George Deek: My family's story in 1948 - fleeing Jaffa, building a future in Israel

George Deek, a Christian Arab from Jaffa is now Israel's deputy consul to Norway. The Deeks are one of the oldest families in the ancient city of Jaffa and have lived there for 400 years. Their  extraordinary story is well worth hearing.

In 1948, the Deek family fled their homes, along with 711,000 others, urged on by the Arab leadership than had promised to swiftly defeat the Jews in the nascent state of Israel  Yet that victory never happened, and the Deeks  remained scattered. That scattering is known as the "Nakba"

From George Deek:

"The Nakba has been transformed from a humanitarian disaster to a political offensive. The commemoration of the Nakba is no longer about remembering what happened but about resenting the mere existence  of the state of Israel... They do not mourn the fact that my cousins are Jordanians. They mourn the fact that I am Israeli. By doing so, the Palestinians have become slaves to the past. "

He asks, "Why is it that my relatives in Canada are Canadian citizens while my relatives in Syria, Lebanon or the Gulf countries who have been born there are and know no other home are still considered refugees? Clearly the treatment of the Palestinians in the Arab countries is the greatest oppression they experience anywhere....Israel was one of the few countries that automatically gave full citizenship and equality for all the Palestinians in it after 1948 and we see the results. Despite all the challenges the Arab citizens of Israel built a future. Israeli Arabs are the most educated in the world with the best living standards and opportunities in the region."




Georges' grandparents arrived in Lebanon,  and soon realized they had been lied to. The Arabs had not won the war, but neither had they been slaughtered by the victorious Jews.  Grandfather George had  worked with many Jews, and even spoke Yiddish. He was able to return to Israel to his old job. Today, among the Deek descendants in Israel there are accountants, teachers,  high tech engineers, university professors, diplomats and doctors

Listen to the story of the Deek family. Its worth hearing, and worth sharing.

He concludes with a vision of tolerance and reconciliation for both people: 

"Jews and Palestinians. We might not be brothers in faith, but we are certainly brothers in fate ...by making the right choices and choosing to focus on our future we can redeem our past"

A full transcript of George Deek's speech is available here

Christians defend Israel in South Africa

 Afull page ad  taken out by a coalition of Christian Zionists in South Africa's Sunday Times details the "inconvenient truth" about Israel,. and chronicles the 3,300 year history of the Jewish people in their ancient homeland.

From the ad:

The Palestinian terror group Hamas should not be confused with a national liberation movement like the ANC.

Who would know better than the South Africans, who have seen their leaders and their history co-opted to demonize Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East?

Ron Prosor: The Middle East War on Christians

"In January, a report by the nondenominational Christian nonprofit organization Open Doors documented the 10 most oppressive countries for Christians; nine were Muslim-majority states noted for Islamic extremism, and the 10th was North Korea. These tyrannical regimes uphold archaic blasphemy and defamation-of-religion laws under the guise of protecting religious expression. In truth, these measures amount to systematic repression of non-Islamic groups."

Via Ron Prosor in the Wall Street Journal:

The Middle East may be the birthplace of three monotheistic religions, but some Arab nations appear bent on making it the burial ground for one of them. For 2,000 years, Christian communities dotted the region, enriching the Arab world with literature, culture and commerce. At the turn of the 20th century, Christians made up 26% of the Middle East's population. Today, that figure has dwindled to less than 10%. Intolerant and extremist governments are driving away the Christian communities that have lived in the Middle East since their faith was born.

In the rubble of Syrian cities like Aleppo and Damascus, Christians who refused to convert to Islam have been kidnapped, shot and beheaded by Islamist opposition fighters. In Egypt, mobs of Muslim Brotherhood members burn Coptic Christian churches in the same way they once obliterated Jewish synagogues. And in Iraq, terrorists deliberately target Christian worshippers. This past Christmas, 26 people were killed when a bomb ripped through a crowd of worshipers leaving a church in Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood.

Christians are losing their lives, liberties, businesses and their houses of worship across the Middle East. It is little wonder that native Christians have sought refuge in neighboring countries—yet in many cases they find themselves equally unwelcome. Over the past 10 years, nearly two-thirds of Iraq's 1.5 million Christians have been driven from their homes. Many settled in Syria before once again becoming victims of unrelenting persecution. Syria's Christian population has dropped from 30% in the 1920s to less than 10% today.

 Read it all here