Mossad Raid on Anglican Holy Place

This is just a weird weekend of strange Anglican news that I feel like I need to comment on. At St. George's College (and Anglican college and Cathedral in Jerusalem near Saladin), the Israeli Mossad apparently stormed in to arrest Mordechai Vanunu, a jewish convert to Anglicanism who had just gotten out of prison after spending over a decade in Israeli prison for giving away secrets of Israeli nuclear weapons. To read more, including Archbishop Riah Abu El-Assal's reaction to all this, click here.

Personally, i don't know what to make of this. Having roots in Flaming Xenophobic Zionism combined with my boot-strap fascist propensity for Kissinger-esque foreign policy schemes, I'm torn here. I take traitorous actions very seriously and on the one hand can sympathize with the Israeli government. Certainly, here "on the block" at seminary, there is a latent anti-Israeli bias. And of course, those people are just eating this up. "How dare they violate a sacred space!"

Granted, i think the Israeli Mossad and Army can get out of control due to the Intifada. But, when the church is housing a known traitor (and I am unclear from all that I have read whether he was claiming the medieval right of sanctuary), I don't think they can rightly plead ignorance and outrage, given the situation. Seems to me they knowingly ran the risk of a raid like this. I don't know. Does anyone have any earth shattering ideas on this one? I can't in good conscience condemn the israelis who have to live in a world where they have to have armed guards on every school bus and pizza parlor and constantly live in fear.

Comments

Kyle said…
Sacred space?

I think they were born in the wrong century. I don't think anyone's going to accuse the Israeli government of causing justice to roll like a river anytime soon, terrorists or not. While I do have something of an anti-Israeli bias myself (the Palestinians are an occupied people), that doesn't justify terrorism. Nothing justifies the actions of either the Israelis or the Palestinians in this mess.

I won't cheer for either team because I think they're playing the wrong game. Because Israel has power, I do think it has a greater responsibility. The oppressor is not purely evil, and the oppressed not purely good. Or even particularly nice. But I do think that's what it's like there.
11/16/2004 1:55 PM
Kyle said…
And just for fun:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20041013-094759-4141r.htm
11/17/2004 10:19 AM
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