"Se ti dimentico, Gerusalemme, si paralizzi la mia destra! Se ti dimentico, che la mia lingua si incolli al palato - se non metto Gerusalemme al di sopra di ogni mia gioia." (Sal 137,5-6)
Articoli di attualità riguardanti Israele e il Medio Oriente
Since there are a number of passages in the Koran stating that God has given the Holy Land to the Sons of Israel, there can be no religious justification for radical Islamic opposition to the Jewish presence in this land.
Leggi tutto: The People of Israel, the Holy Land and the Koran
Ulpan programs - the modern Hebrew language schools - are known to be a hub of diversity, predominantly filled with new immigrants, Arab Israelis looking to learn Hebrew and Jewish students spending a semester abroad. But ulpan teachers say that in recent years, they have seen a remarkable influx of priests and priests-in-training being sent to ulpan programs officially by their seminaries.
Not surprisingly, Israel's interception of the "humanitarian aid" flotilla heading for Gaza in the early morning of May 31, 2010, which ended with nine activists killed and dozens wounded, has sparked outrage and harsh condemnations from the international community. The incident has been described as an Israeli "crime" and "massacre" of peaceful humanitarian workers who only wished to relieve the suffering of the people of Gaza.
Day by day the anti-Israel alliance, and sadly in collaboration with major church movements mainly from the Protestant world, is seeking to make the Apartheid label stick to Israel. We see this at present in the fortnight of global agitation known as “Israel Apartheid Week.” There is more to this scheming than meets the eye in that the real agenda behind branding Israel an “Apartheid state” is to remove the Jewish State altogether.
Hamas nega a Israele il diritto di esistere. Ma per la diplomazia pontificia lo stato ebraico sbaglia a difendere con le armi la propria vita. Il Custode della Terra Santa svela le ragioni che sottostanno alla politica della Chiesa nel Vicino Oriente
On the heels of the Gaza disengagement, which was intended to empower the Palestinian Authority to improve the lives of its people, few journalists have reported on the acutely trying times facing the Christians residing in areas "governed" by the Palestinian Authority. Professor Justus Reid Weiner, Scholar in Residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, provides an in-depth look into the nearly uninterrupted persecution of Christians throughout the decade since the Oslo peace process began. Read Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society.
Leggi tutto: Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society
An interview with Petra Heldt, head of the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity in Israel and proud friend of Israel, on Christians in Israel, dhimmitude and Sharia law, and Jewish-Christian relations.
The Christian population of the areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has sharply declined in recent decades, as tens of thousands have abandoned their holy sites and ancestral properties to live abroad. Those who remain comprise a beleaguered and dwindling minority. In sharp contrast, Israel's Christian community has prospered and grown by at least 270 percent since the founding of the state.
It's that time of year again - the media prepares to take a festive bash at Israel. But in the rush to blame Israel for the precarious position of Christian communities in the region, the foreign media has almost ignored the increasing pressures on Palestinian Christians, particularly since the rise of Hamas and other extremist Islamist forces.
It's highly doubtful that Dr. Justus Reid Weiner's chilling forecast of the impending demise of Christian communities under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction will generate much outrage or uproar in Christendom. If, as expected, it fails to do so, it will be more than a shame. At the very least, Weiner's words of warning ought to ring powerful alarm bells among overseas coreligionists of local Christians.
The ever-dwindling Christian communities living in Palestinian-run territories in the West Bank and Gaza are likely to dissipate completely within the next 15 years as a result of increasing Muslim persecution and maltreatment, an Israeli scholar said Monday.