Nothing would make me happier than to see the United States of America reaching out to save Christians of the Middle East who are right now facing a mini-holocaust, nothing short of genocide, persecution unparalleled since the rise of Islam 1,300 years ago.
But it’s not happening. And I don’t think it’s going to happen. The sad truth? The vast majority of Christians in America are unaware of what’s going on, and as impotent and unwilling to do much more about it than they are doing to save the Christian values that set their own country apart – values that are diminishing daily before their very eyes.
Meanwhile, look at America’s leadership: The country is run by an anti-Christian elite in government and the popular culture. Instead, as WND reported recently, the U.S. is opening its arms to tens of thousands of Sunni Muslim refugees from the Middle East. Is it necessary to remind everyone that Sunni Muslims are the very people doing most of the persecuting and killing in the Middle East today? U.S. officials and the cultural elite can’t even name the ideology that is burning churches, massacring Christians and sending them fleeing into refugee status.
Let me name that ideology for you: Radical Islam, jihadism, Shariah, the movement for a new caliphate that dominates every aspect of life.
Let me give you some startling statistics:
At the start of the last century, Christians represented 20 percent of the Arab population. Today they represent 4 percent.
Approximately 100,000 Christians are killed annually in Muslim countries.
Since 2000, 77 percent of Iraqi Christians have fled.
There’s only one force in the world that stands in the breach in the Middle East, and that force is Israel.
So maybe it’s time we appeal to Jews, who know about genocide and persecution, to open their hearts and land to the new victims who have no country of their own.
Years ago, I pleaded for the creation of a Christian country in the Middle East, because I saw this coming. No one listened. No one else picked up the cry. It would be no more likely today for the press, the international community or the U.S. to suggest such a solution. They are much more likely to tell you why the only Jewish state in the world should give up pieces of its tiny land or why Israel should stop building homes and communities for its growing population of refugees from all over the world who flee to it.
It may be too late for any other nation but Israel to act out of mercy and compassion. Would it fundamentally change the character of Israel to take on Middle East Christian refugees? I don’t think so. Christians and Jews share similar values. I’m a Christian. If or when I leave the United States, the only other country in the world that appeals to me as a potential homeland is Israel. I don’t think I’m alone.
Israel has the world’s most successful program for absorbing immigrants and refugees. It has demonstrated with refugees from the former Soviet Union, Africa, the Arab world and beyond. Yes, they were all Jews. But why couldn’t that system be used to save the lives of Christians and provide them with a home?
Of course, we have to ask the obvious question: What’s in it for Israel?
While Israel is a small country, it’s a prosperous one. It has a vibrant economy. Yet its population is relatively small, especially for a nation that is surrounded by hostile neighbors.
Could Israel at least experiment with a limited program – a test for those most desperate for a place to live? I don’t see why not. In case you haven’t noticed, Israel is no longer beloved among the nations of the world. How might an act of selfless mercy of this kind be viewed by the Christian world? Who would dare criticize it? Just imagine the announcement that Israel is opening its doors to persecuted Arabic-speaking Christians throughout the Middle East – people nobody else is welcoming.
I’m floating an idea that might seem preposterous on the face of it. But tell me why. Christians in the Middle East need saving right now. They are being hunted down and systematically eliminated. More are on the run. If not Israel, who?
Recently, Father Gabriel Naddaf of Nazareth, Israel, spoke to the United Nations Human Rights Council about the plight of Christians in the Middle East. Do you know what he said?
“If we look at the Middle East … we realize there’s only one safe place where Christians are not persecuted. One place where they are protected, enjoying freedom of worship and expression, living and not subjected to killing and genocide.”
Guess what that one country is?
“It is Israel, the country I live in,” he said. “The Jewish state is the only safe place where the Christians of the Holy Land live in safety.”
Maybe, just maybe, the Jewish state can find room for a few more.
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