The plight of Christians living in Gaza under the Palestinian authority continues to worsen. According to a new Arabic language report, recent years have “witnessed a critical upsurge against the Christians,” who only amount to approximately 2,500 people—surrounded by approximately 1.5 million Muslims. Local authorities have abandoned the tiny minority to Islamist elements who have “placed great and continuous pressure” on the Christians.
“At times we hear of the bombing of a Christian bookshop and assaults on churches and other Christian institutions; other times we hear of the kidnapping of Christians and the coercion of them to embrace the religion of Muhammad,” says the report.
In mid October, Christians in Gaza led a protest, calling for the return of their kidnapped children and loved ones. They held up signs saying “I am a Christian and boast of my cross.” Bishop Alexios of the region “confirmed that the Christians who converted to Islam did so under threats, coercion, compulsion, and force.” His church also submitted a formal petition to the governor of the region, Ismail Haniyeh, calling on him to investigate matters, but received no response.
Palestinian Muslim leaders say that such Christians convert of their own free will and without pressure; however, these same Muslim leaders refuse to let their Christian families meet with or even learn the whereabouts of these recent converts, so they can confirm if their conversions were committed freely or under duress.
The report adds that Gaza’s Christians are calling on the Christian world to intervene. The bishop said that he is trying to communicate all of this to the Vatican, the United Nations, and the United States.
This sort of thing happens in Egypt all the time. Unfortunately, in an age where Western nations are in the best position to help, they have abandoned Christians in the Middle East out of a sense that it’s “bad” to be “tribal”….it’s wrong to go help some Christian in the Middle East just because he or she is Christian. In an attempt to fight “Islamophobia” in the West, many activists assume that all Christians everywhere are “privileged”, bigoted, and tribal.
The Bishop shouldn’t waste his breath. No one cares about the plight of Christian minorities in Muslim nations.
Sad isn’t it? Maybe Trump will change that.
I have seen misleading and irresponsible articles in my time, but this one takes the cake. For sheer, utter and complete ignorance of what is going on in Gaza the author scores big.
Out of Christian charity I will no point out the evils of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, as I know that would offend the tender ears of the author. But I will refer him to the website of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem if he wants to know what is really going on in Gaza and the Holy Land.
For centuries Catholics, Muslims and Jews lived in relative peace and harmony in the Holy Land until the ethnic cleansings and expulsions of the natives by East European Jews, which created the hell that engulfs the entire Middle East. If Mr Ibrahim wishes to be taken seriously he had better brush up on the cold hard facts. You might begin by watching this: https://youtu.be/gmkQ8w8MF4g
Schmenz, two wrongs don’t make a right and I have had enough of this story that Palestinian Muslims go on and on and on about that Jews are not from the Middle East, that only the religion originates there and that they have come from somewhere else to claim the land. Genetic testing shows that Jews and Palestinians are the closest relatives to each other, presumably with one group having converted to Islam at some point in time and about 30% Slavic genetic contribution in Ashkenazic Jews. Now myself am half Eastern European and when I see a Jew I know that’s a Jew. It’s not the same thing appearance-wise. Jews have had to go into diaspora since Roman times due to the persecution of their religion and when people repeat these stories about them not being Middle Eastern, it only sounds like they are continuing the same persecution. Honestly, I have had enough. The state of Israel may be aggressive but the people also need somewhere to go where they an be free to practice their religion without anyone commenting on their language or appearance.
Muslims created the Hell. It was in the 7th Century. Firstly the military takeover of the Arabian Peninsular by a Brigand-turned-prophet then his planned invasion of Christian Egypt was put into force after a major uprising by Arabian Christians & other Arabs was quashed. The invasion was not peaceful nor beneficial to the residents of Egypt nor was it anything to do with Allah it was to do with food supplies that the Muslims wanted to feed their armies. From there we saw a series of Muslim assaults on the rest of North Africa & the Near East as territories were taken and peoples killed or enslaved into this new ideology. Once in you never leave & if you brainwash the children they will never want to. I think that just about raps up this vicious little ideology.
The whole of North Africa and Asia up to Afghanistan were converted through Jihad. Although, the saddest part was the conversion of Iran, which had its own religion and had peaked so much in antiquity. All the pre-Islamic heritage is being destroyed in Iraq at the moment, trying to wipe out the cultural identity of the local populations and their history. Only one country is getting in the way of the domination of Jihad in the Middle East, Israel. It’s the ultimate enemy.
Why then were Muslims killing Buddhists, Christians, Jews and just about everyone else from the day Mohammed led them? People have to protect themselves from these killers or else they rake over and erase all of the “infidels”. Quit blaming the Jews –
How about Muslims quit teaching their children hate, how about Islamic cartoons quit teaching children hate – how about Muslims quit killing, beating, frightening Christians in Islamic countries. Where do THEY have a right to complain? Look at what they do to the “others” in Muslim countries!!! They can leave – they can move on. And one more thing – Australia is learning from dealing with Muslims just what other countries have gone through. They are sending Muslim refugees to an Island some place else. Muslims feel entitled to kill “infidels”…give them their own country somewhere where Muslims already live. How about Jordan?
Maybe Israel could intervene to do something about it…there is a growing number of Messianic Jews there, is there not?
The Vatican and the UN will not intervene. Now, the new America, might. Praying for the persecuted Christians of Gaza.
The Vatican and UN will not help. Maybe the Trump administration or Israel might help. Don’t give up hope. That is how Islam takes over: it uses forced conversions.
Christians and Jews in Muslim nations are the real refugees. Its vitally important for all Western nations to recognise this and open our doors to these genuine refugees.
Western nations shouldn’t be taking in Muslims, they should be taking in all the others.