Free Republic

KOBANI, Syria (Reuters) - A community of Syrians who converted to Christianity from Islam is growing in Kobani, a town besieged by Islamic State for months, and where the tide turned against the militants four years ago. The converts say the experience of war and the onslaught of a group claiming to fight for Islam pushed them towards their new faith. After a number of families converted, the Syrian-Turkish border town’s first evangelical church opened last year. Islamic State militants were beaten back by U.S. air strikes and Kurdish fighters at Kobani in early 2015, in a reversal of fortune...

As the fight against ISIS winds down, SyriaÂ’s minorities once again have to choose sides in the struggle for their countryÂ’s future. Syriac Christians, also known as Assyrians or Chaldeans, are one of the smallest ethnic and religious groups in Syria. But they have an important role to play in the US presence in Syria, and by extension, the politics of the entire Middle East. The Realist Review called Syriac National Council (SNC) founder Bassam Ishak to hear his perspective on US forces and the future of Syria.Before the interview, Ishak humbly warned the Realist Review that his perspective would...

The Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has seized control of at least 50 Syriac churches, monasteries, and cemeteries in Mardin province, report media sources from Turkey: Diyanet wins the church lottery from Mardin https://t.co/TEDbAgjXrz — AGOS / ???? (@AGOSgazetesi) June 23, 2017 Turkey's Mardin Governorate has established a special Commission for Liquidation & Sharing of the properties owned by the Syriac community. — ???? ??? ????? (@zaliin) June 24, 2017 The Turkish-Armenian daily Agos reports: After Mardin became a Metropolitan Municipality, its villages were officially turned into neighbourhoods as per the law and attached to the provincial administration. Following...

“The number of Christian emigrants comprised six million people in the past 100 years,” Suheil Farah, Lebanese university professor and a member of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS), was quoted by the IOPS press service as saying. According to his information, the number of Christians on the territory of the Arab world ranges between 12 million and 15 million. Most of them live in Egypt, Sudan and Lebanon (9-12 million). There are 900,000 Christians in Syria, 350,000 in Iraq, between 140,000 and 165,000 in Jordan, 50,000 in Palestine and 120,000 in Israel. “Christians now account for 3.4% of the...

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (A.W.)—A list of lands and buildings in Diyarbakir’s Sur district—including the Surp Giragos Armenian Apostolic and the Armenian Catholic Churches—have been expropriated by the Turkish government, according to reports. Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos reported that an “urgent expropriation” cabinet decision was taken regarding 6,300 plots of land, citing the March 25 issue of the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey (T.C. Resmi Gazete), the country’s official journal that publishes new legislation and official announcements. Based on the report, the Surp Sarkis Chaldean Church, Virgin Mary Ancient Assyrian Church, and the city’s Protestant church have also been expropriated. Diyarbakir...

(Via MediaIte) […] Beck said that he had asked his audience to raise $10 million before Christmas to help take in Christian Syrian refugees. “Stop asking for permission!” he said. “Stop thinking we need permission… We will vet them ourselves. I have former CIA people that are going over and they’re vetting everybody right now. We can save more people by Christmas than Oscar Schindler saved, okay?” Beck said if the State Department refused them entry he’d find them a way in the country, even if he was thrown in jail. “I know some bridges over a river in Texas...

...Meanwhile, on a more limited scale, there are things that can be done. Three weeks ago, for example, 150 Syrian Christians were airlifted to refuge and safety in Poland. That’s the work of the Weidenfeld Safe Havens Fund. It provided the flight and will support the refugees for as long as 18 months as they try to remake their lives. The person behind all this is Lord George Weidenfeld: life peer, philanthropist, publisher (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, established 1949), Europeanist (founder of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue to promote classically liberal European values), proud public Jew (honorary vice president of the World...

Christian Arabs Persecuted for Joining IDF By Julie Stahl CBN News Mideast Correspondent Tuesday, December 10, 2013 The 17-year-old son of a Greek Orthodox priest who encourages Christian Arab youth to integrate into Israeli society and join the Israel Defense Forces was brutally beaten in Nazareth over the weekend. Nazareth, the boyhood home of Jesus, has the largest Christian Arab population in Israel. Nazareth-based Father Gabriel Nadaf founded the Forum for Christian Community more than a year ago. Since then the number of Christian Arabs enlisting in the IDF jumped from 35 to 120, with another 500 opting to volunteer...

Palestinians in this Christian village are hoping the new pope can succeed where others have failed—pressing Israel to drop plans to build a stretch of its West Bank separation barrier through their picturesque valley. Since Vatican properties are affected, residents have appealed to the Roman Catholic Church to use more of its significant influence in the Holy Land to reroute the barrier, even as local Catholic leaders hold a special protest Mass in threatened orchards each week. The Vatican has called on Israel not to seize the lands, but local Palestinian Catholics want the new pontiff to lean more heavily...

Almost 65 years after Jews who were dispersed around the world returned to their homeland ― following a departure that lasted nearly two millennia ― a report released by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) confirms that the Christian population in the Jewish nation is alive and well, despite the nation's more dominant Jewish and Muslim religions, growing to 158,000 (roughly two percent of the total population). While thousands of Christians celebrated Christmas among various observances taking place across the Promised Land, a CBS statistical breakdown divulged that 80 percent of the Christians living in Israel are Arab. The remaining...

I will Apologize No More by Ari Bussel Israel is good for the Palestinians. It supplies them electricity. It fulfills any order of the Palestinian Authority as a conduit into Gaza. It allows tens of thousands of them to go for medical treatment in Israel. It provides drinking water, assists with the water infrastructure and treats their sewage. Israel provides vaccinations and helps fight the spread of diseases like bird flu. It supplies many commodities and products that are of far superior quality and at the same or lower prices than those brought from Egypt. Israelis are good for other...

Pakistan Christians celebrate Christmas in Fear Past attack, threats leave minority group feeling especially vulnerable [Pic in URL]A Pakistani Christian child on Thursday arranges statues to celebrate Christmas in Islamabad. GOJRA, Pakistan - No Christmas decorations brighten the tent camp sheltering Christians left homeless by the worst violence against minorities in Pakistan this year. Instead, there is a pervasive sense of fear. The Christians have received cell phone text messages warning them to expect a "special Christmas present," they say, and are terrified of their tents being torched or their church services being bombed. "Last year I celebrated Christmas full...

A century ago, Christians dominated the intellectual and commercial life of the Levant, comprising more than one-fifth of the 13 million people of Turkey, the region's ruling power, and most of the population of Lebanon. Ancient communities flourished in what is now Iraq and Syria. But starting with the Armenian genocide in 1914 and continuing through the massacre and expulsion of Anatolian Greeks in 1922-1923, the Turks killed three to four million Christians in Turkey and the Ottoman provinces. Thus began a century of Muslim violence that nearly has eradicated Christian communities in the cradle of their religion. It may...

'Peace partner' accused in YMCA attack Muslim gunmen crushed gates, set Christian building ablaze Posted: October 14, 2008 8:23 pm Eastern © 2008 WorldNetDaily JAFFA, Israel – Members of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization were arrested yesterday for allegedly leading a 2006 anti-Christian attack in which gunmen set fire to the Young Men's Christian Association in the West Bank city of Qalqiliya, WND has learned. Following the arrest of four militants in conjunction with the attack, Rabih Elkhangy, the Fatah mayor of Qalqiliya, held a press conference yesterday in which he claimed the arrested attackers were from the...

Under the Palestinian regime Christian Arabs have been victims of frequent human rights abuses by Muslims. There are many examples of intimidation, beatings, land theft, firebombing of churches and other Christian institutions, denial of employment, economic boycotts, torture, kidnapping, forced marriage, sexual harassment, and extortion. Palestinian Authority (PA) officials are directly responsible for many of the human rights violations.

Lebanon - Islamists "Palestinians" massacre of Christians in Damour that brought Christian Arabs killing "Palestinians" in Sabra Shatila You might have only heared about the massacre at Sabra Shatila through a pro "Palestinian" propagandist that have one, and nothing but one issue, no, nothing that has to with justice whatsoever, but to persecute Israel and denegrate it. It is only natural that they blame ANYTHING on the Zionists, even though the only connection to the case where Arab christians killed the Arab Palestinians in Sabra Shatila is the "charge" that Sharon did not prevent the Arab Christians from doing that......

Jerusalem. Bethlehem. Nazareth. The Galilee. These are the places where Christianity began. They're where the story of Jesus took place. But for the Arab Christians who live there now, the story is coming to an end. Once as much as 8 percent of the population of what is now Israel and the Palestinian-administered territories, Arab Christians now make up 2 percent or less of the population, and the number is growing steadily smaller. What's happened is a familiar tale. Tens of thousands of Palestinian Christians -- along with many more thousands of Muslims -- left their homes in 1948 when...

About 1,000 Christian Arabs flee Arab-dominated areas because of Arab terrorism and harassment, according to Reuters News Agency. Examples were cited of Moslems beating up Christians, uprooting their olive trees and scrawling graffiti that show nuns being raped. Hardest hit has been the Christian community of Bethlehem where tourism has declined since Arabs began the Oslo War attack against Israel. "If the situation continues, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Nativity will become cold, empty museums," said Samir Qumsieh, a Palestinian-Christian businessman.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., is taking an increased interest in the desperate plight of Christians in the Holy Land -- to the point of politely and privately asking for help from President Bush. Immediately at stake is the West Bank village of Aboud, whose Christian roots go back two millennia, and which now is threatened by Israel's security barrier. Aboud is the current object of Israeli policy that has contributed to heavy migration of Christian Arabs, promising further reduction in their present 1.7 percent share of Israel's population. Following previous security barrier construction that effectively...

Dr. Raed Mualem, head of the Mar Elias University Campus in Ibillin, has called on the Vatican to become more involved in the needs of the Christian Arab community in Israel. "We are a dying congregation," he said, explaining that "one of the reasons is that the state neglected the community's needs for decades, and so we are demanding a human 'nature preservation.'" Mualem returned several days ago from a visit to the Vatican as a member of a small delegation that met with representatives to the assembly of organizations for aid to the Eastern churches, which includes 130 cardinals...