Israeli Christians Call for Solidarity With Brothers in Iraq, Syria
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 | Ryan Jones ISRAEL TODAY
Israeli Christians groups are growing frustrated over the world’s disproportionate focus on the current Gaza war, while all but ignoring the brutal slaughter and forced conversion of fellow Christians in Iraq and Syria.
“We call on the local councils of all Christian communities to announce five days of mourning and to paint all doors with the (Arabic) letter ”nun“ in solidarity with our people in Mosul, Iraq, where Christians were expelled, slaughtered and churches were burned,” read a Facebook post by the Israeli Christian Lobby.
There are widespread reports that the Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS) has begun painting the letter “nun” on the doors of all Christians homes and businesses ahead of a deadline given to Christians in Iraq to either convert to Islam, or face the sword.
Nowhere has this unchecked persecution been worse than in Mosul, the ancient city of Nineveh, which is home to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. In the face of the Islamist State’s threats, most chose to flee, but not before many paid for their faith with their lives.
“For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians,” Patriarch Louis Sako, Iraq’s most senior Christian leader, said earlier this week.
The Israeli Christian Lobby noted that while this was happening in Iraq and Syria, local Arab leaders who claim to represent both Muslims and Christians remained silent, but demonstrated their hypocrisy when they suddenly screamed with outrage over Israel responding to terrorist rocket fire from Gaza.
The Arab leadership, the lobby insisted, “has demonstrated that it does not truly represent the Israeli Christians or even the Druze, but rather the Islamic agenda of the Arab public. We call on all Christians to wake up!”
The Israeli Christian Lobby is organizing a rally to take place in Haifa next Sunday evening in solidarity with Christians under attack in Iraq, Syria and other parts of the Middle East.
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