The persecuted Christians of the Holy Land

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. --John 15: 20-21 (ESV)


There will be much talk in coming days about peace on earth and good will and such things in the Holy Land. But there will be little to back up the talk.

I'm not talking now about the ongoing hatred and fighting between Israelis and Palestinians. I'm talking about the fierce and virulent persecution of Palestinians by other Palestinians- specifically, of Palestinian Christians by Palestinian Muslims.

Sharia is already established as the fundamental legal principle in territories governed by the Palestinian Authority. The rape of women dressed in Western-style clothing is not only common, but condoned- and convictions for such crimes in Palestinian courts are almost impossible to achieve. The victim often actually ends up having to marry her rapist, because in that predominently Muslim culture nobody else will have her. She is considered unclean for marriage purposes.

Islam is a deeply anti-woman religion. It is also a religion which- to the extent that it dominates the legal aspect of a nation's life through sharia- is fundamentally hostile to the most basic of the human rights of infidels, women, and other undermenschen. And while the Palestinians claim to be a persecuted and mistreated people, they themselves mistreat women and minorities in a fashion which makes it difficult to see them as the innocent victims they claim to be.

An interview with a leading human rights attorney who has thorougly investigated the plight of Palestinian Christians can be found here.

The irony, of course, is that the Palestinians and their allies in the West often use the existence among them of a large Christian community to gain sympathy among Western Christians, never bothering to mention their own persecution of and discrimination against those Christians, or their status as second-class citizens.

HT: Rev. Mike Zamzow