Soccer Dad

A vow of tendentiousness

The other day I saw this item about a declaration by a meeting of bishops of the Catholic church concerning the plight of Christians in the Middle East.

The meeting document made clear that bishops in the Middle East believe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be the root cause of several conflicts in the region. But it also singled out the growth of "political Islam" in countries like Egypt, and said the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict had been "exploited" by radical terrorism in recent years.

"In Iraq, the war has unleashed evil forces within the country, religious confessions and political movements, making all Iraqis victims," it said. "However, because Christians represent the smallest and weakest part of Iraqi communities, they are among the principal victims, with world politics taking no notice."

It criticized the Israeli "occupation" of Palestinian lands, saying it had made life difficult both for daily life and religious life since access to holy places are restricted.

Citing both the Israeli-Palestinian and Iraqi conflicts, it said: "The solution to conflicts rests in the hands of the stronger country in its occupying and inflicting wars on another country."

This is fascinating stuff. But really how can they blame the plight of Christians in the Middle East on Israel or even the Israeli/Palestinian conflict which "rests in the hands of the stronger country in its occupying" i.e. Israel? Consider for example (h/t Reuters ME Watch).

According to the Christian Information Center, in 1994, the year the PA took control of Bethlehem and its surroundings, this was the most populous Christian town in the Holy Land. Since then, however, Bethlehem's Christian population has dwindled to just one-third of the city's overall population. For centuries the majority in the Bethlehem district, Christians currently make up only 30,000 of the district's 130,000 residents.

The decline in the Christian population in Bethlehem occurred after the occupation ended! But Bethlehem is simply a microcosm of the Middle East as a whole.

In fact, the Christian population throughout the Middle East has been in rapid decline. In 1900, Christians comprised 20 percent of the population of the Middle East; now, they are less than 2 percent. While the Muslim population has expanded rapidly in Europe and the U.S., Christians in the Middle East have experienced a negative population-growth rate. The only country noting a positive growth rate for Christians is Israel.

In Israel proper, the Christian population in 1948 was 34,000. Christians now number 146,000, or 2.1 percent of the total population. Projections are that by 2010 the Christian population in Israel will reach 163,000, reflecting an average yearly growth-rate of 1.9 percent. Among non-Jewish students in Israel, the rate of high school graduation is highest for Christians. Employment rates for Israeli Christians remain much higher than for their fellow believers in the Palestinian territories.

To blame Israel, in any way, for the persecution of Christians, is hypocrisy. Israel is the one place in the Middle East where Christians are actually thriving. It isn't the occupation that is giving a pretext to elements of "political Islam" to persecute Christians, rather it is tendentious analyses that blame Israel and provide cover for the real persecutors.

Related: see CAMERA Snapshots, Media Backspin and (about this report specifically) Meryl.