Saving Arab Christians in Middle East & America
#SaveArabChristians New Facebook Group documents killings of Arabs & Middle East Christians. Please support, share:
www.facebook.com/groups/160992707701045
By Ray Hanania
I can’t believe that whenever someone brings up the topic of “Saving Arab Christians,” people in the Middle East community get angry and upset.
I get angry responses on my Facebook Page like:
“Stop trying to cause trouble between Christians and Muslims. We have always been brothers and sisters and we suffer together. There is no problem between our communities.”
Or,
“Your point doesn’t make sense. Arab Christians are protected in the Middle East. Why are you starting trouble?”
Or,
“The only people killing Arab Christians are Israelis in the occupation. Muslims are not killing Christians.”
The point is that no one wants to talk about the reality of life for Christians not just in the Middle East but in the West and especially in the United States.
The fact is Christian Arabs are being killed and their killings are being marginalized as “abnormal,” and “oddity,” or “uncharacteristic” of the Arab World.
The Christian village of Taybeh, West Bank, Palestine
But that’s not true.
So, I set up a Facebook Group that I hope people who want to show support for Arab Christians, who want to add their voices to protect the rights of Arab Christians be it in the Middle East, the Islamic World or in the United States and the West, can come to show their support.
It is a fact: Extremists in the Israeli community are killing Christians.
It is a fact: Extremists in the Muslim community are killing Christians.
It is a fact: Christian Arabs in America are being murdered and assaulted by Americans — Christians, Muslims and Jews — because each group has a reason to hate them.
Christian religious presence imposes itself in Jerusalem despite pressures from all sides. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
It is a fact: No one is speaking out against this increasing phenomena of the killing and silencing of Christian Arabs throughout the world because Israelis, Muslims, Arabs and even Christians believe that putting a spotlight on these killings will somehow hurt their political arguments that Christians are treated with respect in Israel, in the Arab World, in the Muslim World and in the non-Arab world.
The Facebook Page is a place where stories about these killings can be documented and archived so that when someone says it is an exception, we can see that it is not an exception but a frightening phenomena that must be addressed.
Don’t deny truth. The only way to overcome evil is to recognize the truth and then do something about it. If there is a failing, overcoming that failing requires that the failing must be acknowledged.
#SaveArabChristians New Facebook Group documents killings of Arabs & Middle East Christians. Please support, share:
www.facebook.com/groups/160992707701045
Speaking out in defense of Christian Arabs IS NOT an attack on Islam or even Judaism. It’s not an attack on Muslims or Jews. It’s not an attack on Israel, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon or any of the Arab or Middle East countries.
Christian Arabs have a right to speak out against those extremist minorities who attack them. We will not be bullied. We will not be marginalized. We will not be silenced.
As Christians, we turn the other cheek in the face of violence, but we also spread the word to the world.
I won’t be silenced. No one can silence the rights of Christian in the Middle East, in the Islamic World, in the West and especially in the United States when we are under siege. We need to recognize this growing and frightening phenomena of the killing of Christians because they are Christians.
(Ray Hanania is a Palestinian American Arab Christian. Email him at rghanania@gmail.com. But most importantly, if you care about supporting Christian Arabs and Middle East Christians, LIKE the Save Arab Christians Facebook Group.)
rayhanania
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
"I write about three topics, the Middle East, politics and life in general. I often take my life experiences and offer them in an entertaining way to readers, and I take on the toughest topics like the Israel-Palestine conflict and don't pull any punches about what I feel is fair. But, my priority is always about writing the good story."
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992. Hanania began writing in 1975 when he published The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper which was distributed through 12,500 Middle East food stores in 48 American States (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues for the Arab News in Saudi Arabia as the Special US Correspondent for the Arab News at www.ArabNews.com, the TheArabDailyNews.com, www.TheDailyHookah.com and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has also published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday Newspaper in New York, the Orlando Sentinel Newspapers, and the Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Palestinian, American Arab and Christian, Hanania’s parents originate from Jerusalem and Bethlehem.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
The managing editor of Suburban Chicagoland Online News website www.SuburbanChicagoland.com, Hanania's columns also appeare in the Southwest News Newspaper Group of 8 newspapers.
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His Facebook Page is Facebook.com/rghanania
Visit this link to read Ray's column archive at the ArabNews,com ArabNews.com/taxonomy/term/10906
