Op-ed: Will Jews, Christians finally join forces in battle against genocidal Islamic hatred?
By Giulio Mietto, YNET
The Coliseum, where thousands upon thousands of “Judaeis” have been massacred by the Roman emperors, became for one night an arena for alliance between Christians and Jews against “odium fidei,” or religious hatred.
Last Wednesday in Rome, Jewish leaders for the first time rallied alongside Christians in a candlelit vigil to denounce the attacks in the Middle East and Africa. It was “interfaith” or “ecumenical” dialogue at its best. Forget the theological questions, which remain unsolvable. There is an urgent mutual solidarity about the single most defining issue of our time: religious freedom.
It is about the right to life of Jews and Christians in an Islamicized Middle East. Speaking at the Coliseum, Rome’s Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni slammed Western “indifference” surrounding the massacre of minorities in the Middle East.
Jewish eschatology contains many references to an alliance between Esau (Rome, the Christian West) and his father-in-law Ishmael (Islam) against the Jewish people. Historically, it has proven to be correct.
In the Islamic world, Jews paid racist taxes, had to wear an article of clothing that set them apart from Muslims, were prohibited from building synagogues, were required by law to take a subservient role in business partnerships with Muslims and were, by law, second-class citizens. It was the “golden age.”
In the Christian world, Jews could not own land, lived in ghettos, occupied only certain niches in the economy and were despised as the “killers of Christ.” Yet today, Christians and Jews both live under the shadow of Islamic fundamentalism; in a world threatened by jihad, they are true partners.
A new report from one of the world’s most respected NGO, Open Doors, shines a spotlight on the oppression of Christians in Muslim lands. It addresses the diminution, subjugation, emasculation, conversion, massacre and deportation of the indigenous Christians who came under the rule of Muhammad’s faithful.
The survey demolishes the mainstream media’s obfuscation. With the only exception being North Korea, an atheistic nightmare where 70,000 Christians are held in ghastly camps, 9 of the 10 worst persecutors of Christians are Islamic countries (Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iran, Maldives, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Iraq and Pakistan.) Of the 50 countries on the Open Doors’ list, 35 are Muslim (the Palestinian Authority is listed, but not Israel.)
Islamic groups recently issued an ultimatum to the Christians in Nigeria: “You have three days to leave, or you’ll die.” Over 13,750 Christians have already been killed in Nigeria since the introduction of Sharia laws in 2001. Some 500 Christians have been slaughtered since last December and 300 churches have been demolished.
Israel a Christian haven
Islam’s supersessionary doctrine catalyzes destruction, oppression and hemorrhaging of Christians in eastern lands. While there were moments of laxity in applying this domination, Islam did not recoil from razing churches in ancient Damascus and slaughtering Christians in the Sub-Saharan plateau, inflicting atrocities in Aleppo or Mesopotamia.
While the West is now endlessly focused on “Islamophobia,” a potential genocidal Christianophobia is spreading through Islamic lands. And as the rally in the Coliseum has clearly shown, it pairs up with another kind of hatred: Judeophobia.
Today there is only one country in the Middle East in which Christian numbers are not declining but continues to increase: Israel. The Jewish State hosts a multitude of Christian creeds, confessions and cultures.
Meanwhile, Yasser Arafat and Ahmed Yassin, Ayatollah Khomeini and Hassan Nasrallah, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Osama bin Laden relentlessly linked the wanton murder of Jews with the liquidation of Christianity. They don’t see Jerusalem as an urban terrain of conflict, but as a sweeping religious symbol of historical significance.
This week, the Coliseum catalyzed the two most important litmus tests we are facing today: The dormant anti-Jewish genocidal demons lurking in the shadows of the Middle East and of the civilized veneer of the West, and the invisible eastern Christians who are going extinct. After the Rome rally, the Jews should expect the same Christian solidarity next time that a rocket hits a school in Ashkelon or a settler family is slaughtered in the hills of Samaria.
Christians should see Israel as the first line of Western defense in the battle for non-Muslim survival and prosperity in the world. The sagacious American author Eric Hoffer, longshoreman-philosopher from San Francisco, gave voice to a profound and tragic Holocaust-related 20th-century truth: “I have a premonition that will not leave me, as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us.”
The stones of the Colosseum are saturated with the blood of the some 40,000 Jewish captives condemned over ten years by their imperial butchers to construct it;
its sands drenched with the blood/damiym of Jewish patriots;
and of ‘Christiani'(persecution begun under Nero just for the name alone)
-both Jewish and Gentile – martyred in it for their witness/marturia unto death.
It was the Christians NOT the Jews who were thrown to the lions. What politically correct nonsense is this?
Rome’s problem with the Jews was over Judea’s Independence. Rome was agaisnt 1st century Zionism, not the Jewish religion. Josephus was allowed to keep his religion, as long as he surrendered to Roman rule. Rome actually made concessions to the Jewish religion. For ex: It was Roman practice to pardon one prisoner at Passover. Hence “Give us Barabus.”
Rome killed millions of Jews, but over their national stuggle. Rome was usually tolerant of other religions; except Christianity.
Jews were killed but for being patriots.
I am all for Jewish/Christian solidarity.
However, after two millennia of of hatred, persecution, degradation and annihilation I fear that Jew hatred is now so ingrained in the Christian psyche thanks to the preachings of all Christian churches, that it might not be easily overcome.
There are days of so-called love and centuries of unmitigated hatred.
I hope that the solidarity wall has not been constructed with defiled sand.
As for the order of the destruction of Islam it should be:
1. The Kaaba. That would probably be the most painful blow that Islam could suffer. This blow should be delivered during the Hajj for maximum effect.
2. The House of Saud. I think that despite the rantings of Ahmadinejad and other Muslims, Saudi Arabia is behind the worldwide spread of the Islamic disease.
Both of these objectives could be accomplished at the same time.
3. Complete annihilation of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, infrastructure and ruling parties.
If, after these catastrophes, Islam has not returned to its proper place in the world, that is a few peace loving, democratic nations and a bevy of unimportant, self destructive, waring tribes, then its destruction should be continued until it has.
Cruel? Yes. Brutal? Yes. Inhumane? No. If human beings wish to live as such than those who would destroy humanity must be dealt with as harshly and as finally as possible. There can no longer be any doubt about the aspirations of Islam – a completely subservient Muslim world.
Pheonix, I said use conventional weapons not nuclear. Why r u blaming the left? I didn’t miss your point, but you missed mine, Jews can end Islam by themselves. Attaack Syria, Iran, egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, and every Islamic country.
@ charlie:
charlie, charlie, charlie…
you have obviously missed the tone of my post… thus, i shall keep it really simple.
“Read Isiah [sic]”…
charlie, i DID read Yesha’yahu and we are still at odds.
for you see, according to you, “the Messiah arrives …., then all Israel will be saved” all i wish is for israel to be saved from the ‘left’.
with your ‘vision’, you might as well be waiting for godot…
but that’s another story…
Ruthie Blum, former editor of JPOST comments on this article.
Saluting Christian-Jewish Solidarity
Uh UH Phoenix? You worry about radiation? Read Isiah, before the Messiah arrives there will be years of turmoil, then all Israel will be saved. Doncha have faith in the Lord? Then do it without nukes. Israel can easily do it. I don’t know why Jews don’t destroy Islam on their own. You don’t need us to do it, you r so much nearer dude. Get on with it. Then as the good Giulio Mietto laments, Christianity will be the Middle Eastern religion and Israel will be secure with Islam gone. with Mecca gone, the remaining muzzies will know the stone they worship is dead and may even see the light and embrace the Lord.
@ charlie:
charlie, there is no argument about your assertion that charlie Said:
personally, i have no problem with your ‘to do list’ for israel…
charlie Said:
but charlie, in view of the close proximity of some of the targets, (syria….egypt…) and the way radioactivity works, you SURE that
charlie Said:
since you obviously have insight info could you please double check with the big boss and make sure that’s *really* what he wants….:)
Ari you wrong, Islam is paganism, Rome is no more, Edom is dead, but Ishmael is alive in Islam and is the eternel enemy of the Jews and Christians. Giulio Mietto if right, and Israel should destroy Islam. Nuke Mecca, then Iran, then Syria, then Egypt. Do it now, it’s what God wants.
This will be our downfall. Ironically, Mietto’s words are spot on, but not in the way he imagines. We have a duty to rid the land of paganism, yet it’s the Moslems who are doing it. Jews should not defend xtianity. We remain neutral. We should not let xtianity ‘flourish’ in Israel.
The Neviim and our forefathers were like the Moslems of today.