Palestinians can't get enough of Gibson's The Passion
 

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=4727121

Palestinians Passionate About Gibson Film
Thu Apr 1, 2004 11:02 AM ET

By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Mel Gibson's controversial film "The Passion of the Christ" is all the rage among Palestinians, curious about complaints by Jews that it is anti-Semitic.

Meanwhile, local distributors in Israel are shunning the film, which Jewish groups say demonizes Jews by depicting them as pressuring the Romans into crucifying Jesus. "The Passion" has banked more than $315 million since its release in February.

Only one percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are Christians while the other 99 percent are Muslims, who revere Jesus as a prophet but do not believe he was crucified.

The portrayal of a prophet in a film is forbidden under Islam. But many Palestinians, locked in conflict against Israel, say they hope "The Passion" will rouse angry emotions against Jews by Christian audiences around the world.

"People are calling me from everywhere in the West Bank -- from Bethlehem, Hebron, Ramallah and Nablus -- to ask for copies of the movie," said the owner of a Gaza city video shop, which sells pirated copies of new release movies.

The shop owner, who declined to be identified, said he received a flood of telephone calls after placing an advertisement for the film in a leading Palestinian newspaper.

"The Passion of the Christ" had outsold other Hollywood blockbusters in Gaza and the West Bank's pirated video market, including "Matrix Revolutions" and "The Last Samurai."

In Israel, the local agent for the film's international distributor Icon Entertainment said it passed on its option to show "The Passion of the Christ," but declined to specify its reasons other than to say the movie was "sensitive." Industry insiders in Israel say local distributors are not interested in the film because of allegations it is anti-Semitic and concerns they are unlikely to recoup their investment as films about Jesus draw few movie-goers in the Jewish state.

Jewish groups and some Roman Catholic clerics have expressed concern the film by Gibson could foment anti-Jewish attacks.

Gibson has denied the movie is anti-Semitic. He is a traditionalist Catholic who rejects the Vatican's 1965 renunciation of the notion that the Jews were collectively responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. In Gaza, some Palestinians exposed to daily bloodshed since a Palestinian uprising began in September 2000 complained that the film's graphic depiction of the crucifixion was too gruesome for their tastes. "It looked like more of a horror movie than a historical one," said one viewer, Mohammed Rezik Ahmed. Others thought it was not gory enough. "We believe Jesus suffered more in his life from the Jews than what we saw in the movie," said Hanna Anton.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat watched a preview of the film at his West Bank headquarters earlier this month. Aides said he found the film "moving."

But not all Palestinians were passionate about the film.

"It was nothing special but was simply something that will increase hatred against the Jews," said Ala, a librarian.
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In other news....

Israel is making up stories about child suicide bombers.



NABLUS, March 29 (IslamOnline.net) - Israeli media has embarked on a new stage of distorting the Palestinian resistance image, accusing Palestinian resistance fighters of making use of children and minors to execute bombing operations; a matter categorically denied by Palestinian families and factions as being "an Israeli intelligence fabrication."

http://www.islam-online.net/English/...rticle08.shtml

:lol:

Re: Palestinians can't get enough of Gibson's The Passion
 

Yeah, and according to the Iraqi Information Minister, our troops are still nowhere near the airport. Check your source.

Hence my laughter...... ;)

The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre. Oh sure. Feelgood hit of the summer.

Re: Palestinians can't get enough of Gibson's The Passion
 

No comment other than to complain about stupid ass Reuters reports that say Muslims don't believe Jesus was crucified. They don't argue that he wasn't crucified, they argue that he isn't the Son of God.

Re: Re: Palestinians can't get enough of Gibson's The Passion
 

Sparhawk, I think Muslims believe that Jesus ascended directly into Heaven because he was a prophet. Someone else was crucified--either an imposter or a different Jesus.

Obviously, Christians believe that without the crucifixion, there can be no blood redemption. So this teaching implies to Christians that they do not have salvation. This has been the dominant contention between Muslims and Christians.

Here we go:

-- http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-chat/1092695/posts

And here:

--http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2002/002/1.10.html

I expect Hutton Gibson is very proud :(

Funniest story yet in Tilted politics.

The Palestinian's are anti-semitic because they like 'The Passion' and the Isreali's are anti- Catholic because they won't show the movie.

In other breaking news,..

No one gives a shit.

Anti-Catholic because they won't show the film? :lol:

Whew! Thanks for that laugh.

Your welcome. Almost as funny as being labelled anti-semitic for liking the movie;)

And I did that? With all due respect, who cares if you liked the movie...

Here to call a troll a troll. It's obvious the intent of this post was to further demonize the Palestinians. Those damn dirty Arabs LOVE this movie because they hate those damn Jews.

And not a word from the moderators. C'mon guys, atleast tell the guy to post a comment with his article. What was his point?


SLM3

Now to address your question directly.

SLM,

This is a major Reuters news story.

Given that they are apparently reporting the situation as it is, how is it a "troll" if it is true?

popo is not a new member, he's been here for a year. Do a quick search on his posts, notice the trend, and then ask me again why I question his sincerity to spread meaningful information here as opposed to spreading intolerance.



SLM3

If ANY member crosses the lines and starts spreading hate against ANYONE then we'll deal with it. (There is a link called "Report this post to a moderator" in every post.)

And you didn't answer my question: Why is a legitimate news story a "troll" if it is true?

Well, I guess we all have our own deifinition of trolling. I don't define it as lying so much as posting with the intent of generating predictable responses and/or flames. In this case, based on popo's stringent defense of Israel in past discussions and his often times contempt for Palestinians, I could only see this relatively trivial news story as a ploy to further demonize them.

The people that already do not think favourably of Palestinians will see it as further evidence of anti-semitism and those who think it's a lame attempt at creating controversy will sigh and dismiss it. In my eyes, atleast, that's what's happened here.

So I call it a troll.


SLM3

Well, I would have to agree that we all have our own definitions of trolling.

The way I look at it, repeating controversial topics (usually our pet ones) is ok, SO LONG AS we can bring something new to the table when we post.

That is why we don't lock the ad naseum "Look what George Bush did NOW" thread of the day/week, because most of the time it is something new. (Although I probably should have locked that April's Fool Day GB post as worthless.)

The same for Kerry posts, Iraq posts, etc.

Now however if someone just keeps posting the same thing OVER and OVER without putting something new into it...well...you might get a friendly suggestion from a mod to knock it off.

And finally, it isn't a perfect system. All the mods have slightly different styles and some leeway to use their best judgement. Add to that the fact that we are human and miss somethings, have our own bias (in spite of trying to be impartial) and, well, you get my drift.

So to me, popo's only real mistake was the relatively minor one of not adding his own commentary. The fact that this is a new news story from a legitimate source to me makes it fair game to discuss. The fact that popo has a noted bias for Isreal doesn't enter into the equation anymore than your bias for the Palestinians would enter into the equation if you posted a pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel piece.

The only thing after that would be that forum rules were followed regarding flames, respect, etc. (which can be challenging drawing the line, let me tell you...)

Sorry if I unknowingly broke a rule by not posting commenting but I figured the stories were so interesting that they pretty much spoke for themselves. If that's trolling, well.....

The stories are legit. As Lebell points out, the first is a Reuters story. I also thought it was very interesting to see how the Arab media is presenting the recent rush of child suicide bombers. They say that Israel is making it up. Did that really need my commentary?

Again like Lebell says, it's not like I post daily threads on the bad Palestinians and the good Israelis. I simply saw 2 interesting stories and posted them. I think that they fall into the scope of what this forum is about considering the fact that the Middle East conflict is discussed ad nauseum.

SLM3 by what you say you shouldn't ever post something that paints the Israelis in a bad light. You do realize that. BTW, it's not like I'll post today about how the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a best-seller in Arab lands. But even if I did, is that not worth discussing?

If there are complaints about the stories, you should probably send them to Reuters and Islam Online (via Yahoo! News), which is where I found them.

Cheers.

Re: Re: Re: Palestinians can't get enough of Gibson's The Passion
 

Thanks for that, Smooth. I was basing my post off the opinions/faith of a muslim friend of mine, who I've had this specific discussion with. I guess I learn something new everyday :)