Dr. Nimrod Raphaeli, a senior Middle East Media Research Institute analyst, wrote about the terrible plight of christians in the Middle East. The focus of his article is how Christians are actually being treated by Muslim in Arab countries. Although not isolated to any one Muslim-Arab nation, many Iraqi Christian and their churches have suffered violaent attacks. They have been pressured to migrate to other countries. And, hundreds have been killed.
Jew and other non-Muslims are not the only ones criticizing the plight of Middle East Christians. Arab reporter are also reporting the defamation and persecution of Christians living in Arab-Muslim countries. The is an except from Dr. Raphaeli’s article.
Another Iraqi commentator, ‘Aziz Al-Hajj, argues that the experience of the Iraqi Christians is no different from that of other Christians in the Middle East, who all suffer blunt discrimination, aggression, abuse of rights, and pressure to emigrate. He points out that since 2003, over 50 churches have been burned or destroyed in Iraq; a cardinal was kidnapped, three priests were murdered, and about 800 Christians have been killed. The emigration of Christians is driven by their realization that if they stay behind, they will at best be second-class citizens. According to Al-Hajj, the number of Palestinian Christians is dwindling too: no more than 50,000 remain in the occupied territories, only 1000 of them in Gaza. Even in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, the majority of the population is now Muslim.
If you still have any doubts about the intolerance of Muslims toward non-Muslims, you should read Dr. Raphaeli’s entire article. It is available on the MEMRI website.