who bomb innocent civilians in Israel, New York, Barcelona and London.

Anonymous said...

thank you for this website, hope that it will go some way to achieve a balance on the middle east issue, it saddens me as a christian to see so much antisemitism in the media especially amongst "christian" literature,

Anonymous said...

Christian Aid is at the forefront of what is called "the new antisemtism". This involves demonising the Jewish state in the same way as the Church has historically demonised the Jewish people. Thus, Christian Aid consistently singles out the Jewish state as a nation of special wickedness, uniquely to blame for not just the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but all the troubles of the Middle East and, on occasions it seems, all the troubles of the world.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for your efforts to fight against such media bias. I have been working in Israel with guys who have fled the West Bank (sorry there is no such place as Palestine yet!) Two of the guys fled because they had become Christians from a Muslim background. One of them was imprisoned and tortured by the PA for almost two years. The other was in hiding in a hole in the ground for three years. The Palestinians are indeed suffering but whose fault is it? So many millions of dollars have gone into the PA coffers to help them but unfortunately in only goes to line the pockets of those in power and to buy amunition to fire at a nation longing for peace.

Anonymous said...

This is a very useful blog, the address of which I have forwarded to my adresses.
Thank you for having the guts and taking the time to expose the dreadful "ChristianAid" for what it is - a group of antiSemites masquerading behind the safety of the word Christian

Anonymous said...

What nonsense some of these commentors write. This is ONE ISSUE of a periodical - presumably each issue has a different focus? Or are you so ostrich-like that it is not permitted or "antisemitic" to criticise your pet state? How pathetic; thank heavens for free speech and the responsible use of it, something that the critics here don't seem to understand or appreciate.

Cyrus said...

To the poster of the last comment: it's a pity you didn't read a bit more before posting. For the record, I've surveyed anti-Israel bias over EIGHT consecutive issues of Christian Aid News. I explicitly say that I don't regard criticism of Israel as automatically anti-Semitic. When you say 'thank heavens for free speech and the responsible use of it' I reply 'Amen' and hope that more people in the Middle East will get the chance to enjoy the rights to free speech that Israelis, whether Jews or Arabs, take for granted.

Anonymous said...

None of this is really helpful. People of goocd will are all trying to find a solution to the apparently insoluble problem of Israel/Palestine. Throwing stones at one another does no good at all. Let's start by being positive, and that means looking out for the ways in which Israelis and Palestinians, Jews, Christians and Muslims are seeking to get top know one another and to be reconciled to one another on a one-to-one basis. There are good organisations at work. Let's support them and stop being so negative.

Cyrus said...

oleworzel, I agree with you totally about the need to support one-to-one reconciliation. The point of this site is to say that outside organizations don't help this process by demonizing one side in the conflict - and unfortunately there is an awful lot of this kind of stone-throwing going on. Call it a negative message if you will, but I hope you'd also agree that passing resolutions portraying the Israelis as the bad guys is also pretty negative. I believe that when organizations like Christian Aid or the Church of England get into this kind of blame game they do need to be held to account - that's democracy, not negativity.

I've tried to highlight examples of positive peace-building, but certainly there is scope for doing more in that direction - thanks for reminding me of this.

Anonymous said...

Great website, which I found via
the Melanie Phillips website.
I also think the Ekklesia website deserves criticism. It promotes funding for peace groups (or rather, anti-Israel groups?) via their peacenik organisation.
Anyone offended by Premier Christian Radio's support for Peacenik, by the way?
I agree that Christian Aid is probably the worst offender. I don't give money to them at all now. I would encourage everyone to consider other Christian charities.

Anonymous said...

You simply cannot accept that it is not anti-Semitic to criticise Israel for its policies of land appropriation in the Palestinian territories - consistently constructing settlements which are illegal under international law and violate the Geneva Convention. I'm not talking about Israelis living in Israel - i am talking about settlements being built on the Palestinain side of the border. For those not in the know, check the maps on www.btselem.org.
One could argue the Israeli government is endangering its own citizens by letting them move there under military protection. Mr Cyrus - go and visit the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and then we'll start talking. You obviously have far too much free time to spend on diatribes that are factually incorrect and mean nothing rather than actually being constructive in the debate. Fester on that Mr Grumpy

Krishna109 said...

I have always been struck by the degree to which many people go on and on about the suffering of the Palestinians-- yet say nary a word about other conflicts. True, the Palestinians are suffering-- but it seems peculiar that so little is mentioned about, for example, the Sudanese.

Thinking about it, I believe there are two main reason why the uffering of Black Africans get so little attention...and so few protest marches and demonstrations..while that of the Palestinians get disproportionately so much attention. It a case of racism, pure and simple.

When the victims are Caucasian (i.e. Palestinians), many westerners sympathize. But when the victims are Black, little is said.

Racism? No doubt about it.

Self-righteouness . . . and hypocracy? Yes, there's certainly quite a lot of that too....

Anonymous said...

I am a Christian and find that after having defended Israels stand aginst the palestinians for so many years I am beginning to despise them. And mind you I don't despise the people in general, but only those that are running what seems to be a global public relations blitz to hide the simple and clear facts that they do...
Control the media.
Own most if not all central banks in the world.
Control governments and politicians.
Own the largest world corporations.
Are behind the new full tilt movement towards a NEW WORLD ORDER.
And I could go on but I think this is quite a platefull already.
Upon deeper inspection of all these things afored mentioned It is not hard to see that the moneychangers at the temple Jesus whipped are still around today doing their dirty deeds.
I am a Christian and I do not want to hate...but why I'm I starting to?