The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."
The attack on the ship comes as Iranian-backed militias in Iraq are also suspected of numerous drone and missile attacks over the past two weeks.
THE ‘CORDELIA MOON’ oil tanker
bursts into flames after being hit in a Houthi missile attack off
Yemen’s Hodeidah Port last October. (photo credit: Houthi Military Media/Reuters)
An attack on a vessel in the Red Sea was reported on Sunday, which was the first attack there in months.
The Iranian-backed Houthis
had carried out dozens of attacks on ships between November 2023 and at
least February 2024. They had ended some of their attacks due to a
ceasefire in Gaza,
and previously, they had said they would continue attacks to support
Gaza. They claimed to be targeting ships linked to Israel, but they also
targeted cargo ships linked to Western companies.
The
US launched airstrikes on the Houthis in mid-March. The airstrikes
ended in April with some kind of a deal, and the Houthis appeared to
stop attacks on ships. It was not clear if the Houthis would choose to
change course after the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran. In
addition, the US bombed Iran.
Sunday’s
report said that the maritime security group UKMTO had received a
report of an incident 51 nautical miles southwest of Hodeidah, a key
port in Yemen. Hodeidah is controlled by the Houthis, and Israel has
struck the port several times.
Protesters, mainly Houthi supporters, rally to show support to
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in
Sanaa, Yemen December 6, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/KHALED ABDULLAH)The
vessel was attacked by “multiple small vessels,” the report said. The
vessels had opened fire, and a security team on the vessel had
responded, with the incident continuing for hours. “Vessels are advised
to transit with caution,” the group said.
Mixed reports hide Houthi recognition of attacks
Al-Akhbar,
a pro-Iranian Lebanese media outlet, reported that “two unmanned aerial
vehicles collided with the side of a ship.” It was not clear if this
was the same incident. Al-Ain media in the UAE also reported on the
incident.
Al-Akhbar
also said that the Houthi leader had put out a statement reiterating
the Houthis’ “firm position in support of the Palestinian people and its
commitment to the option of confrontation against the Israeli
occupation and America.”
It
was not clear if this was linked to the new threat to shipping. The
Houthi leader also affirmed “our firm stance in supporting the
Palestinian people and our hostility towards the Israeli and American
enemy, which is an enemy of Islam and Muslims and poses a danger to the
entire Islamic nation.”
He
also said, “No matter the challenges, difficulties, extent of
sacrifices, level of blame, pressure, and media attacks, our
steadfastness in our positions is our decisive choice.”
The
attack on the ship comes as Iranian-backed militias in Iraq are also
suspected of numerous drone and missile attacks over the past two weeks.
One
of the last important attacks on a ship in the Red Sea was in February.
Ynet noted at the time, “A cargo ship in the Red Sea suffered minor
damage after being hit by a projectile while sailing off the coast of
Yemen’s Hodeidah, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency
and British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Tuesday.
“UKMTO
received the report just after midnight GMT Tuesday. Ambrey said the
Barbados-flagged, general cargo ship owned by a British company incurred
physical damage from an unmanned aerial vehicle while sailing southeast
through the Red Sea. No injuries were reported. The ship performed
evasive maneuvers and continued its journey, Ambrey said.”
Iran's 'most dangerous capability' is its manipulation of diplomacy
Iran is preparing its next step in what one security expert warns remains its chief objective: developing a nuclear weapon.
"Repair,
reconstitute and rebuild is going to be the modus operandi of the
Islamic Republic of Iran," Behnam Ben Taleblu, Senior Director of the
Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Iran Program told Fox News
Digital. "It just depends on how are they going to be doing it? While
flirting with the international community? Are they going to go dark
totally altogether?
Iran's
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses the media during the voting of
Parliament Elections in Tehran, Iran on May 10, 2024.(Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Spokesman for the regime, Fatemeh Mohajerani, confirmed this week
that the Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites had been "seriously
damaged" following the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear
program last month.
Questions remain over the extent of damage
that was incurred, as well as skepticism over whether Iran was able to
move any enriched uranium or centrifuges away from the heavily guarded
sites prior to the strikes.
Though the Trump administration said on Wednesday that it had "obliterated" the three facilities it struck, and has fervently rejected
reports suggesting that Iranian officials may have been able to
transfer some elements of the regime’s coveted nuclear program, Israeli
officials confirmed this week that they are continuing to monitor the
situation closely.
Experts in the U.S. and Israel have said they believe Iran is still assessing the extent of the damage from the "bunker busting" bombs, and that the regime will look to recover and repair what it can — meaning it may be looking to buy time.
"No
doubt, the regime will still have a diplomatic strategy designed to
rope-a-dope anybody, and to find as much time as possible for this
government to do that," Ben Taleblu said.
The Iranian regime
this week suggested it remained open to negotiations with the U.S.
after President Donald Trump signaled that the talks could begin as soon
as next week, though multiple Iranian officials said that that
timeframe was overly ambitious.
"I
don’t think negotiations will restart as quickly as that," Iranian
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a CBS News interview. "The doors
of diplomacy will never slam shut."
This
satellite picture by Planet Labs PBC shows Iran's underground nuclear
enrichment site at Fordow following U.S. airstrikes targeting the
facility, on Sunday, June 22, 2025.(Planet Labs PBC via AP)
But the regime also took steps to further hinder the UN nuclear watchdog — which is tasked with tracking all nation’s nuclear programs — and suspended all interaction with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Wednesday.
That
same day, the State Department condemned the move, and spokesperson
Tammy Bruce said it was "unacceptable that Iran chose to suspend
cooperation with the
IAEA at a time when it has a window of opportunity to reverse course and
choose a path of peace and prosperity."
Iran has limited IAEA
access in the past and Ben Taleblu argued Tehran will likely look to do
this again as it attempts to hold on to any bargaining chip it can.
"The
Islamic Republic of Iran's next step, and likely most dangerous
capability right now, is its diplomatic capability," the Iranian
security expert argued. "This is the capability of the regime to either
enter negotiations with a weak hand and leave with a strong hand, or try
to prevent a military victory of its adversaries from becoming a
political victory.
"If negotiations do take place between the
U.S. and the Iranians, be they direct or indirect, the Iranians are
going to be dangling IAEA access. This is already their most important
weapon," he added.
Ben Taleblu explained that using the IAEA as a bargaining chip not only enables Iran to play for time as it looks to re-establish its nuclear program, but to sow division in the U.S. by creating uncertainty.
This
photo released on Nov. 5, 2019, by the Atomic Energy Organization of
Iran shows centrifuge machines in the Natanz uranium enrichment facility
in central Iran. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP, File)
"By
diminishing the monitoring and by circumscribing and even cutting IAEA
access to these facilities, the regime is trying to make America have to
rely on intelligence alone," he said. "And as you see from the very
politicized debates over the battle damage assessment, relying on
intelligence alone without sources on the ground inspecting the sites,
inspecting the facilities, documenting the fissile material, can lead to
drastically different conclusions being taken by similar but not the
same intelligence organizations or representatives."
Ultimately,
Iran is not going to give up on its nuclear ambitions, Ben Taleblu
warned, noting that Tehran’s security apparatus completely changed
during its war with Iraq in the 1980s.
"Everything that we face
from the regime that is a security threat was started then — the
ballistic missile program, the drone program, the maritime aggression,
the transnational terrorist apparatus and the nuclear program all have
their origins in the 1980s," he said. "By resurrecting this nuclear
program, the Islamic Republic was not engaging in a science fair
experiment.
A
big banner depicting Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is
placed next to a ballistic missile in Baharestan Square in Tehran, Iran,
on September 26, 2024, on the sideline of an exhibition which marks the
44th anniversary of the start of Iran-Iraq war. (Hossein Beris/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
"The
Islamic Republic was seeking an ultimate deterrent," Ben Taleblu
continued. "It was seeking an ultimate deterrence because it had a
vision for what the region and the world should look like, and it was
willing to put foreign policy muscle and the resources of its state
behind that vision."
The
expert on the Iranian regime warned that Iran’s 40-year "obsession"
with developing its nuclear program to achieve its geopolitical aims is
not going to change because of U.S. military intervention.
Caitlin McFall is a Reporter at Fox News Digital covering Politics, U.S. and World news.
Jerusalem Post EXCLUSIVE: Source tells 'Post' that PM is seeking similar mandate to IAF in Lebanon, where there is prior US approval for strikes on suspicious activity at nuclear sites, or involving uranium.
(L-R): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump seen near the White House (illustrative)(photo credit: Shutterstock, Canva/solomonjee)
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will ask US President Donald Trump for a
"green light" to take action against any Iranian activity related to
Tehran's rebuilding of its nuclear program in their Monday meeting, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post.
"The
goal is to receive a mandate similar to the situation in Lebanon,
meaning that if suspicious activity is detected at nuclear sites, or if
there's evidence of uranium being removed from the areas that where hit
by US and Israeli warplanes, there would already be prior US approval to
act against it," the official added.
Israel's objective is to establish a US-led mechanism aimed at preventing Iran from reconstructing its nuclear program.
"We
want the snapback sanctions mechanism to be imposed on Iran as well,
due to its lack of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy
Agency, the official told the Post, adding that Israel wants to increase pressure on Tehran.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors left Iran last week "due to security reasons while Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian has signed a law suspending cooperation with the IAEA."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara seen boarding the
Wing of Zion ahead of a trip to the United States, July 6, 2025 (credit:
Avi Ohayon/GPO)Before departing for Washington
on Sunday, Netanyahu told reporters that "We must remain vigilant
against Iran’s attempts to renew its pursuit of nuclear weapons aimed at
our destruction."
Recent action taken by Israel, US against Iran and its proxies
The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) killed terrorist Qassem Salah Al-Husseini in the area of Kfarkela in southern Lebanon on Thursday, the two security agencies announced Friday.
Husseini
was a Lebanese terrorist involved in advancing plots against Israeli
civilians and IDF troops on the northern front on behalf of Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's Quds Force.
"No one exactly knows what has transpired in Fordow.
That being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been
seriously and heavily damaged," Araghchi said in the interview broadcast
on Tuesday.
Jerusalem Post Staff, Peled Arbeli, and Reuters contributed to this report.
A comprehensive investigation has uncovered systematic sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas terrorists during the onslaught on Israel.
Israeli hostage Amit Soussana, the only one who has
spoken publicly. Left: During her release from captivity. Credit:
Israel Hayom.
Fresh testimony from survivors and witnesses demonstrates that Hamas
terrorists systematically employed sexual violence during their Oct. 7,
2023, assault on Israel, according to a comprehensive investigation
that documents previously unreported accounts of rape and sexual abuse.
The upcoming Dinah Project report presents
evidence from 15 returned hostages who experienced sexual violence in
captivity, with only one having spoken publicly before now, the U.K.
newspaper The Sunday Times revealed.
The investigation, conducted by Israeli
gender and legal experts with partial funding from the British
government, found that sexual violence was “widespread and systematic”
during the onslaught that killed approximately 1,200 people.
According to the Sunday Times,
the report establishes that rape and gang rape occurred in at least six
locations, though most victims were “permanently silenced”—either
murdered during the assaults or left too traumatized to speak.
The Dinah Project will be published on
Tuesday in Jerusalem, representing the most comprehensive documentation
of sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attack, the newspaper reported.
The report draws from first-hand testimony
of 15 returned Gaza hostages, a survivor of attempted rape at the
Supernova music festival and interviews with 17 people who witnessed or
heard the attacks, along with therapists treating traumatized survivors.
The project aims “to counter denial,
misinformation and global silence” regarding what researchers describe
as “one of the most under-reported dimensions of the attacks.”
The report states its mission is “to set the historical record straight: Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war.
“Clear patterns emerged in how the sexual
violence was perpetrated,” the report documents, “including victims
found partially or fully naked with their hands tied, often to trees or
poles; evidence of gang rapes followed by execution; and genital
mutilation.”
The documented attacks occurred at the
Supernova music festival, Route 232, the Nahal Oz military base, and
three kibbutzim: Re’im, Nir Oz and Kfar Aza. Sexual abuse extended
beyond the initial assault locations, the report reveals.
“Sexual violence continued in captivity,
with many returnees reporting forced nudity, physical and verbal sexual
harassment, sexual assaults and threats of forced marriage,” the
investigation adds.
Examples from Islamic State and Boko Haram
Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, director
of the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status
of Women at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, initiated the project to
“ensure recognition and justice for victims and survivors.”
She collaborated with Sharon
Zagagi-Pinhas, an international law expert and former IDF chief military
prosecutor, and Nava Ben-Or, a retired judge and former deputy state
attorney specializing in sexual abuse cases.
The research addresses criticism of inadequate responses from international organizations such as UN Women (full name the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women) following reports of sexual violence by the Sunday Times and other outlets.
The project also deals with questions raised by false claims from first responders and arguments that Hamas, as an Islamic organization, would not commit rape—despite examples from Islamic State (ISIS) in the Middle East and Boko Haram in West Africa.
Some critics argued that the sexual violence issue had been “weaponized” by the Israeli government to justify its actions in Gaza.
This criticism particularly affected
Halperin-Kaddari, who had worked for years on international cases of
sexual violence, including Yazidis taken as sex slaves by ISIS and girls
abducted by Boko Haram in Nigeria.
“We feel let down by other women around
the world,” Halperin-Kaddari said. “If the standard is to believe
survivors and witnesses, there is no excuse to keep quiet.
“Yet in this case, a different standard
was employed and the victims were lost in politicization. The fact that
so many kept silent or even denied what happened was devastating and a
grave failure of international human rights.”
The project takes its name from the first
rape victim in the Bible—Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter, who was raped by
Shechem, son of a prince.
After the assault, Dinah’s brothers
circumcised and killed the men of Shechem’s tribe and abducted their
women, but Dinah’s voice was never heard.
Halperin-Kaddari explained that the project aims “to be a voice for those who cannot or can no longer speak.”
Previous fact-finding reports by the U.N.
special representative for preventing sexual violence, a U.N.
independent commission of inquiry and the International Criminal Court
all found indications of sexual violence and gang rape.
However, the Dinah Project introduces new
evidence, including first-hand witness testimony from 15 returned
hostages who experienced sexual violence in captivity.
Among the hostages, only one has spoken publicly: Amit Soussana, a lawyer held for 55 days.
Two of the hostages were male, according to the report.
Zagagi-Pinhas explained that “sexual
violence need not mean rape—also forced nudity, forcing some of the
hostages to strip and shower while being watched, or trying to force
them into marriage.”
The researchers also interviewed a victim
of attempted rape at the Supernova festival who required 17 months to
come forward. “We know from therapists there are more, but they are still too traumatized to speak,” Zagagi-Pinhas added.
The investigation included interviews with
17 people who witnessed or heard attacks, providing detailed
descriptions of the violence.
These witnesses included two brothers who
hid under bushes, and Tali Biner, a nurse who concealed herself inside a
shipping container. They described 15 incidents including gang rapes.
Additionally, researchers spoke with 27
first responders who described “dozens of cases in different locations”
while analyzing forensic evidence from photographs and videos.
Justice when many of the victims are dead
“What we found makes clear that sexual
violence including rape and gang rape took place in multiple locations,”
Halperin-Kaddari said.
“We found patterns of evidence,”
Zagagi-Pinhas added. “Women found dead, naked and mutilated—with
gunshots in their genitalia–and tied to trees. The fact that the same
things happened in three to six locations can’t be coincidence, but
proof that this was premeditated.”
She reported that “dozens” of bodies of
young women were stripped and some were tied to trees or poles. “Many of
the witnesses we spoke to talk of the victims being shot and
perpetrators still trying to rape a dead body,” she said.
The report’s primary objective is to
demand justice, providing what Halperin-Kaddari describes as “a
blueprint for how to secure justice in cases of mass atrocities when
many of the victims are dead and it is impossible to point at a specific
perpetrator.”
“We see October 7 as a test case,” said
Ben-Or, the retired judge. “Authorities are used to seeking justice on
an individual case, but here we have mass cases and most victims were
murdered or too traumatized to speak, which creates profound challenges
for establishing accountability, so we needed to come up with a new
legal framework and new ways to prosecute.
“Sexual violence in conflict is about
destruction and dehumanizing a community, so the idea you have to find a
specific perpetrator who harmed a specific victim is irrelevant,” she
added.
“To say, ‘When I joined Hamas, I meant
only to murder women and children, but I am very much against rape’ is
ridiculous. Everything that was done within the framework of the attack,
you are responsible for.”
The report calls for the U.N.
secretary-general to send a fact-finding mission in light of the
testimonies and to include Hamas in the blacklist in the U.N.’s annual
report of those designated for using sexual violence as a weapon of war.
The Palestinian Authority has come out against the sheikhs leading an initiative to join the Abraham Accords.
Yossi Dagan with the Sheikhs Samaria regional council
The Palestinian Authority has published severe criticism of the
sheiks who have been working with Israeli politicians to create a peace
agreement with Israel.
As part of the secret initiative, a plan
was formed behind closed doors to establish "Hebron Emirate": an
independent Arab entity that will operate with mutual respect alongside
the State of Israel, fully recognize it as the nation-state of the
Jewish people, and join the Abraham Accords, while fighting the terror
of Fatah and Hamas.
Samaria governor Yossi
Dagan, who, in recent years, secretly promoted the move together with
Dr. Mordechai Kedar and with the guidance of Minister of Economy Nir
Barkat, revealed to the Wall Street Journal that his first
meeting with Sheikh Jabari and his father took place 13 years ago.
According to him, the sheikh's father was a brave leader, and the son
continues in this path.
Dagan stated, "It is necessary to correct
32 years of terror and corruption of the Palestinian Authority since the
Oslo Accords, of those terrorists who were brought here from Tunisia to
be murderous and corrupt dictators over Arabs of Judea and Samaria,
harming - more than Jews - first of all their own people. These sheikhs
are brave and strong leaders, and they are a real answer for the
well-being of their residents and an alternative to the path of terror
of the Palestinian Authority."
The sheikhs want to establish a new
industrial area, integrating workers from their clans and the Israeli
economy while personally guaranteeing that they will not engage in
terror. This is to establish a business governance model of the United
Arab Emirates instead of the Palestinian Authority that encourages
terror against both Jews and Arabs.
Post threat of the Palestinian Authority Photo credit: Courtesy of the photographer
Minister
Nir Barkat said, "No one in Israel believes in the Palestinian
Authority, and you won't find many Palestinians who do either. Sheikh
Jabari wants peace with Israel and to join the Abraham Accords - with
the support of additional sheikhs. Who in Israel would say no to this?"
Dr.
Moti Kedar added, "Failed Arab states are a collection of religious
sects and tribes, while successful states - like the United Arab
Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar - are controlled by just one family.
The attempt to build a Palestinian national identity instead of tribal
loyalty failed. The proof: Hamas."
Dagan concluded, "This is an
alternative to the path of terror, of the Palestinian Authority. The
sheikhs are brave leaders facing a dictatorship and acting for the
well-being of their residents, whom the Palestinian Authority endangers
and considers a greater enemy than even the Jews."
Billionaire entrepreneur argued that Republicans and Democrats have bee "bankrupting our country with waste & graft.”
Elon Musk on Saturday declared war
on the two major political parties, arguing they are "bankrupting our
country with waste & graft" and announcing the formation of a new
party.
"Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom,"
the billionaire entrepreneur wrote on the X social platform he owns.
Musk's decision to launch a third party came after he expressed
frustration with the "one big beautiful bill" that President Donald
Trump and Republicans rammed through Congress.
Musk, who ran Trump's DOGE effort to find savings in government,
demanded the bill cut more federal spending before it was passed. He was
rebuffed, and began drifting away from Trump, the man he worked to
elect in November.
Before he announced the America Party, Musk conducted a poll on his X
platform on whether Americans were tired of the two-party system. About
two-thirds answered yes.
"By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party, and you shall
have it," Musk wrote. "When it comes to bankrupting our country with
waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy."
Israel has evolved into a unique research and development center for the US defense industries, as it has been for some 250 US high tech giants of the commercial industries in the areas of agriculture, medicine, pharmaceuticals, automotive, computer software, electronics, telecommunications, fin tech, Internet, etc.
*The October 26, 2024 Israeli Air Force 1,000-mile-offensive against
Iran – which was one of the more complex air force offensives since WW2 –
highlighted Israel as a unique triple A store and battle-testedinnovation center
for the US defense and aerospace industries, underscoring the
superiority of the US-made F-35, F-16 and F-15 in the global market.
*The capabilities of the US combat aircraft have been demonstrated
by the Israeli Air Force, which – more than any other air force –
operates in a high intensity manner (over Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq,
Yemen and Iran) and acts daily in a do-or-die and can-do state of mind,
which mandates more innovation and risk-taking, stretching the
capabilities of the US-made combat aircraft to new heights. The keen
interest by the US Air Force to hold a multitude of joint maneuvers with
Israel’s Air Force attests to the added-value derived by the
interaction with – and feedback from – the uniquely experienced Israeli
combat pilots.
*The game-changing battle tactics employed on
October 26, 2024 by Israel’s Air Force have already been shared with the
US Air Force, as were the lessons of the ground-breaking June 1982
Israeli Air Force destruction of 20 Soviet-made Syrian surface to air
missile batteries, while downing 82 Soviet Migs, which still inspires
the US Air Force. The Israeli battle experience has enriched the US
battle tactics and training program of US combat pilots, who rarely
experience do-or-die type of sorties, improving US military skills and
saving American lives. A similar contribution has been made by Israel’s
counter-terrorism, special operations and urban warfare
battle-experienced units, which systematically interact with their US
colleagues.
*Moreover, the US military has been privy to a most advanced level of Command, Control and Communications system (C3), which was developed by Israel’s military, playing a key role in the execution of the October 26, 2024 offensive.
*The more than 100-combat-aircraft-offensive also
included US-made aerial refueling tankers and spy planes, as well as
radar suppression technologies and drones. It demolished and jammed air
defense systems in Syria and Iraq, on the way to striking 20 military
targets in Iran, including in Tehran. Thus, disabling Iran’s
Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missile batteries (which is also used
by China!), and destroying missile and drone production facilities. All
Israeli Air Force US-made planes returned home safely.
*Furthermore, the Israeli Air Force has been a flagship of
the US aerospace industries, sharing with the US manufacturers vital
operational, maintenance and repair lessons concluded by the Israeli battle-tested laboratory.
These lessons – also produced by other branches of the IDF, employing
hundreds of US military systems – have been integrated as upgrades into
the next generation of the US products, saving the US many years of
research and development (which amounts to mega-billions of dollars),
enhancing the competitiveness of US products in the global market,
generating more exports (additional billions of dollars), and expanding
employment (3.5 million people working in the defense and aerospace
industries, in addition to the multitude of subcontractors).In
fact,Israel’s uniquely intense use of US combat aircraft has helped in
solving pivotal glitches (especially in the F-35).
*Israel has evolved into a unique research and development center for the US defense industries, as it has been for some 250 US high tech giants of the commercial industries
in the areas of agriculture, medicine, pharmaceuticals, automotive,
computer software, electronics, telecommunications, fin tech, Internet,
etc. (e.g., John Deere, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Texas
Instruments, Intel, Nvidia, General Motors, Microsoft, AT&T, IBM,
Dell, Google, Facebook, Intuit, etc.).
*The US defense and commercial industries have leveraged Israel’s brain power and innovative and defiance-of-odds spirit, in order to sustain their global lead, yielding a substantial increase in global sales.
*The October 26, 2024 offensive has enhanced Israel’s posture of deterrence
in the face of anti-US Shiite terrorism (e.g., Iran’s Ayatollahs and
Hezbollah which operate in the Middle East and Latin America) and
anti-US Sunni terrorism (e.g., the Moslem Brotherhood, Hamas and the
PLO), which are committed to bringing “The Great American Satan” to
submission. Israel’s offensive has advanced the stability of all pro-US
Arab oil-producing regimes, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain,
as well as the pro-US Jordan, Egypt and Morocco, all of which have the
machetes of the Ayatollahs and the Moslem Brotherhood at their throats.
*As stated by General Alexander Haig, who was a Supreme Commander of
NATO and a US Secretary of State, and Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, who was
Chief of US Naval Operations: Israel is the largest US aircraft carrier,
which does not require a single US military personnel on board, cannot
be sunk, deployed in a most critical area of the world, and sparing the
US the need to manufacture, deploy and maintain a few more real aircraft
carriers along with a few ground divisions, which would have cost the
US $15bn-$20bn annually.
*The October 26, 2024 Israeli Air Force offensive against Iran’s
Ayatollahs highlights the reality of the annual $3.8bn extended to
Israel (to purchase US military systems), which does not constitute “foreign aid.” Rather, this is an annual USinvestment in an immensely grateful Israel, yielding to the US a few hundred percent annualReturn-on-Investment (R-o-I). It is the most productive and secure US investment in its unique force and dollar multiplier, underlying the mutually beneficial US-Israel two-way-street.
Israeli strikes have killed most of Hezbollah’s top leaders, such as Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, according to the AP
Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said on Sunday the terrorist group
refuses to disarm until Israel withdraws its troops from southern
Lebanon and ends airstrikes.
“How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy
continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and
continues to enter our territories and kill?” Kassem said, according to
the Associated Press. “We will not be part of legitimizing the
occupation in Lebanon and the region. We will not accept normalization
(with Israel).”
His video address was delivered while thousands of people gathered in
Beirut’s southern suburbs for the Shiite holy day of Ashoura, which
commemorates the 680 AD Battle of Karbala, the AP reported.
In that battle, Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, was killed
after he declined to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliphate.
Israeli strikes have killed most of Hezbollah’s top leaders, such as Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, according to the AP.
Tom Barrack, U.S. envoy to Lebanon, is expected to soon visit Beirut to discuss a peace plan.
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Much talk has circulated about Saudi Arabia reforming, but this
increasingly appears to be more to wishful thinking from Westerners than
a genuine reflection of what is really happening inside the country.
Saudi Arabia is, in fact, reportedly becoming more true to its Wahhabi
origins, rife with gross human rights abuses and now rewards for jihad
terrorists. “Saudi king rewards 1,000 Palestinian terrorists’ relatives
with free Mecca pilgrimage,” by Aharon David, Palestinian Media Watch, July 29, 2025:
There has long been speculation about Saudi Arabia
normalizing its relations with Israel, as part of US President Donald
Trump’s “Abraham Accords.” However, a new reward by the Saudi king to
“honor” Palestinian terrorists’ families shows that the Saudi leadership
does not reject Palestinian terror, nor those terrorists who murdered
Israeli civilians.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas himself “thanked Saudi Arabia and its
leadership for the generous grant they provided this year to 1,000
Palestinian pilgrims from among the families of the Martyrs, the
prisoners, and the wounded” [Official PA TV News, June 9, 2025]. The
relatives of “Martyrs, prisoners, and wounded” – meaning dead,
imprisoned, and wounded terrorists – were flown to Mecca for the Hajj
pilgrimage by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
This gesture constitutes a sign of “loyalty” to the terrorists, and a
commitment to “constant sponsorship and honoring” vis-a-vis their
families, as noted by official PA TV:
Six months before October 7, Saudi Arabia prepared to release more Hamas-linked prisoners following a meeting with a Hamas senior delegation. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ meetings with Saudi Arabia’s King Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also coincided with the Hamas delegation’s visit.
On October 7, Saudi Arabia along with Qatar and Iran were the first to immediately blame Israel for the savage Hamas attack, because of the so-called “occupation.”
According to a Saudi dissident, Yahya Assiri, who is a human rights activist and former member of the Royal Saudi Air Force:
Nobody in the country – nobody at all – is allowed to say
anything except if there is permission from the authorities. They are
monitoring people very harshly, very closely for every single tweet, for
every single word and they [have] sentenced people to years and years
behind bars for just single tweets.
The European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR) reported a discrepancy between the international perception of Saudi Arabia and its domestic reality:
While Saudi Arabia invests heavily in initiatives to
enhance its global image, such as hosting international events and
promoting economic reforms, these efforts stand in stark contrast to the
domestic reality of repression. The government’s attempts to rebrand
itself internationally cannot obscure the ongoing human rights abuses
and the high cost of political dissent within the country.
The ECDHR also stated:
The use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia has reached
unprecedented levels. In 2024, the Kingdom executed 198 individuals, the
highest number in 30 years. Many of those executed were convicted of
offenses related to political dissent or drug-related charges. This
surge in executions has drawn international condemnation, with human
rights organizations accusing Saudi Arabia of displaying a chilling
disregard for human life.
Human Rights Watch also reports atrocious
working conditions for migrant construction workers, leading to
gruesome deaths including electrocutions, decapitations and falls from
heights; Amnesty International reports the intentional abuse of infidel African domestic workers, pointing to an ingrained societal problem from the top down.
Palestinian Media Watch continues:
Trump and Israel should make it clear to the Saudi king
that honoring terrorist murderers of Jews by rewarding their families is
terror glorification and sends a message to Palestinians that Saudi
Arabia welcomes Palestinian terror. This message is incompatible with a
normalization process with Israel.
While many have hope that Saudi Arabia will normalize relations with
Israel, one should remember that the Saudis demand a two-state solution,
based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian
capital. Whatever charade Saudi Arabia is putting on for the West, it is
considered to be an improvement from Iran, but it does not bode well
for Israel or Western interests in the long term, or for the suffering
dissidents within Saudi Arabia.
Christine Williams is Associate Editor of Frontpage, regular writer for Jihad Watch, a
nine-time award-winning journalist, past Canadian government appointee
to the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and the Office of Religious
Freedom; author of "The Challenge of Modernizing Islam" and "Fired by
the Canadian Government for Criticizing Islam".
"Posters on the fences of the Christian and Alawite city of Tartus in Syria: Either you immediately change your religion from Christian to Muslim and convert to Islam, or you pay protection and tribute fees with your lives." — X, May 20, 2025 -- Syria
"This is not a farmer-herder
clash. It is a genocidal campaign. Our communities are being wiped out
methodically. The international community must not remain silent." — Dr.
Joshua Riti, a local administrator, persecution.org, May 25, 2025 - Nigeria
"Typically, kidnapped girls... some as young as 10, are abducted,
forced to convert to Islam and raped under cover of Islamic 'marriages'
and are then pressured to record false statements in favor of the
kidnappers, rights advocates say. Judges routinely ignore documentary
evidence related to the children's ages, handing them back to kidnappers
as their 'legal wives.'" — Morning Star News, May 28, 2025 – Pakistan
Despite fierce opposition from Pakistan's top Islamic authority
and other Islamist groups, on May 29, President Asif Ali Zardari, signed
into law a landmark bill banning child marriage, setting the minimum
age for marriage for both genders at 18 years, but only in the Islamabad
Capital Territory, not the entire country.
"Somalia's constitution establishes Islam as the state religion
and prohibits the propagation of any other religion... It also requires
that laws comply with sharia (Islamic law) principles, with no
exceptions in application for non-Muslims. The death penalty for
apostasy is part of Islamic law according to mainstream schools of
Islamic jurisprudence." — Morning Star News, May 27, 2025
That there are so many "accidental" fires of churches in Egypt
suggests one of two things: either the extremists have...become more
sophisticated... in their attacks on churches... or else Coptic
Christians, for some inexplicable reason, have become the most careless,
fire-prone people in the world: more Coptic churches than any other
kind seem to keep "accidentally catching fire."
A Christian woman managed to record the savage destruction and
arson the Muslims carried out. (She was ordered by State Security to
remove the video, which she did; some copies, however, evaded
censorship.) — Egypt
This is hardly the first time in Berlin that Muslims target and attack people for being Christian. — Germany
"Posters on the fences of the Christian and Alawite city of
Tartus in Syria: Either you immediately change your religion from
Christian to Muslim and convert to Islam, or you pay protection and
tribute fees with your lives. Unknown individuals are distributing
posters throughout the city, and at the end it is written: All religions
are infidels, and only Islam is the true religion." — X, May 20, 2025 -- Syria
"We live like refugees in our own country." — Monsignor Najeeb, Assyrian International News Agency, May 29, 2025, -- Iraq
On May 16, a judge in Lahore handed Jessica Iqbal, a
16-year-old Catholic girl, back to her 32-year-old Muslim abductor,
despite clear signs that she was coerced into claiming she had converted
to Islam and married him. Pictured: The Lahore High Court. (Photo by
Arif Ali/AFP via Getty Images)
The following are among the abuses and murders inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of May 2025.
The Muslim Slaughter of Christians
Nigeria: In the opening days of May, Muslim Fulani militants killed six Christians in Plateau State. "They hacked dead three Christians... and injured four others," said
a local, adding that their aim is "to drive away Christian victims of
terror." A pastor warned of "a grand design... to wipe out more than 200
Christian communities." The same report notes that over 3,100 Nigerian Christians were murdered last year.
On May 7, Fulani herdsmen killed two Christians in central Nigeria, "after killing 10 others in the same area the previous month."
On May 12, the Islamic terror group, Boko Haram, killed two Christian educational workers near an army base.
On May 14, Fulani militias killed
eight more Christians and destroyed over 740 acres of farmland in
Plateau State. Survivors described midnight attacks on sleeping
families, with homes burned and crops trampled.
On May 24, Muslim herdsmen slaughtered 42 people in three Christian communities in Taraba state.
On that same day, Fulani terrorists shot and left a Catholic priest for dead before kidnapping his companions. Seriously wounded, he survived.
Although the Fulani are often presented as non-extremist herdsmen
driven to seek new lands due to climate change, according to an
International Freedom or Belief report,
"They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP
and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols
of Christian identity."
"This is not a farmer-herder clash. It is a genocidal campaign," said
Dr. Joshua Riti, a local administrator after the May 14 attack. "Our
communities are being wiped out methodically. The international
community must not remain silent."
Mozambique: A May 12 report
notes that Islamic extremists are intensifying their attacks against
Christians, including beheadings, kidnappings, arson, and church
burnings. More than 349 people were killed in 2024, a 36% rise from last
year. "Many Christians are suffering," a local priest said.
Indonesia: On May 19, five Muslim boys aged between 11 and 13
savagely beat and kicked an 8-year-old boy known for his Christian
faith, church attendance, and biblical knowledge. He died
soon after. Previously, they would bully the child, known only by the
initials, "KB," but on that day, the beating was so bad that he arrived
home hunched over in pain. When his parents learned what happened, they
went to school and met with the principal. When he called in the bullies
for a meeting, they confessed. According to KB's father,
"My child's stomach was kicked, that's why it's swollen.
The child doesn't want to eat rice and even vomits blood.... He was
having difficulty breathing. On the way to the hospital, he was already
having convulsions. His condition was terrible."
On May 26, the 8-year-old boy succumbed to his wounds. "He was my
first child," his devastated father said. "He was a good and strong
child.... I can't believe all of this. I feel like I'm dreaming."
Pakistan: On May 12, Muslims, including a former police officer, brutally tortured
to death a Catholic laborer, Kashif Masih. The accusation: stealing a
cell phone. Kashif's brother, Riyasat Masih, said the 35-year-old
Christian had worked for former police inspector Malik Irfan for three
years. At 2:30 a.m., Irfan's relatives raided their home, alleging
theft, but "found nothing." Kashif, it turns out, had already been in
Irfan's custody since May 11. By 5 a.m., neighbors found Kashif dumped
in the street, "badly
bruised with blood gushing out." Before dying, he told his family Irfan
had accused him of theft and ordered seven men to "beat him till he
confessed." They tortured him with clubs and iron bars, and hammered
steel nails into his legs. "I cannot express the pain when I saw my
younger brother's body," said
Riyasat. "The bruise marks showed the brutality he had suffered at the
hands of his influential employer and his goons." Though police were
initially reluctant to file charges against a former officer, a
Christian protest forced them to arrest Irfan. The other suspects remain
free or out on bail. The report
notes that Kashif's murder is not an isolated occurrence. On February
27, Muslims in Faisalabad shaved, blackened, and paraded a Christian man
on a donkey for alleged wood theft. On June 6, 2024, a Muslim factory
owner electrocuted 18-year-old Waqas Salamat to death for quitting his
job.
Pakistani Rape and Forced Conversion of Christian Girls
On May 16, a judge in Lahore handed
16-year-old Catholic girl Jessica Iqbal back to her 32-year-old Muslim
abductor, despite clear signs that she was coerced into claiming she had
converted to Islam and married him. "My daughter couldn't recite the
Kalima or answer any questions about Islam," said
her father, Iqbal Masih. "It was obvious she had been forced—but the
magistrate still let her go with her abductor." Jessica had been
kidnapped on April 30 by their neighbor, Azeem Ullah. Masih immediately
filed a police report, but Ullah was released within hours—and vanished
three days later. In court, Jessica appeared terrified.
"She told us she was helpless... she feared for our lives," her father said. "Our lives are devastated. This mental anguish is killing me." Sohail Habil of HARDS Pakistan confirms the pattern:
"In 99% of these cases, girls are threatened into lying. The judge saw through it, and did nothing."
In Pakistan, this is common. Christian girls—some as young as 10—are
abducted, raped, and forced into sham Islamic "marriages," often with
judicial approval, the human activist added.
Separately, on May 27, Pakistan's top Islamic authority, the Council
of Islamic Ideology, rejected and labeled a bill criminalizing child
marriage as "un-Islamic."
The bill—passed by the lower National Assembly on May 16 and the Senate
on May 19—defines a child as anyone under 18 and criminalizes any
marriage involving a minor. It equates marital cohabitation with minors
to statutory rape, punishable by up to three years of rigorous
imprisonment. The Muslim council also criticized the federal parliament
for bypassing it during legislative review and argued that the bill's
definitions and punishments contradict Islamic injunctions.
The "anti-Islamic" legislation also targets abduction, forced
conversion, and forced marriage, common abuses faced by Christian girls.
According to one report, there is an urgent need for all these laws and measures:
"Typically, kidnapped girls in Pakistan, some as young as
10, are abducted, forced to convert to Islam and raped under cover of
Islamic 'marriages' and are then pressured to record false statements in
favor of the kidnappers, rights advocates say. Judges routinely ignore
documentary evidence related to the children's ages, handing them back
to kidnappers as their 'legal wives.'"
Despite fierce opposition from Pakistan's top Islamic authority and
other Islamist groups, on May 29, President Asif Ali Zardari, signed into law a landmark bill banning
child marriage, setting the minimum age for marriage for both genders
at 18 years, but only in the Islamabad Capital Territory, not the entire
country.
Muslim Abuse of Apostates to Christianity
Somalia: From May 17 to 19, a young Somali man's brief return home ended in brutal rejection
after his family discovered he had converted from Islam to
Christianity. Once a drug addict, the 20-year-old found new life and
sobriety through faith in Christ on April 20 after an underground Somali
pastor shared the gospel with him. The family was initially "very
excited and happy to see their son again smartly dressed and well
groomed," the pastor recounted; but when they learned the source of his transformation, their mood quickly changed. They eventually began interrogating him, demanding he "pray the Islamic way." When he refused, his father said:
"You were better when you were performing prayers before
receiving Issa [Jesus]. Now you have become worse. Leave this house and
never come back."
Now homeless and ostracized, the young man laments the cruelty of those who once cared for him:
"My mother who used to be very lovely and friendly... has
now turned against me and even denied me breakfast at home. Now that I
have loved Issa, I do not have a family standing with me. I do not know
what to do. I need prayers."
"Somalia's constitution establishes Islam as the state
religion and prohibits the propagation of any other religion... It also
requires that laws comply with sharia (Islamic law) principles, with no
exceptions in application for non-Muslims. The death penalty for
apostasy is part of Islamic law according to mainstream schools of
Islamic jurisprudence. An Islamic extremist group in Somalia, Al
Shabaab, is allied with Al Qaeda and adheres to the teaching."
Malaysia: On June 25, Malaysia's Court of Appeal ruled
that only sharia courts may decide whether a person can leave
Islam—reaffirming that civil courts have no authority in such matters.
The case involved a 47-year-old man who converted to Islam in 2010 to
marry a Muslim woman. After their divorce in 2015, he sought to return
to Christianity, his original faith. He applied in 2016 to renounce
Islam, but the sharia court rejected his request, ordering him instead
to undergo "counselling sessions." A sharia appeals court upheld the decision.
After exhausting sharia options, the man turned to the civil courts,
seeking recognition of his Christian identity. But the Court of Appeal
dismissed his case, with Justice Nazlan Ghazali stating:
"We affirm that sharia courts have the exclusive jurisdiction to hear these cases and civil courts cannot interfere."
The court also ruled that the man had provided "insufficient"
evidence to justify renouncing Islam, though he may reapply. This ruling
underscores the near-total legal control sharia courts hold over
personal faith in Malaysia, leaving Christian converts without recourse
in civil law.
Muslims Attacks on Christian Churches and Cemeteries
Egypt: On Friday, May 2, a massive fire "broke out"
at the St. George Church in Qift, Qena governorate. The entire church
and its contents were engulfed by the flames. Although no casualties
were reported, according to the report,
St. George's "is an ancient church with a historical character and deep
religious symbolism for the people of Qena Governorate. It holds a
special place in everyone's hearts as a spiritual and cultural landmark
that hosts numerous religious and social events annually." As usual,
authorities quickly dismissed the fire as an "accident"—thereby adding
it to the many other churches to "accidentally" catch fire in Egypt in
recent months and year. (See here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, for a few.)
In one month alone, August 2022, 11 churches supposedly "caught fire." In one of these fires, 41 Christian worshippers, including many children, were killed.)
That there are so many "accidental" fires of churches in Egypt suggests
one of two things: either the extremists have—possibly with insider
help, including from state security—become more sophisticated and
clandestine in their attacks on churches (in one instance, a
surveillance camera caught
a votary candle suddenly and randomly exploding and creating a fire),
or else Coptic Christians, for some inexplicable reason, have become the
most careless, fire-prone people in the world: more Coptic churches
than any other kind seem to keep "accidentally catching fire." Moreover,
if it is true that lit candles, faulty wires, and other electrical
problems are behind this ongoing surge in church fires, why are
"accidental" fires in mosques and Muslim prayer halls—which outnumber
churches in Egypt by a ratio of 60 to 1—completely unheard of?
Indonesia: According to a May 9 report,
for 45 years now, Catholics in Bulukumba have been denied a church due
to repeated Muslim opposition, even though they have met all legal
requirements. Forced to worship in homes and warehouses, they now use a
temporary building.
In separate incidents, between May 16 to 19, more than a dozen
Christian graves across three cemeteries in Yogyakarta's Special Region,
which is 93% Islamic, were vandalized, shocking the local Christian
community. Many crosses, both wooden and stone, were broken or
desecrated. On May 21, a male junior high school student was arrested.
Although authorities insisted
that he was "unaffiliated with a particular group or ideology," and
"suffered from a mental disorder," Pastor Putu Praba Darana begged to
differ: "I think there is a religious sentiment element in this case."
Nor is this an isolated incident. As the Morning Star News notes,
"Vandalism and desecration of Christian graves in the
area first occurred in December 2018, when the top of a cross at the
gravesite of a Catholic, Albertus Slamet Sugiardi, was cut into a T
shape... In addition to removing any Catholic symbols from the cemetery,
the community expressed a desire to designate it exclusively for
Muslims."
France: After stating that 58 Christian graves were desecrated
with Islamist graffiti, including the slogans "Submit to Allah" and
"France belongs to Allah," a May 23 post states,
"Such attacks are not only acts of vandalism but carry a
strong symbolic and ideological message aimed at intimidating Christian
communities and asserting radical Islamist narratives. The targeted
nature of the graffiti, coupled with the defilement of sacred burial
sites, elevates the act from mere property damage to a hate crime
intended to sow fear and provoke tension between religious and cultural
groups."
In a different occason, according to a May 10, Fr Laurent Milan, a
Catholic priest who had just conducted mass in a church in Montfavet,
found himself surrounded and threatened
by a mob of about ten young men shouting "Allahu Akbar." The attackers,
including minors, gained entry by claiming to be Muslim visitors but
then launched insults and threatened to burn the church. "They didn't
insult me personally," said Fr Milan, "It was provocation and abusive language, directed against the Catholic religion."
This attack is part of a rise in anti-Christian hostility in France the European Conservative reports.
Three days earlier, youths disrupted a parish meeting with shouting and
banging on windows. On April 18, Good Friday, two priests were attacked
in Lisieux and Tarascon—one priest was grabbed by the collar, the other
slapped. In Cambrai, a 96-year-old priest was kidnapped and brutally
beaten by burglars who tied him up and stole religious items. The
assailants remain free.
Perhaps most notoriously, in 2016, two Muslims forced Father Jacques
Hamel, an 85-year-old Catholic priest, to kneel at his church altar
before ritually slitting his throat and videotaping the slaughter.
General Muslim Abuse of Christians
Germany: Late at night on May 20 in Berlin, a group of men "of Arab origin"
asked a man in the street if he was a Muslim. When the 24-year-old man,
name withheld, responded that he was Christian, they violently beat
him, dealing severe blows to his head before fleeing. The man required
hospital attention.
Egypt: In late May, Muslim mobs attacked and burned
Christian properties in Minya province upon learning that a Christian
household was about to have a mobile network booster installed on their
roof. (According to the all-important Pact of Omar, in order to safeguard their lives, Christians had to agree
"not [to] build houses overtopping the houses of Muslims.") As the
mob, which included hijabbed women and children, destroyed and torched
Christian property, they could be heard in a video crying "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is the greatest") —Islam's war cry against kuffar
(infidels)—while also demanding the immediate expulsion of all Copts
from the village (in keeping with the Pact of Omar which, additionally,
promotes collective punishment.
A Christian woman managed to record the savage destruction and arson the Muslims carried out. The video can be viewed here.
(She was ordered by State Security to remove it, which she did; some
copies, however, evaded censorship.) Barricaded in her home, she
videotaped the mobs from her barred window as they completely trashed,
set fire to, and hammered parts of her family's property. You can hear
the woman say (in Arabic), "Do you see—oh, world! do you see, what
they're doing, and how they behave?" Soon after that, you can hear her
say "Save us! Please save us.... O, save us!" She also cries out, "O
Lord, Lord, Lord—please have mercy! [kyri eleison]" At one point,
addressing the Muslim vandals outside her barred window, she says,
"Please, please have mercy! We're going to die, we're going to die!"
No mercy was offered, just more rage and, as can be heard, an ongoing chorus of "Allahu Akbar!"
"Look how they destroyed our whole house—the fence, doors, windows!"
she says at one point. When she sees someone running away with a piece
of her property, she cries "Thieves ... thieves! Where is the
government? What government?!" As usual, the mobs were given amble time
to vent their rage before the authorities and firefighters responded. At
the end of the recording, it seems that the mobs finally break into her
home and assault her and other family members—at which point she
started screaming and crying hysterically. The video abruptly ends soon
thereafter.
Syria: While harassing a Christian majority town, masked men
in military uniforms made "threat[s] to kill Christians." According to a
May 5 report,
"Syria has recently experienced a dramatic and worrying
escalation of hate speech that fuels tension and threatens civil
peace.... The current racist campaigns and inflammatory statements have
contributed to divisions among the constituents of the Syrian society
and increasing violence... [A] group of masked men in military uniform
attacked a store selling alcoholic beverages in Rablah town, which is
inhabited mostly by Christian citizens, in Al-Qusayr countryside in
Homs. The gunmen assaulted a young man who was in the store at the time
of the attack, sabotaged the store's contents and stole money. Before
leaving the area, the gunmen threatened to kill the town's residents,
called residents as 'infidels' and insulted the Christian religion and
its symbols."
"Posters on the fences of the Christian and Alawite city
of Tartus in Syria: Either you immediately change your religion from
Christian to Muslim and convert to Islam, or you pay protection and
tribute fees with your lives. Unknown individuals are distributing
posters throughout the city, and at the end it is written: All religions
are infidels, and only Islam is the true religion."
Iraq: According to a May 29 report,
nearly eight years after the Islamic State's fall, the nation's
Christian population remains in a state of crisis, facing persistent
discrimination, forced displacement, and cultural erasure. Once
numbering 1.5 million, Christians now total just 140,000, despite roots
that stretch back to the 1st century, long before the 7th century
Islamic conquests. Iraqi Christian leaders and NGOs stress a systematic
effort to erase their presence, beginning with the Islamic State's
seizure of Mosul in 2014. In the words of Monsignor Najeeb, Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul:
"As soon as they seized the city, jihadists' voices
echoed from mosque loudspeakers and megaphones to mock Christians,
announcing that they must choose: conversion, exile, or submission under
dhimmi status. Most fled with only their cars and what they wore."
Even after ISIS, Christians continue to suffer routine discrimination: "Today we are not equal," laments
Yohanna Yousif of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization. "They have
all the rights; we have none." Roland, a project manager, echoes this sentiment:
"I applied online to be a teacher and received a positive
response by email. But when the list of accepted candidates was
published, my name had been removed because I'm a Christian. Similarly,
in class, when a Christian student is top of the class, teachers give
them lower grades so that a Muslim student can take the first place."
Shiite militias like Hachd al-Chaabi, who have nearly 240,000
fighters, are accused of seizing Christian lands and conducting a "real
demographic shift." In Bartella, Christians—once a majority—are now a
minority. Monsignor Najeeb calls it a "heritage genocide," adding, "We
live like refugees in our own country."
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of
Christians by extremists is growing. The report posits that such
persecution is not random but rather systematic, and takes place
irrespective of language, ethnicity, or location. It includes incidents
that take place during, or are reported on, any given month.
