FATHER THEODOSIOS ATALLAH HANNA DEFENCE COMMITTEE
PRESS RELEASE
The Attorney General of Israel, Dr Eliyakim Rubinstein, and police and
government bodies intend to press criminal charges against a leading
churchman, the spiritual head of the native Greek Orthodox community, Dr
Theodosios Atallah Hanna, for performing his religious duty. The spiritual
leader of the oldest Christian community in the world, established directly
by Our Lord, the dean of St James Cathedral, a native of Nazareth and the
highest-ranking native Palestinian clergyman in the Orthodox Church, is well
known as a proponent of full equality for Christians, Jews and Muslims in
the Holy Land. He calls for peace and brotherly love between denominations,
creeds and nations, defends the poor and oppressed, guards the legitimate
rights and property of the Church, of the community and of all the dwellers
of the Holy Land. These activities have made him disagreeable to the state
officials, who prefer pliant clergymen ready to compromise public interests
for their personal benefit.
The Attorney General's office indicated that Fr Atallah Hanna will be
charged with the offence `unauthorized contact with the enemy' for his
voyages to Christian communities in Syria and Lebanon, though practically
all leading churchmen, rabbis and Muslim clergy in Palestine regularly visit
their brethren in the nearby countries. The Attorney General did not charge
the rabbis who visit the Jewish communities in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, and
his decision to charge a Christian priest goes against the principle of
equality before the Law.
Father Atallah is to be charged with meeting with `terrorists'. His accusers
fail to see the similarity between a priest and a physician: neither should
ever refuse a call. Man of faith, Fr Atallah would meet even Sharon and
Mofaz, people charged with war crimes in European courts of law. He would
not send away even the ex-PM Yitzhak Shamir, though he was a leader of LEHI,
the terrorist organisation. Both priest and rabbi should meet the sinners as
well as the virtuous.
The impending charge of incitement to violence is groundless as well. The
Christian faith upholds love, charity and mercy: the Church rejects violence
and vengeance. A faithful Christian leader, Fr Atallah condemns all forms of
violence and terror, whether by the state, by the army, by organisations or
by private persons. He especially condemns the acts of vengeance ordered by
Sharon, for "vengeance is Mine", said the Lord. It is particularly odd to
charge this man of peace, since the Attorney General did not charge with
incitement to crime the Chief Rabbi Mordehai Eliyahu, who allowed settlers
to steal the olives of Palestinian peasants; he did not charge with
incitement the hundred rabbis who declared that the Palestinians are
"Amalek", and thereby issued a call to genocide; he did not charge Rabbi
Ovadiya, who called zealously for the killing of Palestinians; he took no
action against the Rabbis calling for the destruction of all churches and
for the eradication of Christianity; he took no action against persons and
organizations promoting hatred of Christianity and Christians.
This is the latest addition to the ongoing persecution of Christianity in
the Jewish State. It is not enough that Israeli laws allow for the
imprisonment of preachers and missionaries, that Israeli laws allow for the
stripping of Christian immigrants of their Israeli citizenship and for their
deportation, that the Knesset of Israel has debated rendering the praising
of Jesus punishable by mandatory prison sentence.
Last year, the Sharon government of Israel implemented active anti-Christian
policies, namely:
- it refused to recognize the duly elected Patriarch of the Greek
Orthodox Church in the Holy Land, an act without precedent in last eight
hundred years ;
- it condoned actions as barbaric as the public burning of the
Gospel;
- it besieged the Church of the Nativity and its monks and priests
during Easter;
- it demolished the antique Byzantine church of St Barbara in
Abboud;
- it shelled Catholic churches in Bethlehem and Nablous;
- it condoned the defacing and partial destruction of churches,
crosses and images in Haifa (Stella Maris), Kursi, Shibta, etc);
- it denied access by believers to the holy places in Jerusalem in
the occupied territories;
- it did not defend the clergy in face of attacks by fundamentalist
Jewish organizations.
Recently, the Sharon government increased its pressure on the Orthodox
Church in order to seize the lands the Church holds on behalf of the
Christian community and Christian believers all over the world. The Church
refused to extend land leases by hundreds of years, as the government
wished, and demanded to regain its rightful property. This is the backdrop
to the Israeli authorities' attack on Father Theodosios.
We call upon the Israeli Government: save us from this shameful and needless
action, and avoid expected international condemnation. We call upon the
international community, upon the people of the world, upon clergy of all
creeds, upon the citizens of Israel, to protest against this impending
action. Do not touch the priests of God!
(For more detail, please email
[email protected] or call the head
of the Greek Orthodox Community, Adi Bazhala phone 056-379312)
Israel Shamir, Press Liaison,
[email protected] 054-616775
http://www.adelaideinstitute.org/Beauty/father_hanna.htm