This Blog Is Full Of Crap

This "Postcard" from Bethlehem speaks volumes to the situation over there:

Christmas in Bethlehem makes me feel lonely. Walking around Manger Square, past the shops selling olive-wood kings and shepherds to busloads of Christian tourists, I realize how many of my old friends have emigrated, how much the city has changed beyond recognition. Today in Bethlehem, the sound of the Muslim call to prayer, ringing from dozens of mosques, all but drowns out the gentle church chimes.

So, is this an Arab Christian bemoaning the ethnic cleansing of Bethlehem and other Arab Christian communities by so-called moderate Muslim Arabs?

Nope.

I was 8 when my family moved to Bethlehem in 1949. We were Muslim refugees from the newly created Israel.

Gee, I wonder why TIME couldn't find anyone in the Christian community willing to speak on the issue of Bethlehem's Christian community fleeing Islamic radicalism?

Probably because it would have gotten those folks killed:

With Christmas services here drawing far fewer tourists than in the 1990s and the town's Christian population now at an all-time low, many world leaders and hundreds of major media outlets this week blamed Israel for Bethlehem's decline – often citing false information – while a simple talk with the town's residents reveals a drastically different picture. They say Muslim persecution has been keeping Christians away.

"All this talk about Israel driving Christians out and causing pain is nonsense," a Bethlehem Christian community leader told WND. "You want to know what is at play here, just come throughout the year and see the intimidation from the Muslims. They have burned down our stores, built mosques in front of our churches, stole our real estate and took away our rights. Women have been raped and abducted. So don't tell me about Israel. It's the Muslims."

The Bethlehem leader, like many Christians on the streets here, would not provide his name for publication for fear of retaliation.

Bethlehem's Christian population has declined drastically after the Palestinian Authority took control in December, 1995. Once 90 percent of the city, Christians now compose less than 25 percent, according to Israeli survey information. Christmas celebrations this year attracted about 30,000 tourists – 10,000 more than last year but down from an average of 150,000 in 1994.

But the population in Bethlehem and other formerly Christian majority cities is going up.

It's not depopulation, folks. It's religious persecution by the true conquerers of these places: the Muslims.

And all the while, Michel Sabbeh is collaborating with the forces that are looking to wipe out his community... what a guy, eh?

Look, this so-called postcard with a dash of apology and a tureen of accusation isn't the first propaganda piece willingly passed around by the MSM, and it certainly won't be the last.

Despite all that, Merry Christmas folks.

Meryl Yourish has more.