It seems that Christmas trees have become a cause of provocation to some Muslims, leading them to set them on fire. They just set ablaze the Christmas tree that was reerected in front of the Greek Catholic Church after the first one was burned several days ago. What was the reason?
Yousif Elias, a young member of the Greek Catholic church, expressed his anger at the burning of the two Christmas trees earlier this week. When Muslims came to fix the two Christmas trees, he sent out a voice message in which he used obscene language against the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Later, he assured them that this was a silly joke, rather than a deliberate attempt to insult any religion.
However, it appears that the reaction to the comment against Muhammad this time was conveyed by masked perpetrators who burnt the tree and wrote a sentence in red on the wall of the church: “Except for the Messenger of God,” after they held a guard at gunpoint.
In this video posted on Facebook, Yousif Elias appears with his face pixelated while sitting between a Muslim sheikh and the parish priest of the Greek Catholic church, Father Aref Yammine. He apologizes frantically for offending Muhammad; then the imam adds that the apology was accepted, but it was decided to banish him from the city of Sakhnin for a month. Then his final fate will be discussed in a meeting to be held in the municipality of Sakhnin.
The priest was clearly in favor of this solution; he also acknowledges Elias’s guilt against his “Muslim brethren.” It is somewhat peculiar that this has transpired in a country such as Israel that prides itself on its law, freedom of speech, and democracy. Evidently, the Israeli police were not informed of this arrangement.
It became clear that his apology wasn’t enough, which prompted some Muslims to burn a second time the Christmas tree of the Greek Catholic church to which this young man belongs.
Father Aref Yammine must know by now that the agreement concerning Yousif Elias’s expulsion from the city was inadequate to guarantee the protection of his church again. Was that approach, circumventing the legal path set by Israel’s common laws, the right one?
Obviously, the comments by Muslims on the incident of burning the tree again were against such a reaction, but a few Muslims expressed astonishment that Elias went unpunished (apart from being banned from his city). “Insulting the Prophet, apologizing, and that’s it?” Sima Darweesh remarked after watching the video of the apology. It is known that according to Islamic teachings, the punishment for insulting the Prophet is to be killed, but in light of the sovereignty of the Jewish state, it is clear that the application of such a punishment is not within reach.
Saeed Abu Jazi, a Muslim from the nearby city of Arraba, Israel, commented that “marks of beating should adorn his body to show retribution for the apology” for insulting Muhammad.
Shady Khaloul, the director of the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association, pondered on his Facebook page, “Who wants to live in a Palestinian state? As Christians, we are proud of our Syriac-Aramaic roots and culture, because it is the culture of Christ and our Savior.” He continued, “We should cling to it and strengthen our presence in the state [ of Israel] by joining all of its institutions, especially its military institutions.”
This writer was one of the recipients of a voice message sent out by Yousif Elias. He emphasized that he apologized for insulting Muhammad, making it clear that he had been receiving death threats. He also asked that his message be disseminated all over the world.
The Islamic actions that part of the world witnessed against Christmas at the beginning of December coincided with the Hamas campaign in Gaza, whose influence also reached Bethlehem, the place where Jesus was born according to Christian tradition, and Sakhnin in northern Israel.
It is evident that the party controlling the bellicose religious discourse in that region is Hamas.
Can this not bring into question the steps that Israel must take in order to ensure the security of its citizens, in addition to the safety of defenseless Christians living under the control of the Palestinian Authority?
Samir A. Zedan is a former Senior Counter-Terrorism Analyst at the US Department of State, and a former Development Outreach and Communication Specialist at USAID/Iraq. He has contributed to hundreds of articles published in major media outlets with assignments in the Palestinian areas, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Europe.
Atheist Kafir/Infidel says
Over here, in Egyptstan, Koranimals have been torching Christians’ property and Christmas ? trees since 639 C.E.
Dave R says
The intermingling of paganism and religion becomes more convoluted as Muslims forget they were supposed to burn the cross, not the tree.
gravenimage says
Muslims go after anything they consider non-Islamic.
Infidel says
Israel needs to start cracking down on such activities, and making it clear to the perps that they’re not Sweden, UK or Norway!
Mojdeh says
La all ha ella lah Mohamed Rasool Allah. Allah was a statue and was so big, imposter Mohamed said to some one what do you call it, they said Allah so he said from now we call Allah as greatest Gods of world
This is crime against Christianity and must be condemed, how ever Israel soon will take care of it for ever?.
Mojdeh says
La all ha ella lah Mohamed Rasool Allah. Allah was a statue and was so big, imposter Mohamed said to some one what do you call it, they said Allah so he said from now we call Allah as greatest Gods of world
This is crime against Christianity and must be condemned, how ever Israel soon will take care of it for ever?just be patient some more time. IN PLO section sell Vodka and put it on black plastic bag. Did you know that?
gravenimage says
Israel: For the second time in a week, Muslims set Christmas tree ablaze in Sakhnin
…………………..
God, I hate Islam. At least in Israel they will go after the perps.
Mojdeh says
gravenimage says
Dec 30, 2020 at 9:28 pm
Israel: For the second time in a week, Muslims set Christmas tree ablaze in Sakhnin
…………………..
God, I hate Islam. At least in Israel they will go after the perps.
Okay we have all are in same shoes, We hate Islam and all of thier sharia law, rapes camel , goats, daughter, mother to etc…. But we have great Muslims that work for our Military and Navy, air Force F35 pilots etc…. They also hate Khamanie and ISIS and etc… They are also escaped from enemy of their own nations. We love them. Are you telling me you hate me too. I became Christian , used be Muslim pro Shah of Iran, still i am Shah supporter indeed. 500 of Iranian dies in a day in hospitals that never cleaned? So may be they paying price for not able topple this bloody regime of Iran.
gravenimage says
Mojdeh, you keep saying that we have to import more and more Muslims because Muslims are waging violent Jihad against us. I’m afraid this makes little sense.
Firstly, if all Muslims flooding into the West were *really* escaping Islam, then so many of them would not be waging violent Jihad here.
Then, a *majority* of Muslims even in the United States openly say they want to impose brutal Shari’ah law on us–this is not actually a good thing.
I am not telling you to hate any one–certainy not the few Muslims who may actually turn their backs on the diktats of their vicious faith–but there are few enough of them,.and no way to ensure that they have actually repudiated Islam so long as they are Muslim.
Here is one such case:
“CIA officer: Betrayal by Muslim agent led to jihad suicide bombing in which seven were killed”
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/12/cia-officer-betrayal-by-muslim-agent-led-to-jihad-suicide-bombing-in-which-seven-were-killed
You say on that story’s thread that you are shocked by this–but you shouldn’t be. Muslims betraying those they consider ‘filthy Infidels’ is so common that it even has a name–green on blue attacks.
There was also the terrible attack on Ft. Hood–this kind of thing is not isolated, I’m afraid.
OLD GUY says
It’s funny how islam thinks nothing of burning or destroying christian symbols, and then demand that nothing negative be even said about Muhammad or Islam. The most evil and hate speech book in the world is the Koran. Burning the Koran should be a celebrated event by mankind. Total destruction of islam would rid the world of a bad ideology.
However I believe that we should all have the right to follow our religious calling. Islamic followers should be able to practice their faith as long as they DO NOT harm or threaten others or violate the laws of the country they live in. We should all have the right of choice, so DON’T TREAD ON ME, I choose Jesus Christ as my savior and will defend that choice.
Jerry says
Mohammad was only a self proclaimed, and in truth only a fake prophet.
Balaam’s she ass was a far more authentic messenger of God