Shame
on the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, for taking the
occasion of his annual "Christmas message" to blame Israel for the
plight of Christians in the Middle East. It is precisely at this
juncture -- when the persecution of Christians in the Muslim-Arab world
is not merely increasing at a frightening rate, but is becoming more
blatant and bloodier -- that the chief Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy
Land should be warning against the religious war being waged against
his brethren.
After all, churches in every
Islam-dominated country are being destroyed; Christian women (including
nuns) are being raped, men (including priests) are being beheaded; and
the property of those who would escape this fate is being confiscated.
Meanwhile, liberal Christians
in the West have been looking the other way. Fearing accusations of
Islamophobia, they prefer promoting "interfaith dialogue" to protesting
the abominations being perpetrated against their own. There is also an
element of "out of sight, out of mind" at work. Those "other" Christians
live in faraway lands and speak foreign languages. This makes it easier
to forget about them and go about the business of decorating trees,
shopping for gifts, stuffing stockings and singing carols.
But there is no excuse for "His
Beatitude" Archbishop Twal -- a Jordanian-born Palestinian responsible
for the tens of thousands of Catholics living in Israel, the Palestinian
Authority, Gaza, Jordan and Cyprus -- to view the victimization of his
fellow Christians as anything other than a concerted effort on the part
of radical Muslims to subjugate, convert, banish or wipe out his
co-religionists.
Nevertheless, he cloaked his holiday message in diplo-speak, based on false premises.
"The
situation in the Middle East is becoming more complex and dramatic," he
told reporters. "The scenarios in Syria and Iraq can be repeated
elsewhere, as seen in Egypt and Libya. The instability affects everyone,
but especially our faithful who are tempted to emigrate. In Gaza our
people are suffering from the effects of the embargo imposed by Israel
and even Egypt. To prevent the conflict from spreading in the whole
region, a 'sustainable' cease-fire in Syria should be immediately
established and prevent any entry of outside weapons. As the Syrian
problem cannot be resolved by the force of arms, we call on all
political leaders to assume the responsibility for finding a mutually
acceptable political solution that will end the senseless violence, and
uphold respect for the dignity of people. … The Israeli-Palestinian
talks resumed in late July, after three years of interruption. But the
efforts are hampered by the continuous building of Israeli settlements.
As long as this problem is not resolved, the people of our region will
suffer."
The Israeli-Palestinian
conflict has nothing whatsoever to do with the assault on Christians in
the Middle East. And the mere mention of Israeli settlements in this
context takes the art of lying to a whole new level.
Even Britain's Prince Charles
-- who has spent the last two decades trying "to build bridges between
Islam and Christianity to dispel ignorance and misunderstanding" -- has
come to grasp this. On Tuesday, at a reception for Middle East
Christians at his official Clarence House residence, he said, "It seems
to me that we cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the Middle East
are increasingly being deliberately targeted by fundamentalist Islamist
militants."
Israel doesn't come into it at all, other than being an ally under similar attack for its biblical values.
Twal
knows this all too well. He is also aware that Israel is the only
country in the Middle East whose Christian population is growing. His
behavior is the kind of collusion with the enemy that should not be
tolerated.
"Turning the other cheek" may
be a Christian tenet. But offering an aggressor someone else's cheek as a
method of self-protection is sinful.
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