Israel's Christian Community Seeks to Step up Integration

by Yuri Yalon

Conference held on increased integration of Christians • Christian community feels indebted to Israel • Father Gabriel Nadaf: 'we [must] do our part to help' • Columnist Dr. Dror Eydar: Christian community respects Jewish heritage in Israel.

Father Gabriel Nadaf | Photo credit: Michel Dot Com

During a conference that took place on Monday in the Mishkanot Shaananim neighborhood in Jerusalem, officials from the Christian community in the north of Israel made it clear that they intend to considerably increase the support for the integration of their community into Israeli society. 

The coordination committee, comprising representatives from the B'nai Brith World Center and the Ecumenical Association for Theological Research in Israel, held a discussion on the topic.

During the discussion, Father Gabriel Nadaf, priest of the Greek Orthodox church in Nazareth and the spiritual leader of the "Forum for the Enlistment of the Christian Community in Israel," clarified that, "the country that protects us deserves that we do our part to help it prosper and to defend it."

Dr. Dror Eydar, a columnist at Israel Hayom who participated in the discussion felt that, "a lot of courage is needed to say the things we heard here. There is a deep importance in the fact that Christians are declaring that Israel belongs to the Jewish people, that it was not stolen from anyone. This pulls the rug from under the detractors of the state."

Yuri Yalon

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=12159

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