Tag: Middle East

Why do we not save Christians?

October 7, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Iraq, Israel, Jews, Middle East, Sunni, Syria, USA, Yemen

Why is the West, with its “overwhelming” majority of Christians, showing reluctance to offer a home to Christians fleeing the Middle East, asks Elliott Abrams, writing in The Weekly Standard. The former foreign policy advisor to President George W. Bush compares the reluctance with Israel’s willingness to accept Jews persecuted . . . Read More

‘We won’t let diversity of ME disappear’

September 9, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Europe, France, Iraq, Islamic State, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, Paris, Syria, Turkey, UN, Yazidis

A UN conference has announced a plan to protect minorities persecuted by the so-called Islamic State in the Middle East. Speaking at the conference in Paris of 60 countries on Tuesday, 8 Sep., French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said several countries would announce financial pledges in the coming months for . . . Read More

Belgium rescues Aleppo Christians from Syria

July 8, 2015 Syria Aleppo, Chaldeans, Human rights, Lebanon, Middle East, Refugees, Syria, Yazidis

Some 240 people, mainly Christians, have been brought out of Syria’s second city of Aleppo and taken to Belgium, the government in Brussels says. All the families had fled their homes and were at risk of repeated human rights abuse, a spokesman told the BBC. Civil society groups helped take . . . Read More

‘Greater collaboration’ will help ME Christians

May 1, 2015 Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Italy, Middle East, Minorities, UK

Bishop Angaelos, leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK, told an international conference this week that there is much to lose if the international community doesn’t take ownership of the suffering of Christians in the Middle East. Speaking at ‘Christians in the Middle East: What Future?’ in Bari, . . . Read More

Syriac priest wrestles with Turkey’s ethnic tensions

April 22, 2015 Turkey Armenian Genocide, Armenians, Assyrians, Diyarbakir, Islamic State, Kurds, Mardin, Middle East, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syria, Syriacs, Turkey

In the courtyard of the 1,700-year-old church over which he presides, Fr. Yusuf Akbulut beams with pride. He points out that the excellent stone and woodwork is a result of the craftsmanship of his ethnic group, the Syriac Christians of Turkey. “The Syriacs were always the goldsmiths, metal workers, stone . . . Read More

‘Kill the Christians’

April 15, 2015 Iraq, Islamic extremism, Maaloula, Middle East, Nineveh Plains, Syria

A BBC documentary, ‘Kill the Christians’, is available on the BBC iPlayer (for those with access) until April 14, 2015. The hour-long programme reports on how “Christianity is facing the greatest threat to its existence in the very place where it was born … the Middle East”. The documentary includes . . . Read More

Christian forgiveness of IS goes viral

March 20, 2015 Iraq Iraq, Islamic State, Middle East, Qaraqosh

Two videos of Christians forgiving members of the so-called Islamic State for atrocities committed against their families have gone viral on social media. In the first, a 10-year-old Iraqi girl named Myriam says she forgives IS for forcing her family out of their home in Qaraqosh. The second features an . . . Read More

US ‘passive’ on IS’s ‘war on Christianity’

March 13, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Assyrians, Chaldeans, Genocide, Islamic State, Middle East, Syria, USA

The Islamic State is “crucifying Christians and demolishing ancient churches” in a “war on Christianity” in the Middle East, according to an opinion piece on the US-based website, Foreign Policy. Why, the title asks, is this being met with silence from the halls of Congress to Sunday sermons? In-house writers . . . Read More

Mid East Christians on UN Security Council agenda?

March 10, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country France, Middle East, Minorities, Morocco, Rabat, UN

France, whose turn it is to preside over the next UN Security Council meeting on March 27th, says that it plans to discuss the situation of Christians and other minorities in the Middle East. The French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, told a news conference in Rabat, Morocco on 9 March that . . . Read More

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