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Christianity in the Middle East, under mortal threat. The Christian West is turning a deaf ear.

By Ioannis Baltzoi*

          In these Holy Days, when we experience the Nativity of the God-Man, the thoughts of all Christians, regardless of denomination, wander mentally to the Earth where Jesus Christ was born, raised, taught and was crucified for our salvation. Since ancient times in the Holy Lands, of all three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, believers of all religions and denominations have coexisted, sometimes peacefully, sometimes with many problems. And yet, the timeless problems have arisen again in the Holy Lands and because of the days it is deemed appropriate to highlight them.

Thus, according to a recent article by Nir Hasson on the Haaretz newspaper website, the leaders of Christian denominations in Jerusalem have launched a “campaign,” protesting incidents of violence by radical groups and attempts by Israeli settler organizations to acquire real estate in the Old City, calling it a systematic effort to expel the Christian community from Jerusalem as well as from other parts of the Holy Land. “This campaign was recently launched and is part of other joint actions against Israel's policies in the Old City.", Hasson notes. And he adds: "A special website has been created as part of the campaign, while reports on the issue are also being promoted in international media. Church leaders report incidents of physical and verbal attacks on priests and other clergy, as well as the failure of the police to provide adequate protection. They also allege that radical groups continue to strategically seek to acquire real estate in the Christian quarter.". On the other hand, the Israeli Foreign Ministry claimed that "The accusations are baseless and distort the reality regarding the Christian community in Israel.. Religious leaders need to play a critical role in education that promotes tolerance and coexistence. Church leaders are expected to understand their responsibility and the consequences of what they publish: the potential for violence and harm to innocent people.».

The journalist met with Patriarch Theophilos of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, whom he believes is behind this entire campaign, who stated that "Never before in human history has the future of our Christian communities been more uncertain, and radical groups are intent on uprooting us from our homes, our jobs, and our places of worship. Instead of dividing, we must unite in the name of the Holy Land, as a place of peace and tolerance for all religions.". And here it should be clarified that the term radical groups refers to the various groups of ultra-Orthodox Jews, the Haredim and some others, whose fanaticism and religious bigotry exceed all limits, even against secular Jews and we would say that their actions resemble, to a large extent, extremist Islamic organizations. The joint statement was signed by the heads of all the major denominations of Jerusalem, including, in addition to the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Armenian Patriarch, the Latin Patriarch, the Custody of the Franciscans and the head of the Anglican Church of Jerusalem. The leaders of the Jerusalem denominations also argue that the government's decision to limit incoming tourist flows due to the pandemic and the Omicron mutation has affected them, among other things, financially, since revenue from tourists was important for the survival of all Christian denominations in the Holy Land.

This is not the first time that such events have been reported. The persecution of Christians is systematic and is carried out especially by Muslims, throughout the Middle East, resulting in the number of Christians decreasing dramatically. The undersigned has repeatedly mentioned the issue of the decrease in Christians in the Middle East, due to the ongoing persecution that they are systematically undergoing. The data we mentioned three years ago were again highlighted by an Israeli journalist, Guy Besor, who revealed the following in the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, while the Christian West remained inactive and permanently deaf. Thus:

• Ø In Iraq, Christians have declined from 1,5 million in 2003 to 250.
• Ø In Syria, Christians have decreased from 1,75 million in 2010 to 450 thousand (current data is not available, after the war).

• Ø In Egypt, Coptic Christians have decreased by 1,25 million from 9 million in 2011.

• Ø In Lebanon, Christians numbering one million live under the shadow of the Shiite regime established by Hezbollah.

Even in Palestine, and specifically in the territories of the Palestinian Authority, a large decrease in the Christian population is observed. A typical example is the city of Christ's birth, Bethlehem, whose population used to be 90% Christian, now Muslims prevail, reaching 65% of the inhabitants, as is the case in the other major Christian city, the city of Christ, Nazareth, where the percentage of Christians has decreased dramatically. And as stated in a recent article in the highly authoritative journalistic website "Times of Israel", Orthodox Christians in Israel (mainly Palestinians) now number only 160.000. Finally, let us mention that this statement is unique and unusual, not only in terms of its content, but also for the fact that all the Christian denominations of Jerusalem cooperated. It is very important because, for those who know, their relations were mostly characterized by discord and disagreements and rarely and not universally cooperated even on minor issues, so their cry of anguish is important and true. So Christianity is under threat in the land where the God-Man was born and the civilized and Christian West should have reacted. But phew!!

*Ioannis Baltzoi is an Antgos e.a., with M.Sc. of the National University of Athens in Geopolitics and president of ELISME.