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Inquiry and Analysis Series - No. 93
May 1, 2002
No.93
Arab Christian Clergymen Against Western Christians, Jews, and Israel
Against the backdrop of the standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem,
several
Arab Christian clergymen - including some heads of various churches - condemned
Christians in the West, particularly those in the U.S., as well as Jews and Israel. The
following is a review of recent statements made by Arab Christian clergy:
Attacks on Christians in the West
Father Manuel Musalam, head of the Latin Church in Gaza, told Palestinian Authority
television, "Had we lived in the days when the Church was a [real] Church that
controls the world - a Crusader war crueler than the Crusader wars of the past would
have been waged [against Israel]� Where is Christianity?!� We called upon them:
'Save Jesus.' But it appears that the Christians [in the West] have no connection to
us� We told the Christians in the West: In Afghanistan, you moved heaven and
earth to protect the Buddha statue; in your belief and ours, Bethlehem and the
Church of the Nativity are much greater than a Buddha statue�"
"Therefore I, the Christian Palestinian, say in all rage and daring to the Christians
of
the world: You are loathsome! You are contemptible! You are cowards! � because
you cannot carry the message of Jesus in your hearts. The message of Jesus is one
of love, sacrifice, mercy, life, and manhood, and these Christians of the world have
no mercy, no compassion, no manliness, no sacrifice. I do not mean only towards us,
but even towards the Jews, as not only do the Jews kill us � we also kill them,
because we are in a war of self-defense�"
"We � and I say this brutally, because he who remains silent is Satan � are facing
the filthy Christians of the West� We hear that the American Congress is
demanding that Bush unleash Israel to slaughter the Palestinians. What kind of
Christian is this?! This is not Christianity; it is not even paganism. This is
Christianity
of the jungle. Our New Testament is not their New Testament, our Jesus is not their
Jesus, our [Church of the] Nativity is not their [Church of the] Nativity, and our
peace
is not their peace. I will say still more: Our God is not their God�"[1]
Father Musalam voiced similar sentiments at a meeting between heads of church in
Gaza City and a delegation of Muslim clerics from the Palestinian Authority's Ministry
of Religious Endowments:
"The Western Christian, without love, tolerance, truth, and justice in his heart, must
cast away his New Testament. The New Testament and Christianity are innocent of
that [Western Christian]. If I were the head of the church where the American
president Bush worships, and he came to pray, I would bar him from entering,
because he has renounced the church's moral standards."[2]
During the same meeting, Bishop Alex, head of the Roman Orthodox Bishopric of
Gaza, said, "Real Christianity means love and harmony, and it exists only in
Palestine and the Holy Land. In contrast, Western Christianity is false. Anyone who
claims he is a Christian but has no love or tolerance in his heart is no Christian."[3]
Condemnations of Protestantism and the American political leadership were voiced
by the Egyptian Coptic Church as well, which typically enjoys good relations with the
West via the Coptic communities in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. In an article
titled "Oh Mr. Bush, Are You Christian or Crusader?" Coptic priest Marcus 'Aziz Khalil
wrote:
"Israel knows how to mislead the leaders of many countries, deceiving them that [to
believe] they have common interests with it� It managed to drug the leaders of
those Christian countries � especially those who belong to no religion and do not
know the road to Heaven, or who take religion's name and image but are totally
distanced from its essence. They are manipulated by Israel, like marionettes, to
destroy their religion. [Israel] has also managed to brainwash some whom it
discovered to be highly susceptible because of their surly nature. Israel planted
among them the spirit of hatred and rage towards the Arabs and Muslims � as it did
to George Bush Sr., who attacked Iraq, and behold, it continues on its path with
George Bush Jr., who attacked Afghanistan..."
"If only God would intervene to defend the world from these enemies of peace.
Although they swathe themselves in sheep's clothing, they are wolves seeking to kill
the flock� We Christians of the East, who in the past refused to stand by the
Crusaders and stood by our Muslim brethren, are also opposed to the negative
deeds of the Western governments biased in favor of Israel despite its arrogance
and even though it damages the holy sites. We say to Mr. Bush: During your term,
Jesus' name is disgraced by the attacks on the holy places. Are you a Christian, Mr.
Bush? I doubt it. Perhaps you are a Crusader. God alone knows."[4]
Egyptian Shura Council member Dr. Nabil Luka Babawi, an expert in criminal law
and a Copt, attacked President Bush in an article titled "Judas Is Back": "Today,
2,000 years since the Judas affair, the same scenario repeats itself, and the
Christian rulers betray Jesus. These rulers have become the Judas of our time. They
have sold out the Messiah for their own private interests, and so as not to anger the
Zionist lobby in America� Perhaps the Church of the Nativity will be destroyed and
turn into rubble. Bush, the head of the Christian rulers, will be responsible for what
happens to it. He is proving to be the Judas of our time, for he has sold out the
Messiah for the American Jewish vote..."[5]
Dr. Babawi published another article in the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram
slamming his fellow Copts living in the West for their failure to support the
Palestinians: "Today the Jews shell the Church of the Nativity with artillery, and the
Copts in the diaspora do not pressure members of the American Congress with a
demand to stop the attack on the Church of the Nativity and on Al-Aqsa Mosque�
Why are the American Copts and Muslims not demonstrating to condemn the
behavior of the madman Sharon, who began to behave like a madman after he was
hit in 1948 in a sensitive place of his body by a bullet, leaving him with one testicle
only [sic]. This has affected him psychologically, and he has become a crazy
psychopath using power to hide his weak point�"[6]
Elias 'Awwad, head of the Palestinian Roman Orthodox Church, said, "The Zionist
movement controls European and American public opinion� For this reason, we
witness a weakness in the defense of the Christian holy sites on the part of America
and the European countries... These people [Western Christians] deal first of all with
their interests, not their religion� In my view, they are not Christians, because they
do not act according to the precepts of the New Testament�"[7]
The Bishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, George Saliba, stated the
following regarding Christian leaders in the West: "Unfortunately, in the West today �
Europe and America � all these [Christian leaders] are not Jews, but are led by the
Jews. This religion [Judaism] is the enemy of God, the enemy of people, and the
enemy of Christianity� There must be an awakening among the rulers of these
countries, so that they return to punishing Zionism for its evil deeds towards all
people. I hope it will be soon�"
"Jesus once said to the Jews: 'You are the sons of Satan, and you do the will of your
father Satan.' They answered: 'No, we are not the sons of Satan, we are the sons of
Abraham.' He replied to them: 'Had you been the sons of Abraham you would be
acting [in accordance with] the acts and precepts of Abraham. Therefore you are the
sons of Satan�'"[8]
The Jews Throughout the Generations
Father Manuel Musalam compared the armed Palestinians in the Church of the
Nativity to Jesus on the cross: "�We kneel before the Palestinian in the besieged
Church [of the Nativity]. He hungers, but he is steadfast; he thirsts, but he is
steadfast. These words were not born in a vacuum. The one who said 'I am hungry'
when he was on the cross was our Lord Jesus himself� Our Palestinian people in
Bethlehem died like a crucified martyr, on the rock guarded by the Israeli soldiers
armed from head to foot who have no compassion, love, life, or tolerance�"
"The Jew has a principle from which we suffer and which he tries to impose on
people: the principle of the 'gentiles.' To him, the gentile is a slave. They [the
Jews]
give the [Palestinians] working in Israel only a piece of bread, and tell them: 'This
piece of bread that you eat is taken from our children, and we give it to you so you
will live not as free men on your land, but as a proletariat and slaves in Israel, to
serve us�' The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are based on this principle, and
anyone who reads the Protocols feels that we are in this period with the Jews �"
"The Church, the Pope, the Christians, and the New Testament clearly state that,
according to Christian belief, the ones who killed Jesus are the Jews, and there is no
way to deny or renounce this� The Jews are the ones who killed Jesus; after him,
[they killed] the Christians, and after them, the Muslims. Now they are again killing
both the Muslims and the Christians. Throughout history, we have seen that the Jews
persecuted the Christians at the beginning of the Church, and now they are again
persecuting the Church, and Islam�"
"As is known throughout the world, even in our time, they always accuse the
Christians� The case of Pope Pius XII is bad enough. They accused him of terrible
things� They attack the Church because the Pope was not as strict as they wanted
in protecting the Jews from Nazism � while the Jews found shelter only in the Church
and with Christian families�"[9]
In a letter to the editor of the Egyptian Coptic weekly Watani, Egyptian Coptic
clergyman John Jirjis wrote, "I do not wonder at the deeds of the leaders of the
Israeli people, as they are the followers of Herod the tyrant who ordered all the two-
year-old boys of Bethlehem murdered so as to kill Jesus, but failed!! They are the
followers of the chief priests, who saw Jesus and his miracles and heard his
precepts, yet accused him of heresy and called for his crucifixion! They are those
who forced [Pontius] Pilate to crucify Jesus� although Pilate conceded that Jesus
did not deserve crucifixion. They still live with their dark and cruel hearts,
rejecting all
the prophecies of their prophets. The sight of their bloodstained hands is not
unfamiliar to the human race!!"[10]
The Coptic priest Marcus 'Aziz Khalil wrote, "From the human point of view, the
existence of the State of Israel is an historic sin. It is not sufficient to deem this
sin
the crime of the generation; it is one of the unforgivable sins, and no means of
purification will help them� The belief on which the Jews have based their state is
null and void, but they have taught their sons from infancy that it is the proper
belief�"[11]
The Hizbullah television station Al-Manar gave its viewers an exclusive broadcast of
a lecture on "Christianity's View of the Jews" by the Bishop of the Syriac Orthodox
Church of Antioch, George Saliba, at an Islamic institute for religious studies. He
said: "�As is known, the Jews think that only they are human. Only they are the
sons of Adam. As far as they are concerned, all the [other] peoples have the status
of beasts. Gentiles. This contradicts the message of God in the world� Do you know
what they did to the prophet Isaiah?� They took him and sawed him with a wood
saw, from head to foot, while he was still alive. They cut him in half�"[12]
[1] Palestine Television (Palestinian Authority), April 22, 2002.
[2] Al-Quds (Palestinian Authority), April 24, 2002.
[3] Al-Quds (Palestinian Authority), April 24, 2002.
[4] Al-Maydan (Egypt), April 22, 2002, as cited in Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), April 24,
2002.
[5] Cited in Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), April 29, 2002.
[6] Al-Ahram (Egypt), April 25, 2002.
[7] Palestine Television (Palestinian Authority), April 26, 2002.
[8] Al-Manar Television (Lebanon-Hizbullah), April 24, 2002.
[9] Palestine Television (Palestinian Authority), April 22, 2002.
[10] Watani (Egypt), April 21, 2002, as cited in Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), April 23,
2002.
[11] Al-Maydan (Egypt), April 22, 2002, as cited in Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), April
24, 2002.
[12] Al-Manar Television (Lebanon-Hizbullah), April 24, 2002.
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