Monday, 17 January 2011




Pope: Christians Replace Jews as

‘Most Persecuted Minority'

Shevat 12, 5771, 17 January 11 05:57
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
(Israelnationalnews.com) Jews, known for centuries as the most persecuted minority, have been replaced in this role by Christians, according to Pope Benedict XVI, who hinted that he was referring to the Islamic tidal wave that is sweeping the world.
Carefully avoiding singling out Muslims for the mistreatment of Christians, however, the pope recently appealed to European nations as well as the Muslim world to protect what he called the most persecuted religion in the world.
Recent attacks on Christians in Egypt, Nigeria and Iran have claimed dozens of casualties. The pope stated, "This succession of attacks is yet another sign of the urgent need for the governments of the region to adopt, in spite of difficulties and dangers, effective measures for the protection of religious minorities."
Iran has a different explanation for attacks on Christians. Ghazanfar Rokn-Abadi, its ambassador to Lebanon, said his country is a model for religious freedom and that “250,000 Christians are living in Iran peacefully and safely.” He blamed the Jews for any physical attacks.
Responding to the report on the pope’s statements, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley declined to directly answer a reporter’s question, “Who do you think is doing this?”
“I’d be very wary at this point about making any sweeping statements about whether what’s happened in Iraq has a bearing on what’s happening in other countries such as Egypt or Nigeria,” Crowley said. “These are all being investigated.”
The International Christian Concern was more direct. ICC president Jeff King stated, "Anti-Christian hatred arising from Islam has flowed into 2011, as seen in the horrific attacks in Egypt, Pakistan and Iraq already this year," he said.
The ICC also noted that mainstream media rarely report the phenomenon of persecuted Christians despite its having becoming more common.
The most widespread persecution of Christians has been in the Middle East, where Israel is the only country that grants freedom to Muslims and Christians, as well as Jews, to freely practice their religion. Prior to the Six-Day War in 1967, when Jerusalem was reunited and Judea and Samaria were restored to Israel, Jordan's rulers closed all Jewish and Christian sites, except for high-profile official visits.
Christianity had been the dominant influence in Bethlehem until the first and second Arab intifadas, when Muslim rulers and clerics increasingly harassed Christians, forcing most of them to flee. The Palestinian Authority has blamed Israel for the Christian exodus, butresearch has documented the harrassment by Muslims.
In Egypt, the government did not take kindly to the pope’s call for "effective measures" to protect Christian minorities in the Middle East. Cairo recalled its ambassador to the Vatican, saying that "Egypt will not allow any non-Egyptian party to intervene in our internal affairs under any pretext.”
Despite witnesses saying that an off-duty Muslim policeman shouted “Allahu Akhbar´(Allah is great) as he shot and killed a Copt last week, Egypt claimed that the murderer acted because of “his personal state” and not because of “the religion of his victims.” The shooter aimed his pistol at women, presumed to be non-Muslims, who were not wearing a head covering.
Nevertheless, Egypt’s ambassador to the Vatican denied there was any persecution of Christians in his country. "Persecution is a big word," she said. "In order to prove that there is persecution, you have to be very careful. This is a legal term which should not be used casually.”
Western countries are in a state of denial, asserted Clifford D. May, president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism.
Writing in the Boston Herald on Saturday, he cited the bombing of Christian churches in Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria and the Philippines and Indonesia, the recent arrests of Christians in Iran, and the death penalty handed down to a Christian woman in Pakistan for insulting Islam.
“The reality is this: Within the Muslim world today are regimes, movements and individuals convinced that their religion justifies - and benefits from - the most heinous atrocities,” May wrote. “They are determined, ruthless and lethal - as Christians and other minorities across a broad swath of the world have been finding out."
"If we in the West fail even to speak up for them, can we really expect moderate Muslims to do more?"
© Copyright IsraelNationalNews.com
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Genesis 12:2-3

“And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

Isaiah 60:14

“The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the L-RD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.”

Zechariah 8:22-23

“Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the L-RD. 23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”

Praying with you for the REAL "peace of Jerusalem" when "Jerusalem shall be a praise in the earth. . ."

Rebecca Gray (aka Becisa6267 from Isaiah 62:6,7)





Attacks on Montreal Jewish Areas; Synagogues Damaged

Shevat 12, 5771, 17 January 11 09:19
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Montreal's Beth Zion Synagogue Montreal's Beth Zion Synagogue
(Israelnationalnews.com) Anti-Semitic vandals in Quebec went on a rampage Sunday and targeted four synagogues and a school, causing thousands of dollars in damage.
The assault on Jewish properties “was not an isolated affair,” according to Rabbi Reuven Poupko, chairman of the local Jewish Community Security Coordinating Committee. The crimes were “an organized and systematic attack on Jewish institutional life,” he told theMontreal Gazette. “These are not just crimes against buildings. They’re crimes against a community.”
Rabbi Poupko said that the Jewish community would not be intimidated and that Jewish life in the city will continue on a regular basis.
Vandals threw rocks and broke windows at the synagogues and the Yavne Academy. Montreal police are investigating the rampage, which was carried out despite surveillance cameras that have been installed at several Jewish buildings.
Windows have been smashed in the recent past, and a swastika was smeared on a synagogue last year.
Quebec has a long history of anti-Semitism. Montreal is overwhelming French-speaking, and the Anglo population has been dwindling over the past three decades, especially since the “separatist” movement grew more than 30 years ago.
South of the Canadian border, vandals spray painted a large swastika on a Connecticut synagogue last week, in what police said was a hate crime. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal visited the synagogue and said, “An act of hatred like this one is not a prank. [It is] a criminal action.”
© Copyright IsraelNationalNews.com