Iraqi Archbishop thanks Trump for aiding Christian victims of the Islamic State
Christians have endured persecution from jihadists in the Middle East long before the rise of the Islamic State. Their plight has been ignored for far too long, so it is reassuring to see some action in their favor.
The agreement between the two nations follows Hungary’s declared strategy of taking assistance “to the troubled spots where it’s needed, instead of bringing the trouble and instability to Europe.”
Those Western countries that took in migrants should have given more effective aid to Christians, who really were refugees from war-torn areas and victims of persecution. Had peaceful Christians dominated the migrant stream, no trouble would have come to Europe. Instead, European countries flung open their doors to an unvetted multitude of Muslim migrants, who brought with them a belief system that ascribes a lower status to women and non-Muslims, resulting in chaos, violence and exorbitant security expenses.
Regarding Muslim migrants, Europe should have demand that the neighboring Muslim countries, which are better suited for Muslim migrant integration, aid in the crisis. But those countries were unwilling to do so: this was a hijrah.
“Iraqi Archbishop Praises Trump for Aid to Persecuted Christians,” by Thomas D. Williams, Breitbart, December 28, 2018:
The archbishop of Erbil, Iraq, thanked President Donald Trump this week for his administration’s support for persecuted Christians in the Middle East.“This is the first administration we’ve seen that’s close to us,” Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda told Crux, a U.S.-based online Catholic news outlet.Last June, Vice President Mike Pence promised funding for Christians who have suffered ongoing persecution in the country, and last week Hungary and the United States announced an alliance to assist Christians in the Middle East to “recover from genocide and persecution by the Islamic State.”The government of Hungary and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on December 18 “to increase coordination to help communities in the Middle East recover from genocide and persecution by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).”The agreement between the two nations follows Hungary’s declared strategy of taking assistance “to the troubled spots where it’s needed, instead of bringing the trouble and instability to Europe.”According to Archbishop Warda, the financial assistance is a welcome Christmas present.“We now have people on the ground from USAID to follow up with the churches and everyone affected by the ISIS genocide,” he said.The funding is currently being used to rebuild schools but USAID will soon be announcing other projects as well, since Islamic State militants destroyed numerous dwellings as well as basic infrastructure.“These are tangible results,” Warda said. “We’re seeing it more than before.”Persecuted Iraqi Christians have long been “forgotten” by the world, and when they see concrete examples of support and solidarity, “it affects them,” the archbishop said.“Our people need a big ally, someone to tell them you’re not forgotten and we’re watching closely what’s happening on the ground. They need a friend to support them, and we’re starting to see that now,” Warda said.The day after Christmas, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin met with Iraqi President Barham Salih in Baghdad.During the encounter, Mr. Salih extended an invitation to Pope Francis to visit the Iraqi city of Ur, the Biblical birthplace of Abraham, for an interreligious summit in 2019….
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