Ironically, the Israeli electorate has displayed a greater commitment to democratic institutions and the rule of law than the Palestinians, who elected the anti-democratic Hamas overwhelmingly and without hesitation the moment its ticket appeared on the Gaza ballot. But I hesitate to make that point because it obscures the bigger one– The jaded participants on this board won’t take an individual excess on the part of Palestinian officials or terror groups as indicative of the Palestinan cause as a whole, yet they are doing that very thing to the Israelis– In the absence of specific facts no less! To be sure, Christian Palestinians possess a distinct political and cultural identity, but I have seen their clergy take cheap shots at Christian Zionists and the Israeli government in public statements and I have known American Palestinian Christians who are anti-semitic in marked contrast to many Lebanese Christians, so even Palestinian Christians are at times embroiled in behavior that is not Christlike and makes things very difficult for the Israelis. The Israelis have had a better relationship with Evangelical Zionists and Lebanese Christians in recent decades than they have with Palestinian Christians or Roman Catholics. This casts doubt on the portrayal of all conflict between Israel and said groups as bona fide religious persecution. Indeed, postings on this board clearly demonstrate some of the trouble originates within our own Church. The belief that we have the right to destabilize Israel because supercession invalidates all Jewish institutional authority is dangerous and absurd from both a theological and human rights standpoint. It has no place in our Church.