going torments and sufferings of the sons of Christ, especially in Palestine where he preached. They are crucified every day at the hands of the American and Jewish-Zionist executioners. Even suckling babes are not safe from crucifixion…
“What kind of exoneration are these criminals, who continue to shed sacred blood, talking about?… Now the Iraqi people are facing the same ordeal and walking the same Via Dolorosa. [This means] that the carnivorous beast does not always come from among the Jews – otherwise, how could we classify people like Bush, Rumsfeld, and Cheney, if we did not classify them as Zionists? What is the torment of Christ if not the anguish of his sons?… The lesson that we are learning from reexamining the sufferings of Christ must make us [sympathize] with his tormented sons regardless of their color and creed, against the carnivorous beasts regardless of their color and creed. What is the story of the life of Christ if not the story of the Palestinian Intifada against oppression and corruption, and against the oppressor and the corrupt? The Palestinian Intifada is nothing but a return to the Intifada of Christ by his sons…” […]
The film has stirred religious controversy in Kuwait, where the authorities have not yet decided whether to approve its screening. While the Sunni majority in the country opposes the film because parts of it contradict the Muslim faith, the Shi’ites are calling for showing it. Kuwait’s leading Shi’ite cleric Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir Al-Muhri said there was nothing wrong with showing the film. He argued, “It’s a good opportunity to reveal the crimes committed by Jews against the Christ and many other prophets.”
All this will no doubt cheer Mel no end. There’s a problem, however:
Hani Naqshabandi, editor in chief of the Saudi family magazine Sayyidaty, criticized the notion of the Jews’ extraordinary powers: “The real irritation in the film is that it revealed a lie that we, the Arabs, tell ourselves everyday. This lie is that we are hated in the world because the Jews control Hollywood, the film industry, and the entertainment industry in America. We say that this control has distorted the Arabs’ image everywhere, causing us to be hated by everyone. However, ‘The Passion of the Christ’ has revealed the exact opposite: It revealed that we are hated in the world because we hate each other and we don’t know how to conduct our business… The Jews have nothing to do with it at all. They are innocent of the accusation of harming our image in the world… If the Jews had ultimate control over Hollywood and what happens there, as our fathers, grandfathers, writers, and books say, a film against them would not be produced by the hub of the world’s film industry…”
“I am not saying that they [the Jews] have no impact or influence. They do indeed, but not as we think or claim, and not as we imagined when we accused the Jews, Hollywood, and the Zionist lobby here and there for our failure to communicate with others. This is not a defense of the Jews or a promotion for the film, but an attempt to reveal that we must stop accusing others for our mistakes… We shouldn’t make Hollywood and the Jews the excuse for our backwardness. It goes deeper than that…”
Who’d have thought? The film has actually made someone question their deepest prejudices. Truly, God moves in mysterious ways.
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