I’ve found at least one reason to take exception to Glenn Reynolds. Right here:

SOME READERS HAVE CHALLENGED my statement below about increasing anti-semitism from the Vatican. But the Vatican has consistently taken the side of Palestinians, and Arab Muslims generally, against Israel and Jews, to the point where I can’t really believe any excuses that it’s not about antisemitism. (I think that there have been a few minor condemnations of the increasing anti-semitism in Europe, though I looked and couldn’t find any.) Then there’s this damning picture. (Yeah, he’s French, but he’s also a Cardinal.)

Sorry — readers can defend this sort of thing if they like. But to me it’s just another sign that the Vatican — whose retreat from antisemitism was at any rate recent and shallow — has no moral ground to stand on.

The Vatican taking the side of the Palestinians? Gee, I wonder where the Vatican would ever get that idea. Father Abusahlia, who is the chancellor for the Latin Patriarchate, had this to say after the attack:

Once, the patriarch arrived an hour late for a Mass because he was forced to take a longer route due to problems at the checkpoints. Another time when the patriarch and chancellor were traveling to Nazareth via Jericho, West Bank, they were initially confronted by soldiers with pointed guns. After the soldiers saw their Vatican passports, they apologized, Father Abusahlia said. “The daily life of every person here is already complicated, and this is making it more complicated. It is a situation of fear,” he said, calling the incident an “unjustified action.” “The soldiers have their orders, and we respect their orders; I can understand their fear, but they have to deal with people,” he said. “We appeal to Israel to stop the closure and remove all the checkpoints which are separating our cities and towns and making this whole area one big prison. They have to end this last bloody occupation in the world.”

If that does not sound like the rantings of an irrational terrorist, it is because it is not. I have had the pleasure of meeting with Fr. Abusahlia on three separate occasions. He describes the situation as being between a rock and a hard place – the “rock” being Palestinian in the Israeli state, the “hard place” being Christian among a Muslim minority. They are a minority within a minority, and the Church is the only organization that offers them any hope of survival.

Now the official Israeli line is that the convoy challenged the checkpoint. But after reading listening to Fr. Abusahlia and reading the Fr. Kurzum’s account, I simply don’t buy it – for no other reason than they had no reason to challenge the checkpoint. Palestinians know better, and since the convoy was flying Vatican flags, so should the IDF patrolling the checkpoint.

Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident for Palestinians. It happens daily. As for Cardinal Etchegary posing with Arafat, let’s just say that it’s not the Palestinians who are bulldozing entire villages nor destroying Christian holy sites.

Joaquin Navarro-Valls put it quite nicely during the 63-day seige of the Church of the Nativity:

The Vatican said it was following the situation with great concern.

“The Holy See is following with extreme apprehension the situation in Bethlehem, and is trying to ascertain the truth of the most recent developments,” said Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.

He said the Vatican had reiterated to Israel “that the Holy See considers the respect of the status quo of holy places to be an absolute priority.”

Now if such a stance in support for Palestinian Christians and Christian holy sites makes the Vatican anti-semetic, so be it. I for one find the evidence lacking in everything but political spin.