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Christians for Fair Witness Strongly Condemns America Magazine = Article on=20 Israeli Action in Gaza

NEW YORK, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Christians for Fair = Witness on=20 the Middle East strongly condemns Donald Moore, S.J.'s article in = America=20 Magazine ("When Silence is Betrayed" October 12, 2009) in which he = repeatedly=20 invokes Jewish voices to unjustly accuse Israel of the worst sort of war = crimes.=20

"If Fr. Moore had a legitimate argument, he could have made it = himself,"=20 notes Rev. Msgr. Dennis Mikulanis, pastor of San Rafael Parish and Vicar = for=20 Ecumenical & Interreligious Affairs in the Roman Catholic Diocese of = San=20 Diego, California. "But by repeatedly underscoring the point that all = the=20 critics of Israel he cites are Jewish, he betrays the manipulative = stance from=20 which his entire article is written. Is he trying to insulate himself = from=20 charges of bias, or worse, is he trying to hide behind Jewish voices and = pretend=20 that if any Jew criticizes Israel, the criticism must be valid? Either = way I=20 find it intellectually insulting and morally offensive."

"The entire premise of the article is false," says Fr. James = Loughran, S.A.,=20 Director of the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute. "Fr. = Moore=20 describes in some detail the suffering in Gaza and the destruction that = was=20 wrought by the last war, but he is dishonest about how it came about. = First Fr.=20 Moore tries to confuse history with the argument that Israel's = occupation of the=20 West Bank and Gaza after the 1967 war was about 'territorial expansion.' = Fr.=20 Moore needs to be reminded that Israel fought that war in self-defense = and tried=20 to negotiate land for peace almost immediately afterwards. It was the = Arab=20 nations that solidly rejected that offer."

"Fr. Moore compounds this dishonesty by pretending that in recent = years Hamas=20 resorted to terror against Israeli civilians only because it had no = alternative=20 and that it is merely the 'spin of [Israeli] public relations' that = Israel's=20 goal in the war was to stop the rockets," adds Fr. Loughran. "But Fr. = Moore=20 either does not have his facts straight or he intentionally distorts the = truth.=20 Had the rockets which started in 2001 stopped or even decreased when = Israel=20 ended the occupation of Gaza in 2005, he would have a point. But after = Israel=20 disengaged from Gaza the response was to immediately start digging = infiltration=20 tunnels, increase the number of rockets that were being dropped on = civilian=20 targets in Israel and then elect Hamas, an organization openly dedicated = not to=20 a peaceful two-state solution, but to the violent destruction of Israel. = What=20 was Israel supposed to do? Open its borders and simply allow terrorists = free=20 access or generally allow Hamas to strengthen itself while brazenly = threatening=20 Israel's very existence?"

There was a six month truce, but anyone who takes the time to check = the=20 newspapers from that period can confirm that it was indeed Hamas that = announced=20 the end of the truce in December, 2008. And it was only after strong = warnings=20 from the Israeli government to stop the rockets, which had escalated up = to 100=20 per day, that the Israelis began a devastating military incursion in = what was=20 clearly a last-ditch attempt to protect their own population.

"The publication of an article like this one is a serious moral = failure on=20 the part of America magazine," adds Rev. Dr. Bruce Chilton, the = Bernard=20 Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College in Annandale, New = York.=20 "America has, over the years, distorted the record to cast = Israel=20 in as damning a light as possible. There have been inexcusable = accusations of=20 ethnic cleansing, racism -- the list goes on and on. The moral failure, = however,=20 lies not only in the dishonesty employed in its persistent prejudice = against=20 the Jewish state, but in the tragic missed opportunity = America is=20 helping to create. No reasonable person can argue that Hamas is anything = but a=20 terrorist organization bent on the destruction of Israel and no=20 reasonable person can argue that Israel did not go into Gaza to protect = its=20 citizens after eight years of indiscriminate rocket fire. What can and = must be=20 debated in this era of terrorist militias deploying from civilian = populations,=20 however, is how the armies of civilized countries are to contend with = asymmetric=20 warfare. But here we have a Jesuit magazine, which just like the fatally = flawed=20 Goldstone report itself, forecloses any honest debate on this critical = issue,=20 seeking instead to isolate and demonize Israel. This is a moral failure = that=20 should not be tolerated from any Christian publication."

SOURCE Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle = East

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