This is a very easy blog to write, because I\’m not writing anything.
Following are excerpts from an essay written by Father Gabriel Nadaf , of the Aramean Christian community and the Israeli Christians Recruitment Forum. Read it, then read the entire essay, and you\’ll understand:
Rightnow, while Christians the world over are celebrating Christmas,entire communities of the followers of Christ cannot rejoice. TheMiddle East and parts of Africa continue to drown in rivers of blood,with various minorities being targeted by radical Islamicorganizations such as ISIS, Hamas, Jabhat al-Nusra, Boko Haram,al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and others.
TheChristians there are stuck in the middle of a maelstrom of genocideand ethnic cleansing occurring on a daily basis through horrific actsof rape, crucifixion, theft, expulsion, destruction, burning ofchurches, forced conversions, abduction of nuns and the murder ofpriests, children, women and the elderly. Sometimes the murderersslaughter whole families, sometimes they murder some in front of therest and then let the others live with the nightmare. People who canflee to the west, and those who can\’t leave or who wih to remain mustlive with the danger.
TheMiddle East is effectively being cleansed of Christians.
Bethlehem,the birthplace of Christ, had a clear Christian majority. Since 1995,when Israel handed the city to the Palestinian Authority, Christianshave been leaving in droves. Today, Christians are only 15% of thepopulation, some say it\’s even less. Elsewhere in Palestinian-runareas, Christians are also leaving, and in Hamas-run Gaza, thesituation is even worse.
Thisbears repeating again and again: Christians in Arab countries live onthe margins, without rights, with their property stolen, their honortrampled, their children sacrificed and the slaughter ongoing.
Withinthis chaos, only one island of sanity can be found where theChristians are not persecuted, where they enjoy freedom of religionand ritual, freedom of expression, and where they can live in peacewithout fear of genocide. That island is the State of Israel. Thestate in which I and my Christian brothers were born allowsChristians complete freedom. Jews and Christians live in Israel inpeace and as good neighbors. This is not just because Jesus was bornin Jewish Bethlehem and was born a Jew, but because Christians andJews share a common heritage and a shared hope for a peacefulcoexistence.
IsraeliChristians are an inseparable part of the population\’s fabric, and asits citizens they may elect and be elected to its parliament andlocal municipalities, rights they use regularly. As a demographicgroup, they are the most educated community in Israel, are integratedin the legal system as lawyers and judges, serve as officers in thepolice and the IDF, and occupy various positions in governmentoffices and institutions. You can find many of them as students andfaculty in universities, in the health system, on sports teams, inculture, and throughout the private sector. The churches,monasteries, and Christian sites are preserved and run by the variouschurches entirely freely.
That is a little something to think about on Christmas day…..and maybe the rest of the year as well.
