Nir-ly there

Poor Nir Barkat. I just got back from a news conference, Barkat's first time on the firing line as mayor, where he displayed his woeful ignorance of Christian issues.

A reporter asked Barkat what he would do as mayor regarding the factional fighting between denominations at the Holy Sepulchre. Barkat proudly answered that he had recently attended a CUFI (Christians United for Israel) meeting and met John Hagee. Impressive. But completely unrelated.

If Nir wants to reach his stated goal of bringing in 10 million (not a typo) tourists a year to Jerusalem, he's going to have to brush up on the Christian issues. Hagee represents evangelical Christian Zionists, Protestants, who support Israel. Way, way different from the warring priests at the Holy Sepulchre. Nir's ignorance of the situation isn't unique in Israel. He merely displayed the typical Israeli knowledge of Christians, simply neither Jewish nor Muslim.

I posed a question about Christian tourism to Barkat this spring when he was the only candidate campaigning. He admitted then that he didn't yet know the difference between "evangelists" and other Christians. Yikes. Evangelists = missionaries and that is a byword in this country. As a matter of fact, the Jerusalem City Council as been increasingly hostile toward that evangelical population lately. One council woman tried to ban Christian participation in the Jerusalem parade. Christian tourists, mind you, comprise nearly 90 percent of the parade.

It is precisely that attitude Barkat will have to combat if he wants to see 10 million tourists in the city. Stamp out the hostility especially to the nation's best friends and especially if you want their money, either as tourists or donors.