"In Public, Bethlehem Christians Laud Their Happy Coexistence ..."

We're used to slurs against Israel regarding the shrinking Christian population of Bethlehem.

(The accompanying vile pictures/posts are  recent posts by members of Facebook group Christian Friends of Palestine, by the way.)

So it's good to come across a recent article by Robert Nicholson, who sets the record straight.  He writes, inter alia:

'In 1990, Christians made up a majority of Bethlehem's residents; today they make up only 15%. Some say Israel is the reason for the decline, but then why is the Muslim population of Bethlehem growing when both sectors face the same exact set of circumstances? Jewish sovereignty does not, ipso facto, lead to Christian emigration.

Inside Israel, the Christian population has been growing steadily for decades. The decrease of Christians inside the Palestinian territories is due more to rising Islamism and bad governance by the Palestinian Authority. 

It is no coincidence that Bethlehem was mostly Christian until the 1990s. Until then, Bethlehem was ruled directly by Israel. Palestinian Christians (and Muslims) could travel freely inside Israel, visit the beach, and shop in Jewish neighborhoods. That all changed in the mid-1990s when Israel agreed to let the PLO rule parts of the West Bank and Gaza under the Oslo Accords.

 The Palestinian Authority is, by its own constitution, an Islamic state that embodies the principles of shari'a, and Christians are relegated to the status of second-class citizens. It is illegal to convert from Islam to Christianity. Moreover, living as a Christian, one is constantly reminded that he or she is not a member of the majority culture.

 In public, Bethlehem Christians laud their happy coexistence with their Muslim neighbors. They don't have a choice. They are hostages inside their own city.'

Read the entire article here

Two more current nasties from Christian Friends of Palestine members illustrative of the antisemitism that impels many of them.

(That Bruckner dame's incorrigible.)

WCC mischief here

And, with regard to the terrible plight of Middle Eastern Christians generally:

To quote the uploader of that trailer:

"Faithkeepers is an upcoming documentary film about the violent persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East.

The film features exclusive footage and testimonials of Christians, Baha’i, Yazidis, Jews, and other minority refugees, and a historical context of the persecution in the region."

The (Other) Biased BBC, & Iran's Barbarity Towards Religious Minorities

While our old mate the vicar of Virginia Water and his equally anti-Israel Christian assoiciates gather at the Bethlehem Bible College (BBC) to plan the next "Christ at the Checkpoint Conference", scheduled for 2016 (see my penultimate post) there's a timely reminder by Tricia Miller in the Jerusalem Post of that BBC's bias against Israel.

Inter alia, we are told:

'According to its website, Bethlehem Bible College (BBC) is a Christian college founded for the purpose of training leaders to serve local Arab churches and communities.

BBC affirms the National Association of Evangelicals’ Statement of Faith and believes the Bible to be the authoritative word of God.

But there is another side to BBC not evident on their website. The school has a deeply entrenched anti-Israel position, demonstrated through statements and publications of leaders associated with the school, and the biennial “Christ at the Checkpoint” conferences it sponsors. Most recently, its media center produced a video that employs numerous errors and false accusations in a blatant attempt to demonize Israel.

The video, Bethlehem Voices on Gaza ... purports to “interview people on the streets of Bethlehem regarding the war in Gaza.”

All of the interviewees are unidentified, except for Rev. Alex Awad, dean of students and full-time instructor at BBC, charter member of the BBC board of directors, and senior pastor of the East Jerusalem Baptist Church ....

One of the false accusations made [in the video]against Israel employs oft-repeated Hamas propaganda that says Israel targeted civilians in Gaza....

The allegation that Israel targets civilians is closely related to another recurrent piece of Hamas propaganda – that Israel is committing “genocide” against the Palestinians in Gaza. The man who made this statement declared he was sure Israel was not “touching Hamas or the fighters over there.” ....

[O]ne of the interviewees made an outrageous statement when he said, “As you know, we have been under occupation for 65 years.” [I]t is important to note that Gaza is not “under occupation.” There have not been any Jews in Gaza, much less any IDF forces, since Israel withdrew unilaterally in 2005.

Furthermore, the West Bank is not  “under occupation” either, and certainly has not been for “65 years.” Prior to Israel gaining this territory after the 1967 war, Jordan occupied it illegally. Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan after it won a defensive war against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, all of whom attacked with the goal of destroying the Jewish state.

Following the 1967 war, the UN passed Resolution 242, which identifies the West Bank as administered territory, whose ownership is disputed. The final status of this territory is supposed to be determined in some future peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. But until then, the West Bank is disputed, not occupied territory....'

For Tricia Miller's entire piece see here

Meanwhile, while our old mate the vicar happily continues to denounce Israel and Zionism on Iran's Press TV, and to spruik Iran's cause on social media, and while anti-Israel nutjobs like those in the picture condemn the Jewish State but turn a blind eye to Iran's crimes against humanity, Iran's terrible persecution of Christians and other religious minorities is the focus of a new UN report, as reported by Benjamin Weinthal:.

'While persecution of religious minorities is nothing new in the Islamic Republic, the 28-page catalog of horrors compiled by Ahmed Shaheed, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Right in the Islamic Republic of Iran, undermines the claim that President Hassan Rouhani has ushered in a new era of tolerance.

“At least 49 Protestant Christians are currently detained, many for involvement in informal house churches,” the report states. “In April 2014, security forces reportedly raided an Easter service in a private home in southern Tehran and detained six individuals.”

“The state of freedom of religion and belief in Iran is not improving, It is deteriorating,” Dwight Bashir, deputy director of policy and research at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

The UN report chronicles the closure of churches and the arrests of “their pastors for holding services in Persian or for allegedly ministering to Iranians from Muslim backgrounds.” Tehran has also cracked down on Christian community websites, including blocking their reception and Christian converts have been expelled from Iranian universities.

Shaheed’s report documents the lack of due process afforded religious and ethnic minorities across the spectrum in Iran, ranging from Jews to Baha’is to Sunni Arabs to Armenians and Kurds....

Rouhani lacks the power and possibly the will to bring meaningful human rights reform to Iran, said Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-Israeli Middle East analyst. The religious leaders who carry more clout than he see the attraction to Christianity as a “threat and could undermine the revolution which is based on the promotion of Islamic values,” he said....'

See more here

Incidentally, for a most illuminating interview with hard-headed Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon regarding Hamas, Abbas, Iran, and much more, see here

"If You Saw Iran Achieve Nuclear Weapons ... That Changes The Planet As We Know It..."

Says Israeli prime ministerial spokesman Mark Regev here in identifying Iran's nuclear ambitions as the foremost immediate threat facing Israel:

".... If you saw Iran achieve nuclear weapons, that changes history, that changes the planet as we know it. Israel is only the Little Satan.  In the crazy warped ideology of the Iranian regime we are only the Little Satan.  The Big Satan is the United States (their words, not mine) and Europe is the middle-sized Satan. This is a very radical extremist regime."

Meanwhile Iranian MPs have condemned a resolution by the European Parliament last week that accused Iran of "continued, systemic violation of fundamental rights" and claimed that the election  which voted Hassan Rouhani into the country's presidency "not held according to the democratic standards valued by the EU".

(Some of the continuing human rights violations by Iran have been recently described here and  here and here)

Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif has blamed the resolution on Israeli influence and warns:

"The government will not allow any parliamentary delegation from Europe to travel to Iran on the conditions included in this European Parliament’s resolution.

The European Parliament is not in a position and does not have the moral authority to be able to express views about the situation in other countries.

Europeans must know that the great and civilized Iranian nation seeks interaction with other countries based on mutual respect and an equal footing, and will not accept insulting and interfering attitude by any movement and country."

To quote a report on Iran's propaganda satellite  news channel PressTV:

'Iran has credible information that pro-Israeli lobbies are making great efforts and raising false issues to sabotage "Iran’s positive and constructive negotiations with the P5+1 group" on the country’s nuclear energy program, he added.

The Iranian minister, however, noted that the Israeli regime’s plots would fail in light of the prudence, foresight and vigilance of all negotiating countries.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Russia, China, France, Britain and the US – plus Germany are in talks with the purpose of sealing a final deal on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program.

The two sides reached an interim deal on November 24, 2013, in the Swiss city of Geneva to set the stage for the full settlement of the dispute over Iran’s program. The deal took effect on January 20 '

Incidentally, talking of Iran, that peripatetic priest, the anti-Israel Stephen Sizer, who appears from time to time on its satellite channel (incidentally, see this item!), is winging his way there yet again. 

Iran's Final Solution For Israel (video)

Here's prominent Islam-watcher Dr Andrew Bostom, who has a new book out bearing the above title (for Dr Bostom's reference to Ayatollah Montazeri's refusing to shake the hand of a Jewish Holocaust survivor, see here, and for Iran's continuing persecution of religious minorities within its borders see here and here):

Deploring Islam's "Religious Equivalent of Ethnic Cleansing," British MPs Praise Israel

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/the-anti-jihadist/islamic-persecution-of-christians-in-malaysia/

Unlike many Western partisans of the Palestinians, Welsh Lib Dem MP Mark Williams is evidently principled enough to acknowledge the faults of Islamic regimes:

"Christian men and women in Iran are treated as foreigners in their own land, particularly converts from Islam, who are considered more than simply foreigners or second-class citizens; they are considered traitors and are routinely sentenced to death or face trumped-up charges for converting. It is no small wonder that so many have been forced to flee Iran. One of the greatest exoduses of people across the modern world has been people fleeing Iran.

The Iranian regime has long sought viciously to repress anyone who espouses views different from its own, whether those views come from political opponents or the Baha’i community, which has been ferociously persecuted. Mr Ataollah Rezvani was shot in the back of the head, and his body was abandoned by a railway near Bandar Abbas, in August simply for being a member of the Baha’i community. Such persecution has led our Government to condemn Iran’s human rights reputation as “appalling” and to note that Iran’s treatment of religious minorities is “shocking.” We have heard that 80 per cent of acts of religious discrimination across the world are directed at Christians.

Mr Williams was speaking in the House of Commons debate on "Persecution of Christians (Middle East)" held last Tuesday (5 November).

Introducing the debate, Conservative MP Fiona Bruce quoted Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief; and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

She went on to observe:

"Freedom of religion is a fundamental human right. When citizens are prevented from enjoying that right, the social, political and cultural implications can be serious, as the debate will show. The loss of other human rights can swiftly follow. The debate is therefore important not only for Christians, but for all religious groups and minorities, and indeed for everyone seeking to live out the dictates of their conscience in worship, teaching, practice and observance, respectful of others’ right to do likewise, and under the protection of a state striving to achieve that positive vision under the rule of law. That is a far cry from the reality for many Christians in the Middle East....

Christianity is the most persecuted faith worldwide, so the problem exists not only in the Middle east, but globally.

 The former Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, in his outgoing interview with The Daily Telegraph, discussed the persecution of Christians in the middle east with the deepest concern of any current issue, saying that

“this is a human tragedy that is going almost unremarked… it is the religious equivalent of ethnic cleansing. We are seeing Christians in Syria in great danger; we are seeing the burning of Coptic churches in Egypt. There is a large Coptic population in Egypt, and for some years now it has been living in fear. Two years ago the last church in Afghanistan was destroyed, certainly closed. There are no churches left in Afghanistan. Between 500,000 and 1 million Christians have left Iraq. At the beginning of the 19th century, Christians represented 20% of the population of the Arab world, today 2%. This is a story that is crying out for a public voice”.

Let us be that voice today.

.... We should be crying out with the same abhorrence and horror that we feel about the terrible atrocities towards Jews on Kristallnacht and on other occasions in Germany during the Second World War ....

I am very concerned about that and the problem has global implications. I hope that, as a result, we will have many more debates in the House on the persecution of Christians in other regions of the world.

The ACN report discusses how, in virtually every country in and around the Middle East region, Christians report suffering either high, high to extreme or extreme persecution. That includes Egypt, Yemen, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. In virtually every one, the situation has worsened since ACN’s last report in 2011, except in Iraq, but only because the attacks in 2009-10 were so large in scale."

Observed fellow-Conservative Mark Field

"In this context, it is important to recognise that there is one state in the Middle East with a proud record of allowing a large degree of religious freedom, irrespective of other elements of the problems that it faces within its borders: Israel. I hope that my hon. Friend will say a few words about how religious freedom, at least, is protected in Israel, not just for the 20 per cent of its population who are Christian, but for the 16 per cent who are Muslim."  [Emphasis added here and below]

(Fiona Bruce then appeared to damn Israel with feint praise:

 My hon. Friend is quite right, which is why I did not include Israel in the list that I read out. The report does not include it among the areas of extreme persecution. I respect what is being done in Israel, although I must say that concerns are now being expressed in Palestine about increasing persecution there.

The report says:

“Christianity may yet remain the largest world religion, but its claims to universality—a truly global presence on all five continents—may soon be lost as it becomes the prime victim in the emergence of theocratic states where minority faith groups—most especially Christians—have no place, except perhaps as third-class citizens.”)

David Burrowes,another Conservative, reminded the House that 

"eleven Christians are killed around the world every hour, seven days a week, 365 days a year, for reasons related to their faith. And increasing numbers of Christians are being killed in the Middle East, which is why it is right to focus on the region."

Having spoken heart wrenchingly and authoritatively about the persecution of Iran (that's the same Iran which runs Press TV, upon which Western Israel-baiters including Christian minister the Reverend Stephen Sizer do not flinch to appear) he subsequently remarked:

"Today, we can complain on their behalf. In fact, we can properly take the words of the Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, and I will finish by quoting him.

We have already heard that Israel is very much set apart from concerns about freedom of religion, by contrast to the countries that neighbour it. In 2011, Fouad Twal said:

“Does anybody hear our cry? How many atrocities must we endure before somebody, somewhere, comes to our aid?”

.... We must ensure that we use all the channels that we can to stand up for persecuted Christians in Iran."

Welsh Conservative Guto Bebb referred to the situation in Syria before telling the House:

"The other issue I want to touch on was raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford [Jeremy Lefroy], who shares a Huguenot ancestry with me. He said that it was to a country’s detriment to persecute its religious minorities. The example I would give, which numerous Members have mentioned, is Israel—a country in the Middle East that is often vilified, not least in this place. When it comes to religious freedom, however, it is important to highlight the difference between the way in which Israel and neighbouring countries behave towards their religious minorities.

The key point is that the Christian population in Israel has increased a thousandfold since the country was established. Christians serve in the Supreme Court, the Knesset and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and they are contributing to a stronger country. The situation of Christians in Israel can be contrasted with that of Christians in the west bank, where the Christian population has fallen quite dramatically. In 1948, about 15 per cent of Palestinians identified themselves as Christian; today, that figure has fallen to about 2 per cent. In many ways, the strongest, most economically prosperous country in the Middle East is also the most welcoming of religious minorities. When we discuss this issue, it is important to place on record the fact that there is, in the Middle East, a country that shows us how things can be done differently, and that is leading to a more prosperous situation for all the citizens of that country, regardless of their religion."

Labour MP Ian Lucas pointed out in his speech:

"The hon. Member for Aberconwy [Guto Bebb] mentioned Israel, and it is no coincidence that that country, with its tolerance for religious minorities, is a democracy. For that reason, we need to commit to supporting the progress of democracy in the region, even though, as recent events in Egypt, for example, have shown, that is a difficult course, which often leads us to take one step forward and two steps back, making the political situation difficult to manage."

(Conservative Hugo Swire, Minister of State for the Foreign Office acted somewhat as a damp squib:".... Some interesting points were made about the Middle East as the birthplace of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, which makes the religious persecution there all the more poignant. My hon. Friends the Members for Cities of London and Westminster (Mark Field) and for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb) mentioned Israel and Palestine. It is true that less than 2 per cent of the population of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories is Christian today, compared with 22 per cent at the end of the British mandate in 1948. I heard what my hon. Friends said, but we continue to be concerned about access to holy sites for all, including Christians and Muslims....")

Read the entire debate here

"Israelis Want To Maintain The Idea That ... The Church Is Siding With Zionism Against Islam": anti-"Islamophobia" Christians gunning for Israel

"Over the course of its history, the WCC [World Council of Churches] – an umbrella organization of 350 Protestant and Orthodox churches – has worked assiduously to demonize the Jewish state while remaining silent about the sins of its adversaries. It has also made bowing and scraping in the face of Islamic violence a central plank of modern-day ecumenism. Speaking up forcefully on behalf of the victims of such violence is simply beyond the ken of the WCC. The organization is simply incapable of speaking the truth about this problem."

That justifiable indictment is made by the Christian Media Analyst at the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, Dexter Van Zile, in his article (hat tip: reader Ian) about the WCC's just-concluded conference in Lebanon.

Van Zile goes on:

'The WCC set itself up for failure even before the conference began. Prior to the conference, which lasted from May 21st to May 25th, the WCC described the upcoming meeting about Christians in the Middle East as giving voice to “ecumenical Christian concerns about the presence of Christians in the Middle East” which the organization stated, “differ from those who seek to kindle Islamophobia.”

The May 15th press release announcing the meeting also reported that the speakers would include Palestinian diplomats Afif Safieh and Samir Morcos, and a former assistant to Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, a man who has utterly failed to protect Coptic Christians in their homeland.

This pre-conference press release, issued on May 15th, served as fair warning that meeting’s attendees would sweep the problem of Islamist violence under the rug and then accuse anyone who would talk openly about the impact of jihad against Christians in the Middle East of being Islamophobes. It also served as fair warning that the attendees would try to steer the conversation toward Israel.

And that is exactly what happened.

In the statement issued after the conference, the attendees lamented the kidnapping of two Christian clergy in Syria and said they “pray and hope that their speedy release, and assistance of the leaders of Muslim and Christian communities, will strengthen inter-religious co-operation.” The leaders in question are still in custody.

The reference to the captivity of these two leaders was about the only mention of Muslim wrongdoing in the document, which condemned Christian Zionism as an ideology that enables “the manipulation of public opinion by Zionist lobbies, and damage[s] intra-Christian relations.” ....'

Read the entire article here

As reader Ian added, regarding a book mentioned in the article and published, in 2000, with the WCC's assistance (Jutta Sperber’s book Christians and Muslims: The Dialogue Activities of the World Council of Churches and their Theological Foundation):

'The book is also pretty revealing. In her assessment of the WCC’s dialogue with Muslim leaders, Sperber gives the game away:

“The solution of the Palestinian problem in the sense of the West’s abandoning its pro-Israeli attitude became the criterion to judge the credibility of the Christian/Muslim dialogue, and indeed, of inter-religious dialogue in general. This attitude was not only adopted by Muslims but also by Arab Christians.”

In other words, if the WCC was going to have good relations with Muslim leaders, it needed to attack Israel’s supporters in the West.'

On reading the above article I thought, inevitably, of the recent, notorious Church of Scotland report that seeks to undermine Jewish claims to Eretz Israel by disavowing Scripture itself.

I see that anti-Christian Zionism crusader, Anglican vicar Stephen Sizer ("Don't bother blogging about him, he's not worth a pitcher of warm spit" advises one friend), has been talking up the report's significance to a reporter from the propaganda channel of the Ahmadinejad regime, on which he (who's visited Iran twice, I understand) not infrequently appears.

"It's news that the Israelis don't want because they want to maintain the idea that they have the Church in their pocket, that the Church is siding with Zionism against Islam – well, this report questions that premise," the clerical anti-Israel warrior explains to the already highly opinionated Amina Taylor in that deceptively soft voice of his:

And he appears on Press TV a little later to help justify BDS:

But what, I wonder, do Sizer and the rest of the Israel-demonisers (sorry, human rights activists), religious and secular, who readily give interviews to Iran's Press TV excoriating the little Jewish State and attempting to justify BDS make of such reports as this, and this:

'The attacks against Baha'is in Iran represent one of the clearest cases of state-sponsored religious persecution in the world, said Heiner Bielefeldt, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.

Speaking 6 March 2013 in Geneva at a side event during the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council, Dr. Bielefeldt discussed the release of a new report by the Baha'i International Community, which documents rising violence against Iranian Baha'is and the utter impunity enjoyed by attackers.

 "It's really one of the most obvious cases of state persecution," he said, noting that the repression faced by Baha'is spans "all areas of state activity, from family law provisions to schooling, education, and security."

He asked participants at the side event – which drew some 50 representatives from governments, the UN, and non-governmental organizations – to visualize the impact such wide-ranging persecution has on an individual as he or she moves through the stages of life.

 "Imagine what that means for a child, in school, maybe even kindergarten, sometimes even in the preschool phase, of young life. To be exposed to the stigma, to be told there is something wrong with your family, that you have to change, you have to adapt ...Then, as the child gets to the age of higher education, now the problem is how to get access ... We have lots of cases of Baha'is who have been expelled from universities and other sectors of higher education. Imagine what it means if a person wants to gather position in life, to get a job. There is not the slightest possibility for a Baha'i to take a position in any public sector [job]. But even in the private sector, there is mobbing and stigmatization."

"How can a person start a family life, if in family law there is no official space for Baha'is to conclude valid marriages?" he asked, noting that this deficiency affects concerns ranging from inheritance to rights of custody.

 Attacks do not even end with death, he added. "There is the experience of desecration of cemeteries... [of] cemeteries being also bulldozed down by someone."

Pointing to the report, titled "Violence with Impunity: Acts of aggression against Iran's Baha'i community," Dr. Bielefeldt said that the increasing violence against Iranian Baha'is – and the degree to which attackers escape prosecution for their crimes – is clear.

"Not only do Baha'is have to expect a lack of protection – government agencies are very often inimical, hostile forces."'