Attallah Calls On Christians to Carry Out “Martyr Operations” (Barf Alert)

Islam Online ^ | January 11 2003

[knighthawk]

JERUSALEM, January 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Spokesman for the Orthodox Church in occupied Jerusalem Archimandrite Attallah Hanna praised Saturday, January 11, the “martyrdom operations”, calling on Palestinian Christians and Arabs to do everything in their power to resist the Israeli occupation with every possible means.

Receiving a formal delegation from the occupied city of Haifa, Atallah said "those martyrs are the heroes of the nation. We are proud of them and vehemently reject any malicious attempts trying to cast doubt on their work," Al-Quds Press News Agency quoted him as saying.

"They are not suicide bombers as some claim and they are not terrorists, rather, they resist occupation and we support martyrdom operations without any kind of reservations no matter what objectors and doubt-casters say about such a heroic kinds of resistance," he said.

The Archimandrite, in addition, called for a joint Islamic-Christian action in order to throw a "spanner in war against Iraq," and to liberate all Palestinian territories, pointing out that if the Israeli authorities lifted the house arrest imposed on him and gave him back his passports, he would form a Christian delegation to go to Iraq to form a human shield against the potential U.S.-led military action on Baghdad.

In an exclusive interview with IslamOnline, Attallah asserted his support for the operations, averring that "if the struggle for freedom of peoples is regarded as terrorism, then I am a terrorist."

"The real reform needed is to answer the following question: how can we boost all kinds of resistance to achieve our national goals?" He added.

In the meantime, the Israeli foreign ministry formally protested to the Church of the Orthodox Romans in Occupied Jerusalem at the statements made by Attallah, accusing him of supporting "terrorist operations" and dismissing his stances as a danger on Israeli security.

[knighthawk]

Is he serious? The PLO killed of Chrisitians en masse in Libanon, and when they have finished the Jews, they will go on killing all Chrisitans!

Palestinian Authority TV portrays Palestinian Martyrdom as a Christian Ideal
Palestinian Authority: Israelis are like the Christian infidels of the Koran

[knighthawk]

Ping

[Mike Darancette]

The name Quisling comes to mind.

[Iscool]

Everybody's a Christian now days...The name apparently has a nice ring to it...

[wildandcrazyrussian]

This guy is NOT -- repeat NOT -- any kind of spokesman for the Orthodox Christian Church, which stands only for peace and has nothing whatsoever to do with this guy's statements. This slanderous kind of article keeps getting recycled by ignorant and/or malicious sources, and OF COURSEe it is to the benefit of the Islamic reporters who repeat the lies ("spokesman for the Church") to confuse the Christians of the rest of the world and cause dissension. We Orthodox Christians totally reject any insinuation that this kind of statement has any validity, and the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem has made this amply clear previously.

I wish they would just go ahead and excommunicate him or impose some other appropriate public disciplinary move -- IF he really is an "Orthodox priest".

[kiras]

Greek patriarch fires archmandrite Atallah Hanna over claims of supporting Palestinian terrorism

Palestine, Politics, 7/13/2002

The Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem Arinous 1st on Thursday fired Archamandrite Attallah Hanna from his post as an official spokesman for the Orthodox church in Jerusalem and the holy lands. In a statement he made following a meeting he held on Thursday with an Israeli official at the headquarters of the Orthodox patriarchy in Jerusalem, the patriarch accused Hanna of "supporting the Palestinian terrorism," noting Hanna's rejection to sign a document condemning the Palestinian operations. Arinos stressed that his church can not ignore any side that practices violence, noting that Hanna supports the "Palestinian violence."

[knighthawk]

Arafat seems to have dug up some 'Chrisitians' who support him. When he was whining about Israel not letting him visit the church in Betlehem, he was flanked by some high-placed Christians. I bet one of them was the guy from the article.

Excommunication is too good for this guy.

[Cicero]

Christians in the middle east have a tough row to hoe. After centuries of persecution by Muslims and with the threat of worse to come, some of them have become Quislings or suffer from something like Stockholm Syndrome. They fawn on their Muslim tormentors in hopes that they won't be tormented any further.

Also, as I've said before, there's a world of difference between a Christian martyr and a Muslim martyr.

Christians die because they are faithful to Jesus and prefer to die rather than renounce their faith. And they don't commit suicide; they allow themselves to be killed for their faith rather than betray it.

Muslims die because it's a convenient way to kill infidels and get into heaven for doing so. You can't have a good, successful Muslim martyr unless he manages to take at least a few innocent victims along with him. Someone who blows himself up and doesn't manage to kill anyone else in the process is merely an incompetent fool. That is quintessentially Muslim, the very heart of Jihad. But it is profoundly unChristian--whether you are speaking of Orthodox, Catholic, or Protestant Christianity.

[MoGalahad]

The Archimandrite; just another wolf in sheeps clothing!

[WorkingClassFilth]

I had a dog that was a legally ordained minister once and I even taught him to pray (cute, but it drove my mother nuts). I guess that would've qualified as a leader in the "Christian" churches these articles dig up.