"WE NEED YOUR HEAD" AS THE MUSLIM PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS CONTINUES, BY RAYMOND IBRAHIM.

‘We Need Your Head’: Muslim Persecution of Christians, July 2014

Gatestone Institute The purge of ancient Christian communities throughout Iraq that started in June culminated in a show of great intolerance in July. Among other things, a Christian church that had stood on the ground of Iraq for 1,800 years—a church that was erected less than 200 year after Christ—was reportedly torched by the Islamic State, according to numerous news agencies, including Al Arabiya. Islamic State jihadis also stormed and took over an ancient monastery in northern Iraq and expelled its few monks, telling them “You have no place here anymore, you have to leave immediately.” The monks plead to be allowed to save some of the monastery’s ancient relics but the jihadis refused and ordered them to walk many miles along a deserted road with nothing but their clothes. (St. Behnam monastery had stood since the fourth century and was one of Iraq’s best-known Christian landmarks. It was built by an Assyrian king as a penance for executing his children Behnam and Sarah for converting to Christianity.) The Islamic State issued a July 19 deadline for Mosul’s remaining Christians either to convert to Islam or face execution. Islamic State members also singled out Christian homes by placing the Arabic letter for “N”—based on the Arabic word Nasara, or “Nazarenes,” the Koran’s pejorative for Christians—on the sides of their homes. The result, in the words of Patriarch Louis Sako, is that “For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians.” In response to the Islamic State’s latest atrocities against Iraq’s Christian minorities, the Syriac Orthodox bishop of Mount Lebanon and Tripoli, George Saliba, denounced not just the Islamic State but Muslims in general for their long “history of violence and oppression against Christians”: "What is happening in Iraq is a strange thing, but it is normal for Muslims, because they have never treated Christians well, and they have always held an offensive and defaming stand against Christians…. We used to live and coexist with Muslims, but then they revealed their canines [teeth]…. [They don’t] have the right to storm houses, steal and attack the honor of Christians. Most Muslims do this, the Ottomans killed us and after that the ruling nation-states understood the circumstances but always gave advantage to the Muslims. Islam has never changed…" Islamic organizations responded by denouncing the Syriac bishop’s words as “hateful” and Islamophobic, demanding an apology. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also made some telling remarks concerning the plight of Christians, especially in those Mideast countries the U.S. is involved in. When asked if he was “troubled” by the Presbyterian Church USA’s decision to withdraw $21 million worth in investments from Israel on behalf of the Palestinian people, the prime minister said: "You know I would suggest to these Presbyterian organizations to fly to the Middle East, come and see Israel for the embattled democracy that it is, and then take a bus tour, go to Libya, go to Syria, go to Iraq, and see the difference. And I would give them two pieces of advice, one is, make sure it’s an armor plated bus, and second, don’t say that you’re Christians." The rest of July’s roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and country alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity. Muslim Attacks on Churches and Carnage Afghanistan: according to BosNewsLife, the central Asian nation’s “tiny Christian community was left in shock Friday, July 25, after two Finnish Christian aid workers were shot dead.” The attack “underscored the dangers faced by Christian aid workers.” The two women were slain by motorcycle riding gunmen in the western city of Herat, “the latest in a series of attacks targeting Westerners, including Christian believers. The Christians, who represented International Assistance Mission (IAM), had been working in Afghanistan since the 1990s… They both spoke Dari well and knew and respected the culture of Afghanistan.” Among those the aid workers were helping were people with mental disabilities and illiterate women. Central African Republic: At least 27 Christians were slaughtered during a July 7 attack on the St. Joseph’s Cathedral compound in Bambari, where thousands of people, mostly Christian, were receiving sanctuary. The attackers were fighters from the Islamic Seleka rebel movement and Muslim civilians. The armed attackers entered the grounds at around 3pm and began shooting indiscriminately. Women and children were among those killed; over 20 people were injured. The Islamic attackers burnt down 20 buildings within the church compound, set fire to three cars, and stole two others as well as a number of motorbikes. Weeks earlier, on May 28, another attack on a church compound in Bangui, the capital, left around 20 people dead. Kenya: On July 5, Muslims attacked the Covenant Church, three kilometers north of Hindi, just as Bible study was closing. As the Bible study participants fled, two men opted to hide inside the church building—and were burned alive after the Islamic attackers set the building on fire. On the same night, a Catholic church building in the village of Gamba, in neighboring Tana River County, was also destroyed by attackers. Two days earlier, 15-20 assailants armed with guns and knives attacked Gamba and the village of Hindi, killing at least 13 people, including a 12-year-old student and a 30-year-old man “who was found in a pool of blood with a Bible on his back,” reports Morning Star News. One survivor of the attacks said the invaders were heard “saying non-Muslims should get out, and if not they should convert to Islam.” Another survivor said, “I was removed with my daughter from the house while the attackers tied my husband to the bedside before setting the house on fire. The attackers, who spoke mainly in Somali, targeted non-Muslims, whom they tied with ropes before slitting their throats.” (Gamba is about 28 miles from Mpeketoni, another Christian town where gunmen killed at least 57 people in a June 15 attack.) Lebanon: A shadowy group known as the Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade, which had only recently pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State, announced on its twitter account that a “specialized group of free jihadists were tasked with cleansing the Islamic state of Bekaa in particular and in Lebanon in general from the churches. We will target crusaders in the state and in Lebanon to silence the ringing of the bells.” (According to Islamic Sharia, churches under Islamic authority are forbidden from ringing their bells.) The Brigade has claimed responsibility for several rocket and bomb attacks inside Lebanon, the last of which were the suicide blasts in Dahr al-Baydar and Raouche’s Duroy Hotel. Nigeria: A bomb blast inside the Saint Charles Catholic Church left five people dead and eight injured... Click for complete report.