PA Harasses Christian Television Station
The Palestinian Authority appears to be harassing a Christian television station in the West Bank. According to an article in the Jerusalem Post, the PA had, for a while, shut down a station but allowed it to operate again in the face of protests from its owner Samir Qumsieh. It allowed the station to reopen again while it works on its licensing problems.
Qumsieh is a Palestinian Christian whose cousin travels the Unites States condemning for its human rights abuses but says nary a word about the misdeeds of the PA or other Arab leaders in the region.
Samir appears to be made of much sterner stuff than his cousin, speaking truth to power in a very difficult situation.
Samir’s ongoing problems with the PA would seem to undermine the story of Palestinian innocence his cousin tells in the U.S.
Don’t expect this story to generate much outrage in the so-called peace and human rights activists in the mainline Christian community in the U.S.
For these folks, Israel is the only country in the Middle East, worthy of condemnation.
Attacking Israel is fun for these activists in this community; pointing out the misdeeds of Arab and Muslim leaders in the region, not so much.
If one organization does muster the common sense to speak out against the bureaucratic harassment of Samir Qumsieh’s station by PA officials, it will likely be the National Council of Churches, which issued a statement in support of the Coptic Christians who were murdered by Muslim extremists in Egypt a while back. The World Council of Churches issued a similar statement, but don’t count on this organization for a full-throated condemnation of the PA’s decision. In a recent statement about the murder of 300 Christians in Nigeria, the WCC could not even be bothered to mention that the perpetrators of this violence were Muslim. In the WCC’s worldview, upholding universal principles of human rights means attacking Israel and the U.S. but remaining silent about abuses when they are perpetrated by Muslims.
Now if Samir can figure out a way to blame Israel for his woes, his message should get some traction.
H/t: Solomonia
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