West Ignores 'Largest Massacre of Christians in Syria'

One of the worst Christian massacres—complete with mass graves, tortured-to-death women and children, and destroyed churches—recently took place in Syria, at the hands of the U.S.-supported jihadi “rebels”; and the U.S. government and its “mainstream media” mouthpiece are, as usual, silent (that is, when not actively trying to minimize matters).

The massacre took place in Sadad, an ancient Syriac Orthodox Christian habitation, so old as to be mentioned in the Old Testament. Most of the region’s inhabitants are poor, as Sadad is situated in the remote desert between Homs and Damascus (desert regions, till now, apparently the only places Syria’s Christians could feel secure; 600 Christian families had earlier fled there for sanctuary from the jihad, only to be followed by it).

In late October, the U.S-supported “opposition” invaded and occupied Sadad for over a week, till ousted by the nation’s military. Among other atrocities, 45 Christians—including women and children—were killed, several tortured to death; Sadat’s 14 churches, some ancient, were ransacked and destroyed; the bodies of six people from one family, ranging from ages 16 to 90, were found at the bottom of a well (an increasingly common fate for “subhuman” Christians).

The jihadis even made a graphic video (with English subtitles) of those whom they massacred, while shouting Islam’s victory-cry, “Allahu Akbar” (which John McCain equates to a Christian saying “thank God”). Another video, made after Sadad was liberated shows more graphic atrocities.

Here are the words of Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh, Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Homs and Hama (another detailed account, with pictures, appears here):

”What happened in Sadad is the most serious and biggest massacre of Christians in Syria in the past two years and a half… 45 innocent civilians were martyred for no reason, and among them several women and children, many thrown into mass graves. Other civilians were threatened and terrorized. 30 were wounded and 10 are still missing. For one week, 1,500 families were held as hostages and human shields. Among them children, the elderly, the young, men and women…. All the houses of Sadad were robbed and property looted. The churches are damaged and desecrated, deprived of old books and precious furniture… What happened in Sadad is the largest massacre of Christians in Syria and the second in the Middle East, after the one in the Church of Our Lady of Salvation in Iraq, in 2010.”

In the Iraqi attack of 2010, al-Qaeda linked jihadis stormed the church during service killing some 60 Christian worshippers (see here for graphic images of the aftermath).

While the archbishop is correct that this is the “largest massacre of Christians in Syria,” it is but the tip of the iceberg of the persecution the nation’s Christian minority has suffered—including beheadings, church bombings, kidnappings, rapes, and dislocation of hundreds of thousands of Christians—since the war broke out (see Syria entries in monthly persecution series).

A month before Sadad, another ancient Christian region, Ma‘loula, one of the world’s very few regions that still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus, was besieged by the jihadis, its churches bombarded and plundered, its inhabitants forced to convert to Islam or die. The last words of one man who refused were: "I am a Christian, and if you want to kill me for this, I do not object to it."

The archbishop concluded his statement concerning Sadad by asking: "We have shouted aid to the world but no one has listened to us. Where is the Christian conscience? Where is human consciousness? Where are my brothers? I think of all those who are suffering today in mourning and discomfort: We ask everyone to pray for us.”

Serge Trifkovic—who hails from a European region especially acquainted with Islamic jihad—responds to the archbishop as follows:

_”That no “human consciousness” is to be found in the White House, or in the editorial offices of the leading Western media, is now a matter of well-established record. Just try searching for “Sadad” (or alternatively “Saddad”) on the websites of the Department of State or The New York Times. Ditto the leading European dailies, the CNN/BBC/RTF, the human-rights defending “NGOs” et al.

“The problem, of which Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh appears unaware, is no longer in the Western elite’s mere indifference to the impending demise of Christianity in the lands of its birth, but in its active, ongoing, and open contribution to that demise. Cyprus (1974) and the Balkans (1991-9) provided the test, Iraq (2003-today) the conclusive proof. In Syria the Obama administration remains committed to supporting the rebels—ah, yes, only the “moderate” ones, like the Christian-murdering “Free Syrian Army” (discretion advised again), not “even though” the result will be the same, but precisely because it will be.”_

In one of the Arabic videos documenting the aftermath of the Sadad massacre, as the mutilated bodies of one family are drawn from a well (around :30 second mark), a middle-aged male relative, in tears, says:

”The most precious in the whole universe [his family], are now gone, leaving me alone, but thank God I am still surrounded by these loving people who remain. I want to say, let people [the jihadis] return to their minds. The problems of the world can only be solved by knowledge and brains. Enough insanity, the nerves of the people are shredded. Enough, enough—return to your minds; you people, you humans—return to your humanity, enough crimes.”

As a sign of the times, here is a Syrian, an “easterner,” evoking rationalism and humanity, products of the Christian West, at a time when the post-Christian West is governed by anything and everything—propaganda, emotionalism, mindless indoctrination—but the twain.

Raymond Ibrahim is author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians _

Protect Christians and Jews, says major Christian - Jewish conference

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A major conference between the Catholic Church and leading Jewish representatives in Madrid called Thursday for both communities to support efforts at ending anti-Christian persecution and anti-Semitism in the Middle East and Europe.

The 22nd International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee meeting, which closed Thursday, brought together the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, as it has since 1971.

The joint statement released after the meeting called on the two groups to work together to combat anti-Christian persecution, and “to support efforts to guarantee full citizenship to all citizens regardless of religious or ethnic identity in the Middle East and beyond.”

Persecution of Christians has spiked in the wake of the upheaval in the Arab world. Syrian Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population, say they are particularly vulnerable to the violence sweeping the country of 22 million people. In Egypt, there has been a backlash against Christians by Islamist militants for their activism against former president Mohammed Morsi, ousted by the military on July 3 after a wave of massive protests against his rule.

“We encourage efforts to promote the well-being of minority Christian and Jewish communities throughout the Middle East,” the statement read.

The Liaison Committee, or ILC, called for restrictions to be dropped, and addressed “moves to interpret ‘secularity’ and ‘secular society’ in ways that marginalize religious groups and individuals,” biblical scholar Murray Watson said, using recent moves in Quebec to forbid public servants from wearing religious garb in government offices or public settings as an example.

Watson, an expert on Catholic-Jewish relations, told The Times of Israel that the conference saw the fates of Jews and Christians as linked.

“I think that there is a growing awareness that whatever impacts on one community will almost inevitably have an impact on other communities,” he said.

The conference, themed on “Challenges for Religion in Contemporary Society,” took place as a European survey was released in which a quarter of the respondents — Jews from nine countries — said they avoid visiting places and wearing symbols that identify them as Jews for fear of anti-Semitism.

Calling it a sin, the conference’s statement said that the upcoming 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate in 2015 is an opportune time to reaffirm its denunciation of anti-Semitism.

The key point of reference for Catholic relations with the Jewish people, the 1965 declaration — which grew out of the Vatican II conference — stressed the religious bond shared by Jews and Catholics, reaffirmed the eternal covenant between God and the Jewish people, and called for a halt to attempts to convert Jews.

“We urge that anti-Semitic teachings be eliminated from preaching and textbooks everywhere in the world,” read the statement Thursday.

For a variety of reasons, Catholic outreach toward Jews and changes in the Church’s attitude toward Jews since Nostra Aetate are not widely taught in Jewish schools. The conference recommended that both Jewish and Catholic seminaries educate their students about the subject.

“As a new generation of Jewish and Catholic leaders arises, we underscore the profound ways that Nostra Aetate changed the relationship between Jews and Catholics. It is imperative that the next generation embrace these teachings and ensure that they reach every corner of the world,” the statement read. “We Catholics and Jews renew our commitment to educate our own respective communities in the knowledge of and respect for each other.”

The ILC is the official forum for dialogue between the Church´s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and the Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations.

The organization was formed after the first international meeting between Catholics and Jews in 1970, and met the next year in Paris. It has convened regularly since, including meetings in Jerusalem around the Vatican’s recognition of Israel in 1994.

According to Watson, a member of the Canadian Christian-Jewish Consultation, the conference provides an international forum for Jewish and Catholic leaders to discuss issues of particular concern to each side, such as anti-Jewish or anti-Christian violence.

“[It] allows both sides to better and more accurately understand the faith-perspective of the other group, to seek clarifications…and to testify to the world community about the possibilities for dialogue and collaboration between differing religious groups,” he said.

Times of Israel

Anti-Christian Violence in Mideast and Africa Condemned by Jewish Groups

Amid the recent wave of violence directed against Christians in the Middle East and Africa, including Sunday's massive terror attack on Pakistan's All Saints Church that left at least 85 dead, Jewish organizations called on governments in the region to do more to protect Christians.

"The attacks on innocent civilians at their homes and places of worship in Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt and Syria are shocking and abhorrent," said Abraham H. Foxman, Anti-Defamation League (ADL) national director, in a statement. "These countries are not doing enough to protect their minority Christian communities or to enforce the rule of law."

Since the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July, more than three-dozen churches, businesses and Christian homes have been attacked by Islamists. In Nigeria, religious conflict between the mainly Christian south and Muslim north has raged in Nigeria for decades. Boko Haram, a Salafist Islamic terrorist group, calls for the formation of a "pure Islamic state" governed by sharia law and has attacked Christian targets, government offices, and moderate Muslims repeatedly since its formation in 2001. Hundreds of Christians have been killed in Syria, mainly by Al-Qaeda-linked rebel groups, and hundreds of thousands have fled amid that country's ongoing civil war.

Meanwhile, in response to Sunday's massive terror attack on Pakistan's All Saints Church, the American Jewish Committee's executive director, David Harris, issued a statement calling on the Pakistani government "to do everything possible to protect the country's Christian minority."
Harris said there "needs to be a sustained global outcry in the face of such deadly attacks, fueled by religious extremism."

"Sadly and inexplicably, however, that has been largely missing. Why?" he said.


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