March against Christian Persecution, May 17, 2014 in Orlando, Florida

In our interview with Austrian human rights advocate and counter-jihadist Elisabeth Sabaditsch –Wolff she previewed the upcoming March against Christian Persecution, The Myth of Islamophobia: The Vienna – Phoenix Connections.  We reported:

She discussed the forthcoming May 17th March against persecution of Christians in Orlando, Florida modeled on an annual one that occurs each December in Vienna. [The Orlando march will be held the evening of May 17th with remarks by the organizers and several speakers followed by a torch light silent parade].  [Sabaditsch-Wolff] will be coming to the US to join Florida March organizers Rev. Bruce Lieske and Alan Kornman of The United West.  Lieske had witnessed the last March against Christian Persecution in Vienna and was moved to sponsor one in Florida, next month. Among the European contingent attending the Orlando March will be Sister Hatune Dogan, a Syrian Orthodox Christian Nun of Turkish origins. Read her speech in an Austrian Cathedral delivered on December 28, 2013, here.

During our interview with Sabaditsch-Wolff, she noted the canard radical Muslims typically use, “first the Saturday people, then the Sunday People.  Perhaps it is time for the Saturday people to defend the imperiled Sunday people”.

Video: Prayer March For Persecuted Christians

[youtube]http://youtu.be/EumHWDhlG8w[/youtube]

That was the subject of a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by the Hon. Ron Prosor, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN published last Friday, The Middle East War on Christians.  Ambassador Prosor drew attention to the plight of ancient Christian communities in the Middle East and elsewhere threatened with extinction caught between warring radical Islamic extremist groups and ruling autocrats in the Middle East. He revealed that the only country in the region where Christian populations have increased is Israel. Further as we have written Orthodox Christians in Israel have rejected the label of Arab Christians as inappropriate and now unabashedly have signed up as loyal citizens to serve in the IDF according to Father Gabriel Naddaf, “Israel’s Christians Who Defend the Jewish State.”

That is evidence of what Caroline Glick wrote about, the rejection of the long term Pan Arabism position of Christian founders of the Ba’athist Parties in the Middle East and the radicals like the late George Habash, co-founder of the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine.  In our Iconoclast post we noted this comment about Fr. Naddaf.

Yuval Brandsetter in a Jerusalem Post op ed about Fr. Naddaf, “The Good Father, “noted something that impressed us.  This evident assertion of Israeli Christian identification and solidarity with Israel was a rejection of Dhimmitude; the 1,400 years of Islamic Imperialism imposed on Jews and Christians under the pact of Omar.  He wrote:

In spite of his lowly position, or maybe because of it, Fr. Gabriel Naddaf has reached the conclusion that Christians residing in Israel must link their fortunes to the Jewish state. In acting on this conclusion with fortitude and a free mind, Fr. Naddaf stands in defiance of the 1,300-year legacy of dhimmitude – the legacy that both his Jerusalem Patriarch and Istanbul’s Ecumenical Patriarch continue to observe.

Prosor noted the perilous status of ancient Christian communities in the Muslim Majority Middle East:

The Middle East may be the birthplace of three monotheistic religions, but some Arab nations appear bent on making it the burial ground for one of them. For 2,000 years, Christian communities dotted the region, enriching the Arab world with literature, culture and commerce. At the turn of the 20th century, Christians made up 26% of the Middle East’s population. Today, that figure has dwindled to less than 10%. Intolerant and extremist governments are driving away the Christian communities that have lived in the Middle East since their faith was born.

In the rubble of Syrian cities like Aleppo and Damascus, Christians who refused to convert to Islam have been kidnapped, shot and beheaded by Islamist opposition fighters. In Egypt, mobs of Muslim Brotherhood members burn Coptic Christian churches in the same way they once obliterated Jewish synagogues. And in Iraq, terrorists deliberately target Christian worshippers. This past Christmas, 26 people were killed when a bomb ripped through a crowd of worshipers leaving a church in Baghdad’s southern Dora neighborhood.

Christians are losing their lives, liberties, businesses and their houses of worship across the Middle East. It is little wonder that native Christians have sought refuge in neighboring countries—yet in many cases they find themselves equally unwelcome. Over the past 10 years, nearly two-thirds of Iraq’s 1.5 million Christians have been driven from their homes. Many settled in Syria before once again becoming victims of unrelenting persecution. Syria’s Christian population has dropped from 30% in the 1920s to less than 10% today.

Prosor went on to note why Israel has become a beacon of hope for embattled Christians in the Middle East:

The scene unfolding in the Middle East is ominously familiar. At the end of World War II, almost one million Jews lived in Arab lands. The creation of Israel in 1948 precipitated an invasion of five Arab armies. When they were unable to annihilate the newborn state militarily, Arab leaders launched a campaign of terror and expulsion that decimated their ancient Jewish communities. They succeeded in purging 800,000 Jews from their lands.

Today, Israel, which I represent at the United Nations, is the only country in the Middle East with a growing Christian population. Its Christian community has increased from 34,000 in 1948 to 140,000 today; in large measure because of the freedoms Christians are afforded.

From courtrooms to classrooms and from the chambers of Parliament to chambers of commerce, Israeli Christians are leaders in every field and discipline. Salim Joubran, a Christian Arab Israeli, has served as a Supreme Court justice since 2003 and Makram Khoury is one of the best-known actors in Israel and the youngest artist to win the Israel Prize, our highest civic honor.

Father Gabriel Naddaf, a Greek Orthodox priest living in Israel, recently told me: “Human rights are not something to be taken for granted. Christians in much of the Middle East have been slaughtered and persecuted for their faith, but here in Israel they are protected.”

Perhaps Ambassador Prosor’s message will sear the consciences of American Christians and Jews to demonstrate resolve against the plague of Islamic extremism that threatens the extinction of these beleaguered ancient Middle East Christian communities.  One way to demonstrate that commitment is to join the first US March against Christian Persecution in Orlando on May 17^th. The hope of the march organizers is that it may spawn dozens of others across this great land of Liberty and Freedom.

RELATED STORY: 1 In 4 Swedish Women Will Be Raped By Muslims As Sexual Assaults Increase 500%

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on The New English Review. The featured image is courtesy of David Gouthard, Wall Street Journal, 4-19-14.