Ok, so it’s actually more like a few isolated incidents than an actual war. That still seems to make it more of a genuine conflict than anything associated with the so-called War on Christmas….

Officials Say Priest Attacked Menorah In Moldova (YnetNews.com/The Associated Press; Dec 14)

Dozens of people led by an Orthodox priest smashed a menorah in Moldova’s capital Chisinau, using hammers and iron bars to remove the candelabra during Hanukkah, officials said.

The 1.5 meter (5-foot)-tall ceremonial candelabrum was retrieved, reinstalled and is now under police guard.

Police said they were investigating but there was no official reaction from Moldova’s Orthodox Church, which is part of the Russian Orthodox Church and counts 70 percent of Moldovans as members.

The national government said in a statement that “hatred, intolerance and xenophobia” are unacceptable.

Jewish leader Alexandr Bilinkis called on the Orthodox Church to take a position over the priest’s actions.

The Jewish community was thriving before World War II but there are now estimated to be just 12,000 Jews in the former Soviet Republic. Twenty years ago there were 66,000 Jews. Many immigrated to Israel.

Moldovan Orthodox Church Says Jews To Blame For Menorah Incident (Naama Lanir/YnetNews.com; Dec 23)

The Moldovan Orthodox Church on Wednesday blamed the local Jewish community for the recent rally in which a public menorah was torn down and a cross was put in its place.

During the December 13th incident, dozens of people led by an Orthodox priest smashed a menorah in Moldova’s capital Chisinau, using hammers and iron bars to remove the candelabra during Hanukkah….

According to a report, published Monday by the Russian Interfax news agency, the church said in a statement, “We believe that this unpleasant incident in the center of the capital could have been avoided if the menorah had been placed near a memorial for victims of the Holocaust.”

The church said it opposed the form of the protest, and that it respects “the feelings and belief of other cults that are legally registered on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, and expects a similar attitude from their side,” according to the report.

“At the same time,” the statement continued, “we think it inappropriate to put a symbol of the Jewish cult in a public place connected to the history and faith of our people, especially because Chanukah is classified by the cult books of Judaism as a ‘holiday of blessing’ that symbolizes the victory of Jews over non-Jews.”…

An anti-Semitic incident was also reported in Buenos Aires during Hanukkah. Rabbi Shlomo Kiesel of the Chabad house in the Argentine capital told Ynet that one of the city’s public menorahs was desecrated and the words “Argentina is Catholic” were spray-painted near its base.…

Pastor Donates Nativity Scene To Library; Protesters Upset Menorah Only Religious Symbol On Display (WPBF.com; Dec 17)

BOCA RATON, Florida: A Boca Raton library that had a menorah on display but no nativity scene now has one, complements of a local pastor.

The Rev. Mark Boykin and a group of protesters gathered outside the library Thursday morning, singing songs, reciting scripture and holding signs to uphold their faith.

They were upset that the public facility had a menorah, which is a Jewish symbol, but no nativity scene.

“It’s a public forum and, you know, all the people that do come into the places, you know, they’re seeing a menorah only, and there’s more to this holiday season,” said Pompano Beach resident Roxanne Carter, who held a “Freedom of Speech” sign and wore a button proclaiming her love for Christ. “Everything has gone to politically correct so that no one is offended, and we need to bring Christ back into it.”

Although there is a Christmas tree in the library’s lobby, Boykin and the others said it is a secular symbol and not a religious symbol.

Boykin brought a crèche to donate to the library, but a librarian would not accept it, so Boykin placed it under the Christmas tree.

Apparently this war – I mean, these incidents have been breaking out for quite some time and I just failed to pick up on them:

The War On Hanukkah (Jared Goldberg/The Michigan Daily; Jan 11, 2007)

While Bill O’Reilly, John Gibson and everyone else on the Fox News Channel may be up in arms over the so-called “war on Christmas,” they conveniently forget about the war on Hanukkah. The war on Christmas may have been epitomized with greetings of “Happy Holidays” in place of “Merry Christmas,” but the war on Hanukkah is marked with actual violence.

Over the Hanukkah holiday, last month, menorahs in Sunnyvale and Mountain View, Calif. were vandalized. A menorah, for those unaware of Jewish practices, is a candelabrum that serves as the symbol of the Jewish people. It usually has seven branches, but a nine-branch version is used for Hanukkah. The Sunnyvale menorah, placed in front of a Jewish center, was bent in half and its candles were stolen. The Mountain View menorah, an electronic version placed in front of a civic center, had its lights removed and wires ripped out.

Two more incidents were recorded in Texas. Near Houston, a Jewish resident videotaped a man drive by his house, exit his vehicle and destroy a Hanukkah bear on his property. In Fort Bend County, a menorah was completely destroyed while a nativity scene nearby was left completely unharmed.

The desecrations were reported on the East Coast as well. Two menorahs were obliterated in Massachusetts, along with three in New York and one in Pennsylvania.

Largely ignored by the national media and only covered by local press, these attacks demonstrate the undeniable: anti-Semitism is alive and well. There are two opposing popular myths regarding anti-Semitism. One is that it’s dead, while the other suggests there is a “new” version rampant among the extremist critics of Israel.

It should be obvious, however, that the old anti-Semitism, exemplified by cultural stereotypes, has not disappeared at all. While it may be taboo to call Jewish people cheap, evil and money-grubbing in public, negative stereotypes persist in private. Who on this campus hasn’t referred to or at least heard of the reference of the Jewish American Princess? Whitney Dibo explored the topic (That girl is such a JAP, 10/28/2005) when she noticed that in private lives, this ethnic and sexist slur against Jewish people continues. “The term is used so liberally it has lost the harshness of an ethnic slur,” she opined. As time has gone on, instead of disappearing, anti-Semitism has become more commonplace and accepted.

Anti-Semitism has simply gone below the surface. All it takes for it to bubble up again is a little agitation. While evangelicals like Pat Robertson and Billy Graham may be “great” friends of Israel, their true attitudes toward Jews are revealing. In the early 1970s, Graham was recorded in conversations with President Nixon at the White House saying that he believed Nixon needed to break the Jewish “stranglehold” on the media.

Let’s not forget Mel Gibson’s anti-semitic tirade when, after being arrested for drunk driving in July of last year, he proclaimed, “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” We cannot make judgments on a new anti-Semitism if the old anti-Semitism is alive and well, as shown by recent vandalism of Jewish symbols and decorations.

While the neoconservatives love to use the term “Judeo-Christian” when they want to find someone to share blame for their disastrous policies, the truth is that there is nothing “Judeo” about the culture they claim to respect. Some of the neocons in the Bush Administration may be Jewish, but we shouldn’t kid ourselves – it’s the Christian Right that calls the shots. They may believe supporting the policies of Israel will expedite the second coming of Jesus, but when it comes to the Jews as a people, they either need to convert to Christianity or submit to the Christian Right’s will.

Jews are still the victims of an overwhelming number of hate crimes in this country. According to 2005 FBI hate crime statistics, of the 1,405 victims of a religion-based hate crime, 69.5 percent were Jews. Although they’re not in the same danger as in 1938, the simple fact remains that Jews are still seen as outsiders, criminals, usurpers and people to laugh at.

The “war on Christmas” may be nothing more than the demented fiction of Fox News pundits, but the war on Hanukkah – the result of a deeply ingrained anti-Semitism – is as real as the ruined menorahs left in its wake.

Dear Santa: Please don’t bring me anything this year. Really. Instead, I ask only that you take all the religious fanatics back with you to the North Pole and keep them there in complete isolation until they can politely settle all their differences. Thank you! (You can half a cookie now and the other half upon the completion of your mission. And please tell Rudolph there’s a BIG bonus waiting for him if he can light the way through THIS fog.)