# Hey, Yasser, give it a rest...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [May 2, 2002, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935 "2002-05-02T20:44:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2002, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/1 "2002-05-02T20:44:06Z")
I normally not one to rant, but this one got to me.
I was reading the newspaper by lunch today and came across this
[quote]
([http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020502/ap\_on\_re\_mi\_ea/palestinians\_arafat\_1](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020502/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_arafat_1)) by Yasser Arafat concerning the fire at the Chruch of the Nativity:
> [@](#):
>
> “How could the world possibly be silent about this atrocious crime?” he said. “I don’t care if this room I’m sitting in blows up. What concerns me is what is happening at the Church of the Nativity. This is a crime that cannot be forgiven!”
WTH? (Sorry, I don’t use overly strong language…) Talk about people living in glass houses…
I think we can all agree that a person’s life is more important than any building, whether it be a church, synagouge, mosque, etc. Under Jewish law (and I’m willing to bet the same would apply in most, if not all world religions) one is allowed to knock down a building (provided, of course, it doesn’t kill others) to save a life.
Yet, here is this person with more Jewish blood on his hands than any person since Hitler saying that a fire in a church (and there’s no evidence that the Israelis started it-- if they really wanted to destroy it, they wouldn’t need to set fire to it) is an “atrocious crime” and a “crime that cannot be forgiven.” Puh-leeeeeeeeez! How about showing some compassion for the victims of your terrorist bombers and calling their deaths a “crime.” But no… a fire in a chuch is an “atrocious crime” that “cannot be forgiven.”
And, of course, this is also from the same person who allowed his goons to destroy Joseph’s tomb and the yeshiva that was there. But that’s not an “atrocious crime” to Arafat.
[sub]Calm down, Zev. He’s not worth getting upset over.[/sub]
Zev Steinhardt
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### Author:  [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2002, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/2 "2002-05-02T21:22:20Z")
BWAHAHAHA
_sniff_
Sorry, just the idea that Arafat would run off and sacrifice himself with no second thoughts or hesitation for the Church of the Nativity is kinda silly.
He seems to want to express some kind of solidarity with the Christians, but… come on. Laying it on a bit too thick, methinks.
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2002, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/3 "2002-05-02T21:44:45Z")
Yeah, how dare they start fires in a church!
100-story buildings full of people, those are OK to start fires in. And crowded shopping malls, those are OK to blow up. And public busses. And pizza shacks, those are OK too.
You got to hand it to him, though, Zev, he knows how to play PR. Remember, he’s the guy who engineered so much sympathy for the Palestinians by arranging “photo-ops” of Palestinian children throwing rocks at Israeli soliders. Put the children on the front lines as sacrificial sheep, let them be photographed, the more pathetic the better, and you’ll arouse public sympathy.
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### Author:  [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2002, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/4 "2002-05-02T22:43:17Z")
Listen, as a Christian, if the Church of the Nativity goes up in flames, I’m going to seriously ticked at the lot of 'em. But I fully understand that if they (meaning Israelis _and_ Palistinians) are willing to scorch the very land they are standing on – which they appear willing to do – they certainly won’t let something like a church stand in the way of their desire to kill one another.
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### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2002, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/5 "2002-05-02T22:57:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Jodi \*
> \*\*Listen, as a Christian, if the Church of the Nativity goes up in flames, I’m going to seriously ticked at the lot of 'em. \*\*
And I don’t blame you. But even you would agree that it is better that the church go up in flames than people be killed. Arafat, however, thinks that a building on fire is a terrible crime, and cannot be forgiven, but blowing up innocent people in a pizzeria is nothing. I was just commenting on Arafat’s hypocracy, nothing more.
Zev Steinhardt
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### Author:  [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2002, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/6 "2002-05-03T00:11:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I was just commenting on Arafat’s hypocracy, nothing more.
Well how the heck am I supposed to argue with that? 😉
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### Author:  [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2002, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/7 "2002-05-03T00:27:46Z")
The whole thing is bullshit, and with Arafat playing the bleeding heart now, I’m nauseated. He’s killed so much, and for so long that the hypocracy is undoubtedly not apparent to him.
Besides, it was a fucking out-house\*, not the friggin church.
Asshole.
Sam
\*- Out-house as in “outlying house”, not toilet.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/8 "2002-05-03T00:43:28Z")
Isn’t Arafat’s wife a Christian? Just curious.
Either way, is he really so clueless? Or does he honestly not know that most people think he’s a weasel?
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2002, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/9 "2002-05-03T01:23:30Z")
The thing is, although we may not like to admit it, the building _is_ the hostage here. The Israeli army can take out a building, easily, no matter how many enemy troops are inside; it has a reasonably good chance of rescuing hostages out of a building, too (after all, the IDF has some experience in hostage situations). However, it can do neither of these things without seriously damaging the masonry, which will look very, very bad. The world, like it or not, cares more about religious shrines than human lives. After all, the Taliban treated women like crap for years, but when did the world start (only start) paying attention to them? When they blew up some statues.
Don’t overlook the importance of PR.
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2002, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/10 "2002-05-03T04:40:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \*
> \*\*Isn’t Arafat’s wife a Christian? Just curious.
>
> Either way, is he really so clueless? Or does he honestly not know that most people think he’s a weasel? \*\*
Umm, most people DON’T think he’s a weasel. Maybe most people on the SDMB, but around the world he’s regarded as something of a hero by millions and millions of people. In Europe he’s widely regarded as the second coming of Nelson Mandela. He’s a weasel, but a weasel who knows a lot about PR.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2002, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/11 "2002-05-03T05:06:42Z")
Suha Arafat is described as being his “Christian-born wife”. She was “born and raised as a Christian”, and apparently converted to Islam to marry Yassir.
[http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/background/arafat\_yasser.html](http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/background/arafat_yasser.html)
> [@](#):
>
> In 1990 he married 26-year-old Palestinian Suha Tawil, daughter of a wealthy Christian family. The marriage was kept secret for 15 months and Suha converted to Islam during that time. Suha gave birth to their daughter, Zahwa, in 1996.
[http://www.comeandsee.co.il/article.php?sid=49](http://www.comeandsee.co.il/article.php?sid=49)
[http://www.888webtoday.com/beezley435.html](http://www.888webtoday.com/beezley435.html)
So, is it “once saved, always saved” for you, Guin? 😃
Anyway, Hubby’s not interesting himself in what’s happening at the Church of the Nativity just to please his “Christian” wife. It’s all just PR.
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### Author:  [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2002, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/12 "2002-05-03T07:14:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by RickJay \*
> \*\*
>
> Umm, most people DON’T think he’s a weasel. Maybe most people on the SDMB, but around the world he’s regarded as something of a hero by millions and millions of people. In Europe he’s widely regarded as the second coming of Nelson Mandela. He’s a weasel, but a weasel who knows a lot about PR. \*\*
I tend to disagree. Most people think he’s a weasel. All Jews I know, and for a fact, all of my Arab friends do as well.
Maybe the US Capitalist Pig society have gotten to me though \.
Sam
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2002, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/13 "2002-05-03T11:13:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by C K Dexter Haven \*
> **100-story buildings full of people, those are OK to start fires in.**
Which 100-storey building is YA implicated in starting fires in?
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### Author:  [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2002, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/14 "2002-05-03T13:55:48Z")
The house arrest doesn’t seem to have been good for him; he looks pretty bad, you notice?
Like he’s aged a bit in those 6 weeks.
He knows PR.
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2002, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/15 "2002-05-03T15:20:25Z")
I saw Arafat on TV just after the Israelis let him out. He was like a madman, frothing at the mouth, throwing invectives left and right. I understand he might be a bit miffed but leaders need to remain calm in the worst of circumstances and he appeared to be totally out of any self control. I would never follow a man like that. he seems carzy.
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### Author:  [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/16 "2002-05-03T15:39:02Z")
You missed the [choicest quote](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18346-2002May1.html) of all:
> [@](#):
>
> Those [terrorists](http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002/03/14/usat-brigades.htm), [Nazis](http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/History/muftihit.html) and [racists](http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Peace/patext1.html), how can we tolerate them after committing this crime?
Project much, Yassir?
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### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2002, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/17 "2002-05-03T15:47:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by GaWd \*
> \*\*
>
> Most people think he’s a weasel.
> \*\*
**Sam** , please, don’t insult the weasels so… 😃
Zev Steinhardt
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2002, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/18 "2002-05-03T15:53:01Z")
THIS is a weasel—
[http://www.weaselweekly.com/index.html](http://www.weaselweekly.com/index.html)
Awwwww! How can anyone compare this adorable little cutie to that hideous, hate-mongering murderer Arafat?
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2002, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/19 "2002-05-04T02:35:48Z")
We call our cat Misty a weasel, because she looks one.
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-yasser-give-it-a-rest/106935/20 "2002-05-04T23:01:36Z")
Hearing Arafat speak about Israel reminds me of that French quote: “Cet un animal très méchant; Quand on l’attaque il se défend” (It is a very wicked animal, when attacked it defends itself)