Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
  • Contact
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
    • Submit Press Release
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab Stores Targeted
  • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Arab Radio Podcast intro
    • Radio Baladi Detroit
  • Hanania on Tiktok
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
  • Toggle search form
  • US Senator Bernie Sanders
    Sanders: Trump Welcomes War Criminal to White House American Arabs
  • Al-Haq
    War crimes probe urged against two Israeli snipers who intentionally killed civilian women, children Christian & Muslim
  • CAIR Executive Director and co-founder Nihad Awad
    CAIR Says Israel Turns Gaza into ‘Human Slaughterhouse’ as Killing of Civilians Continues Arab World
  • photo credit author Nehemia Gershuni-Aylho www.NGPhoto.biz and Wikipedia
    Emergency Court Motions to Stop Elbit Drone Parts Shipment via Frankfurt Airport  Activism
  • American Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh murdered by Israeli soldiers May 11, 2022
    Documentary names soldier it says killed Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022 American Arabs
  • Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ
    Jordan bans 12 news sites for ‘spreading media poison’ following corruption report Arab World
  • CAIR Logo. Council on American Islamic Relations
    CAIR Condemns MIT for banning Class President from Graduation Ceremony over Anti-Genocide speech Activism
  • ADC creates emergency fund to defend people who are being punished for expressing views on the American-sanction violence by Israel in the Gaza Strip. Photo courtesy of ADC
    ADC Condemns ADL, Rep. Torres’ Defamation of Dr. Lara Sheehi Activism
  • UN Special Committee on Israeli practices in occupied territories warns of a second Nakba  Arab World
  • Arab American community liaison Hassan Nijem, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas and Bolingbrook Mayor Mary Basta at the Arab American Heritage Month event hosted by Pappas’s office.
    Pappas honors Arab American business and community leaders for Heritage Month Activism
  • 04-28-25 Pappas Arab Heritage Month
    Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas recognizes Arab American Heritage Month by honoring business and community leaders American Arabs
  • Stuffed Grape Leaves. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    A recipe on how to make Stuffed Grape Leaves with lamb, ox tail and rice American Arabs
  • Andrew Boutros, interim US Attorney Northern District of Illinois. Photo courtesy of the US Attorney's Office
    Andrew S. Boutros Takes Oath of Office as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois American Arabs
  • Israeli massacres of Palestinian civilians March 18 2025
    Palestinians demand investigation of Israeli war crimes in Gaza Strip Arab World
  • Illinois Muslim Action Day April 9 2025
    Illinois Muslim Action Day Policies at April 9 Statehouse News Conference American Arabs

Middle East Christians in extreme danger Gemayel warns

Posted on March 28, 2015 By rayhanania 1 Comment on Middle East Christians in extreme danger Gemayel warns
SHARE ...
          
 
  

  • Tweet

Amine Gemayel, Lebanon’s former president, raised the “specter of genocide” in speaking of atrocities against Christians and other minorities in the Middle East. Gemayel says Middle East Christians have never been in more extreme danger

By Managing Editor

Amine Gemayel, Former President of Lebanon
Amine Gemayel, Former President of Lebanon

“I have never in my life witnessed Middle East Christians in such extreme danger,” Amine Gemayel warned on Wednesday. Speaking at a public lecture atBoston College, the former president of Lebanon called 2014 “a year of existential crisis” for Middle East Christians. He raised “the specter of genocide,” in the context of atrocities suffered by Christians and other religious minorities in the region at the hands of the Islamic State and other extremists.

“If present negative trends continue to intensify,” Gemayel said, “we must start thinking about the unthinkable: the extinction of Christianity” in the region. In addition to an enormous human toll, the former president claimed that the end of Middle East Christianity would “destabilize the region for generations.”

Compounding the crisis, Gemayel said, is the “inexplicable” lack of attention the issue receives from the international community. In particular, he said, “the response by the United States has been a resounding non-response.” Gemayel noted Washington’s failure last summer to use airstrikes to halt the Islamic State’s mass religious cleansing of Iraqi Christians and Yezidis while using these means to defend other interests, such as oil installations.

While acknowledging that the U.S. is “constantly buffeted by demands” for proactive policies, Gemayel pointed out that the U.S. not only has “the military means to do more,” but is politically positioned to act due to lead its “strong relationships with regional governments.”

Specifically, Gemayel encouraged Washington to support the Vatican’s proposal for “a UN-backed military force, with Muslim participation, to stop religious cleansing in the Middle East,” and the establishment of internationally-guaranteed “in-country safe havens.” He furthermore appealed to the United States to intensify its support for Lebanon in its fight against the Islamic State and in its care for Syrian refugees.  Ultimately, he asserted, an “Arab Marshall Plan” would be needed to reconstruct Arab countries and encourage Arab youth to “embrace democratic ideas as a prelude to the establishment of democratic systems.” Gemayel also stressed the need for responsible Muslim leadership to turn their expressions of sympathy with persecuted Christians into “a comprehensive plan of action.”

sheikh amine gemayel with president bush
sheikh amine gemayel with president bush (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Gemayel’s talk was cosponsored by Christian Solidarity International and Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry, Department of Slavic and Eastern Languages and Literatures, Department of Political Science, and Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life. This Friday, March 27, the UN Security Council will be addressing the existential threat to Middle East minorities raised by President Gemayel.

The full video of Gemayel’s talk will be available for viewing at www.middle-east-minorities.com, along with all the other lectures from Christian Solidarity International’s lecture series on the Future of Religious Minorities in the Middle East.

newswire info
  • About
  • Latest Posts
rayhanania
rayhanania
Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News
Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.

Follow RayHanania at Twitter
rayhanania
Latest posts by rayhanania (see all)
  • Israelisnipers shooting and killing hospital workers in Gaza - December 11, 2023
  • CAIR Condemns Israeli Executions of Wounded, Unarmed Palestinian in West Bank   - December 11, 2023
  • Arab and Muslim American voters face a “simple choice” between Biden’s inhumanity and Trump’s edgy politics - December 9, 2023

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
          
 
  
 
          
 
 Tweet 
Arab World, Christian & Muslim, Editors Picks, Israel, News, North Africa, Palestine & Jordan, Press Releases, religion, Spotlight, Syria Tags:Amine Gemayel, Christians persecuted, Lebanese President, Middle East Christians

Post navigation

Previous Post: GE Israel urged to embrace principles of fairness
Next Post: Saudis vow to continue Yemen campaign against Houthis

Related Posts

  • photo credit author Nehemia Gershuni-Aylho www.NGPhoto.biz and Wikipedia
    Emergency Court Motions to Stop Elbit Drone Parts Shipment via Frankfurt Airport  Activism
  • Celebrate Vinfest in Taybeh, Palestine Arab World
  • Israeli Arab Knesset member Yousef Jabareen. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
    Israel bans Arab member from U.S. lecture tour Arab World
  • J.B. Pritzker for Governor full page Ad in The Future News newspaper, the largest circulation Arab American newspaper in Chicagoland and Illinois.
    Illinois Politicians pursue new trend with Arab Americans American Arabs
  • Egypt throws the dice with partial lifting of stadia ban Arab World
  • Nothing Holy about the Holy Land Arab World

More Related Articles

Christian religious presence imposes itself in Jerusalem despite pressures from all sides. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania يجب على العرب أن يوقفوا التواصل بإسرائيل حتى تعترف بفلسطين Arab News
Morocco Bans the Burqa Arab World
AAI President Jim Zogby addresses the 19th Annual Spirit of Humanity Awards Banquet Man who threatened AAI President Zogby convicted of hate crimes American Arabs
Arab American National Museum. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Summer Photography camp helps kids see world American Arabs
Palestine activists oppose arming Israel Activism
Mordechai Vanunu’s Christmas Update and Thirty-year Wait for Freedom from Israel Arab World

Comment (1) on “Middle East Christians in extreme danger Gemayel warns”

  1. Ahmad Ghazi says:
    March 29, 2015 at 3:03 pm

    Why the US invaded Iraq int he first place? to abort the birth of a strong Arab nation that might threaten the zionist occupiers of Palestine.
    The USA and the zionist apartheid occupation are the source of the problem and can never be part of the solution. They created the mess in the first place and they are responsible for all the crimes that happened as a result of their “New Middle East” they are breaching of.
    The USA is not fool or dont know what they are doing, they are systematically devastating the Arab countries and fragmenting them to keep the zionist occupation the dominant player in the Middle East, and fragmenting the Arab world will inevitably resulted in deep socio-economic changes where the fragile and minorities pay the highest price for the US to plunder more Arab oil and natural resources and the zionist to grab more Arab lands.

    It is with and within such racist advisers” like Gemayel, the US foreign policy is sunk deep into the sectarian policies that intentionally aim at devastating the Arab socio=econolic structure resulting into chaos or what Mr G W Bush called once “the creative anarchy” !!

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Ray Hanania's 4 times a week columns at https://RayHanania.com at Substack

Enter Your Email to Subscribe to Ray Hanania’s Columns

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Photo courtesy of Journalist Abdennour Toumi
    France: Political Compromise vs Political Instability
    August 28, 2024
  • Zakia Restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia
    Arabs eat Middle East food like they are making love
    June 27, 2024
  • Zwar lamb kabob and kufta with white and yellow rice
    Zwar ranked the Best Middle East restaurant in Chicagoland suburbs
    June 8, 2024
  • Pictured: Rahm Emanuel, Afghan activist Salman Aftab who was co-chair of the Iftar dinner, and several non-Arab Muslim leaders. Also pictured is Ald. Joe Moore. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania for Arab News
    Comprehensive look at the failings of former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
    January 18, 2024
  • NEWSWIRE
  • CAIR Logo. Council on American Islamic Relations
    CAIR Condemns MIT for banning Class President from Graduation Ceremony over Anti-Genocide speech
    June 1, 2025
  • Arab American community liaison Hassan Nijem, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas and Bolingbrook Mayor Mary Basta at the Arab American Heritage Month event hosted by Pappas’s office.
    Pappas honors Arab American business and community leaders for Heritage Month
    April 29, 2025
  • 04-28-25 Pappas Arab Heritage Month
    Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas recognizes Arab American Heritage Month by honoring business and community leaders
    April 27, 2025
  • Mike Ghouse
    Celebration of 500th Interfaith Marriage Ceremony
    February 14, 2025

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

  • NEWS
  • US Senator Bernie Sanders
    Sanders: Trump Welcomes War Criminal to White House
    July 9, 2025
  • Al-Haq
    War crimes probe urged against two Israeli snipers who intentionally killed civilian women, children
    July 2, 2025
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Faisal Abbas Book Anecdotes
    Book Review: Arab author shares his anecdotes living in the United Kingdom
    October 22, 2024
  • Columnist Ray Hanania at the ADC Convention in Dearborn with the author Susan Abulhawa
    Book Review: Mornings in Jenin bySusan Abulhawa
    September 14, 2024
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • Television set and remote. Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
    MBC GROUP unveils MBCNOW, its brand-new groundbreaking entertainment service aggregator
    February 24, 2025
  • ArabCon 2024 Gala Program features Dr. Cornel West, Macklemore, and more
    September 6, 2024
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
Arab News Newspaper Logo
Read the Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the MIddle East

Follow Ray Hanania at
Twitter
Facebook
TitkTok
BlueSky
RayHanania Columns

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2025 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme