The prophets of Katrina-as-divine-retribution are proliferating by the minute. The “we hate Arabs” wing of the blogosphere was quick to publicize this one, a find by the ever-prolific MEMRI — devoted to proving that all things Muslim are the root of all evil — and it was picked up by all the usual suspects. But here’s one they forgot to include: a screed by one Stan Goodenough entitled “Katrina — The Fist of God?” A sample:
“On August 14, citizens in the United States, like people around the world, heard about the issuing of an order for the forced evacuation of Jews from parts of Israel’s biblical land.
For six days they watched as thousands of weeping people were pulled and carried from their homes, forced to leave their gardens, parks, communities, schools, towns and synagogues, everything they had spent decades building; banned from ever returning again. Those scenes were soon followed by pictures of bulldozers and other earth-moving machinery pulverizing the just-vacated homes into heaps of dust.
“While this was taking place, a small tropical depression was forming near the Bahamas in the Atlantic Ocean. Slowly, as the air began to revolve, the nonthreatening weather system began moving in the direction of Florida.
“Yesterday, we in Israel watched as American officials, including President George W. Bush, ordered the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans and its surrounds. That small depression had turned into a frightening fiend. Now we are seeing on our television screens up to a million people being forced to leave their homes. People are weeping on camera, mourning that they are going to lose ‘everything we own; everything we have worked for.’ As today unfolds we are bracing to see wind and water pounding homes, whole communities, into the ground.
“Is this some sort of bizarre coincidence? Not for those who believe in the God of the Bible and the immutability of His Word.
“What America is about to experience is the lifting of God’s hand of protection; the implementation of His judgment on the nation most responsible for endangering the land and people of Israel.
“The Bible talks about Him shaking His fist over bodies of water, and striking them.
While the “disengagement” plan was purportedly the brainchild of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the United States of America has for more than a decade been the chief sponsor and propeller of a diplomatic process that has dangerously weakened Israel in the face of an overwhelming, growing threat to annihilate her.
“In the context of the last 12 years of peace-process history, and not withstanding the desire of many on Israel’s left to go ahead with this process, the Sharon disengagement plan was something that was forced on Israel, primarily by the United States.”
Gee, how could MEMRI, which has offices in Israel — where Goodenough lives with his wife and 5 kids — have missed this one?
Oh, I forgot — they only rank on morons of the Muslim persuasion. Pro-Israel Christians get a free pass.
By the way, there is no record on the internet of the individual referred to in the MEMRI report, Muhammad Yousef Al-Mlaifi. Goodenough, however, has quite an extensive internet trail.
It’s interesting to see how propagandists of the MEMRI/Charles Johnson sort try to generalize about Muslims when citing Senor Al-Mlaifi, but would recoil at the suggestion that Goodenough’s nutball remarks are in any way representative of dispensationalist Christians in America who blindly support Israel. Yet supporters of the latter out-number adherents of the former in the U.S. by how much — a factor of 100, 1,000, or more?