Having succeeded in driving out Seattle Airport’s Christmas trees, the victor, Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky of the Chai Center of Greater Seattle, is making some very congenial noises:

Elazar Bogomilsky, the rabbi who last month asked that a menorah be displayed, said he was “appalled” by the Port’s reaction to what he believed to be a simple request….”Everyone should have their spirit of the holiday. For many people the trees are the spirit of the holidays, and adding a menorah adds light to the season,” said Bogomilsky.

Bogomilsky…said he is not disturbed by holiday trees, but wishes that his own symbol was not excluded. He hopes the Port will reconsider, put the trees back up and install a menorah before Hanukkah. (Airport puts away holiday trees rather than risk being “exclusive” by Jonathan Martin, The Seattle Times, December 10, 2006)

At this rate, perhaps we will be seeing pro-Christmas columns from Bogomilsky like those written by the incomparable Don Feder.

But one does wonder why such a reasonable attitude did not appear so to the Port of Seattle (the owner of the Airport) in what were apparently several weeks of discussion. And the fact remains those who like Christmas trees have lost: those who like menorahs have not lost–in fact, they have gained, if they are of a more competitive cast of mind than the Rabbi appears to be.

Wanting shelf space for one’s religious views is not in itself objectionable. What is really objectionable is the behavior of the Airport authority. Panic-stricken cowardice is one interpretation. Another is that a faction within the management seized the chance to eliminate the Airport’s Christmas tree tradition - now said to be 25 years old rather than the ten initially cited by the Airport spokeswoman - because it, too, dislikes Christmas. On balance, I think the latter more plausible.

There is a silver lining. Commissioner John Creighton, apparently part of the Christmas-eradication faction

said he’d hoped the trees would come down “quietly.” Instead, airline employees saw the trees being dismantled early Saturday and protested. By 2 a.m. TV crews were at the airport, and Creighton said he’s received several irate e-mails.

(VDARE.com emphasis.)

VDARE.com salutes these Airline employees. Our readers will note that irate emails get attention.

Complain to Airport Managing Director Mark Reis. Also to the Port of Seattle Commissioners. (E mail addresses on the right)

The Commissioners, after all, are elected by the public.

Or War on Navidad. Via Tim Blair in Australia I learn that the Spanish have not only given up their custom of burning the Prophet Mohammed in effigy, lest it offend Muslims, they are now having qualms about celebrating Christmas.

Spanish school cancels Christmas

MADRID (Reuters) - A school in traditionally Catholic Spain has cancelled Christmas celebrations so as not to offend children who are not Christians, ABC newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Hilarion Gimeno school in Zaragoza said teachers had put forward various reasons for not celebrating Christmas, but ABC said the worry was that Muslim children might be upset.

The school will not put on a nativity play or hand out presents, but pupils will be free to decorate the halls and sing carols.

Which is more than they would have in some American schools, where the War on Christmas has led to principals going from classroom to classroom locking up the red and green construction paper. Spain, of course, was under Muslim occupation until 1492, when an earlier Reconquista forced them out of Spain. Modern day mass immigration means they’re coming back.

Tim Blair writes

Usually in these cases it turns out that Muslims aren’t at all upset, and that the action has been taken by pre-emptive wimps anticipating Muslim anger.

Remember, we have a War on Christmas competition going on, and we’d like to hear about any “pre-emptive wimps” in your neighborhood.

Tonights main column, Jihad in Rockford, IL: What the MSM Won’t Tell You, is about your typical Muslim-American terrorist who hates America, hates Christians and Jews both, hates white people, and wants to blow them up.

But there’s one thing more: he hates Christmas.

Yes, according to the documents filed in Federal Court in Chicago, Derrick Shareefa sought to “to disrupt Christmas,” by putting bombs in the CherryVale Shopping Center in Rockford, although apparently he was multiculturally sensitive enough to refer to it as “the holiday season.”

This is an unusually violent case of War Against Christmas, beyond anything the ACLU is likely to do, but it still qualifies as part of the seasonal attack.

This year there has been a deluge of newspaper articles, letters to the editor, and blog postings all asserting that there is no War against Christmas. This seems to the party line. However, the word did not get out to the Seattle/Tacoma area:

All of the Christmas trees inside the terminal at Sea-Tac have been removed in response to a complaint by a rabbi.

A local rabbi wanted to install an 8-foot menorah and have a public lighting ceremony. He threatened to sue if the menorah wasn’t put up, and gave a two-day deadline to remove the trees.

Xmas trees removed from Sea-Tac by Kim Holcomb King 5 News Saturday September 9, 2006

The real issue here is not the successful imposition of its preferences by a religious minority, but the enthusiastic cowardice of the authorities

Sea-Tac public affairs manager Terri-Ann Betancourt said the trees that adorn the Sea-Tac upper and lower levels may not properly represent all cultures….”[W]e don’t want to litigate with this individual, we want to reach some kind of solution,” Betancourt said. “But that is going to take some thoughtful discussion and we would like to have time to have that thoughtful discussion.

….

Until then, no Christmas decor at Sea-Tac. The same decorations have been put up for at least 10 years, she said.

How much litigation was likely in the two weeks before Christmas? Indeed, why not let the man have his Menorah? (Assuming he really wanted it.)

Some of my most precious memories as a small child are images of Christmas scenes in public places, briefly glimpsed and remembered forever. Now the season’s flow of children through the Seattle Airport will not have that chance there, as they would normally have done.

It would be easy to blame the domineering selfishness of the complainant. The true culprit is the conniving pusillanimity of the Airport management.

Complain to Mark Reis, the Airport’s Managing Director, or to the Commissioners of the Port of Seattle, to which it belongs–they are elected.