The Real Threat to Palestinian Christians: Radical Islam
by Bassam Tawil • December 27, 2015 at 5:00 am
- The Christians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are no different from their brothers in Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Libya, who face a ruthless campaign of ethnic cleansing at the hands Islamist groups. Yet Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders want the world to blame only Israel for the predicament of Christians.
- The PA's decision to cancel Christmas celebrations had nothing to do with Israel or the "intifada." It came after threats by Muslim extremists to target Christians and their holy sites.
- On Christmas Day, Muslim Palestinians hurled stones at the car taking the head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land to Bethlehem. It would not surprise anyone if next year the PA decides to cancel Christmas celebrations for "security reasons."
- If, in the media and the international community, this strategy of turning a blind eye to the Muslim persecution of Christians continues, next year's Christmas in Bethlehem is sure to be an even less happy one.
Muslim Palestinians in the Bethlehem area, among them men dressed in Santa Claus costumes, hurl stones at Israeli soldiers while yelling "Allahu Akbar," on Dec. 18, 2015. (Image source: Anadolu Agency videoscreenshot)
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This was not a happy Christmas for our Palestinian brothers in the West Bank who happen to be Christian. The Palestinian Christians have now become a tiny minority in Bethlehem. This year, they were just lucky that Christmas passed without a major terrorist attack or serious outbreaks of violence.
On Christmas day, Muslim Palestinians hurled stones at the car taking the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, to Bethlehem. Twal, head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, was fortunately not hurt in the attack. The stone-throwers, local residents said, were from a refugee camp near Bethlehem. They had apparently said they were opposed to holding any form of celebrations in Bethlehem -- on the pretext that there is no reason to celebrate while Palestinians are being killed by Israelis -- who, by the way, have merely been trying to stop Palestinians from killing them.
ISIS Slaughtering Christians "In Their Beds"
Muslim Persecution of Christians, October 2015
by Raymond Ibrahim • December 27, 2015 at 4:00 am
- "People are even killed inside the camps, and the refugees are afraid to say if they saw somebody get killed. ... they're buying and selling ladies and even girls."— Former ISIS operative.
- "We will not stop hunting Christians and burning churches. Christians are Allah's enemies!" — Extremist Islamic leaders, Indonesia.
- "My family members and I have been marked for death, and everyone in the community denied ever knowing my family or me..." — A convert to Christianity, Nigeria.
- "In Bangladesh, Christians are a weak minority and this is why Muslims are attacking us." — Nirmal Rozario, general secretary of the Bangladesh Christian Association.
Islamic State jihadists execute three Assyrian Christian men in Syria, on September 23, 2015.
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Teams of trained killers disguised as refugees were sent by the Islamic State (IS) into U.N. refugee camps to kill Christians, including "in their beds," and to kidnap young girls to sell or use as slaves. This was revealed on October 24, according to a report, soon after an IS operative "got cold feet and renounced jihad after witnessing Christians helping out other refugees within the camp. He then revealed that he had been sent with an Islamist hit squad to eliminate Christians as part of the hate group's ideological drive to wipe the religion off the map." The report also quoted an aid worker saying:
