Occupied Jerusalem- The leaders of the churches of Jerusalem were not satisfied with the statement they issued, in which they explained the reason for their participation in a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, just before Christmas. The meeting sparked anger and criticism.
The heads of the churches confirmed in their statement that during their visit they called for “stopping the bloodshed” in Gaza, and that “everything that is dealt with outside this framework is aimed at distorting the image of Christians and churches, and serving political agendas that the churches refrain from delving into or addressing.”
This meeting – which was held last Thursday – did not go unnoticed, especially since Isaac Herzog was quoted as saying that “the forces of evil carried out barbaric and sadistic attacks,” in reference to the seventh of last October, and that he expected “the leaders of the Christian world to strongly condemn Hamas atrocities, and to support our efforts to eliminate evil” in the Holy Land, as he put it.
Archimandrite Abdullah July – the former head of the Greek Melkite Catholic Monastery in Ramallah – began his speech to Tel Aviv Tribune Net by describing the meeting of the Patriarchs with Herzog as “shocking,” because the heads of the churches who met with him were the same ones who took a position that there would be no feasts and celebrations this year, given the circumstances. that the country is going through.
There is no point in visiting
July said, “It was not necessary to go there because our people are being slaughtered, and the visit is inappropriate, even if there is an annual protocol, as they say. If we assume good faith that the visit was aimed at demanding an end to the bloodshed in Gaza, a little wisdom would have been sufficient not to organize it.”
The Archimandrite pointed out that Christians are an integral part of the Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic nations, adding that they are not just minorities and sects, and their presence is contingent, but rather they are a historical and authentic part of the nation, and their position is clear towards the issue to which they are linked.
July indicated that the “Ramallah Youth Club” organized a protest yesterday, Saturday, rejecting the visit, during which a picture was raised of one Christian cleric, Bishop Hilarion Capuchi, known as the “Guardian of Jerusalem.” He is the Syrian cleric who sacrificed his life defending the Palestinian cause, until Israel arrested him and ruled… He is sentenced to 12 years in prison.
July added, “I raised the picture of this bishop, despite the passage of years since his departure, so that the Palestinians can say that this man is our address, and this is what we want the cleric to be in the country. He must be part of the people, their concerns, and their aspirations.”
For his part, researcher in the history of the Orthodox Church, Alif Sabbagh, began his talk – to Tel Aviv Tribune Net – by describing the visit as “shameful,” and the behavior of what they call themselves the spiritual leadership of Christians as “disgraceful and seditious that only serves the occupation,” and stressed that it is not permissible to turn a blind eye to this. The visit and no tolerance for those who made it “because they went to shake hands with the killer in order to acquit him… We do not tolerate the killer and do not shake his hand.”
According to the writer and specialist in Israeli affairs, Elif Sabbagh, this visit comes after a two-week postponement, because Israel wanted it to coincide with the celebration of Christmas, to use it to its advantage before European and American public opinion, to say that there is no problem between it and the Christians, and to exonerate itself once again from the bombing of the Baptist Hospital and other places. Christian properties in the Gaza Strip.
Sabbagh added, “What happened in the Baptist Hospital must not be forgotten, the sniping that happened in the Latin Monastery cannot be overlooked, and the killing of people that is happening in the Gaza Strip must not be tolerated. We consider the Christian clerics who met with Herzog to be occupiers, just like the Israeli occupation, because they They are foreigners and do not understand the dignity of the Palestinian people or their rights, and these people cooperate with the occupation, because they are part of it.”
A follow-up committee for the behavior of clergy
Within the framework of the Christian movements against this visit, researcher Sabbagh confirmed that several meetings were held in Palestine and outside it, during which a number of Christian figures and activists met, and it was agreed to establish a follow-up committee, which includes secular, non-religious figures, to follow up on the behavior of Christian clergy and their relationship with the Israeli occupation.
The follow-up committee will be general and include all Christian denominations in the Middle East, and will work within a long-term program that ensures that there is no silence or neglect of the behavior of clergy that only serves Israel.
Sabbagh says, “We have been struggling for many years for the heads of our churches in Palestine to be Arabs and not foreigners. Why do we see the head of the Russian Church as a Russian, the German as a German, and the Greek as a Greek? While we are forced to have the heads of churches in Palestine be foreigners. The answer is that our problem lies in the Jordanian political authority.” And the Palestinian, which supports the foreigner at the expense of the rights of the Arab members of the church.”
Sabbagh concluded his speech to Tel Aviv Tribune Net by saying, “If these people really wanted to serve and defend Christians in Palestine, why did we not see serious action from them when the settlers adopted the habit of spitting on an almost daily basis at the cross and the clergy, in Jerusalem in particular and Palestine in general?”
The same speaker replied that “they were calling for tolerance at the time,” wondering whether their recent visit to Isaac Herzog also fell within the framework of tolerance, or within the framework of ignoring the tragedy that the Palestinians are going through in the Gaza Strip.
It is noteworthy that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) denounced this meeting, and said in a statement, “We were shocked by the image of Christian leaders in the occupied Palestinian territories meeting with the president of the Zionist entity on the occasion of Christmas, especially since none of them spoke about the difficult times our people are going through.” Because of the crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Hamas said, “We believe that this Christian leadership, with this behavior, does not represent our people of all sects,” according to the statement.