The Untold Christmas Story
Melanie Phillips:” .. the REAL abuse of Christians by Muslims across the third world — as detailed, along with Hindu-Christian violence in India, in the latest bulletin from the Barnabas Fund — and specifically in the West Bank and Gaza. As Jonathan Speyer reports [link]:”
Jonathan Speyer: “Unremarked upon by the Western media, A SYSTEMATIC CAMPAIGN OF PERSECUTION IS TAKING PLACE IN THE GAZA STRIP, AND TO A LESSER EXTENT IN THE WEST BANK. THE GENERAL SILENCE SURROUNDING THIS CAMPAIGN AIDS ITS PERPETRATORS. The victims are Palestinian Christians. In particular, the small Christian community of Gaza. The perpetrators are a variety of Islamist groups, all of which are manifestations of a process of growing Islamic militancy and piety taking place across the region.”
Speyer: “…Islamist organizations, empowered by the indifference of the authorities, have begun to target Christian institutions and individuals in Gaza with increasing impunity. Intimidation assault and the threat of kidnapping are now part of daily reality for Christians. The trend became noticeable with a series of attacks on the Palestinian Bible Society’s ‘Teacher’s Bookshop’ in Gaza City last year. The shop was the subject of a bomb attak in April 2007. Its owner, Rami Khader Ayyad, was abducted in broad daylight, and found dead on Octobver 7, 2007.”
Speyer: “Over the following year, a series of bomb attacks on Christian institutions in Gaza took place. Particular attention was paid to places of education…”
Melanie Phillips: “YOU WILL HEAR NOTHING ABOUT THIS FROM THE WESTERN MEDIA, and the excellent Khaled abu Toameh, the Jerusalem Post’s correspondent in the West Bank, provides us with one reason here [link]:”
Khaled Abu Toameh: “Over the past 2 years Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been subjected to a systematic campaign of intimidation that has resulted in the death of some and the detention of others. The campaign, which is being waged by both Hamas and Fatah, has RECEIVED ALMOST NO ATTENTION ..”