This Ongoing War: A Blog: 5-Feb-08: Living with the Gazans

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

5-Feb-08: Living with the Gazans - Christian Edition

We'll let the New York Daily News speak for itself:

Gaza Baptists targeted by extremists
Violence by extremists has left Gaza's few Christians, such as this nun shown praying during the Christmas season in Gaza City, fearing for their safety
Monday, February 4th 2008, 4:00 AM
GAZA CITY - The Gaza Strip is home to 1.5 million Muslims - and about 3,000 increasingly frightened Christians. The small evangelical Baptist community has been a principal target of the extremists because of its missionary work, which has been halted. "Christians get killed here, let alone a Muslim who converted," said Ashraf, 36, who did not give his last name. "I stopped going to church even before the coup." And recently, even his church leader, pastor Hanna Massad, has fled to the West Bank. The murder of Baptist congregant Rami Eyad in October sent shock waves through Gaza's Christian community. Eyad's religious book shop had been bombed in April. Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab al-Ghusain condemned the killing but said that no one has been arrested. He blamed Al Qaeda elements and said Hamas was not involved. "We have increased security in Christian neighborhoods and near churches," Ghusain said. The Rev. Archimandrite Artemios leads St. Porphyrous Geek Orthodox Church, founded 1,600 years ago in Gaza's old city. He says he dares not try to persuade anyone to join his dwindling congregation. "If I baptize a man, I will have to visit his tomb," Artemios said. "We are against anything, even conversion, if it jeopardizes the peaceful relations between Muslims and Christians."

So in the face of this appalling racist hatred, where are the proud Christian denominations lately? Shouting from the rooftops? Well, not exactly. See

...all of them from the past few days.

We're almost tempted to criticize them. But then what do we understand of Christian replacement theology?

No comments:

About us

THIS ONGOING WAR is not part of the activity of the Malki Foundation which was founded by us, Frimet and Arnold Roth of Jerusalem, on September 11, 2001. But it is inspired by the same tragic circumstances. The Malki Foundation (also known by its Hebrew name: Keren Malki) is a memorial to the life of our daughter, Malki who was murdered at the age of 15 in a massacre in the centre of Jerusalem carried out by Hamas.

Beyond its function as a remembrance of a beautiful life, the foundation provides tangible, concrete, invaluable support daily to several thousand Israeli families from every part of the religious and socio-economic spectrum: Christian, Moslem, Jewish, Druze and others who care at home for a seriously disabled child.

Reach us at thisongoingwar@gmail.com

Good for the soul | The Malki Foundation

If you care to make a positive and constructive contribution to the care of Israeli children with special needs - whether they're Christian, Moslem, Jewish, Druze or unconnected to any particular faith community - you can't do better than direct your donation to the work of the Malki Foundation.

It's the charitable organization we, the bloggers who produce This Ongoing War, established in 2001 in memory of our murdered daughter. Her name is Malki.

Keren Malki (in Hebrew, Keren means 'foundation' or 'fund') is efficient, effective, non-sectarian, non-political and unique in the good work it does. Thousands of families from every part of our richly diverse society here in Israel have benefited in concrete and meaningful ways. Donations to Keren Malki are tax-effective in Israel, Canada, UK and the United States.

There's also plenty of background at www.malkifoundation.org as well as on the Malki Foundation Blog.

Fair use notice

This blog may contain copyrighted material that may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material, published without profit, is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues. It is published in accordance with the provisions of Israel's 2007 Copyright Law, the US Copyright Act of 1976, the 2004 Supreme Court of Canada ruling and similar laws in other jurisdictions.