The events in Mumbai brought home to Joseph Hakim, Vice President of the International Christian Union (ICU), the suffering of Christians in Lebanon and Egypt in particular. This reporter asked Mr. Hakim the following questions before the Mumbai terrorist attack on Nov. 26.
Joseph Puder: Dr. Dawoud, President of the ICU once pointed out to me that his commanding officer in the Egyptian army said to him: "First we will deal with the Saturday people, then with you – the Sunday people." Do you find that attitude prevalent throughout the Arab world?
Joseph Hakim: Yes, I personally heard Dr. Dawoud describe his commanding officer in the Egyptian army telling him that: 'First we will deal with the Saturday people, then with you – the Sunday people.' The Wahhabi extremist Islamic agenda has been bulldozing its way through the Middle East starting from the Saudi territory. They have ethnically cleansed the Jews first in 630 CE, starting with the Khaybar War and continuing until today. The Christian cleansing began in the Ottoman Empire in 1400's through the 1900's and included genocide against Armenians, Assyrian and Greek Orthodox Christians. Antioch, which is the oldest Christian city and the site of the first church in the world, witnessed the killing and terrorizing of Christians by the Muslims. Many Christians were pushed out of their homes, including my own family, which lived in Antioch, Lebanon until the 1930s. The Christian population in Syria, in 1900, was 90 percent, today Christian account for only 14percent.
Lebanon was 80 percent Christian, today it is down to 30 percent, as a result of Arab Islamic countries secret agenda conceived during the Lahore Convention in the 1960s, to arm the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) with the intent to destroy the Christian community. Still, Lebanon is the only country in the region where the constitution mandates a Christian President. The Taif Agreement engineered by the Saudis in the 1990s, transferred power from the Christian president to the Sunni-Muslim mandated prime minister.
JP: How do you see the future of Christians in the Arab world, especially in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, and the Palestinian Authority territories?
JH: Christian minorities in the Middle East are in a critical state, and unless the West can provide security and a strong financial base for Christians, it is doubtful that the Christian communities in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, and the Palestinian Territories will survive. If action is not taken immediately, I don't see how the Christians will survive in the next 50 years.
JP: Please describe ways in which Christians are discriminated and persecuted in the Arab Middle East?
JH: Christian neighborhoods are constantly being terrorized. The Arab governments are deliberately discriminating against Christians by barring them from employment in the government bureaucracy. These Muslim governments are focused on destroying solid Christian businesses and businessmen, one at a time. Muslim corporations in Lebanon for example, receive unlimited funds to buy land in Christian neighborhoods. They are also granted most of the major government contracts.
The Muslims are intentionally building the highest mosque illegally, in the center of Beirut, next to a modest size church. While constructing the mosque, a 1500 year-old church was discovered, but that was not a deterrent to constructing the mosque, which is part of a campaign to put an Islamic face on Lebanon.
JP: Can Islam become more "moderate" in the foreseeable future?
JH: It is impossible for Islam to become moderate as long as Muslims believe in the Quran. This holy book promotes terrorism, war, martyrs, murder, torture, thievery, slavery, and intolerance. There is no freedom of choice in Islam, and Muslims are ordered to kill infidels.
In an interview conducted a week after Sept. 11, 2001 with Sheikh Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, a leading Islamic authority in Lebanon, and Marcel Ghanem, of the LBC (Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation), Sheikh Fadlallah was asked about the meaning of the word "infidel." His answer was: "Those that go to war against Muslims, those that occupy Muslim lands and steal their money, and those that do not believe in God and Muhammad as God's messenger."
The only moderate Muslim is one who does not read the Quran and/or practices the commands in the book. Moreover, nobody is able to change or delete the hatred in the Quran. Muslims perceive the Quran as immutable. I therefore do not believe that Islam will become more moderate in the future.
JP: What does radical Islam portend for America?
JH: Radical Islamists will never be integrated into American society. They will grow like a cancer, but let us not be fooled by them. They are well educated and lavishly funded. And they know when to wear suits and pretend to conform while seeking to destroy our economy. The Islamists know how to exploit our system of government and they have established deep roots in prisons and operate training camps as well.
