{"id":6775,"date":"2013-11-21T11:03:06","date_gmt":"2013-11-21T19:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=6775"},"modified":"2013-11-21T11:03:06","modified_gmt":"2013-11-21T19:03:06","slug":"largest-massacre-of-christians-in-syria-ignored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/largest-massacre-of-christians-in-syria-ignored\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Largest Massacre of Christians in Syria’ Ignored"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0RaymondIbrahim.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the worst Christian massacres\u2014complete with mass graves, tortured-to-death women and children, and destroyed churches\u2014recently took place in Syria, at the hands of the U.S.-supported jihadi \u201crebels\u201d; and the U.S. government and its \u201cmainstream media\u201d mouthpiece are, as usual, silent (that is, when not actively trying \"img-1\"<\/a>to\u00a0minimize matters<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The massacre took place in Sadad, an ancient Syriac Orthodox Christian habitation, so old as to be\u00a0mentioned<\/a>\u00a0in the Old Testament.\u00a0 Most of the region\u2019s inhabitants are poor, as Sadad is situated in the remote desert between Homs and Damascus (desert regions, till now, apparently the only places Syria\u2019s Christians could feel secure; 600 Christian families had earlier fled there for sanctuary from the jihad, only to be followed by it).<\/p>\n

In late October, the U.S-supported \u201copposition\u201d invaded and occupied Sadad for over a week, till ousted by the nation\u2019s military.\u00a0 Among other atrocities, 45 Christians\u2014including women and children\u2014were killed, several tortured to death; Sadat\u2019s 14 churches, some ancient, were ransacked and destroyed; the bodies of six people from one family, ranging from ages 16 to 90, were found at the bottom of a well (an\u00a0increasingly common<\/a>\u00a0fate for\u00a0\u201csubhuman\u201d Christians<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The jihadis even made a\u00a0graphic video<\/a>\u00a0(with English subtitles) of those whom they massacred, while shouting Islam\u2019s victory-cry, \u201cAllahu Akbar\u201d (which John McCain\u00a0equates<\/a>\u00a0to a Christian saying \u201cthank God\u201d).\u00a0\u00a0Another video<\/a>, made after Sadad was liberated shows more graphic atrocities.<\/p>\n

Here are the\u00a0words<\/a>\u00a0of Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh, Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Homs and Hama (another detailed account, with pictures, appears\u00a0here<\/a>):<\/p>\n

What happened in Sadad is the most serious and biggest massacre of Christians in Syria in the past two years and a half\u2026 45 innocent civilians were martyred for no reason, and among them several women and children, many thrown into mass graves. Other civilians were threatened and terrorized. 30 were wounded and 10 are still missing. For one week, 1,500 families were held as hostages and human shields. Among them children, the elderly, the young, men and women\u2026.\u00a0 All the houses of Sadad were robbed and property looted. The churches are damaged and desecrated, deprived of old books and precious furniture\u2026\u00a0 What happened in Sadad is the largest massacre of Christians in Syria and the second in the Middle East, after the one in the Church of Our Lady of Salvation in Iraq, in 2010.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the Iraqi attack of 2010, al-Qaeda linked jihadis stormed the church during service killing some 60 Christian worshippers (see here for graphic images of the aftermath<\/a>).<\/p>\n

While the archbishop is correct that this is the \u201clargest massacre of Christians in Syria,\u201d it is but the tip of the iceberg of the persecution the nation\u2019s Christian minority has suffered\u2014including beheadings, church bombings, kidnappings, rapes, and dislocation of hundreds of thousands of Christians\u2014since the war broke out (see Syria entries in\u00a0monthly persecution series<\/a>).<\/p>\n

A month before Sadad, another ancient Christian region, Ma\u2018loula, one of the world\u2019s very few regions that still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus,\u00a0was besieged by the jihadis<\/a>, its churches bombarded and plundered, its inhabitants\u00a0forced to convert to Islam or die<\/a>.\u00a0 The\u00a0last\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0words of one man who refused were: \u201cI am a Christian, and if you want to kill me for this, I do not object to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The archbishop concluded his statement concerning Sadad by asking: \u201cWe have shouted aid to the world but no one has listened to us. Where is the Christian conscience? Where is human consciousness? Where are my brothers? I think of all those who are suffering today in mourning and discomfort: We ask everyone to pray for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serge Trifkovic\u2014who hails from a\u00a0European region especially acquainted with Islamic jihad<\/a>\u2014responds<\/a>to the archbishop as follows:<\/p>\n

That no \u201chuman consciousness\u201d is to be found in the White House, or in the editorial offices of the leading Western media, is now a matter of well-established record. Just try searching for \u201cSadad\u201d (or alternatively \u201cSaddad\u201d) on the websites of the Department of State or\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>. Ditto the leading European dailies, the CNN\/BBC\/RTF, the human-rights defending \u201cNGOs\u201d\u00a0et al.<\/em><\/p>\n

The problem, of which Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh appears unaware, is no longer in the Western elite\u2019s mere\u00a0indifference<\/em>\u00a0to the impending demise of Christianity in the lands of its birth, but in its active, ongoing, and open\u00a0contribution<\/em>\u00a0to that demise. Cyprus (1974) and the Balkans (1991-9) provided the test, Iraq (2003-today) the conclusive proof. In Syria the Obama administration remains committed to supporting the rebels\u2014ah, yes, only the \u201cmoderate\u201d ones, like\u00a0the Christian-murdering \u201cFree Syrian Army\u201d<\/a>\u00a0(discretion advised again), not \u201ceven though\u201d the result will be the same, but precisely\u00a0because\u00a0<\/em>it will be.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In\u00a0one of the Arabic videos<\/a>\u00a0documenting the aftermath of the Sadad massacre, as the mutilated bodies of one family are drawn from a well (around :30 second mark), a middle-aged male relative, in tears, says:<\/p>\n

The most precious in the whole universe [his family], are now gone, leaving me alone, but thank God I am still surrounded by these loving people who remain.\u00a0 I want to say, let people [the jihadis] return to their minds.\u00a0 The problems of the world can only be solved by knowledge and brains.\u00a0 Enough insanity, the nerves of the people are shredded.\u00a0 Enough, enough\u2014return to your minds; you people, you humans\u2014return to your humanity, enough crimes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a sign of the times, here is a Syrian, an \u201ceasterner,\u201d evoking rationalism and humanity, products of the Christian West, at a time when the post-Christian West is governed by anything and everything\u2014propaganda, emotionalism, mindless indoctrination\u2014but the twain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0RaymondIbrahim.com\u00a0 One of the worst Christian massacres\u2014complete with mass graves, tortured-to-death women and children, and destroyed churches\u2014recently took place in Syria, at the hands of the U.S.-supported jihadi \u201crebels\u201d; and the U.S. government and its \u201cmainstream media\u201d mouthpiece are, as usual, silent (that is, when not actively trying to\u00a0minimize matters). The massacre […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[127,227,230],"tags":[366,906,192,1017,1041,478],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1Lh","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6949,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/kerry-boasts-of-pluralistic-syria-once-assad-gone\/","url_meta":{"origin":6775,"position":0},"title":"Kerry Boasts of ‘Pluralistic’ Syria Once Assad Gone","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim \/\/\u00a0RaymondIbrahim.com\u00a0 U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, was recently\u00a0interviewed\u00a0about Syria. \u00a0While many of his assertions can be debated, one especially requires a response. 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