Holy Land Christians say attacks rising in far-right Israel

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Holy Land Christians say attacks rising in far-right Israel

By ISABEL DEBRE
April 13, 2023

JERUSALEM (AP) — The head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land has warned in an interview that the rise of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government has made life worse for Christians in the birthplace of Christianity.

The influential Vatican-appointed Latin Patriarch, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told The Associated Press that the region’s 2,000-year-old Christian community has come under increasing attack, with the most right-wing government in Israel’s history emboldening extremists who have harassed clergy and vandalized religious property at a quickening pace.

The uptick in anti-Christian incidents comes as the Israeli settler movement, galvanized by its allies in government, appears to have seized the moment to expand its enterprise in the contested capital.

“The frequency of these attacks, the aggressions, has become something new,” Pizzaballa said during Easter week from his office, tucked in the limestone passageways of the Old City’s Christian Quarter. “These people feel they are protected … that the cultural and political atmosphere now can justify, or tolerate, actions against Christians.”

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/christians-easter-attacks-netanyahu-jerusalem-e287dd6bad32573d1656eaea07223782

[brush]

1. Now they're attacking Christians as well as Muslims?

Leave it to Bebe. Anything to stay in power.

[Igel]

3. Yes. But there are two kinds of Xians.

If you don't keep them separate, you're confusing oxygen and uranium.

There are the usual, boring types. Catholics, various Orthodoxes, even various protestants and neo groups (not Protestant, but sort of derived from them).

Then there are the ones they care about. Messianic Jewish groups. They go to synagogue but can't.

Not Jewish, but my (now ex-) wife insisted we attend a messianic synagogue. I'd have resented it, but I learned a lot. Even if my lack of devotion and refusal to give a drash was upsetting to her. "We can't be real members." "Not my religion. Kinda/sorta the same, but ... No." Even if I did think last Wednesday was the last day of unleavened bread (egg and onion matzoh ... with peanut butter. Yum ... but back to diet).

[brush]

4. Okay. Very interesting, mostly unknown to me. Thanks for the info.

Tread carefully.

What about the Copts, the largest Christian sec in the region?

[Mosby]

7. Coptic Christians are persecuted by Muslims.

Why Do Coptic Christians Keep Getting Attacked?

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/05/coptic-christians-egypt-attack/528330/

ISRAEL protects minorities that are considered infidels by Islamic standards, like the Druze and Bahai.

[brush]

8. What do Muslims have against Bahai and Druze?

Isn't Bahai a sort of ecumenical faith?

[Mosby]

6. The article is mostly antisemitic propaganda.

Though the Christians in the PA avoid saying so publicly, many of them fear – with good reason – that Muslim aggression against them will only escalate,” wrote Edy Cohen, a researcher at the center. “Such fears are all the stronger in light of the thunderous silence of the Western [and Israeli] media, in the face of the Christian minority’s ongoing disappearance from the PA and Islamic lands in general."

https://m.jpost.com/opinion/the-christian-crisis-612032


The Real Reason Palestinian Christians Are Leaving Bethlehem

It is no coincidence that Bethlehem was mostly Christian until the 1990s. Until then, Bethlehem was ruled directly by Israel through a military administration. Although they were not full citizens of Israel, Palestinian Christians (and Muslims) could travel freely inside the country, 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 (PA) . . . is, by its own constitution, an Islamic state [based on] the principles of sharia law. Christians living under the PA are “accorded sanctity and respect,” but . . . are relegated to the status of second-class citizens. . . . Discrimination against Christians under the Palestinian Authority isn’t just legal—it’s also social. Living as a Christian, one is constantly reminded that he or she is not a member of the majority culture. . . .

I’ve spoken to numerous Palestinian Christians who describe how Muslim terrorists would commandeer Christian homes and use them to direct sniper fire at Israeli soldiers. Others speak of systematic discrimination in hiring, housing, and education. Of course, all of these conversations take place in private meetings and hushed tones. Christians in Bethlehem rarely interact with Muslims beyond the marketplace and are, in fact, very much afraid.

https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/israel-zionism/2016/03/the-real-reason-palestinian-christians-are-leaving-bethlehem/

[Tetrachloride]

2. Maybe the various Popes can move "there"

[brush]

5. Various Popes? You mean the one emeritus Pope who stepped down?

But who else besides the reigning pope?