Free Republic

Last week, Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako issued an impassioned plea to the international community to speak out and take action on behalf of persecuted Arab Christians and other minorities. This latest statement came a month after 120,000 Iraqi Christians were forcibly displaced from their homes. Sako, Iraq’s senior Christian cleric, called the systematic persecution “a real genocide” and called for “decisive steps” to put pressure on decision-makers at home and abroad to ensure a free, safe life for all in Iraq.In Washington, DC, a bipartisan and ecumenical conference starts Tuesday evening, focusing on the deteriorating situation facing millions of...

But ambassador still holds that media controlled by 'Zionist Party' OTTAWA (CP) - Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham says he has accepted an apology from the Lebanese ambassador for controversial comments about Canada's decision to ban Hezbollah. But the Canadian Jewish Congress said Ambassador Raymond Baaklini didn't go far enough to withdraw his "ugly remarks." Baaklini met with Graham on Thursday and apologized for some of his comments to the the Montreal Arab-language newspaper Sada al-Machrek. He told the paper that Canada outlawed Hezbollah - a terrorist group based in Lebanon which also has a charitable arm - under pressure...