Ana Torres Fonseca<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The situation of Christians in the Middle East has been extremely delicate for years, but since last February 28, it has become even more so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The increase in military escalation between the United States, Israel, and Iran, violence, mass emigration, fear of extremism, and the economic crisis have all led to a spiral of conflict\u2014a spiral from which Middle Eastern Christians are trying to escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few days ago, a video went viral showing a man pushing a religious sister in the Holy Land and then striking her after she had fallen to the ground. Others came to her aid but the assault leaves little room for indifference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MAR\u00cdA LOZANO<\/strong> So I believe that the level of persecution and oppression our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land are suffering has reached another level. I think this cannot continue. Is it racism? Well, I don\u2019t know. That is something the Israeli security forces would have to explain to us.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Discrimination and religious persecution exist across the Levant and Middle East\u2014to varying degrees depending on which parts. However, they are not the only problems Christian families are facing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FR. TONI ELIAS<\/strong> ENTREVISTA PADRE TONI LIBANO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At the beginning of the war, around, what should I say, roughly 3,000 inhabitants left, mainly for work reasons. Perhaps some had sick family members, serious illnesses requiring them to be closer to the hospital in Beirut. Because, I repeat, here in the area we no longer have hospitals. If something terrible happens, we do not know where to go. So we are practically in a closed-off zone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This priest is the parish pastor on the border between Lebanon and Israel, in Rmeich, the last Christian village in the area\u2014a place where the bombings do not cease and where the situation is becoming increasingly unbearable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MAR\u00cdA LOZANO<\/strong> Families have lost everything. Tourism has disappeared. In Israel and Palestine, it was clear that many Christian families lived from tourism and pilgrimages: all of that has vanished. Then also in southern Lebanon, many had plantations, olive groves and other kinds of crops. All of this has been destroyed; sometimes the trees were even cut down indiscriminately.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And what these communities need most at this time to survive in the region is humanitarian aid, which is something that is becoming increasingly difficult to administer because of the ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MAR\u00cdA LOZANO<\/strong> I think the reason aid is not reaching the south has a lot to do with restricted access and the fact that the area is being heavily bombed. Last weekend there were nearly 80 attacks in Lebanon. So it is not easy to bring aid there.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n FR. TONI ELIAS<\/strong> But in these situations, where everything is extremely expensive, even transporting goods requires insurance because they are being brought into a war zone. Everything has increased\u2014not doubled, but tripled in cost. So we try to help, but it is nothing. It is nothing compared to what they need.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Without a lasting ceasefire, experts warn that the humanitarian crisis will not be the only issue: coupled with endless conflict and various forms of persecution, middle eastern Christian communities could all but disappear from these territories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ana Torres Fonseca The situation of Christians in the Middle East has been extremely delicate for years, but since last February 28, it has become even more so. The increase in military escalation between the United States, Israel, and Iran, violence, mass emigration, fear of extremism, and the economic crisis have all led to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":758,"featured_media":90213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/E8wB3fRWq1I","video_descarga":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/blibanocristianiacneng.mp4","international_url":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/blibanocristianiacnint.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90212"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90212"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90216,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90212\/revisions\/90216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Press Director, ACN International<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maronite parish priest in southern Lebanon<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Press Director, ACN International<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Press Director, ACN International<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maronite parish priest in southern Lebanon<\/p>\n\n\n\n