Free Republic

..... Pakistan: Sharoon, a Christian boy who achieved academic excellence despite years of entrenched discrimination and bullying—and whose poverty-stricken parents had worked hard to put him in MC Model Boys Government High School—was beaten to death by Muslim pupils. On his first day at the school, the teacher slapped him across the face while blurting an anti-Christian slur. Having set a precedent, the rest of the classroom of Muslim boys continued harassing him throughout the same first day: they hurled out derogatory terms against Christians, denied him access to drinking water, and told him, "You're a Christian don't dare sit...

"Everything is Christian", Jean-Paul Sartre wrote after the war. Two thousand years of Christianity have left a deep mark on the French language, landscape and culture. But not according to France's Minister of Education, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. She just announced that instead of saying "Merry Christmas", state officials should use "Happy Holidays" -- clearly a deliberate intent to erase from discourse and the public space any reference to the Christian culture in which France is rooted. Jean-François Chemain called it the "eradication of any Christian sign in the public landscape". A year ago, the controversy was ignited in the French town...

Two Coptic Christian children, aged 10 and 9, have been arrested for insulting religion in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Beni Suef, Ahram Online reported on Wednesday. According to the report, the two children were arrested on Tuesday after the imam of their local mosque filed a complaint against them. By order of the prosecution the two boys, Nabil Nagy Rizk and Mina Nady Farag, are now being held in the Beni Suef juvenile detention pending further investigation on Sunday, said the report. Ibrahim Mohamed Ali, the village imam, has accused the children of tearing up pages of the Koran....

Tunisia’s newly elected president on Monday called the country’s Jewish population to return to his country, The Associated Press reported. During a meeting with the country’s Grand Rabbi Haim Bittan, President Moncef Marzouki said that Tunisia’s Jews are full-fledged citizens and those who had left the country were welcome to return. Today, Tunisia has a Jewish population of only 1,500, but in the 1960s there were 100,000 Jews in the country. Most left following the 1967 Six Day War, but the emigration to Israel started in the 1050's. Most Tunisian Jews now live on the resort island of Djerba, near...

Israel has approved several relief measures for the Palestinian Authority Arab population of Judea and Samaria, in honor of the upcoming Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday. The Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea and Samaria said on Thursday that as part of these relief measures, some roadblocks in the area will be removed, in accordance with to a decision by Central Command. A military source told Arutz Sheva the roadblocks to be removed are not the larger checkpoints but rather small barriers at the entrances to Arab villages, a move that would facilitate Arab movement within the villages during the holiday....

By Daoud Kuttab As the state of Israel celebrates its 60th birthday, Palestinians remember the naqba, or “catastrophe” - their story of dispossession, occupation, and statelessness. But, for both sides, as well as external powers, the events of 1948 and what has followed - the occupation since June 1967 of the remaining lands of historic Palestine - represents a tragic failure. Israel is most at fault for this failure, owing to its continued military occupation and illegal settlements. Despite paying lip service to peace, the Israeli refusal to leave the Occupied Territories continues to be in direct contravention to what...