Christians & Their Faith Under Occupation in Israel

This posting is the official page of How Israels treats Christians in the Holy land and it was inspired by Sunday, April 22, the famous CBS television show "60 Minutes" they broadcasted a 14-minute segment (above) on how the Israeli occupation has caused massive numbers of Palestinian Christians to flee Palestine. CBS is coming under intense pressure: from pro-Israel groups and worse then that, they are using our tax dollars to censor and hide from us what's really happening with in the Holy land in regards to Christians and the Faith.


Israel's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren influence the segment by phoning the show's executive producer while reporting was still under way.


You can see for yourself in the Video here where Bob Simon tells Israel's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, that he had never received a reaction to a story that hadn't been broadcast yet.


 To send an email to CBS News and "60 Minutes" 
in support of their reporting this broadcast Click Here .


More Info:
While the "60 Minutes" segment on Palestinian Christians does have its weaknesses, it helps to illuminate key truths about the situation in Israel/Palestine. The documentary can be viewed here and additional commentary on the issue from Aljazeera journalist Ben White can be found here. "60 Minutes" has been a strong example of principled journalism for decades. It is important that this program does not cave in to pressure from the pro-Israel lobby in North America.


We applaud CBS for featuring this story in mainstream and other mainstream could learn from this example and we encourage them not to be pressured into silence. This posting is a archive for all to see what Christians go through under the occupation of Israel.


The above was just the tip of the ice burg. Please visit this page often for it's always updated in the comment section with links. let everyone know about this page to learn the truth about what's happening with with Christians in the Holy Land under occupation by Israel.


Please share your comment with a link to a story of Christians and Israel in the comment section below the post.

Israel is Deporting Jerusalem Christians

This is a press release that was first reported by Window into Palestine in mid 2008.

Laity Committee in the Holy Land

info@holylandchristians.com

Tel: 054 779 7719 -050 5545 179

Fax: +972 2 6271574

P.O.Box: 19055

Jerusalem

Hundreds of Jerusalem Christians are loosing residency rights in their City due to policies of the Israeli Ministry of Interior. The policy that aims to reduce the number of non-Jews in the City takes its toll on families and individuals who hold residency permits at foreign countries.

No matter how long they travel abroad, no matter if they were born in Jerusalem before or after Israel occupied East Jerusalem, they are considered visitors in their own city.

Palestinian Christians who make today not more than 9,000 will lose 15% of their population as a result of this policy. While Jews from all over the world and even converts to Judaism are allowed to immigrate to Israel under the Israeli Law of Return, the indigenous Jerusalemites are considered temporary residents. Originally, Seven years of being out of Jerusalem was the deadline for losing one's right to live in his own city. Now, only a proof of residency in another country is enough for Israel to consider Jerusalem as not "the center of life" for this person or family and thus deny them the right of living in their home town once they travel abroad.

In addition to this particular policy, the Israeli authorities are still implementing other regulations aiming at further decreasing the numbers of Palestinian, Christians and Moslems, in Jerusalem. From freezing the law of family reunion to impossible requirements for building in the city, to the Separation Wall that separated hundreds from the center of Jerusalem. Palestinian Christians of the city will soon lose half of their population.

The local Churches in Jerusalem are gravely concerned, and join the call of their communities to put an end to Israel's policies and refuse any kind of exclusivity over the City. At this stage Israel cannot be entrusted in the fate of this Holy City and its people. The International and Christian Communities need to act fast to defuse Israeli policies at the highest level.

We want peace and justice in the Holy Land, where followers of all faiths will live in dignity and their rights will be preserved. And we believe that the international community can help us make it happens.

              Jerusalem Catholic church claims discrimination

November 2010

French Catholic church in Jerusalem: I expected more from the only state claiming to be a democracy in the Middle East'

Jerusalem Catholic church claims discrimination

Father Michael O'Sullivan of Maison D'Abraham in Ras al-Amud accuses police of failing to protect church, investigate robbery and harassment complaints. 'I expected more from the only state claiming to be a democracy in the Middle East' Ronen Medzini

French Catholic church Maison D'Abraham in east Jerusalem is accusing the Israel Police of failing to investigate robbery and harassment complaints filed by the church recently.

"The Israel Police are not protecting us," the church's director, Father Michael O'Sullivan, told Ynet. "Only in the past month we had two incidents with a large Volvo truck which intentionally hit our entrance gate and escaped. After the second incident we filed a complaint with the police, but nothing happened. They didn't even send a policeman here to look into our claims."

Maison D'Abraham, a serene oasis in the midst of the Ras al-Amud neighborhood, was founded in 1964 at the request of Pope Paul VI during his visit to the Holy Land. In his vision, the pope saw the church as a place which would fulfill the needs of Christian pilgrims visiting Jerusalem without financial means.

Every year, thousands of tourists from all around the world visit the church, which also serves as a guesthouse. Recently, however, the church and its tenants have been suffering from harassment and theft.

According to Father O'Sullivan, the recent incidents are only a few examples of the lawlessness the church's tenants are forced to live with. "We suffer from burglaries, theft and harassments, but the police are not doing anything or just pretending to be doing something. About two years ago we caught a thief red-handed, turned him into the police, but he was released the next day. Two months later he began stealing again."

But sometimes, O'Sullivan says, no action is better than a direct encounter with the police. "About a month and a half ago, during the Silwan riots, police forces entered out compound without any permits or orders and searched the area. They ignored our questions and just entered without our approval and began moving things around," he said.

According to the church's director, the tenants live with a sense of insecurity. "Tourists and pilgrims are regular victims of burglaries, pickpockets and the theft of purses and passports. There are a number of known 'hot spots' in Christian centers, like the Seven Arches Hotel, Via Dolorosa, St. Anne's Church, the Lions Gate, and here too. The police are aware of the phenomenon, but are not working to defend the pilgrims and tourists."

Tourism Ministry: Israel's image damaged

The church's director claims that a nearby Jewish settlement, Maale Zeitim, received much treatment from the law enforcement authorities. "If only one small thing happens in Moskowitz's settlement (one of the main Jewish donors to Jewish communities in east Jerusalem), they arrive in large forces."

This shows that there is discrimination in Jerusalem, he adds. "This is the real point. The Arab residents, who are an integral part of the city, and we, are not equal residents in the eyes of the State."

The Vatican office in east Jerusalem was also approached by the church following the incidents.

"Christian churches in Jerusalem have a special status since the Ottoman era, but we do not feel secure and equal. I expected more from the only country claiming to be a democracy in the Middle East," says O'Sullivan.

"I come from Ireland, and I have learned that democracy has its price. I also come from what is known as 'the free world,' where citizens are supposed to be treated equally. This is the biggest challenge to Israeli democracy."

The Tourism Ministry said in response that it "view incidents in which tourists and tourism sites are harmed as extremely severe. This causes serious damage to Israel's image and tourism industry.

"The ministry is working in cooperation with the Jerusalem Police, which is responsible for handling and enforcing this issue. Due to its importance, the ministry has allotted funds to the tourist police operating in the city. The ministry will be in touch with the church's director in the coming days to discuss the situation and the required solutions."

The police have yet to respond to the claims.

            Israel Really Isn't All That Friendly to Its Christians

Regarding Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's "Israel and the Plight of Mideast Christians" (op-ed, March 9): No doubt, his piece will be compelling for many readers. Christians in North America are generally sympathetic to Christians who suffer elsewhere. More negatively, many respond well when blame for that suffering is placed on Muslims. The biggest problem with Mr. Oren's analysis, however, is that it stands in sharp disagreement with the perspectives shared by those he presumably wants to protect. Mr. Oren seeks to speak for Palestinian Christians before he has spoken with them.

Palestinian Christians have produced major studies of Palestinian Christian demographic trends. Difficulties created by Israeli occupation policies far outweigh pressure from Muslim neighbors as reasons for Christian migration from the West Bank. According to a study by the Bethlehem-based Diyar Consortium, "most of those who choose to emigrate" are "aggravated by the lack of freedom and security." At "the bottom of the scale," they found, "are family reunification, fleeing religious extremism and finding a spouse."

It is irresponsible for Amb. Oren to make political points among some segments of the U.S. population by intentionally disregarding factors contributing to Palestinian Christian migration away from their homeland. By blaming their condition on Muslims alone, while ignoring the negative effects of Israeli occupation policies, including the debilitating economic effects of the separation barrier, Mr. Oren is using anti-Muslim sentiments among some Americans to hide the effects of Israeli policy. This cynical political rhetoric fuels extremism and does not promote peace.

The Rev. Robert O. Smith

Chicago

I am a Palestinian Christian, and the numbers and facts given by Mr. Oren are erroneous and misleading. With the creation of the state of Israel, 80% of Palestinian Christians were forced into exile. The number of Christians in Jerusalem dropped dramatically since the occupation of the city in 1967, and Palestinian Christians are denied access to Jerusalem. To pretend that their numbers greatly increased contradicts all statistics, including Israeli statistics. Allowing "holiday access to Jerusalem's churches to Christians from both the West Bank and Gaza" is denying free access, and those permits are given selectively, in small numbers and revoked often with the "closure" of the occupied territories. Pretending to defend the interests of the Christians contradicts facts on the ground, where Christians suffer the same consequences of military occupation as all Palestinians. Most of the land belonging to Christians in Bethlehem is being confiscated with the building of the separation wall. Is that the "respect and appreciation" the Christian community receives from the Jewish state?

Fr. Jamal Khader, D.D.

Dean of the Faculty of Arts

Bethlehem University

Bethlehem

I am one of those Palestinian Christians that Mr. Oren refers to, who live inside Israel. At no time in my life have I ever felt the "respect and appreciation" by the Jewish state which Mr. Oren so glowingly refers to in his last paragraph. Israel's Christian minority is marginalized in much the same manner as its Muslim one, or at best, quietly tolerated. We suffer the same discrimination when we try to find a job, when we go to hospitals, when we apply for bank loans and when we get on the bus. In my daily dealings with the state, all I have felt is rudeness and overt contempt.

Fida Jiryis

Fassuta, Israel

Amb. Michael Oren presents a distorted and inaccurate account of Christians in Palestine. He conveniently omits gross Israeli violations against the Palestinian Christian community, such as Israel's revocation of residency rights to many whose birthplace was Jerusalem, or the fact that it restricts their right to worship in their holy sites by imposing an onerous permit system to access the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem or the baptism site on the River Jordan. Even family visitations between Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem are heavily restricted.

It doesn't stop at that. Recently there has been a spate of attacks by Jewish extremists vandalizing Christian properties and spray-painting slogans denouncing Jesus and Mary and attacking Christianity.

Finally, Palestinian Christians are a vibrant component of Palestine's social, cultural and religious fabric. Many of our most prominent figures in politics, academia and the arts are Christian. This is the case precisely because of a long history and deeply rooted culture of tolerance and integration in Palestine.

Ambassador Maen Rashid Areikat

General Delegation
of the PLO to the U.S.

Washington

A version of this article appeared March 15, 2012, on page A14 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Israel Really Isn't All That Friendly to Its Christians.

     CHRISTIAN JEWS ARRESTED, PERSECUTED BY ISRAEL

The state of Israel says “GO HOME!” to Christian Jews who want to become citizens or to live as authentic, Holy Spirit-led believers in Israel. Israel prohibits Christian Jews from becoming citizens. It also forbids any Christian—whether Jew or Gentile—from sharing Christianity with a minor or even buying an adult Jew a cup of coffee in the course of their religious discussion!

In Israel’s latest act of official anti-Christianity, a Messianic Jewish couple was arrested and detained for over eight hours—in what the husband described as a “particularly dirty, smelly and overcrowded” detention facility—because of their faith.

The Jerusalem Post:

A director of the US Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations and his wife were detained Sunday at Ben-Gurion Airport by Interior Ministry officials amid allegations he is involved in illegal Christian missionary activity. It is illegal in Israel to proselytize among minors.  It is also prohibited to engage in missionary activities among adults when economic incentives are offered…

After over eight hours of detention, Jamie Cowen, a former president of the union, and his wife, Stacy, were permitted to enter Israel only after they agreed to sign a document that they would not engage in missionary activities during their stay…The Interior Ministry, which directed the police to arrest the Cowens, said they had classified information regarding missionary activity. 

Cowen, who is also a U.S. immigration lawyer, comments: “This type of religious discrimination would be expected of Iran, not Israel…In the US we imprison individuals suspected of terrorism. Here apparently one can be jailed for his religious convictions. This is a case of blatant discrimination against basic rights.” ("Messianic Jews detained at Ben-Gurion," The Jerusalem Post, Dec. 14, 2008)

To Obey or Not Obey in Israel

In the Book of Acts, apostles Peter and John were similarly detained by Jewish authorities. Like the Cowens, they were warned that if they continued to witness for Christ they would be flogged and imprisoned – a much worse fate than simply being denied entry to Israel. Unlike the Cowens, they did not agree to be silent and deny their Lord. They were subsequently flogged and imprisoned. (Acts 4, 5) They would not insult the Holy Spirit’s right to guide their actions at any time, anywhere, even in a land where it is illegal to witness for Christ.

Today, the government of Israel requires any Christian who wants to live there unimprisoned to insult the Holy Spirit. That Christian must ignore God’s prompting to speak or teach. The Cowens were told to leave their freedom of speech and the Holy Spirit at the Tel Aviv airport. This is the worst moral assault on any true Christian – assault on his conscience and openness to God’s guidance. God’s Holy Spirit yearns to use the Cowens and all believers visiting Israel to help save lost Israelis, young and old. Now such souls may go to hell.

For the privilege of entering the "holy land” and visiting their daughters, the Cowens, like millions of visiting evangelicals every year, agreed to Israel’s anti-Christ terms of silence.

Colossal Ingratitude

Ironically, the Cowens aren’t even racists or political subversives! Hardly. They are dedicated backers of Israel with an impressive record of support for Jewish charities. “Cowen said he had visited Israel about 10 times, and had been active in social causes via the Knesset Social Lobby. ‘I’ve brought $100,000 in humanitarian aid to Israel. We’ve provided lone IDF soldiers with about $50,000 in aid.’ Of the slap in the face which Israel gave him for his altruism, Cowen says, ‘This is unbelievable.’”

The US Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, over which Cowen formerly presided, “has 90 member congregations with membership ranging between 50 and 400 per congregation . . .”  The government of Israel understands Cowen’s influence and that their harassment of him could send shockwaves among evangelicals. Yet the Interior Ministry, increasingly inhabited by ultra-Orthodox Jews, only cares about ending Christian evangelism in Israel, not about world opinion.

The government of Israel, as well as local governing bodies, continues to silently look the other way as Messianic Jews in Israel endure continuous and increasing harassment, persecution and even violence. Official anti-Christianity is documented via many graphic video clips by the oppressed Messianics at their websites. [1]

Israel’s mistreatment of the Cowens is a reminder that Israel, despite its propaganda, is not a democracy. “Calev Myers, founder and chief counsel of The Jerusalem Institute, which provides legal advice and representation to messianic Jews, said, ‘Israel is the only Western country where basic freedom of religion is denied.’”

Israeli Thought Police

Many evangelicals, led by “Israel-first” fanatics like Pastor John Hagee, believe (evidently like the Cowens) that tireless love, blessing, and financial gifts will soften Israel’s anti-Christianity. The behavior of the increasingly Orthodox government proves otherwise. Israel is developing into an anti-Christian police state, feeding on tips from Orthodox informers. The Post quotes anti-missionary spokesman Meyer Cohen saying the Interior Ministry now has its own intelligence unit to spy on missionaries and Messianic Jews. Calev Myers says, “anti-missionary associations such as Yad Le’achim often tipped off Interior Ministry officials regarding messianic Jews attempting to enter the country.” Israel, taking off her smiling mask, emerges as an ominous “speech crime” gestapo on the make.

In the United States and through world governing bodies, the Anti-Defamation League, chief PR rep for Israel, works tirelessly to conform the rest of the world to what they view as the Israeli ideal. ADL wants to make the whole world like Israel – a place where it will become a federal crime for anyone to witness for Jesus Christ in print, on the airwaves, the internet, or just on the street corner.

ADL wants Christians in heartland America, as in Israel, to face arrest and imprisonment for the “hate crime” of leading anyone to Christ. When those converted are Jews, ADL ups the ante to the crime of “anti-Semitism,” a crime against the Jewish people which conceivably could lead to deportation and imprisonment in Israel, fulfilling Christ’s prophecy (Luke 21:12). [2]

Holding the Holy Land Hostage

For millennia, the "holy land" has been viewed as owned by God, a place for individuals of all faiths to find inspiration, to visit or live in. Now Israel holds it hostage as if it belongs only to Talmudic Jews.  The government legislates not only against Christians and Moslems but even Jews who believe in Jesus. The Post says, “The [Israeli] Supreme Court has ruled that Jews who embraced Christianity are not eligible for Israeli citizenship.”

When will evangelical visitors to Israel stop caving to Israel’s demands that they not witness?  When will Christians, like the apostles in Acts, resolve to speak only as the Holy Spirit leads, regardless of the price? After all, authentic Christianity is about pleasing God alone, not man. If Christians do not defy Israeli law, as did the apostles, even to the point of going to prison, Israel’s anti-Christian aggression will only increase.

It’s time for Christians to do what has heretofore been unthinkable to them.

Say to Israel, "We must obey God, rather than men." (Acts 5:29)


Endnotes: 
1. See Lura Maimon Beckford’s website at http://kingsmenarad.com/.

2. See ADL's Foxman: New Testament is Anti-Semitic

10 Reasons Why Israel Wanted to Censor CBS on Displacement of Palestinian Christians by the Israeli Occupation

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren not only called the head of CBS news in an attempt to quash a report on the displacement of Palestinian Christians by the Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, but he briefed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of the far right wing Likud Party on his attempt.

Here are the top ten reasons Israel’s Likud Party would have wanted to censor American television news on this occasion (and of course we don’t know all the occasions they have successfully done so):

1. The report told Americans that there are Palestinian Christians. Right wing Israelis have attempted to displace, expropriate and erase the Palestinian nation, and to convince Americans that Palestinians don’t exist or if they do are enemies of the U.S. When the foe of the US was the Soviet Union, they made the Palestinians Communists. When the foe became al-Qaeda, they made the Palestinians violent fundamentalists. But if some percentage of Palestinians is Christians, then that fact disrupts the propaganda. In fact, millions of Palestinians are descended from the 700,000 or so Palestinians ethnically cleansed by the Israelis from what is now Israel in 1948, of whom about 10 percent were Christian.

2. The report mentioned that some Palestinians are Lutherans, Catholics and Episcopalians, establishing a link of commonality between them and Americans. The Israeli Likud Party wants Americans identifying only with Israelis, not with Palestinians.

3. The report told Americans that Israel is occupying and colonizing Palestinian land. Most Americans think it is the other way around because of the success of Likud disinformation.

4. The report let it slip that Palestinians in the West Bank need a permit to travel to Arab East Jerusalem and are subjected within the West Bank to humiliating check points that turn a 7 mile journey into an all-day ordeal. This system sounds an awful lot like the old South African Apartheid.

5. The report allowed Palestinians to speak for themselves and to refute Oren’s anti-Palestinian talking points. It is a key principle of right wing Israeli propaganda that Palestinians should never be allowed to challenge the Israeli narrative on American television.

6. The report allowed a prominent Palestinian businessman and Coca Cola distributor to say that he knew of no Palestinian Christians who were leaving the West Bank and Jerusalem because of Muslims but that rather they were leaving because of Israeli oppression.

7. It allowed the Palestinians to point out that the West Bank now looks like Swiss cheese, with Israeli colonies grabbing the good land and water, and the stateless Palestinians pushed into the holes.

8. The report described the Palestinian Kairos Document Located Here, calling for nonviolent, peaceful struggle by Palestinians against Israeli Occupation and land grabs. Likud propaganda insists in racist fashion that all Palestinians are inherently angry and violent and that their protest against being made stateless and homeless by Israel is irrational.

9. The report quotes an Israeli scholar who puts “Political Judaism” on par with “Political Islam.” It is a key principle of Likud propaganda that no movement in Israel may ever be compared to movements in the Muslim world.

10. The report allows Palestinians to point out that the way the Israelis built the Separation Wall isolated Bethlehem, Jesus’s birthplace and a city that still is 18% Christian, had made it “an open-air prison.

Faith under Occupation – Book Review

By Ludwig Watzal

(Faith under Occupation. The Plight of Indigenous Christians in the Holy Land, published by EAPPI/JIC/WCC, Jerusalem, February 2012.)

In the West, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is viewed as only a Muslim-Jewish one.


 Totally forgotten are the Christians in Palestine who constitute the cradle of Christianity. The study “Faith under Occupation” is published by “The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI)“ together with the “Jerusalem Inter-Church Centre (JIC)” and the “World Council of Churches (WCC)”.

This report does not only aim to expose the grim realities of life under Israeli military occupation, and the impacts that it has on the Palestinian people in general, but it also aims to shed some light on the fact that Palestinian Christians are indigenous to the Holy Land. This report also disapproves of the unfounded Israeli and Christian Zionist propaganda that Palestinian Christians are depopulating due to Muslim fundamentalism in Palestinian society. Even more repelling is the fact that this report shows how Christian Zionist support for Israel’s brutal military occupation of Palestine is threatening the existence of Palestinian Christians.

Palestinian Christians think that the international community is not doing enough to relieve their plight. They do not comprehend why so many people around the world, especially in the West ignore the existence of Palestinian Christian communities. These lacks of awareness compounded by the distortions promoted by fundamentalist Christians in the U. S are seen as major obstacles by Palestinian Christians. In such circumstances, appeals by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to Western Christian “brothers in faith” to stop encouraging the emigration of Christians from Palestine, are in vain. As long as Christians all over the world can freely visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem but Palestinian Christians are denied their right to freely worship there, because they need a special permit to enter Arab East Jerusalem, regularly denied by the Israeli occupation forces, there is something fundamentally wrong within the Western value system.

Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Christian population of Palestine had greatly diminished. Their proportion in the population decreased from more than 18 per cent in 1948 to 2 per cent today. Once, Christians in Bethlehem comprised more than 90 per cent of the population. Today Christians make up only 15 per cent in the city. The main focus of this study is build around a case study about the impacts of Israel’s military occupation of Palestine and how Christians are affected.

The views of the Evangelical pastor Wayne Smith on Israel are revealing. His attitude was initially strongly influenced by the June war of 1967 when allegedly Little David (Israel) defeated the “Arab goliath”. It took him almost 40 years to review his erstwhile attitude. It occurred when he came across the book “Bethlehem besieged” by Mitri Raheb, a pastor serving the Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. Further books by Elias Chacour, Marc Ellis and Mark Braverman opened his eyes for the grave injustices committed by Israel’s occupation regime. The glorious story of the birth of the nation of Israel fell apart by the parallel story of the forced expulsion of the indigenous owners of the land, the Palestinians.

Detailed case studies are presented about cities and villages such as Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Beit Sahour (a small village adjacent to Bethlehem, which has a long history of popular non-violent resistance), Beit Jalla, Nahhalin, Azzun ( in which only two Christians are left), and Zababdeh. Further Christian communities are presented, including St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church in Burqin, just west of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, or the 700 Christians in Nablus and the communities in Ramallah and its environs.

The report presents excerpts from the “Kairos Palestine ‘Moment of Truth’ document” of 2009 that was drafted after the Kairos South Africa document and presented in Appendix II. In the Palestinian document, the Christians declare “that the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity, and that any theology that legitimizes the occupation is far from Christian teachings because the true Christian theology is a theology of love and solidarity with the oppressed”. It calls on the international community to stop the principle of “double standards” and to insist on international resolutions concerning the Palestinian problem. The document calls for a “system of economic sanctions and boycott to be applied against Israel“. This document has garnered support from churches all over the world but not in the mainstream Western media.

The study also sheds some light on the illegal policy of house demolitions and discriminations against Christian leaders, such as Suheil Dawani, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem. A letter from the Interior Ministry in Jerusalem says: “Bishop Suheil acted with the PNA (Palestinian National Authority L. W.) in transferring lands owned by Jewish people to the Palestinians and also helped to register lands of Jewish people in the name of the Church.” It was further alleged that the Bishop forged documents. The letter also stated that Bishop Dawani and his family should leave the country immediately.

The study concludes by saying that Palestinian Christians are “disproportionately affected by the occupation”. A further Christian emigration not only from Palestine but also from other Middle Eastern countries could transform a political conflict into a religious one between Islam and Judaism. The West bears heavy responsibility for the exodus of the Palestinian and Arab Christians because its one-sided alignment with Israel’s occupation and its attacks on Iraq has led to a mass flight of Christians. If the West keeps trying together with its Arab allies to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the consequences for Christian and other minorities will be catastrophic.

When things are wrong for Palestinian Christians or the other Christian communities in the Middle East, they are wrong for all Palestinians and all Arabs. The root of Palestinian sufferings is founded in Israeli military occupation of their homeland and the occupation of Arab land by Western occupation forces helped by their Arab allies.

The value of the study lies in the fact that it has shed some light on the difficult conditions of Christians who live under regimes dominated by Western proxies that instigate sectarian division.

- Dr. Ludwig Watzal works as a journalist and editor in Bonn, Germany.

                                    God On Our Side

The title for the film, “With God on Our Side Located Here” was inspired by the verse:

…while Joshua was there near Jericho: He looked up and saw right in front of him a man standing, holding his drawn sword. Joshua stepped up to him and said, "Whose side are you on—ours or our enemies'?" He said, "Neither. I'm commander of God's army. Joshua 5:13-14a (The Message)

We believe this verse is still true today, that God does not take sides with certain people groups, nations or agendas. Rather He is for all people. Throughout history, those who have claimed God was on their side have used it to justify atrocities done in the name of Jesus. We believe once again certain Christians are approaching the people in the Middle East claiming God is on their side in a way that disregards human rights and gives unilateral support to a secular State, elevates one people group over another while using the Bible as justification. We believe there is a better way, a way of justice, peace and love for Jews and Palestinians. One that is inclusive, not exclusive. That is the heart of God.

Some Truth About Christians In The Middle East

The press is full of stories this Christmas season about the negative effects on Middle Eastern Christians of the Arab upheavals of 2011. This “vale of tears” approach does profound injustice to the actual reality of the Arab Christians. The discourse of the persecution of a helpless Christian minority serves Orientalist purposes, intimating that the West has yet another hapless object of pity and reason to intervene in the Middle East, and blaming Muslims as a whole for intolerance instead of acknowledging cross-religious alliances.

The Egyptian revolution against Hosni Mubarak, for instance, was an ecumenical affair, with many of Egypt’s 8-million-strong Coptic Christians joining their Muslim compatriots in protests (Christians are about 10 percent of the Egyptian population). Christians no less than Muslims were fed up with Mubarak’s dictatorship. They were convinced that the regime fomented sectarian tensions so as to divide and rule. They were under disabilities imposed by the Mubarak state.

While Egyptian Christians are understandably nervous about the strong showing of Muslim fundamentalists in the first two rounds of the elections for the lower house of parliament, they are not mere bystanders.

Egypt’s Christians have protested courageously for their rights, incurring casualties at the hands of the army, and were among the first to call forcefully for the military to step down.

They are not without resources– there are many Coptic attorneys and businesspeople, and the billionaire Sawiris family is from this community. Many Coptic Christians support the Wafd Party (in the emergence of which, as a standard-bearer of Egyptian nationalism in the teens and twenties of the last century, they played a role).

It is likely the Freedom and Justice Party of the Muslim Brotherhood will seek a parliamentary alliance with the Wafd Party, so that far from boycotting the Brotherhood’s party, the Copts in the Wafd may well be its partners in rule. Instead of seeing them as a helpless minority and special object of pity on the part of the Christian West, we should see them as inexorably interwoven with Egyptian society and as important social actors in their own right. They face challenges, as do others (Mubarak persecuted certain kinds of Muslims, too). But that meeting of challenges is just ongoing politics, not the end of the world.

Likewise, in Lebanon, Christians are self-confident and have formed political alliances with non-Christians. Indeed, a major Christian faction is allied with the Shiite fundamentalist group, Hizbullah, an alliance that underpins the current cabinet. Other Christians are allied with the Sunni-led March 14 coalition.

In recent years, a Christian general has typically been president, and this is true at the moment. Lebanon saw impressive economic growth in the years prior to 2011 but was hurt by the upheavals in the region. Growth is expected to tick up in 2012. Lebanon is a country of about 4 million, and it is estimated that 40 percent of the voting-age population is Christian (though the over-all percentage is lower because Muslims predominate in the next, youth, population bulge).

Here is what Christmas in Beirut looks like…

and here is pop star Nancy Ajram lighting the Christmas tree in Verdun:

Where Christians are in a truly difficult situation, as in Iraq, the proximate cause is actually American intervention, which was conducted in such a way as to heighten sectarian tensions.

Christians were flourishing in Iraq in 2000 and 2001, and there was no al-Qaeda extremism. The instability provoked in Iraq by George W. Bush is far more important as an explanation of their difficulties than a supposed eternal and essential Muslim hostility to them (if that were the case, why are they better treated in some times, places and governmental systems?)

Chaldean Christians in northern Iraq have cancelled private Christmas celebrations this year, restricting themselves to church services. Alsumaria reports that Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako said, “the continuous targeting of Christians in Mosul, incidents of Badinan of Kurdistan in addition to other situations in Iraq led Christians to cancel Christmas celebrations…” It isn’t just Arab Muslims who have tensions with Iraqi Christians, but also the Kurds, who are largely American allies.

Likewise, continued massive rightwing Israeli land and water theft in the Palestinian West Bank, and the separation barrier built by the Israelis that crowds in on Bethlehem, have hurt the Palestinian Christians, who are for the most part in solidarity with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The some 12 million Arab Christians (out of some 350 million Arabs) are active agents in their own fates. They make alliances with Muslim fundamentalist forces as well as with secularists, and sometimes switch alliances. They fight back against repression, as they did at Maspero in Cairo this year, risking death or injury. And the Christian West and its Jewish-nationalist allies can sometimes be their worst enemies, not sympathetic rescuers.

Christian Persecution in Israel

When we think of Christians being persecuted, we normally think of countries such as Afghanistan, China or North Korea but seldom do we think about Christians getting persecuted in the holy land itself. I went to Israel a few years ago (by the way, I would recommend every Christian go there at least once in their life) and went down to the Wailing Wall where many of the orthodox Jews gather to pray. Even though there was a part of me that had the utmost respect for these Jews, the other side was sad that they were still blind and waiting for the Messiah when he has already come in the person of Jesus (Yeshua) Christ.


Below are some videos to give you an idea of what some of the Jewish Christians have to live with in Israel

As Romans 10:1 says, please pray for the nation of Israel that they may be saved

If you are a Jew and you are not a Christian (you can be both), click HERE to see how you can receive salvation

Related Posts:

How to Pray for Persecuted Christians

Thought for the day – The Squeezed Christian

Anti-Christ laws being enforced in Israel!

Every time we (Christians, Messianic Jews, our family or friends) are caught with a table, chair or any other type of equipment outside our storefront we are being fined 430 shekels.

We have a Jewish friend who spent 17 yrs in a Siberian Work Camp who likes to play chess outside; he doesn't like confined spaces. We have a couple of Holocaust survivor friends who like to play dominos outside in the open air, all year around.

The rest of the guys are mostly retirees. I'm 61 and I'm the baby of the group! These guys are mostly Jews from Russia. Evidently Moscow, St Petersburg, Siberian, Ukraine, etc are cold places... they love to play outside in Israel, most think playing indoors is not as healthy and at their ages this is a concern.

In essence, what does outside our storefront entail? The whole city of Arad is outside our storefront. All of Israel is outside our storefront. Does this mean that they have passed a law that Christians, Messianic Jews, our family and friends can't sit outside anywhere in Israel or is it just in the city of Arad?

Zionists attack Christian tourists visiting the holy land

In every place in the world the state assigns police officers to protect tourists, especially in holy places, but Israel assigns Zionist settlers to attack Christian tourists in the holy land.

How the Jews Treat Christians in Israel - It's Serious!

Christians are the most hated people in Israel! I guess they think they are superior breed? Well soon they will get to know what they have missed all their life.. Without JESUS and his Love for them... ONLY JESUS SAVES... Wake up!!!

Israeli zionists insulting Juses - wait till he speaks english

Israeli Soldiers Threaten Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron

Mocking Jesus on Israeli TV

From the show "Toffee VeHa-Gorillah" - WARNING!!! Explicit and offensive anti-Christian material contained.

Israeli Propaganda Preys on American Christians for Financial Support

What One Christian say about God's Chosen People

CADC Calls on Obama and McCain to address Israeli Intimidation and Violence against Christians

June 06, 2008

Even though Israel signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that says in Article 18, "Everyone has the right to...change his religion...and freedom...to manifest his religion or beliefs in teaching, practice, worship and observance," persecution of Christians and Jewish converts to Christianity, continues in Israel.

John McCain and Barack Obama just met with American Israel Public Affairs Committee in an attempt to garner Jewish support by asserting their support of Israel.

"Will McCain and Obama turn a blind eye to the suffering of Christians in Israel?" asked Rev. Gary Cass, of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission," adding, "Both Obama and McCain say they want change, but do either of them have the courage to challenge the powerful Jewish lobby in America? Will either of them demand true religious liberty for Christians and all faiths in Israel as a condition of American support of Israel, including the right of Christians to share their faith with Jews?"

According to the Jewish Telegraph Agency, "Israel has an estimated 8,000 so-called messianic Jews. In effect they are crypto-Christians, practicing their faith discreetly for fear of stoking hostility among mainstream Jews. Reprisals can sometimes be violent."

The intimidation and violence against the Jewish population who are Messianic was recently seen in a vicious attack on a Jewish Messianic pastor's home. CNN's Mark Bixler reported that the teenage son of a Messianic pastor was severely injured when a package delivered to his home exploded.

In May, hundreds of New Testaments were burned in Israel. The New Testaments were distributed by Messianic Jews in Yehuda. The town's mayor, Uzi Aharon, had Jewish religious students gather the New Testaments and burn most of them next to a synagogue.

Barbara Ludwig, a Christian student from Germany, was scheduled for deportation from Israel June 30 because the Israeli government accused her of "missionary work." Ludwig was taken to jail and told she must leave Israel by May 30.

Gurvitz on ‘Israel’s not-so-stellar record on treatment of Christians’


by Annie Robbins on April 27, 2011

Christian clergy in Jerusalem are often spat at by yeshiva boys (Photo: Yossi Gurvitz)

The United Methodist Church is currently holding its General Conference in Tampa, Florida. The Methodists will be voting on a controversial resolutionto divest from 3 multinational companies profiting from the Israeli occupation. Below is an excerpt from Yossi Gurvitz's article at +972 Israel’s not-so-stellar record on treatment of Christians which he wrote in response to the recent CBS "60 minute" episode on the plight of Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land.  ~AR

The 2010 State Department report on religious freedom in Israel and the occupied territories found that the Israeli Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is harassing Christian priests by demanding they renew their visas time and time again. It limits the number of visas Christian religious workers receive, and makes onerous demands on them. The visa application process, when successful, takes months. During 2010, the MOI refused to renew the Jerusalem Anglican bishop’s residency permit, claiming that he was involved in forgery. The bishop denies the claim, and it is noteworthy that he was not indicted.

The MOI further refuses to grant recognized legal status to several old churches in Israel, all of them Protestant. Four Christian churches are waiting years for recognition of their legal status: the Ethiopian-Orthodox Church, the Coptic-Orthodox Church, the Evangelic Lutheran Church, and the United Christian Council.

The MOI, left for many years to the Orthodox parties, is collaborating with a hate organization, “Yad Le’Achim,” which has a clear anti-Christian agenda (Hebrew). The MOI sends “queries” about Israeli citizens and tourists to Yad Le’Achim, for it to decide whether they are suspected of “missionary activity.” Now, Israeli law does not forbid religious preaching: it merely prohibits a conversion made in exchange for goods, and the conversion of minors without the permission of their parents. Yet, when your country is officially termed Jewish and your Minister of the Interior is an Orthodox Jew, the law matters little. In 2009, according to the State Department report cited above, 30 percent of the tourists who were stopped for questioning in Ben Gurion Airport were questioned about their religious beliefs, at the instructions of the MOI. This was probably an attempt to intimidate them from proselytizing.

Possibly the most fantastic event in the relations of the Jewish state with a Christian church is the controversy surrounding the appointment of the Greek Orthodox patriarch. During the Sharon and Olmert governments, in a scene seemingly taken from a medieval chronicle, the government delayed its recognition (Hebrew) of Theophilius as Patriarch until the latter would give his consent to some shady land deals of the radical ultra-Orthodox Jewish right. Minister Tzachi Hanegbi admitted he demanded Theophilius refrain from torpedoing a deal with the extremist yeshiva Ateret Cohanim as a condition to his appointment. Hanegbi’s successor in dealing with the church, minister Raffi Eitan, was suspected of coercing the patriarch into agreeing the church would suspend a lawsuit against Himnuta, the JNF’s dirty-tricks department, which buys lands for settlements. Himnuta would later demand Theophilius fulfill his part of the deal – which he quickly denied making. Bear that in mind the next time they tell you Israelis enjoy freedom of religion.

The situation of the Messianic Jews, a sect of Jews who accept a version of Christianity – ironically, re-creating the most ancient Christian community – is even worse. They suffer from endless molestations, both by the MOI (aided, again, by Yad Le’Achim) and by the general Jewish Orthodox population. In 2008, one such family suffered a terrorist attack  – a real one, Ambassador Oren, bomb and all (Hebrew) – and Jewish terrorist suspect Jack Teitel is suspected of carrying it out. Unlike other Jewish families which fall victim to terrorist attacks, this family did not become the focus of media or official attention.

During the same year, Yad Le’Achim managed to prevent a Messianic Jewish girl, Bat El Levi, 17, from participating in the International Bible Quiz, even though she won her way fair and square through the quizzes in the secular school system (Hebrew). The words of Martin Luther King – ” when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she cannot go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her little eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people”  – come to mind. Reportedly, the Minister of Education – Labor’s Yuli Tamir – publicly boasted that all of the participants in the quiz were checked and found to be Jews.

The spitting by yeshiva boys on priests has become a Jerusalem phenomenon, recognized by the courts (Hebrew), who deplored the police’s inaction. The police hotly denied this claim: it proudly replied it deported from Israel priests who refused to turn the other cheek and slapped those who spat at them. Should you happen to speak with priests in Jerusalem, you’re likely to hear of another lovely habit of our ultra-Orthodox brethren: urinating and defecating on churches. From time to time, a church is set on fire: the last noted case was some 18 months ago (and cited in the State Department report above). The police reacts to this with even more than usual indolence.

Usually, when Jewish violence  and discrimination against non-Jews is reported, the defenders of Israel often argue this is the result of the conflict. But Israel is not in conflict with the Christian world: it couldn’t survive without it. This hatred, this violence, is the result of thousands of years of anti-Christian hatred by a radical stream within Orthodox Judaism that wishes to create a theocratic state based on Jewish law (which crept into its daily liturgy – the infamous “informers’ blessing”).  It blows up not because of some cause, but because it can, and the weak response of the authorities is the result of their understanding that a large segment of the population supports such acts. The evangelists who signed a devil’s pact with radical ultra-Orthodox Jews fail to understand that those extremists are their preferred target; that they don’t hate the Palestinians merely because the latter happen to live here, but their hatred of Christianity is the real thing, which sometimes bursts to surface.

And then everyone pretends it never happened.

Israeli government: Violation of religion and worship freedom to Palestinian Christians

During the Holy Week, Jerusalem has a special spiritual connection for Christians all around the world as it is the time of the year when pilgrims visit the Old city.

However, that period also represents a time of new restrictions for Palestinians, especially for Christian Palestinians who experience a number of obstacles to visit the holiest places that violate their freedom of religion and worshiping.

During Easter, Palestinian Christians living outside of Jerusalem in the West Bank and Gaza are required to apply for permits to access their holy sites in occupied East Jerusalem. It is estimated that of those, only 2,000 - 3,000 Palestinian Christians receive permits.

In 2011 Israel restrictions prevented Palestinian Christians from attending Holy Fire Saturday in Jerusalem. Israel allows only 8,000 pilgrims and just a few hundred Palestinians.

On this edition of the show we will be looking at the obstacles that Christian Palestinians face and how these restrictions affect them.

See Video From Link Below: 

http://www.presstv.ir/Program/235169.html

Canada's pseudo-Christian bigot aids Israeli oppression in Jesus' name

Khalid Amayreh , Tuesday 7 Jun 2011

Stephen Harper, Canada's eccentric prime minister, claims to be conducting politics, including foreign policy, according to the "way of Jesus."  However, it is amply clear that this man and his policies represent the exact anti-thesis of every sublime Christian ideal.

A few weeks ago, Harper, having received a telephone call from Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, insisted that no mention of Israel's pre-1967 borders be made in the G8 Summit leaders' final communiqué.

Harper's "intervention" collided with the views of all other leaders who wanted the border line to be specifically mentioned. It also contravened the positions of the rest of the international community.

One European diplomat reportedly remarked that "Canadians were really very adamant, even though Obama expressly referred to the 1967 borders in his speech last week."

Canada used to be a decent state that jealously safeguarded human rights and international law.

For many years the North American country represented a main destination for individuals and groups seeking redress after being wronged by despotic and tyrannical powers.

However, thanks to the monomaniac discourse of Mr Harper and the coteries of obscurant evangelicals around him, Canada has effectively become a zealous supporter of apartheid in Palestine-Israel, a defender of ethnic cleansing and justifier of scandalous human rights violations.

Harper and  cohorts  claim,  obviously mendaciously, that supporting Israel's systematic oppression against defenceless Palestinians is a religious duty mandated by the Bible, since Israel allegedly represents God on earth and that standing against or even criticising the Jewish nation-state goes, therefore, against the will of the Almighty.

For those who really understand the message of Christ, this is an obscene distortion of true Christian ideals, which urge Christians to stand for justice, to be on the side of the poor, the weak and the oppressed.

It doesn’t seem to matter to Harper and his government that  Israeli policies and actions Canada is asked to support are decidedly evil, immoral, illegal and, in many cases, go beyond the pale of human decency.

It doesn't matter that some of these acts would be absolutely and totally viewed as felonious and criminal according to Canadian laws. In the final analysis what is important for these fanatical Israel-firsters is to support Israel, whether right or wrong, no matter what Israel says or does. This abhorrent fanaticism has a name: moral blindness - and it is done in Jesus’ name.

I would like to remind Mr Harper, if he is prone to logic, that no previous Canadian governments recognised the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation that started in 1967. Even today, the Canadian Justice System refuses to recognise East Jerusalem as part of Israel. So, why this mindless, unethical and evil embrace of Israeli recalcitrance?

Interestingly, Harper’s government’s real stance on the 1967 borders has nothing to do with any objective viewpoint pertaining to the conflict.

Under the Harper administration, Canada doesn't even say where the future borders between Israel and a putative Palestinian state should lie. In fact, Harper's Canada doesn't even believe in the two-state solution, whereby a viable Palestinian state, with contiguous borders, could be established on the West Bank.

Canada’s true, undeclared stance under this pseudo-Christian bigot is actually the evangelical stance, namely that those non-Jews, including thousands of Christians, have no right to human rights, political rights, dignity and civil liberties in Israel.

And in case one tries to challenge Canada's premier on his manifestly oblique understanding of Christian values, let alone his scandalously skewed understanding of the Arab-Israeli conflict, he doesn't hesitate to quote from the the Old and New Testaments of the bible.

Within a minute he can produce a text proving that non-Jews, presumably including thousands of Christians, living under the Jewish rule have to resign to a status of  "wood hewers and water carriers" in the service of the Master Race, or Chosen People. So, here we have a classical example, vintage Canada, of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, being used to promote Israel's lebensraum policies.

Indeed, in light of the ideological underpinning of his foolish embrace of Israeli fascism and jingoism, one can safely conclude that Mr Harper is effectively adopting the most racist policies of the Israeli right, including that of the settler groups, which openly offer Palestinians, including Christians, three choices: Enslavement as water carriers and wood-hewers, expulsion or Old-Testament-style physical extermination.

In his ostensibly infinite ignorance of the basic tenets of Christianity, Harper claims that the Almighty wholeheartedly supports the nearly genocidal geopolitical goals of the Israeli government. According to him, the Lord, who is portrayed as an avaricious real estate dealer, is an enthusiastic advocate of Israeli "lebensraum" policy in the West Bank and beyond.

Under this light, Christians have to back Israel unhesitatingly and under all circumstances, irrespective of the crimes against humanity Israel is committing non-stop against the virtually defenceless Palestinians.

Of course, Harper may continue to invoke Jesus to justify his un-Christian and immoral policies toward the Palestinian plight; policies that Christ would never support if only because they contradict basic morality.

Indeed, Jesus Christ, who some settler leaders openly and shamelessly refer to as the "Hitler of Bethlehem," would be hounded and perhaps killed by the very same people Mr Harper is now supporting heart and soul.

But, alas, fanatics don't hold ideas, they are held by them.

Besides, invoking Jesus doesn't mean that one is really following Jesus' ideals. Throughout history, many evil men, who were notorious agents of inequity and oppression, thought or gave the impression that they were serving the Lord when, in fact, they were doing just the opposite.

I have no doubt in my mind that Harper and his government are doing just that.