Israel’s new special envoy to the Christian community has said he envisions a future in which all faiths live and grow harmoniously in the Middle East, but admitted there are bumps in the road. Source: Crux.
George Deek, Special Envoy of Israel to the Christian World, lamented that Christianity is shrinking in the Middle East as a whole, but lauded its growth in Israel, saying, “Israel tells a different story.”
“Preserving the Christian presence is not only a Christian issue. It is a test of the moral future of the Middle East. Will this region protect difference, or will it continue to drive difference out?” he said.
Mr Deek, who last month was appointed to his new post and is himself an Arab Christian, said his answer to the question he posed is that “Christians belong here. Jews belong here. Muslims belong here.”
“The Holy Land should not become a place where ancient communities survive only in memory. It should be a place where they live, serve, pray, and build the future together,” he said, saying Christians are “not only part of the history of the Holy Land, they are living communities.”
He addressed tensions following the refusal of Israeli security forces to allow Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, to be admitted to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday, saying there must be a balance of security protocol, and the guaranteed right to worship.
Mr Deek also lamented a recent incident in which an Israeli soldier was photographed destroying a crucifix, called the episode “painful, unacceptable, and wrong” while also insisting that “we should not allow an unacceptable incident to define the whole reality”.
Top priorities in his new role, Mr Deek said, are to facilitate trust and cooperation, ensure freedom of worship and the safety of Christians, and to spread the message that the fate of Christians is intertwined with the Middle East’s broader ability to protect differences.
“The defence of Christians and the defence of Israel, the national home of the Jewish people, are not opposing causes. They are connected by the same moral principle,” Mr Deek said.
“A Middle East with no room for the Jewish state will not have room for Christians.”
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Israel’s envoy to Christians says Christian presence in Middle East must be preserved (By Elise Ann Allen, Crux)
