Jerusalem Exemplifies Humanity’s Failure To Progress Beyond Ethno-Religious Hatred and Naked Barbarism
by William Hanna, 06 June 2018. As part of research for a book, I spent the weekend in
Hereford, Herefordshire, which included visiting the 1079 Grade I listed
Cathedral with its famous Mappa Mundi. The map, a unique medieval treasure
created around the year 1300 — on a single sheet of calfskin vellum measuring
1.59 x 1.34 metres (5’2” by 4’4”) — depicted the destiny, geography, and
history of humanity as was perceived in Christian Europe during the late
thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. The inhabited world as it was then
known was portrayed within a Christian context encompassing Europe, Asia, and
North Africa, with Jerusalem at its centre.
Hereford, Herefordshire, which included visiting the 1079 Grade I listed
Cathedral with its famous Mappa Mundi. The map, a unique medieval treasure
created around the year 1300 — on a single sheet of calfskin vellum measuring
1.59 x 1.34 metres (5’2” by 4’4”) — depicted the destiny, geography, and
history of humanity as was perceived in Christian Europe during the late
thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. The inhabited world as it was then
known was portrayed within a Christian context encompassing Europe, Asia, and
North Africa, with Jerusalem at its centre.
This brought to mind the equally renowned Büting clover
map — shown above and also known as
“The World in a Cloverleaf” — which was drawn and published in the book Itinerarium
Sacrae Scripturae (Travel through Holy Scripture) by Heinrich Bünting, the German Protestant pastor, theologist, and
cartographer. The clover leaf shape symbolised the Christian Trinity as
well as being a component at the symbolisation of Hanover where Bünting was
born.
map — shown above and also known as
“The World in a Cloverleaf” — which was drawn and published in the book Itinerarium
Sacrae Scripturae (Travel through Holy Scripture) by Heinrich Bünting, the German Protestant pastor, theologist, and
cartographer. The clover leaf shape symbolised the Christian Trinity as
well as being a component at the symbolisation of Hanover where Bünting was
born.
Both maps depict Jerusalem as the global hub from which
the five sacred uniting religious principles — respect for life, respect for
dignity, respect for freedom of religion and conscience, respect for freedom of
thought and expression, and the Golden Rule of respect for others — were
presumably supposed to emanate. The stark reality, however, is that since it
was first settled in the 4th millennium BCE — making it one of the oldest
cities in the world — Jerusalem has been inclined more towards the temptations
of satan, rather than the tenets of God.
the five sacred uniting religious principles — respect for life, respect for
dignity, respect for freedom of religion and conscience, respect for freedom of
thought and expression, and the Golden Rule of respect for others — were
presumably supposed to emanate. The stark reality, however, is that since it
was first settled in the 4th millennium BCE — making it one of the oldest
cities in the world — Jerusalem has been inclined more towards the temptations
of satan, rather than the tenets of God.
Of the 52 times Jerusalem was attacked, 23 times
besieged, 44 times captured and recaptured, and twice destroyed, one of the
most heinous of those events began when in 1095 the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I
Comnenus sent envoys to the West requesting military assistance against the
Seljuk Turks. It was a timely request for the Holy Roman Empire which had
itself been harassed for the past two centuries by Norsemen who owned numerous
northern trading centres and dominated the sea routes. Furthermore,
negotiations between North African and Middle Eastern powers had culminated in
834 with an Arabian delegation visiting Denmark to complete military and trade
alliances that left the Holy Roman Empire trapped between two anti-Christian
forces.
besieged, 44 times captured and recaptured, and twice destroyed, one of the
most heinous of those events began when in 1095 the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I
Comnenus sent envoys to the West requesting military assistance against the
Seljuk Turks. It was a timely request for the Holy Roman Empire which had
itself been harassed for the past two centuries by Norsemen who owned numerous
northern trading centres and dominated the sea routes. Furthermore,
negotiations between North African and Middle Eastern powers had culminated in
834 with an Arabian delegation visiting Denmark to complete military and trade
alliances that left the Holy Roman Empire trapped between two anti-Christian
forces.
The Byzantine Emperor’s request therefore provided Pope
Urban II at the 1095 Council of Claremont with an excuse to initiate a crusade
— as a penitential pilgrimage and a war of conquest — against the infidels with
the alleged intent of regaining the Holy Land for Christianity. So with the
promise that volunteers would be placed above restrictions of law, receive
forgiveness for all their sins, and enjoyment of eternal bliss in heaven
without time in purgatory, a ragtag force — consisting mostly of social outcasts
and soldiers of fortune — of between 150,000 to 300,000 was assembled.
Urban II at the 1095 Council of Claremont with an excuse to initiate a crusade
— as a penitential pilgrimage and a war of conquest — against the infidels with
the alleged intent of regaining the Holy Land for Christianity. So with the
promise that volunteers would be placed above restrictions of law, receive
forgiveness for all their sins, and enjoyment of eternal bliss in heaven
without time in purgatory, a ragtag force — consisting mostly of social outcasts
and soldiers of fortune — of between 150,000 to 300,000 was assembled.
As the force traversed southern Europe they pillaged,
tortured, and murdered with one division slaughtering 10,000 Jews in the
Rhineland before abandoning thoughts of the Holy Land and disbanding. Two other
divisions perpetrated so many atrocities in Hungary that native soldiers were
eventually roused to oppose and wipe them all out. Of the others, thousands
died en-route from starvation, disease, or wounds resulting from violence.
Those who survived then despoiled the Greeks before making their way to
Constantinople where the more powerful of them financed their own existence by
selling off the decrepit amongst them as slaves. Of the 7,000 who eventually
crossed the Bosphorus, none survived the merciless onslaughts by Turkish
forces.
tortured, and murdered with one division slaughtering 10,000 Jews in the
Rhineland before abandoning thoughts of the Holy Land and disbanding. Two other
divisions perpetrated so many atrocities in Hungary that native soldiers were
eventually roused to oppose and wipe them all out. Of the others, thousands
died en-route from starvation, disease, or wounds resulting from violence.
Those who survived then despoiled the Greeks before making their way to
Constantinople where the more powerful of them financed their own existence by
selling off the decrepit amongst them as slaves. Of the 7,000 who eventually
crossed the Bosphorus, none survived the merciless onslaughts by Turkish
forces.
Despite the utter failure of this initial crusade, more
were to follow which with hindsight were better organised with seasoned
soldiers and fewer penitential pilgrims. For the next 400 hundred years
Christian knights in the Holy Land waged wars whose barbarity in the name of
God, knew no bounds. One contemporaneous report stated that after laying siege
to Jerusalem for one month, the Crusaders rode into the city with their horses
“knee-deep in the blood of disbelievers.” Jews were herded into their
synagogues and burnt alive, and on the following day Christian knights
slaughtered “a great multitude of people of every age, old men and women,
maidens, children and mothers with infants, by way of a solemn sacrifice” to
Jesus.
were to follow which with hindsight were better organised with seasoned
soldiers and fewer penitential pilgrims. For the next 400 hundred years
Christian knights in the Holy Land waged wars whose barbarity in the name of
God, knew no bounds. One contemporaneous report stated that after laying siege
to Jerusalem for one month, the Crusaders rode into the city with their horses
“knee-deep in the blood of disbelievers.” Jews were herded into their
synagogues and burnt alive, and on the following day Christian knights
slaughtered “a great multitude of people of every age, old men and women,
maidens, children and mothers with infants, by way of a solemn sacrifice” to
Jesus.
The establishment of the ongoing crusades also enabled
the Holy Roman Empire to take punitive military measures against Europe’s
heathens and heretics so that the sword became the traditional method of
Christianising the West at the cost of between 8 to 10 million lives. The
Catharan or Albigensian heretics in the Languedoc region of Southern France —
who regarded the Roman Church as the Synagogue of Satan and called for a return
to the Christian message of perfection, poverty, and preaching — became the
recipients of particularly barbaric treatment after Pope Innocent III declared
a crusade in 1209 against the Languedoc with the promise that Cathar lands
would be given to French noblemen willing to take up arms.
the Holy Roman Empire to take punitive military measures against Europe’s
heathens and heretics so that the sword became the traditional method of
Christianising the West at the cost of between 8 to 10 million lives. The
Catharan or Albigensian heretics in the Languedoc region of Southern France —
who regarded the Roman Church as the Synagogue of Satan and called for a return
to the Christian message of perfection, poverty, and preaching — became the
recipients of particularly barbaric treatment after Pope Innocent III declared
a crusade in 1209 against the Languedoc with the promise that Cathar lands
would be given to French noblemen willing to take up arms.
The Albigensian Crusade is still to this day one of the
darkest and bloodiest chapters in the history of Christian persecutions. When
it was enquired of a papal legate as to how heretics were to be distinguished
from the faithful, he replied, “Kill them all; God will know his own.” The
ensuing slaughter lasted for twenty years with an estimate of more than a
million lives being lost. In trying to justify the scale of such wanton
carnage, the best that Christian apologists could come up with was “the Church,
after all, was only defending herself.”
darkest and bloodiest chapters in the history of Christian persecutions. When
it was enquired of a papal legate as to how heretics were to be distinguished
from the faithful, he replied, “Kill them all; God will know his own.” The
ensuing slaughter lasted for twenty years with an estimate of more than a
million lives being lost. In trying to justify the scale of such wanton
carnage, the best that Christian apologists could come up with was “the Church,
after all, was only defending herself.”
And if that spurious European Christian excuse of
“self-defence” for crimes against humanity sounds familiar, it’s because
European Christianity has more recently allowed itself to be brainwashed into
accepting mendacious propaganda by sadistic land-grabbing colonists claiming
that their unspeakable ethnic cleansing of Palestine is simply an act of
necessary “self defence.” Consequently the civilised and principled Christian
World has been complicit for 70 years while standing idly and watching the
ruthless persecution of an indigenous Palestinian people which William Boardman
succinctly described in a recent article:
“self-defence” for crimes against humanity sounds familiar, it’s because
European Christianity has more recently allowed itself to be brainwashed into
accepting mendacious propaganda by sadistic land-grabbing colonists claiming
that their unspeakable ethnic cleansing of Palestine is simply an act of
necessary “self defence.” Consequently the civilised and principled Christian
World has been complicit for 70 years while standing idly and watching the
ruthless persecution of an indigenous Palestinian people which William Boardman
succinctly described in a recent article:
“Israel’s deliberate, methodical, selective
assassination of unarmed, peaceful Palestinians in Gaza has gone on for years,
punctuated by periods of deliberate but random killing with air strikes and
artillery. Gaza is a prison, Gaza is a concentration camp, Gaza has been
blockaded for a decade, Gaza’s occupation is a perennial crime against
humanity, but most of all Gaza is a target. Gaza is a target because it suits
the Israelis to have two million captive Palestinian men, women, and children
(half of them are children) to despise, starve, deny medical supplies, reduce
to inescapable and unlivable conditions, kill, and then brand as “terrorists”
for not surrendering and disappearing from the face of the earth 70 years ago.
From an Israeli perspective, Palestinians committed original sin by merely
existing.”
assassination of unarmed, peaceful Palestinians in Gaza has gone on for years,
punctuated by periods of deliberate but random killing with air strikes and
artillery. Gaza is a prison, Gaza is a concentration camp, Gaza has been
blockaded for a decade, Gaza’s occupation is a perennial crime against
humanity, but most of all Gaza is a target. Gaza is a target because it suits
the Israelis to have two million captive Palestinian men, women, and children
(half of them are children) to despise, starve, deny medical supplies, reduce
to inescapable and unlivable conditions, kill, and then brand as “terrorists”
for not surrendering and disappearing from the face of the earth 70 years ago.
From an Israeli perspective, Palestinians committed original sin by merely
existing.”
If you happen to be a person with some degree of
compassion and decency, you may well ask why this is being allowed to occur
with impunity? In seeking an answer, you may also like to consider how hundreds
of millions of Americans tolerate being blatantly lied to on a daily basis by a
semi-literate, racist, sexist, psycho president who by irresponsibly and
provocatively moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, furthered
U.S. legitimisation of Israel’s rape of Palestine in general, and its ancient
capital in particular. Irrespective of any conclusions that you may reach, the
fact remains that so long as Europeans continue like thoughtless lemmings to
follow in the bloody footsteps of Israeli-instigated U.S policies, then
humanity’s condition will remain synonymous with with Jerusalem’s hate-filled
barbarity.
compassion and decency, you may well ask why this is being allowed to occur
with impunity? In seeking an answer, you may also like to consider how hundreds
of millions of Americans tolerate being blatantly lied to on a daily basis by a
semi-literate, racist, sexist, psycho president who by irresponsibly and
provocatively moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, furthered
U.S. legitimisation of Israel’s rape of Palestine in general, and its ancient
capital in particular. Irrespective of any conclusions that you may reach, the
fact remains that so long as Europeans continue like thoughtless lemmings to
follow in the bloody footsteps of Israeli-instigated U.S policies, then
humanity’s condition will remain synonymous with with Jerusalem’s hate-filled
barbarity.
William Hanna is a freelance writer with published books the Hiramic Brotherhood
of the Third Temple, The Tragedy of Palestine and its Children, and Hiramic
Brotherhood: Ezekiel’s Temple Prophesy which has also been
published Chinese, French, German, and Portuguese, and is due for publication
in Arabic, Italian,, Russian, and Spanish. Books and purchase
information, sample chapters, reviews, other articles, videos, and contact
details at:
of the Third Temple, The Tragedy of Palestine and its Children, and Hiramic
Brotherhood: Ezekiel’s Temple Prophesy which has also been
published Chinese, French, German, and Portuguese, and is due for publication
in Arabic, Italian,, Russian, and Spanish. Books and purchase
information, sample chapters, reviews, other articles, videos, and contact
details at:
