Nearly all Christians have fled Gaza due to attacks by Hamas, Salafis

Mako (Hebrew) has an interview with a Gazan who recently escaped from the Hamas-run enclave.

Since Hamas' rise to power in the Gaza Strip, Christians living in the sector have become the  scapegoats and a target for harm from both Hamas and extremist Salafis. Due to their predicament, most of them fled; out of a community of 4,200 people twelve years ago, there are now several hundred left.

Until recently, Kamal Teresi was there to,o but managed to escape 4 months ago: "The Hamas people took over my house and turned it into a war room," he says.

Teresi provides a rare glimpse into the unbearable reality he and his community have had to face every day. "I was put in a number of prisons, and the Hamas prison is nothing but beating and psychological torture," he recalls. According to him, the attacks on Christians in Gaza has become routine, and it does not stop even in times of war.

"We Christians are not bystanders in Palestine, we have been in Palestine for two thousand years, we are not guests," says Kamal painfully. "They are harassing and hurting the Christian public and Christian institutions, churches and associations."

...One thing is certain for Kamal: he no longer has a way back: "I can't go back to Gaza, returning would be a death sentence."

So why haven't there been any reports by Amnesty, Human Rights Watch or Oxfam about the plight of Christians in Gaza?

Because those groups go out of their way to make Israeli Jews look bad, and to make Palestinians look good. For Israel, rumors or analyses by people already antipathetic to Israel get highlighted; for Palestinians, only undeniable abuses like torture or rocket fire or suicide bombs are grudgingly mentioned - and even then they are semi-excused by also talking about "occupation."

Over 80% of Christians have fled Gaza under Hamas rule. Things are better under the PA, but not that much - Bethlehem used to be 70% Christian and is now it is less than 15%, as Muslims intimidate them into leaving. 

It is rare for a Christian to complain on the record about their Palestinian overlords, because they know what the consequences could be. So most articles have them dutifully toeing the line that everything can be blamed on Israel. Only a few reporters bother to look under the surface - and human rights groups are simply not interested.


(h/t Yoel)

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