×ÖÄ» SHANE SMITH: This week on "Vice,"
×ÖÄ» we follow in the footsteps
×ÖÄ» of the Boston bomber in Dagestan.
×ÖÄ» Then, it's the end of times.
×ÖÄ» The Lord himself will descend from heaven,
×ÖÄ» and we are going to crown Jesus Christ King of Kings
×ÖÄ» and Lord of Lords.
×ÖÄ» Don't point that camera, eh?
×ÖÄ» â™? 11 00:00: 00:00:34,588
×ÖÄ» Oh!
×ÖÄ» THOMAS MORTON: Can America get on the right side of Armageddon
×ÖÄ» by supporting Israel?
×ÖÄ» We're gonna talk to some of the people that were here
×ÖÄ» about the secret war that's going on in Dagestan.
×ÖÄ» Sync & corrections by honeybunny www.Addic7ed.Com
×ÖÄ» â™? 21 00:01: 00:01:06,882 The tiny Russian republic of Dagestan
×ÖÄ» has been in the news a lot lately.
×ÖÄ» Many in America first heard of it
×ÖÄ» when it became known that one of the alleged Boston bombers,
×ÖÄ» Tamerlan Tsarnaev, spent 6 months there
×ÖÄ» before returning to America to carry out this terrible crime.
×ÖÄ» More recently, Dagestani terrorists
×ÖÄ» attacked Russia in a series of suicide bombings.
×ÖÄ» Now, these same extremists also vowed
×ÖÄ» to disrupt the Winter Olympics in nearby Sochi,
×ÖÄ» causing international concerns over Russian security
×ÖÄ» surrounding the global event
×ÖÄ» and a harsh response from President Putin.
×ÖÄ» Now, in order to understand why
×ÖÄ» so many suicide bombers are coming out of this tiny republic
×ÖÄ» and to see firsthand what Tamerlan Tsarnaev went through
×ÖÄ» during his time there, we traveled to Dagestan
×ÖÄ» to follow in his footsteps.
×ÖÄ» â™? 42 00:02: 00:02:14,789
×ÖÄ» Our first stop upon arriving in Makhachkala,
×ÖÄ» Dagestan's capital city,
×ÖÄ» was to meet one of Tamerlan's Dagestani connections
×ÖÄ» who also served as kind of
×ÖÄ» an unofficial religious mentor to him
×ÖÄ» to explain to us exactly what he experienced
×ÖÄ» during his time here.
×ÖÄ» Now, due to the intense international scrutiny
×ÖÄ» of the bomber's actions while in Dagestan,
×ÖÄ» he would only speak to us if we agreed to conceal his identity.
×ÖÄ» I know that Tamerlan Tsarnaev came here for 6 months,
×ÖÄ» about 6 months, in 2012.
×ÖÄ» What do you think he learned here?
×ÖÄ» â™? 56 00:03: 00:03:20,088 SMITH: So the FBI or the CIA came here
×ÖÄ» and wanted to ask you questions, or asked you questions.
×ÖÄ» Why do you think that is?
×ÖÄ» Now, when he mentions-- quote, unquote--"The forest"
×ÖÄ» in the questions that the FBI asked him,
×ÖÄ» what he's referring to is "Going to the forest,"
×ÖÄ» which is the local term for joining
×ÖÄ» the Islamist insurgency in Dagestan.
×ÖÄ» It refers to young people disappearing
×ÖÄ» into the republic's remote mountainous region
×ÖÄ» to join the militants and begin their indoctrination
×ÖÄ» into Islamic jihad...
×ÖÄ» which, despite its dire consequences,
×ÖÄ» more and more Dagestani youth are doing every year.
×ÖÄ» One thing I didn't understand
×ÖÄ» is that if joining the insurgency is a one-way ticket--
×ÖÄ» i.E., you join, and then you die--
×ÖÄ» then, despite that fact, why is the insurgency
×ÖÄ» still so popular amongst young people?
×ÖÄ» â™? 79 00:04: 00:05:01,956
×ÖÄ» SMITH: In an effort to understand all of this
×ÖÄ» a bit better, we met with a local imam
×ÖÄ» whose students have been targeted
×ÖÄ» by the authorities as insurgents
×ÖÄ» and whose mosque, we were told, Tamerlan attended.
×ÖÄ» Do you think that the People of the Book,
×ÖÄ» like Christians and Jews,
×ÖÄ» or secular people should convert to Islam
×ÖÄ» and the world should be under Sharia?
×ÖÄ» So, just to be clear, what he is saying here
×ÖÄ» is that, "A," Not only in the world convert to Islam,
×ÖÄ» but that, "B," They should all be under Sharia law.
×ÖÄ» Not surprisingly because of messages like this,
×ÖÄ» the security forces have targeted the imam's followers.
×ÖÄ» Are young men who come to this mosque
×ÖÄ» being taken away by the Special Forces
×ÖÄ» and being detained?
×ÖÄ» Because young people are being taken
×ÖÄ» away from their homes, there's a lot of anger
×ÖÄ» with the young people,
×ÖÄ» and they're joining the rebels.
×ÖÄ» Is this happening here?
×ÖÄ» Police abductions and torture of suspected militants
×ÖÄ» are everyday occurrences here.
×ÖÄ» There are countless stories of young men
×ÖÄ» around Tamerlan's age being kidnapped, tortured,
×ÖÄ» and, in many cases, murdered.
×ÖÄ» One such young man is Sokhrab Abakar,
×ÖÄ» a 23-year-old taxi driver from Makhachkala.
×ÖÄ» We're here at a house with a family
×ÖÄ» who's showing me pictures of their son,
×ÖÄ» and I was wondering maybe if you could tell me
×ÖÄ» the story of what happened to your son.
×ÖÄ» After their son's disappearance,
×ÖÄ» the family was given cell phone footage
×ÖÄ» from the sympathizer that clearly shows
×ÖÄ» their son's abduction in the plain light of day.
×ÖÄ» Can you tell me what's happening in this--
×ÖÄ» Right.
×ÖÄ» â™? 119 00:08: 00:08:29,830
×ÖÄ» So they've taken him from his car
×ÖÄ» and put him in this car.
×ÖÄ» So they don't admit that they've taken him.
×ÖÄ» And because there's no law
×ÖÄ» and the police are acting like this,
×ÖÄ» are a lot of young people getting angrier?
×ÖÄ» Because of the extreme police tactics used
×ÖÄ» in fighting the insurgents--
×ÖÄ» such as kidnapping, torture, and murder--
×ÖÄ» they've become the focus of almost constant attacks
×ÖÄ» by the militants.
×ÖÄ» This building is a government building
×ÖÄ» that they had a car bomb come and attack.
×ÖÄ» They had a little, tiny bomb
×ÖÄ» so that the police would gather around it,
×ÖÄ» then a big car bomb go off.
×ÖÄ» So we're gonna talk to some of the people that were here,
×ÖÄ» some of the ex-policemen,
×ÖÄ» about why there are so many bombings,
×ÖÄ» about why police are the targets,
×ÖÄ» about the secret war that's going on in Dagestan
×ÖÄ» that's now bleeding out into Russia,
×ÖÄ» bleeding out into Syria, and bleeding out into America
×ÖÄ» to the Boston bombers.
×ÖÄ» Magomed Shamilov is a retired senior police officer
×ÖÄ» who was fired when he fought against corruption
×ÖÄ» within the police force.
×ÖÄ» Why are the militants so angry at the police?
×ÖÄ» Why are they targeting the police?
×ÖÄ» So you're a policeman, an ex-policeman,
×ÖÄ» saying that the police corruption
×ÖÄ» and the police terror tactics
×ÖÄ» are leading to further radicalization
×ÖÄ» within the rebels.
×ÖÄ» So the local police force being corrupt has led
×ÖÄ» to a continuing cycle of violence in Dagestan...
×ÖÄ» but what ramps up the insurgency even more are the tactics used
×ÖÄ» by the Russian Special Forces, or Spetsnaz,
×ÖÄ» whose hyperviolent antiterrorist techniques
×ÖÄ» have led to even more and more anger from the people,
×ÖÄ» which, in turn, leads to more Dagestani youth
×ÖÄ» going to the forest.
×ÖÄ» Now, we wanted to talk to somebody
×ÖÄ» from the Special Forces, but, obviously, if you talk to them,
×ÖÄ» they become a target of the insurgents.
×ÖÄ» So we're talking to one who just left the Spetsnaz.
×ÖÄ» He still has two brothers in the Spetsnaz.
×ÖÄ» So we have to be very careful. We're not gonna show his face.
×ÖÄ» He would only speak to us on the condition of anonymity.
×ÖÄ» We're here on the outskirts of town.
×ÖÄ» We're gonna go see what happens within the Spetsnaz.
×ÖÄ» Can you tell us your rank and your duties
×ÖÄ» when you were in the Spetsnaz?
×ÖÄ» Why do you think that there's
×ÖÄ» so many terrorist attacks?
×ÖÄ» There's a lot of them here in Dagestan.
×ÖÄ» So we asked the commander to walk us through
×ÖÄ» a recent Spetsnaz operation to clear an apartment of militants.
×ÖÄ» Da. OK.
×ÖÄ» The video we watched together was shocking.
×ÖÄ» The video shows an armed siege from November 2012.
×ÖÄ» A female insurgent named Zamira Tutusheva
×ÖÄ» had been cornered in an apartment
×ÖÄ» along with two other militants and her two young children.
×ÖÄ» In an effort to get her to surrender,
×ÖÄ» the Spetsnaz got her father to plead with her
×ÖÄ» to give herself up.
×ÖÄ» Zamira herself refuses to come out
×ÖÄ» but is persuaded to give her two-year-old daughter
×ÖÄ» and 5-year-old son to their grandfather
×ÖÄ» before the attack begins.
×ÖÄ» So now that he's got the children out,
×ÖÄ» I guess they've had a deal with the Spetsnaz
×ÖÄ» because now they come in.
×ÖÄ» How often do these kind of battles take place?
×ÖÄ» Her last phone calls were recorded by the Spetsnaz.
×ÖÄ» This one is of a friend of hers
×ÖÄ» advising her to get killed rather than be taken alive.
×ÖÄ» So this woman was willing
×ÖÄ» to have her children die,
×ÖÄ» and she was willing to kill herself.
×ÖÄ» Why do you think the insurgents
×ÖÄ» are so fanatical?
×ÖÄ» Now, videos like this one are ubiquitous in Dagestan
×ÖÄ» and only serve to recruit more and more people
×ÖÄ» into the insurgency because what you have here
×ÖÄ» is a perfect storm.
×ÖÄ» On the one side, you have jihadists
×ÖÄ» who have the goal of an Islamic state under Sharia law
×ÖÄ» and on the other, a corrupt and hyperviolent
×ÖÄ» security services that serve as the perfect opponent
×ÖÄ» to the jihadis who train here,
×ÖÄ» and since the fighting is so brutal
×ÖÄ» and the stakes are played so high,
×ÖÄ» the terrorist that come out of this region
×ÖÄ» are at the core of the best planned
×ÖÄ» and most deadly suicide attacks.
×ÖÄ» Oh!
×ÖÄ» Dagestan has become a kind of terrorist university
×ÖÄ» that sends its graduates all over the world,
×ÖÄ» including America, for it was in this environment
×ÖÄ» that Tamerlan Tsarnaev lived for 6 months
×ÖÄ» prior to the Boston bombing.
×ÖÄ» As long as this perfect storm of insurgency
×ÖÄ» and counterinsurgency continues in Dagestan,
×ÖÄ» terrorist just like Tamerlan
×ÖÄ» will continue to be created here.
×ÖÄ» â™? 238 00:16: 00:16:04,184 The
×ÖÄ» Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been the focal point
×ÖÄ» of geopolitical instability in the Middle East
×ÖÄ» since the establishment of Israel in 1948.
×ÖÄ» Although the vast majority of the international community,
×ÖÄ» the UN, and the United States
×ÖÄ» publicly support a two-state solution
×ÖÄ» to try and end this conflict, after decades of negotiation,
×ÖÄ» a final settlement has never been reached,
×ÖÄ» and tensions between the Jewish state
×ÖÄ» and the Arab world continue to fester.
×ÖÄ» Throughout this process, America has remained
×ÖÄ» firmly behind Israel as its greatest supporter.
×ÖÄ» In fact, Israel receives more U.S. Foreign aid
×ÖÄ» than any other country in the world.
×ÖÄ» Now, much of this support has been attributed
×ÖÄ» to a strong, wealthy, and very pro-Israeli lobby
×ÖÄ» in America, which is true, but you'd think
×ÖÄ» that the majority of the strength behind this lobby
×ÖÄ» would be the Jewish community in the U.S.,
×ÖÄ» which is only partially correct because, as it turns out,
×ÖÄ» in terms of sheer numbers, the evangelical Christians
×ÖÄ» from America's Bible Belt make up the majority
×ÖÄ» of this lobby's power base.
×ÖÄ» So we sent Thomas Morton to find out
×ÖÄ» why a bunch of born-again Christians from Texas
×ÖÄ» are so in love with the nation of Israel.
×ÖÄ» â™? 265 00:17: 00:17:20,494
×ÖÄ» MAN: This may be the most important prophetic spot
×ÖÄ» in the entire Bible
×ÖÄ» because the final act
×ÖÄ» of the Book of Revelation
×ÖÄ» is going to begin right here
×ÖÄ» at this place.
×ÖÄ» The Bible teaches that Russia,
×ÖÄ» Iran, Ethiopia, Libya, Turkey,
×ÖÄ» and other nations will come down under a UN flag,
×ÖÄ» and they will invade Israel at this particular point.
×ÖÄ» Can you imagine thousands of tanks
×ÖÄ» out here in this valley
×ÖÄ» rumbling, fighting, firing?
×ÖÄ» Can you imagine jet airplanes screaming overhead?
×ÖÄ» The battle is going to be fierce.
×ÖÄ» The horrific, multinational fighting
×ÖÄ» this preacher is describing is the Battle of Armageddon,
×ÖÄ» which is supposed to happen right here
×ÖÄ» just as soon as Israel is a fully Jewish state,
×ÖÄ» which is why a bunch of Christians in Texas
×ÖÄ» have become the most fervent Zionists on God's green earth.
×ÖÄ» While most Americans probably think the pro-Israeli lobby
×ÖÄ» is largely a Jewish thing, actually most of its support
×ÖÄ» comes from right here in the Bible Belt,
×ÖÄ» where evangelical Christians overwhelmingly believe
×ÖÄ» that Israel has a right to exist because God said so.
×ÖÄ» Go to the phone right now and call that number
×ÖÄ» and say, "Yes. I'm gonna stand with Israel.
×ÖÄ» "I'm gonna bless the people of the Bible.
×ÖÄ» I'm gonna bless God's chosen people."
×ÖÄ» Will those of you in this audience
×ÖÄ» who support the state of Israel stand to your feet
×ÖÄ» and give a shout of support?
×ÖÄ» While a lot of Israel's financial support
×ÖÄ» does come from Jewish wallets,
×ÖÄ» there are close to 70 million evangelicalin America
×ÖÄ» versus less than 14 million Jews worldwide,
×ÖÄ» and, given that roughly 80% of these Christians support Israel,
×ÖÄ» that makes American Christians the largest
×ÖÄ» pro-Israeli voting block in the world,
×ÖÄ» about 4 times the size of the Jewish community on Earth.
×ÖÄ» There's a lot of money behind the Christian Zionist movement.
×ÖÄ» This church behind me, Cornerstone,
×ÖÄ» is one of the biggest supporters of Israel
×ÖÄ» not just among Christians, but in the world.
×ÖÄ» The pastor here, John Hagee, has raised an estimated $70 millions
×ÖÄ» over the course of his ministry.
×ÖÄ» Pastor Hagee also founded Christians United for Israel,
×ÖÄ» or CUFI, which is the largest pro-Israel lobbying organization
×ÖÄ» in America, even bigger than AIPAC,
×ÖÄ» the organization most people assumed
×ÖÄ» dominates the American Israel lobby
×ÖÄ» because it's the biggest Jewish one.
×ÖÄ» What's dicey about CUFI is that a good deal of their money
×ÖÄ» for Israel is spent on buildings and organizations
×ÖÄ» in the Israeli settlements.
×ÖÄ» These are massive Jewish communities
×ÖÄ» built well within Palestinian territory
×ÖÄ» in violation of international law.
×ÖÄ» The settlements are run by some of the most fanatical Zionists
×ÖÄ» who believe the Bible entitles them to their land
×ÖÄ» and that ceding any of it back to the Palestinians
×ÖÄ» would be a violation of God's law.
×ÖÄ» God gave them that land. They own that land.
×ÖÄ» While there's nothing wrong with Christians
×ÖÄ» supporting Israel, the way these Christians
×ÖÄ» have chosen to do so puts them firmly on one side
×ÖÄ» of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
×ÖÄ» one that's directly opposed to the U.S. Government's
×ÖÄ» official policy, and they're using
×ÖÄ» their massive political power and money
×ÖÄ» to oppose the peace plan John Kerry
×ÖÄ» is currently trying to push through.
×ÖÄ» That's the two-state solution that would give the Palestinians
×ÖÄ» the West Bank and Gaza Strip
×ÖÄ» and the Israelis would get the rest,
×ÖÄ» hopefully ending all the violence.
×ÖÄ» Evangelicals not only lobby Washington
×ÖÄ» and send money to Israel to fight the two-state solution.
×ÖÄ» They also make up over 40%
×ÖÄ» of American tourists in Israel every year
×ÖÄ» with popular Holy Land pilgrimage tours.
×ÖÄ» Many of these tours actually have stops
×ÖÄ» in the Israeli settlements which are used by the settlers
×ÖÄ» to solicit donations for their cause.
×ÖÄ» We're in Qarne Shomron, Israeli settlement.
×ÖÄ» We're about to meet Sondra, who deals with Pastor Hagee
×ÖÄ» in the United States.
×ÖÄ» She is not a Christian.
×ÖÄ» She's an Orthodox Jew, and right now,
×ÖÄ» She's hosting a bunch of Christian Australians
×ÖÄ» who are touring the settlement
×ÖÄ» and, hopefully, coughing up the bills.
×ÖÄ» To make the settlements more relatable
×ÖÄ» to their Christian friends, Sondra and her organization
×ÖÄ» use the Palestinian territories' biblical names
×ÖÄ» of Judea and Samaria.
×ÖÄ» It is for us, as people who believe in the Bible,
×ÖÄ» to stand on the moral and spiritual right
×ÖÄ» of the Jewish people to Judea and Samaria.
×ÖÄ» Amen?
×ÖÄ» Amen. Good.
×ÖÄ» After Sondra's presentation,
×ÖÄ» we reboarded the bus to see the settlement for ourselves.
×ÖÄ» Come on, guys.
×ÖÄ» I want you to try to punch him
×ÖÄ» in the stomach.
×ÖÄ» Let's give it a try.
×ÖÄ» Unfortunately, our Arab neighbors
×ÖÄ» also have these kinds of guns.
×ÖÄ» You need to be protected
×ÖÄ» with something like this.
×ÖÄ» How important is Christian support
×ÖÄ» specifically for the settlement?
×ÖÄ» Christian support for the Jewish presence
×ÖÄ» in Judea and Samaria is critical
×ÖÄ» because it's a very large group of people
×ÖÄ» all over the world and we need to hear
×ÖÄ» their voices, and--thank God--
×ÖÄ» they are raising their voices on this issue
×ÖÄ» louder and louder every day.
×ÖÄ» â™? 389 00:22: 00:22:09,783
×ÖÄ» MORTON: Another Christian Holy Land tour leader
×ÖÄ» is evangelical pastor Irvin Baxter,
×ÖÄ» whose Endtime Ministries
×ÖÄ» takes its flock to Israel twice a year.
×ÖÄ» The focus of their tours is actually the real reason
×ÖÄ» evangelicals overwhelmingly want the Jews
×ÖÄ» to control all of Israel,
×ÖÄ» which is the actual end times, as in Armageddon,
×ÖÄ» because, according to their interpretation of the Bible,
×ÖÄ» Jewish control of the Holy Land will lead directly
×ÖÄ» to the second coming of Christ.
×ÖÄ» The word "Armageddon" Is actually two words--
×ÖÄ» "Har megiddo," Or "Hill of Megiddo."
×ÖÄ» You are standing on the hill of Megiddo right now.
×ÖÄ» The final act of the Book of Revelation
×ÖÄ» is going to begin right here at this place,
×ÖÄ» and when Israel is about to be defeated,
×ÖÄ» the Bible tells us
×ÖÄ» that Jesus Christ himself will intervene.
×ÖÄ» It says it this way.
×ÖÄ» The Lord himself will ascend from heaven with a shout,
×ÖÄ» with the voice of the archangel, with the trump of God.
×ÖÄ» He is going to defeat the antichrist.
×ÖÄ» He's going to defeat the false prophet.
×ÖÄ» Both of them will be cast alive into the lake of fire.
×ÖÄ» At that time, Satan is going to be bound
×ÖÄ» for the next 1,000 years,
×ÖÄ» and we are going to crown Jesus Christ
×ÖÄ» as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
×ÖÄ» Real quickly, I will take time for a few questions.
×ÖÄ» Well, I can't tell you for sure
×ÖÄ» if Maryland will still be there or not?
×ÖÄ» In addition to Armageddon,
×ÖÄ» Pastor Baxter's Endtimes tour hits all the other
×ÖÄ» local attractions associated with the apocalypse,
×ÖÄ» including the most contested piece of real estate
×ÖÄ» on the planet--Jerusalem, which houses some
×ÖÄ» of the more sacred sites for Jews,
×ÖÄ» Muslims, and Christians alike.
×ÖÄ» It's also were Jesus lands at the grand finale
×ÖÄ» of the end times, which doesn't pan out so great for the Jews.
×ÖÄ» 2/3 of Israel will die.
×ÖÄ» It's Zechariah 13, I think-- maybe verse 7, 8, 9,
×ÖÄ» right in that area-- that 2/3 will die.
×ÖÄ» 1/3 will be brought through the fire,
×ÖÄ» and that 1/3 will then turn to Messiah en masse
×ÖÄ» when He comes back, and the scripture says
×ÖÄ» that they will run out to Him,
×ÖÄ» and when they bow to worship Him,
×ÖÄ» Zechariah 13:6 says they're gonna notice He has got wounds
×ÖÄ» in His feet and in His hand,
×ÖÄ» and they're gonna say, "You're Jesus?
×ÖÄ» "Oh, Messiah, we've been so stubborn.
×ÖÄ» "We've been so proud. We've been so blind.
×ÖÄ» Could you ever forgive us?" And 2,000 years of blindness
×ÖÄ» is gonna come peeling off the Jewish mind,
×ÖÄ» and those of us that have been up,
×ÖÄ» caught up in the rapture and come with Jesus here--
×ÖÄ» Oh, because the Christians
×ÖÄ» have been raptured out.
×ÖÄ» All who are born again will have been raptured.
×ÖÄ» When Jesus comes, we'll be called up
×ÖÄ» to meet Him in the air, and then we will come
×ÖÄ» with Him to the Mount of Olives,
×ÖÄ» and so we're gonna be watching
×ÖÄ» this whole panoramic thing unfold
×ÖÄ» as the Jewish people turn to their Messiah.
×ÖÄ» We're gonna be converting people
×ÖÄ» by the hundreds of thousands
×ÖÄ» during this time.
×ÖÄ» It's gonna be the best of times
×ÖÄ» and the worst of times.
×ÖÄ» â™? 463 00:25: 00:25:11,831 MORTON:
×ÖÄ» While the 2/3 of Jews who die are definitely getting
×ÖÄ» the "Worst of times" End of the stick,
×ÖÄ» it's a little less clear how the rest of the world fares
×ÖÄ» in the pastor's end-of-days scenario.
×ÖÄ» Can America get on the right side of Armageddon
×ÖÄ» by supporting Israel?
×ÖÄ» Americans can let their legislatures know,
×ÖÄ» support Israel.
×ÖÄ» Right now under the present Obama administration,
×ÖÄ» there seems to be a drift somewhat away from Israel,
×ÖÄ» at least a determination to force Israel
×ÖÄ» to do what America thinks it should do.
×ÖÄ» The only way for Israel
×ÖÄ» to endure and thrive as a Jewish
×ÖÄ» and democratic state
×ÖÄ» is through the realization
×ÖÄ» of an independent
×ÖÄ» and viable Palestine.
×ÖÄ» The Jewish people
×ÖÄ» should say, "Look. This is our promised land.
×ÖÄ» "The Bible says we should not give it up.
×ÖÄ» "So we're not giving it up.
×ÖÄ» You have to respect our religion."
×ÖÄ» â™? 487 00:26: 00:26:03,450
×ÖÄ» MORTON: Aside from potentially derailing
×ÖÄ» an otherwise pretty solid peace plan,
×ÖÄ» Christian support for the Israeli settlements
×ÖÄ» further makes life a pain in the ass
×ÖÄ» for the Palestinians living nearby,
×ÖÄ» which is exactly what's happening at Beit Jala,
×ÖÄ» a Palestinian village on the outskirts of Bethlehem
×ÖÄ» where Jesus was born.
×ÖÄ» Xavier Abu Eid is also Christian as well as an official
×ÖÄ» in the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
×ÖÄ» We met him at a weekly outdoor Mass
×ÖÄ» put on by the Catholic church
×ÖÄ» as a form of protest against Israeli encroachment.
×ÖÄ» Two years ago, an Israeli court decided
×ÖÄ» to build the wall here where we are.
×ÖÄ» So basically, all this valley that you see here,
×ÖÄ» it's going to be on Israeli side of the wall.
×ÖÄ» Hello. How are you?
×ÖÄ» Hey, how are you?
×ÖÄ» For example, he is one of the 58 landowners
×ÖÄ» that are going to lose their land here
×ÖÄ» and are 58 Palestinian Christian families
×ÖÄ» that are going to lose their land here,
×ÖÄ» and you're not talking about immigrants
×ÖÄ» that came here.
×ÖÄ» No. You're talking about indigenous population
×ÖÄ» of this land.
×ÖÄ» We are standing now over a territory
×ÖÄ» that no one in the world,
×ÖÄ» not even the U.S.,
×ÖÄ» recognizes as part of Israel.
×ÖÄ» I know a lot of evangelicals.
×ÖÄ» It's really big in America right now to support Israel
×ÖÄ» because, they say, "Well, the Bible says
×ÖÄ» Israel belongs to the Jews,"
×ÖÄ» and a lot of them also believe
×ÖÄ» that once the Jews take over all of Israel,
×ÖÄ» then they get to have Armageddon.
×ÖÄ» I read the Bible, and I never saw
×ÖÄ» the Bible says that God is a real estate agent.
×ÖÄ» Those Christian Zionist organizations,
×ÖÄ» they are not giving money, actually,
×ÖÄ» to the state of Israel.
×ÖÄ» They are giving money
×ÖÄ» to the most ideological settlers,
×ÖÄ» and, of course, I don't think
×ÖÄ» that's a very Christian act.
×ÖÄ» If I were a Palestinian Christian,
×ÖÄ» I wouldn't involve myself in this conflict.
×ÖÄ» I'd stay out of it and say, "Look.
×ÖÄ» "I know what's coming.
×ÖÄ» "I'm gonna serve Jesus Christ.
×ÖÄ» "When He gets here,
×ÖÄ» He'll straighten all this out."
×ÖÄ» â™? 543 00:27: 00:27:55,061 MORTON:
×ÖÄ» While Baxter's advice for Christians on the ground
×ÖÄ» is basically just to bunker down
×ÖÄ» and get ready for the inevitable,
×ÖÄ» he and his fellow Christian Zionists in America
×ÖÄ» are working full tilt to make the end of days a reality
×ÖÄ» and are using the voting strength of their followers
×ÖÄ» to try and get Washington on their side...
×ÖÄ» â™? 551 00:28: 00:28:15,181 and
×ÖÄ» in a political conflict that's already been hijacked
×ÖÄ» by religious zealots on both the Palestinian
×ÖÄ» and Israeli side, adding millions
×ÖÄ» of doomsday-ready American evangelicals to the table
×ÖÄ» is like pouring gas on a fire
×ÖÄ» in the most flammable region in the world.
×ÖÄ» Sync & corrections by honeybunny www.Addic7ed.Com