While the deaths of Palestinians who were used as human shields in Gaza are being mourned, the world is meeting the "barbarous slaughter" of Christians with "relative indifference," World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder writes in an op-ed in Tuesday's edition of
The New York Times.
There have been demonstrations in the United States and Europe over the Palestinians, and the United Nations "focuses its anger on Israel" for defending itself against the Hamas terrorist organization, Lauder wrote, but the Middle East and central Africa are losing entire communities of Christians.
In Africa, Boko Haram's terrorists have kidnapped and killed hundreds of Christians, and an estimated half-million Christian Arabs have been forced from Syria, he said.
But meanwhile, few reporters travel to Iraq to cover "the Nazi-like wave of terror" that is taking power, and world leaders are concentrating on other matters.
"The beautiful celebrities and aging rock stars — why doesn’t the slaughter of Christians seem to activate their social antennas?" Lauder wrote.
He commended President Barack Obama for ordering airstrikes in Iraq earlier this month to help save the
Yazidi Christians who have been left stranded on a mountain, but "airstrikes alone are not enough.
The Islamic State, is not just a loose group of jihadists, said Lauder, but a military force that has taken over Iraq using money from banks, gold shops, and oil resources it has captured to finance its operations.
"But where it truly excels is in its carnage, rivaling the death orgies of the Middle Ages," Lauder wrote of IS, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). "It has ruthlessly targeted Shiites, Kurds, and Christians."
However, there is a "general indifference" to ISIS, he wrote, even though it is preoccupied with exterminating Israel and committing mass executions of Christians, he said.
Lauder noted that in June, he vowed in a
speech before thousands in Budapest, he promised he will not remain silent in the wake of Christian persecution.
"Jews have all too often been the persecuted minority," said Lauder. "But Israel has been among the first countries to aid Christians in South Sudan. Christians can openly practice their religion in Israel, unlike in much of the Middle East."
Christians and Jews share more than most religions, including the Bible and a moral and ethical core.
"Good people must join together and stop this revolting wave of violence," said Lauder. "The Jewish people understand all too well what can happen when the world is silent. This campaign of death must be stopped."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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