Last Friday, led by Representatives Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), eight members of Congress sent a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing their “[deep concern about] the rise in attacks against the Christian community in Jerusalem.” The members of Congress are calling on Blinken and Rashad Hussain, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, to “work with the Israeli government to uphold its stated commitment to the freedom of religion and worship for all religions and to hold accountable the radical groups who are engaging in sustained attacks against Christian clergy and destruction of church properties.”
“The actions of radical groups who are able to act with impunity,” the letter states, “directly threaten the religious freedom of the Christian community in Jerusalem and undermine the rich history of interfaith cooperation within the city.”
Representatives cited several examples of the violence and quoted from a December 2021 statement from the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, in which the church leaders decried “countless incidents of physical and verbal assaults against priests and other clergy, attacks on Christian churches, with holy sites regularly vandalized and desecrated, and ongoing intimidation of local Christians who simply seek to worship freely and go about their daily lives.”
The letter continues, “The decline of the Christian presence in Jerusalem is not only a blow to religious freedom but also has humanitarian consequences. Ministry programs organized under the auspices of the Christian churches in Jerusalem meet the medical, educational, and humanitarian needs of many disadvantaged people regardless of religious affiliation throughout Israel, the Palestinian territories, and Jordan. If the radical groups succeed in driving out the Christian community, many of these programs will no longer be able to operate.”
Members called Blinken’s attention to Christian tourism in the Holy Land which “generates $3 billion in revenue for the Israeli economy, demonstrating the significant financial contribution the Christian community in Jerusalem makes to Israel despite its small numbers.”
Asked to respond to the letter, Jonathan Kattab, international human rights lawyer and Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America, said, “In the past, when questioned about religious hostility, Israel has sought to present a secular viewpoint. In response to anti-Islam or anti-Christian violence, the state would say, ‘We are for religious freedom and free access to the holy sites.’ But there has been a shift to the right in Israel. Extremists have become mainstream, become a part of the government. Many claim now that Jerusalem is a Jewish city, that Jews have the right to determine life in the Jerusalem. In this way, violence is not seen as a religious act of hostility against Christians and Muslims; it is seen, instead, in terms of nationalism and Jewish sovereignty over the city.”
When they charged that extremist groups “are able to act with impunity,” Congressional signatories to the letter may have had in mind this shift in the Israeli government that Kuttab describes.
In response to the letter, Churches for Middle East Peace’s Senior Director of Advocacy and Government Relations, Kyle Cristofalo, said: “We are grateful to Reps. Castro and Bilirakis for leading this critical letter and for all the members who joined. The actions of radical Jewish settler groups against Christians in Jerusalem, including the recent seizure of the Greek Orthodox-owned Little Petra Hotel, directly threaten the long-term sustainability of the Christian community in the Holy Land. Attacks in recent months against Christian clergy and Muslim worshippers at the al-Aqsa mosque are in violation of the Status Quo and must cease immediately.”
Signed by Representatives James McGovern (D-MA), Andy Harris (R-MD), French Hill (R-AR), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Jackie Speier (D-CA), and Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) in addition to Castro and Bilirakis, the letter ends with this request, “We ask you to work closely with counterparts in the Israeli government to ensure Jerusalem is a place where Christians, Jews, and Muslims can worship freely, without fear of attack.”
This is a problem of Congress’s own making.
The US has single-handedly undermined the Corpus Separtum status of Jerusalem and East Jerusalem in particular. The US has undermined (and vetoed) every single UN Resolution regarding the status of Jerusalem. Congress itself passed the ‘Jerusalem Embassy Act’, stating that Jerusalem shall be the capital of Israel. The US moved its embassy to Jerusalem. Congress has done and said NOTHING about Israel’s more than 50-year illegal occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem, not to mention the Apartheid, dispossession, disenfranchisement, ethnic cleansing, and denial of citizenship of Arabs within East Jerusalem.
This is simply the logical conclusion of Congress’s sycophantic appeasement, enabling, encouragement, and financing of Israel’s self-imposed hegemony of Jerusalem. They willingly and knowingly lay down with the dogs, they must now accept the fleas.
I’m curious as to why not one member of “the squad” signed this letter. Were they not asked? Did they refuse? In either case, why? Leaving aside “the squad,” why didn’t Betty McCollum sign? Do the signatories desire not to be associated with “the squad” or Betty McCollum?
Notwithstanding the afterthought of the last paragraph with its rather weak call “to ensure Jerusalem is a place where Christians, Jews, and Muslims can worship freely, without fear of attack,” is the letter too exclusively focused on the plight of Christians? Kairos Palestine (https://www.kairospalestine.ps/) is also led by Christians, yet it takes care to be inclusive. It’s fine to draw attention to the plight of Christians, to gain support from the US Christian community, but there are several places where the letter arguably could have acknowledged attacks on Muslims and did not.
An obvious Trojan Horse!
“…the letter ends with this request, “We ask you to work closely with counterparts in the Israeli government to ensure Jerusalem is a place where Christians, Jews, and Muslims can worship freely, without fear of attack.”
Don’t be fooled! The Zionist Lobby is pushing Congress not because a handful of remaining River-to-the-Sea Christians are being screwed. It’s a covert plot to open the floodgates that will allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount, rebuild the Holy of Holies, and resume ritual slaughter–the whole nine yards, as they say.
When too many Muslims interfere with accommodating Jewish demand, get ready for quotas that restrict access to no more than one Muslim worshipper for every four Jews. And then, when Jewish demand necessitates their Temple’s expansion, prepare yourselves for just one more routine house demolition after the Supreme Court rules that Allah’s house was, indeed, built without a permit!
Pretty clever, huh?