Unfortunately for the people of Israel and other Christians in the world, Bethlehem will have been closed for Christmas. But this is not the Israelis doing it is the actions of the Arabs labeled as Palestinians by their fellow Islamic brothers. Why wouldn’t be in their best interest to cause enough chaos to close a sacred place during the holiday, of course, it is and they are reveling in it. This could be over tomorrow if they would return the hostages taken in October but they seem to be refusing to do so. Is this maybe because they have already tortured and killed them? Unfortunately so, and do you think the people of Gaza that voted Hamas into power are innocent or had no idea what has happened? I think not, and just the opposite has occurred where they continue to condone and promote this anarchy. This is an Arab problem however they are refusing to take in any refugees, why is that do you think? Maybe they would rather see the Palestinians continue to torment the Israelis because they agree, and then hide behind plausible deniability that they are not involved. And when did MSNBC start caring about Christians, this is once again an effort to stoke more hatred and division.
Being Duped: The World (or maybe not)
More than two billion Christians around the world are celebrating Christmas this week, but those celebrations look very different in the place where Jesus Christ was born. Christian leaders in Bethlehem, which is located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, decided to cancel public celebrations because of the devastating war in Gaza.
There was little joy in the Holy Land this year, and certainly little peace.
In the wake of Hamas’ brutal October 7 terror attack, neighborhoods across Gaza have come under sustained Israeli bombardment. The 800 to 1,000 Christians in Gaza are “under threat of extinction” from Israeli bombing, according to the Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb. “We know that within this generation, Christianity will cease to exist in Gaza,” said Raheb, the president of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem.
Tragedy has rocked Gaza’s tiny Christian community. An IDF rocket struck the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa and two Christian women were shot dead while walking inside the grounds of the Holy Family Church on December 16, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. (The IDF has denied responsibility.)
“While Christians around the world are celebrating the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, Palestinian families in Gaza will be struggling to find food, shelter, and medicine, and trying to dig their loved ones out of the rubble,” Hassan El-Tayyab, legislative director for Middle East policy at the Quaker group Friends Committee on National Legislation, told MSNBC.
Cancelling Christmas in a Bethlehem is a drastic decision, one that should shock Christians around the world into paying attention to the pleas of Palestinian Christians.
“I always say we need to de-romanticize Christmas,” the Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem said in an interview with NPR about the cancellation of Christmas festivities. “In reality, it’s a story of a baby who was born in the most difficult circumstances and the Roman Empire under occupation, who survived the massacre of children himself when he was born. So the connection was natural to us.”
In the United States, Christian calls for a ceasefire are also growing louder.
The same day the IDF reportedly killed two Christian women in Gaza, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called for “an immediate cessation of all hostilities, the release of hostages, and for earnest negotiations towards a peaceful resolution of this conflict.” The UCSSB tends to be much more conservative than Pope Francis, and the bishops’ advocacy carries significant weight with the country’s second Catholic president. “We resolutely join our voices with the Holy Father, Pope Francis, reminding all parties in this conflict, that war is never the answer but always a defeat,” USCCB President Timothy P. Broglio said.
Pope Francis spoke directly to President Joe Biden by phone on October 22. The official White House readout of their conversation noted that they “discussed the need to prevent escalation in the region and to work toward a durable peace in the Middle East.”
