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U.S. Taxpayers Are Funding the genocide of Gaza’s Christians. Please share their story. https://t.co/sanwLxkvuG
Video Transcript AI Summary
Constantine Pembelpi and Emily Dibini describe the Christian Palestinian experience in Gaza and the West Bank. "Christians are erased from the picture. We don't exist to anyone." They document "over 20 events" of Israeli settlers attacking Christian Palestinians in the West Bank, going back to before October 2023, including the bombing of Saint Porphyrios Church in Gaza and that "we only two" churches remain in Gaza. They note: "Arab Arab Palestinian Christian citizens of Israel Mhmm. Have a second tier status within Israeli society. On paper, they have equal rights Mhmm. With Jewish Israelis, but in reality, in practice, they can." They allege "APAC bankrolling them" and criticize evangelical support for Israel, mentioning the "Scofield bible." They call the situation a "genocide" and promote the Order of Saint George, www.orderofsaintgeorge.org, to sustain Christian presence and holy sites across the Middle East.
Full Transcript
Speaker 0: Alright. I like that music.
Speaker 1: Oh, no. We got an awesome microphone. You know? We like to do the the editing later.
Speaker 2: In fact, I mean, I think it's
Speaker 1: more casual sometimes. I just let it roll, you know? Yeah. Then people know, like, oh, this wasn't rehearsed or anything.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: So, know, we you know, I met you both last night at the event with judge Napolitano and the colonel MacGregor. And, you know, I was really touched by your story about what happened to your family in Gaza. If guys could just introduce yourselves and tell us where your family's from and what you guys are about.
Speaker 2: So I'm Constantine Pembelpi. I head the order of Saint George of Great Martyr. I'm Italian and Greek. I live in Connecticut in The United States. And this is Emily Dibini, who's our director of current events.
Speaker 0: I'm a Palestinian Christian, and I came to The US, you know, escaping all the occupation, prosecution in my homeland. I was raised in the Christian quarter of Jerusalem, but I also have relatives in Gaza.
Speaker 1: Gotcha. How long have your relatives in Gaza lived there for?
Speaker 0: Their whole life.
Speaker 1: Their whole life? Yeah. Like, their
Speaker 0: their generations. Generations and generations. Gotcha. There's one of our relatives have documented he he was a historian to the history of many emperors and
Speaker 2: Oh, wow.
Speaker 0: My aunt sent me a photo of how Greek families, Greek dignitaries used to come to Gaza to the San Porphyrios Church and get married there. It was like a wedding destination place back in the day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't hear about that here, we just hear about war and conflict, know. How is how is this because we we hear a lot about like what's happening to to Muslims in Gaza, but we almost never hear anything about like the Christians that live there. I think part that is like intentional to control
Speaker 0: the Yes. So if you
Speaker 1: could tell us more like what's what's been going on with your family like these last two years that they've been there.
Speaker 0: Well, I I mean, I can tell you what's been going on from before October, you know. It's Christians are erased from the picture. We don't exist to anyone. Like, Americans, when they meet me and I say I'm a Palestinian Christian, they're like, oh, we thought Muslims killed all of you. Like, no.
We exist. The media keeps us out because they wanna make it about like, they wanna make it sound like it's a religious war. Yeah. But, really, it's not. It's about taking over the land.
Mhmm. My grandfather's village is Taipei outside Ramallah. Mhmm. 100% of the residents there ma'am. Are Christians.
Speaker 1: Really?
Speaker 0: Yes. I had no idea. Of the very very well. One of the very few last Christian villages left. And constantly, I'm gonna tell you before October 2023 there has been a tax on the residents because it's all olive land and grapevine landscape.
So there's beautiful hills and Israeli settlers see that as prime real estate and they have been intimidating and attacking the people in the village nonstop even before October 2023. I have documented events, over 20 events from January 2023 till October 2023 of several attacks on different churches.
Speaker 1: How many events?
Speaker 0: Over 20 events So
Speaker 1: 20 in events of Israeli settlers attacking Christian Palestinians in the West Bank, not even in Gaza,
Speaker 0: but October 7. Even in territories, they went after Mariyaz.
Speaker 1: What is that?
Speaker 0: It's a historical church in Haifa. They weren't they they
Speaker 1: Spray painted.
Speaker 0: Spray painted, decimated this is where the saint is buried.
Speaker 1: Israelis are desecrating churches within actual Israel too?
Speaker 2: Yes. They they also discriminate against Israeli Palestinian Christians. Like, Emily is an Israeli citizen as well.
Speaker 0: Oh, I see. Because I was born on the 1948 Palestinian territory. So So you're Israeli
Speaker 1: citizens who Christian are Yes. Because they keep telling us everything is equal and perfect and all. But what's the Israeli maybe that's a few bad actors within the the Israeli society. What's the government? Do they try to crack down or fix any of this?
Have you seen rhetoric from their officials to try to lower this stuff?
Speaker 0: Have you seen the viral videos of how they attack the the Israeli Arab Knesset members Yeah. During their government meetings? You know, like, we hold congress here in The United States
Speaker 2: so they have Knesset? Escort them out, like like, mannequin them out.
Speaker 1: They physically That doesn't sound like equal rights or a democracy to me, mean.
Speaker 0: They physically assault them. They do you have viral videos about this all over the Internet? This is just
Speaker 2: Arab Arab Palestinian Christian citizens of Israel Mhmm. Have a second tier status within Israeli society. On paper, they have equal rights Mhmm. With Jewish Israelis, but in reality, in practice, they can.
Speaker 1: So, you know, from what I've been told is Israel, like, if you're if you have Jewish ancestry, you can, like, come there and become a citizen. Now as a let's say, you're an Israeli Christian Arab, are you able, like, sponsor your family members to come to Israel and get citizenship?
Speaker 0: No. So that's what happened with my brother. He married a wonderful lady from Jordan. Mhmm. And she had two children who were born in Nazareth.
Mhmm. And she still does not have an Israeli citizen. They do not grant her she has residency, but not a citizenship. So she's not able to get the same rights as someone from New Jersey who could just claim his grandmother was Jewish and just show up, and they'll give them all kinds of benefits.
Speaker 1: See, a lot of people have this misconception that the issue is only in Gaza. Now I me personally, I thought it was just Gaza and Westminster. Now you're telling me in Haifa, actual Israel churches are being vandalized and Arabs members of the Knesset are being dragged out?
Speaker 2: Even this year during Holy Week, the Orthodox Christian Holy Week, the Orthodox Church controls the single most important shrine in Christianity, is the Church of the Holy Sepulchres in Jerusalem. It's in a custodial ship between the Catholics and the Orthodox and the Ethiopian Orthodox Churches.
Speaker 1: Sure.
Speaker 2: But the Orthodox Church controls the vast majority of All all the holy sites on the Halema that are Christian are under the care custodial strip Mhmm. Of the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem under the patronage of the king of Jordan. Mhmm. Even during Pascha, which is part Easter, they were beating up Christians trying to get into East They beat up spitting on them, kicking them Who was doing this? IDF soldiers, other police Police.
Speaker 0: Israeli police. They stopped
Speaker 1: The police and the soldiers are beating that's you know, people say, like, there's things like riots.
Speaker 2: They actually pulled out a gun on a race. Yeah.
Speaker 0: That's there's a video on pushed and shoved there's several videos. Over the years, all the time
Speaker 1: when people are like when there's riots, like, people just beating people up, citizens on citizens, but when the actual state is involved too, that's a pogrom. You basically just described the pogrom to me, where the the the military and the police, instead of trying to break this apart, they're actually participating. Is this what's happening?
Speaker 0: They're going after priests. There's there's several videos that you can see on YouTube even before of October 2023 attacking actual priests. They're they there's one where they manhandled an Assyrian priest grabbing him by the legs and arms and removing him from the holy sepulchre where Jesus is buried. They removed a priest Why
Speaker 1: why is Israeli government doing this? Why don't they understand why it's better to just keep things calm? Like, I don't what's what's their what's their rationale for this antagonism?
Speaker 0: They want to chase us out. They want our land. They want our
Speaker 1: Well, they want everyone's land in that area.
Speaker 0: Right. Right. But the thing is about Christians, we have proof of our history in the holy Land. I see. The church in my grandfather's village is from the fourth century, Taipei.
So do you wanna talk about that church? So they tried to burn it down.
Speaker 1: Who's the
Speaker 2: The Israeli
Speaker 0: subsistence. It's the Israeli
Speaker 2: But they literally surrounded the town. It's the last we had said previously. Where is
Speaker 1: the IDF? Why did not stop?
Speaker 0: No. It's they're escorted. They're escorted.
Speaker 2: They they encourage it. So when the settlers go into Palestinian lands, it's usually twelve, thirteen, twenty all the way to, nineteen years. It's not even adults. It's armed, rebellious teenagers that are going
Speaker 0: into Give them machine guns and say go.
Speaker 2: That's the other thing. When you
Speaker 1: go to Jerusalem
Speaker 2: I don't know you've ever been. When you go there, you see Israelis carrying submachine guns. And these are the men pushing baby carriages, women with their tote bags. At the Christian era, you can't have a you can't have a gun. Only only Jewish citizens of Israel.
Speaker 1: So you got like a two tier system of laws for one thing Let's versus the let's let's go to Gaza because that's really where a lot of people are suffering. Like, I I've been to the West Bank, it's bad, but for what we've seen in Gaza, I mean, this is just like, to me, I I call it genocide. It is. Or ethnic cleansing. Mean
Speaker 2: There's there's no mincing of words within. Yeah. It is.
Speaker 1: People are saying, haven't done it yet. Haven't killed anyone yet. I'm like, I don't think we should wait. Can you tell me about your community? What's happening to them there?
Speaker 0: So our relatives have basically been all chased out, and a lot of the fam the same family have lost over 20 members when they bombed Saint Porphyrios Church. That's about that's the third oldest church in the world.
Speaker 1: That's in Gaza. In Gaza. Church in Gaza. See, many people don't know that. They're surprised.
How many churches are in Gaza?
Speaker 0: Well, the ones that are left that Israel has not destroyed so far, we only two. How much is in total? There used to be a lot more the Baptist church was also it's connected to the Baptist hospital, and they destroyed that That was
Speaker 2: bombed a week before St. Perfira was bombed.
Speaker 1: Why are they targeting churches?
Speaker 0: Because there's a lot that people think it's safe, and there's a lot of families that hide in the church because it's a war crime to attack a church.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 0: So yeah. Because they targeted the part of San Porphyrios where all the people were sleeping, but not where all the relics are, because they're planning on looting that later. Wow. If they have anti This is religious significant crimes. They have the and and they also have been targeting several times.
This they targeted this church several times. There's also they targeted the rosary school. Mhmm. The rosary sisters school. That's the Catholic compound where there's orphans.
They target the parts where there's orphans.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's it's not it's not necessarily the church building that's been hit. Although that has been damaged. There's pools and things
Speaker 1: that Sure. Sure.
Speaker 2: You know? Because these bombs are, like, are very strong. When we when I was talking to Archbishop Alexios, who's the Greek Orthodox archbishop of all of Gaza, and the predominant Christian number of Christians in Gaza are Orthodox Christians. Minority are Catholic. Mhmm.
And when the war started, it was almost like wherever you were in the in the Gaza Strip, whatever church you were closest to, that's where you went. Mhmm. Majority of them went to the Church of the Holy of Saint Porphyrias. There was about originally, was so I think about 600 people who were seeking refuge there. Mhmm.
And it wasn't just Christians. It also Muslim families too, because like Emily had said, it's a war crime to attack a place of But also mosques have been completely toppled and destroyed. Churches Universities. Universities, schools. It was They they they bombed the Orthodox Christian Cultural Center of Gaza.
And when they bombed Saint Paphos, it was the compound. They destroyed the archbishop's car, and they leveled the social hall where two stories pancaked on top of each other. And only ones that were able to survive were in the part that was like this in in that space, and they didn't die. But twenty two people died, and there was not even a single apology.
Speaker 1: I'm just baffled by their their actions because it seems like they just bombed everywhere in Gaza, and you would think from as a PR perspective, they would try to avoid the Christian areas, but they just act with complete impunity. They just don't seem to care at all. Like, I remember you showed me a video last night. There was a Christian area in Gaza. Don't even know this existed.
Speaker 2: That was from her cousin?
Speaker 0: That's from your cousin. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It looked like the rest of Gaza.
Speaker 0: Was one of the most beautiful neighborhoods. If I show you what it looked like before, you guys can see it on Montas of Torresi. He's one of he's my cousin's cousin.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 0: Sure. So if you follow him, you will see he posts videos from before and after. It used to look like Beverly Hills.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 0: Rimal is one of the most beautiful, beautiful neighborhoods, Completely destroyed because they wanna erase the history. Remember? One of the people that they killed out of that family, like I said, he's a historian. He documented emperors coming to Gaza. He had the photos and now we don't know what happened to these photos.
Speaker 1: It's How many Christians live in Gaza? How many How people in live Gaza? And after
Speaker 0: this It used to be four thousands before.
Speaker 2: Well well over a thousand.
Speaker 0: And then
Speaker 2: now this probably goes, I wanna say 600. Depends it's really hard to say because we don't know how And many of them the ones that have left, like Emily said last night, were left to Australia. They were given diplomatic I don't know if it was diplomatic passports necessarily, but they were given special permissions to leave. But who who's gonna go back there? Who's gonna continue the Christian presence there?
And what what we're trying to do is sustain the Christian presence in Gaza, across the whole way, and across the Middle And even archbishop Alexios said to me is if I will remain in Syncoporitos, I am not leaving.
Speaker 0: They refuse to leave.
Speaker 2: Because if they leave, it means death.
Speaker 0: It means the end they will loot the churches. They will take everything.
Speaker 1: So he's making his last stand.
Speaker 2: His last stand's huge. And he and he talks to us, and he cry he's crying on the phone. And I just wanna I He can't picture the church in so many ways. Like, it's they bomb the streets to weaken the foundations of the buildings so the buildings collapse. I mean, there are peep the people who didn't go to church or the church that stayed in the house, they're dead decomposing in the rubble.
And all you can and they can smell they can smell the rotting flesh of the deceased in the air.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No. We've seen we've seen
Speaker 2: it in It's not even though they're saved, just the psychological trauma that the children who are two, three there's 40 orphans in the church.
Speaker 1: I've known I know Justin And where are they
Speaker 2: gonna When when the IDF sends them, what, to Rafa? And where are they gonna go? Who's gonna end up with those children?
Speaker 1: Nowhere safe. I know a congressman, Justin Amash. I don't know if you know
Speaker 2: of him. He's the the cousin to Tafiq,
Speaker 1: who
Speaker 2: is the secretary of doctor Bush Polakia.
Speaker 1: Some of his cousins were killed in Israeli air strikes
Speaker 0: in Gaza.
Speaker 2: Yeah. That's at that church?
Speaker 0: That's the same and he yeah. He died with our
Speaker 1: You know, people are still saying, like, oh, it's not a genocide. It's not a genocide. And I'm looking at this, and I'm like, okay. I think it is. But if you look at your community in particular, you're telling me at this point 50% of you have been displaced or killed.
I don't understand how you can be a Christian and not think this is a genocide against Christians. Like, I I don't
Speaker 2: It's a it's a genocide against a whole people. And the Israeli government, they don't distinguish between Muslim Palestinian, Christian Palestinian. To to them, any Palestinian is the enemy. And it shouldn't be that way.
Speaker 0: Mhmm. They dehumanize us to the point where people don't see us as like, when I say I'm Palestinian, I'm nobody to them. It doesn't matter. You're a Christian. There's no also Baha'is.
Mhmm. There's also Dursi. Mhmm. You know, there's different religions. This is not just about Christianity and Judaism.
Speaker 1: I'm sure. I just try to empathize with you guys' position. There's lot of Muslims are, like, really, like, frustrated about what's happening in Gaza. But I I can't even imagine how Christians feel. Like, America is a Christian majority country.
We feel pay taxes We pay taxes here. Christians I'm not Christian, but you guys are paying taxes here, and that money is being used to kill Christians by another sent to another guy. It just doesn't make any sense to me at all. Like, I can't imagine your outrage.
Speaker 2: The the Christians are are I I always like to say, we're the tiny fish that are gobbled up by the big fish. Unfortunately, in The Middle East not not just in Gaza, but in Syria, Iraq. I mean, we're we're we're the little fish that are gobbled up by the big fish. We're we're essentially collateral damage.
Speaker 1: Well, I understand. My frustration is I'm sure you guys probably share the same. Live in a Christian majority country that's funding it. It's one thing for it just to be happening on its own there.
Speaker 2: It's like they're lying to it. Like, they don't wanna open their eyes see.
Speaker 1: That's why I'm talking to you guys.
Speaker 0: Not not only that. So Israelis consider evangelical religion illegal in
Speaker 1: Really?
Speaker 2: In Yet the evangelicals in this country are the biggest supporters of the state of Israel.
Speaker 0: They besides our tax dollars, the billions of dollars that we give them in tax dollars, the Israelis come and fundraise and have all kinds of events with evangelicals to hoard money from them and say, you know, let's get rid of everybody so that Christianity can. Why why are we why
Speaker 1: are we allowing this? Like, don't tell? Because I mean, I I don't have as much discourse in talking with different Christians.
Speaker 2: When you speak
Speaker 1: to these evangelicals, what are their response to you?
Speaker 0: That Israelis are the chosen people by God, which is the That
Speaker 2: they had a biblical command, distort the state of Israel. But you guys are
Speaker 1: reading the same book, so how are they saying this?
Speaker 2: Because they distort it.
Speaker 0: They manipulated the the bible was rewritten and manipulated in a way to convince, you know, that's why evangelicals are different from Catholics and It's Greek literally they designed this what is the bible? Russian I need to think of the name. But it was it's a specific bible that they rewrote for that.
Speaker 2: I think
Speaker 1: you mean the Scofield bible. Scofield bible. I've been hearing about this. Yeah. I've been reading a They bit about this as
Speaker 2: they they pick and choose which books and scriptures that they want to highlight. Yeah. The thing the frustration that I think me and Emily have is even within you you talk about America funding this war.
Speaker 1: Mhmm.
Speaker 2: As as we said, there's the Orthodox Church, Symperor Fires in Gaza, then there's the Church of the Holy Family, which is the Catholic Church. Yes. Okay. Two things about this. It wasn't until the the Catholic Church was targeted, and it didn't kill anybody, it just hit the cross, that world condemnation came in support of Catholic Christians.
This is after the Orthodox. After the Orthodox. Yet the Orthodox This
Speaker 0: was a few months ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yet the Orthodox have been being killed off. First heirs struck at 22. You didn't have the condemnation of the world. Even that even though the Orthodox of the majority and the gods disturb us for Christians, we were an Africa.
But when the Catholics got targeted, then the world started to pay attention. So we feel even within the Christianity, we feel there's a bit of a double edge it's like a double standard here. I see. But the thing is, the Christian community, whether Orthodox or Catholic, they rely on each other. They cannot be one without the other.
Of course. They supply they they help each other with food, with water, with whatever kind of medical capabilities that they have for, you know, whatever prescriptions they might have ordered in between wars. Sure. And there are Orthodox Christians in the Church of the Holy Family and vice versa. Catholics in the Church of the Family and the Church of Saint Porphyrias.
But the thing that frustrates me and Emily in our organization, and I think a lot of Orthodox Christians and even Catholic Christians, is in the Trump administration, you have president Trump who's who's a Christian. I think he's a Blings. He's a Christian. Presbyterian Christian. You have JD Vance, the vice president, who's Roman Catholic.
Mhmm. You have Marco Rubio, who's the secretary of state, who's Roman Catholic. Mhmm. Where is where is their condemnation of what's happening to the Christian synagogue? Where is their condemnation of what's happening to the the Catholic church in Gaza?
That's what that's what frustrates us because we have two people just there, the vice president and secretary of state, who could really highlight this this travesty. And I and and is it is it fear that they don't wanna speak up against it?
Speaker 0: It It's APAC. It's APAC bankrolling them.
Speaker 2: I give them the benefit of the doubt. I think maybe they're not aware.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's possible.
Speaker 0: No. No. Not a Rubio. It's APAC.
Speaker 1: Not JV.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe Trump because he's much older.
Speaker 2: The only the only time and I was very surprised is when the situation happened in Typhoon, when they tried burning the Church Of Saint George and they were burning the olive groves. To his credit, Mike Huckabee came out and condemned what the Israeli settlers were doing. To me, think that took a lot of, forgive me, balls to do in to do in Israel. Then after that, I we, you know, we haven't seen any any con you know, condemning statements. That was the once and only time.
But I give him credit for that. Yeah. So Well, I wish
Speaker 1: we could see more of that from Huckabee because recently, he just keeps telling us that we're married to Israel and that we have
Speaker 0: no order. Why? What does Israel give us
Speaker 1: as Americans? Look There's like another war?
Speaker 0: No. But that's what I'm saying. What do how do Americans benefit? How do Americans are benefiting Israel? What are what are they what are we getting in return?
Oh, they are our best allies. Really? They drag us into all these bores and they use our tax dollars to murder babies and commit genocide and kill Christians with our tax dollars.
Speaker 2: I mean, just like you see these interviews from doctors, western doctors from France, Australia, from The United States, and they talk us stories of three year olds with a single gunshot wound to the temple of that. Gross knight. Why? Gross knight.
Speaker 0: And also it is a genocide because every single world organization has recognized that it is a genocide and the United Nation and the there's even an arrest warrant out for the defense, the ministers, and Netanyahu himself. So that has support the holocorative too there, yeah, that's across the board.
Speaker 1: But, yeah, but for some reason, we just don't seem to recognize the one that we're giving money to as a war criminal. You know, I the way I've seen this conflict is that, you know, people were against during the apartheid government in South Africa, our government was one of the last ones still supporting it. But now looking back, knew it was wrong. Vietnam, you know, we were the ones supporting it to the very end. Looking back, we know it's wrong.
Iraq and Afghanistan, looking back, we know it's wrong. I in twenty, thirty years, people are gonna look back to this, and we're gonna be like, wow. I can't believe we funded the genocide. That's crazy. Because right now, you guys speaking up now is now is a brave point.
Twenty, thirty years when everyone else is speaking up, go back and see what they were saying. See if they were taking the stand right now to putting themselves out there.
Speaker 2: And the thing is, like, the like like, for me, I'm not Palestinian, but, you know, when we're talking to the people in Gaza, when we're talking to the people in the West Bank, when we're getting to know them and their families, and they're crying to us on the phone every day, every week. As I said last night, I'm in daily con not daily contact, but weekly contact with the people in Gaza, and that's when they have Internet. They they're crying to us. They're they're they're, like, they it's they're living in a hell that is worse than hell.
Speaker 1: Yeah. We've seen this before.
Speaker 2: And, you know, it's we none of us know when this is gonna end because every time there's a peace plan or or or something, it it always falls apart and it's just the nightmare starts all over again.
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, wanted to ask you in particular, dad, you know, your family in Gaza. When they were there living all these years, did they ever had to worry about, like, Muslims blowing up their churches or attacking them?
Speaker 0: Never.
Speaker 1: Many churches have Muslims destroyed versus the IDF in Gaza?
Speaker 0: Would say. Have I have never ever been stopped by Muslims to enter my church. The only people that stopped me from entering my churches were IDF soldiers with machine guns. Do you what That is the only thing my whole experience.
Speaker 2: Because in Islam, as you know Mhmm. Christianity one is beat the people of the book, unlike the Jews, the Muslims recognize Christ as the Messiah. They recognize him as the one who's gonna judge the living and the dead in the end of time. They recognize the Virgin Mary and her virgin birth. So there's a I feel that Christians are much closer to Muslims and vice versa, but further away connected from Judaism, which is the other third monotheistic So I think naturally between Christians and Muslims, there's almost like brotherly relationship.
Not not to say that there hasn't been their problems in history between Christians and Muslims, but but in Palestine, they they see each other as brothers. It's they need them as much as they need us.
Speaker 1: Makes sense because the the Muslims would actually have an incentive protect Christian holy sites. Exactly. Because to them, everywhere Jesus went is also Exactly. Holy. You don't see that type of incentive for,
Speaker 2: you know And the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, as I was saying Mhmm. Which and the reason it's under the custodial strip in of the king of Jordan is which is the Heshemites, which descend from the prophet Muhammad, is because even though the Church Of The Holy Sepulchre is a Christian holy site, it's the main Christian holy site, it is also, I would say, after Mecca, Medina, and the Dome Of The Rock Yes. Yes. Would be could be possibly the fourth holy site for Muslims.
Speaker 1: Very important.
Speaker 2: It's where Christ was the second prophet. They say you and might you can correct me. Jesus was the the best among men, I see. Yes. You know?
So
Speaker 1: But Jesus very important.
Speaker 2: You know, he's mentioned more in the Quran, Jesus than Muhammad. Absolutely.
Speaker 0: There's a whole chapter in the Quran about Mary.
Speaker 1: Mhmm. Yes. No. That's very true. You know, I've also because I I don't you guys were saying though, in the end, it's not really a religious conflict.
Like, you know what's going on in Azerbaijan and Armenia. Right? Mhmm. Like, Israel is funding Shiite Muslims to kill Christians and displace them, but no one says anything. Like, we're just seeing this ethnic cleansing, and people speak up on some Christians being persecuted in Africa, but no one speaks up about the ones that African.
Speaker 2: Convenient. And when it's and when it's to a political end.
Speaker 0: That's exactly what it is. The Congo genocide Mhmm. Fueled by an Israeli billionaire.
Speaker 1: Really?
Speaker 0: Yes.
Speaker 1: I had no idea about this.
Speaker 0: The Really? Every coup in South America who gave them weapons, Israel sold them weapons.
Speaker 1: Israel sells a lot of weapons. Like, the Azerbaijan stuff is crazy, the drones they gave them. And it's funny because you look at the conflict, like, is backing Armenia just because they don't like Azerbaijan helping Israel. So people who think, like, this is a religious conflict, they have lost the plot completely.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's not it's not about religion. It's about controlling a narrative.
Speaker 1: Yeah. It's just it's just frustrating when when I'm when I'm seeing it. I thought I was frustrated, you as a Muslim watching America behave this way, but then when you're when this is a Christian majority country, Christian taxpayers are funding Christians being killed, I can't even imagine. I would just I I guess that the it will be very similar to a lot of, like, Muslims living in Middle Eastern countries, and their kings and dictators are just watching and doing nothing. They're probably feeling the same way.
Like, just
Speaker 0: all the regular people yeah. We're just all
Speaker 1: just sitting here be like, well, I
Speaker 2: just You know what? And to the credit, I I think the king of Jordan, his majesty King Philip the second, he's done a lot for the Christians in Gaza. He's airlifted special packages. The royal Jordanian military airlifted and dropped
Speaker 1: 86 video they thousand. Did actually. That was one of the first videos of the destruction. Gaza goes from a Jordanian plane to actually show what was happening because people were like, it's fake. Fake.
I'm like, well, the Jordanians just took a picture a video of the entire strips.
Speaker 0: Why would the Jordanian king lie?
Speaker 2: Yeah. No. But queen and queen Rania is Palestinian.
Speaker 1: I do not know.
Speaker 2: So the crown prince is half Palestinian, half Jordanian. And, you know, Jordan is, I would say, could say the twin brother to to to Palestine.
Speaker 0: A lot of Palestinians escaped in 1948 to So, yeah, I I actually have family that lived there too.
Speaker 1: Constantine, don't you tell us a bit about your organization before we wrap up?
Speaker 2: Sure. So the Order of Saint George, our main purpose is to sustain the Christian presence, presence not only within Gaza and The Holy Land, but across the entirety of The Middle East. So we help everything from individual Christians who might have medical problems or problems with paying rent or bills, all the way to those in the within a patriarchy like a bishop or sustaining holy sites. So if there's a church that needs reconstruction or, you know, rebuilding, we we try to help that as well. So we it so those are our main and education.
So we try to assist people with What's your website you have listed? Our website is www.orderofsaintgeorge.org, and saint is spelled out.
Speaker 1: Orderofsaintgeorge.org. If you're Christian, if you're anybody, you know, you could take a look. You know, you asked me if I could become a member. I'm I'm not Christian. Is that okay?
Can I start
Speaker 2: with You can still join?
Speaker 1: So I would definitely because I plan on joining.
Speaker 2: Honored to have you.
Speaker 0: I plan
Speaker 2: on joining. It really because we feel that there's no voice for the Christians of The Middle East. And and it's not again, we're not purely pro Palestinian, pro Jordanian. We're what we're trying to do is is sustain the Christian presence. The Middle East, without the Christians, would not be the Middle East.
Speaker 1: I I agree with you.
Speaker 2: I mean, we've we've served as advisers and and viziers to sultans and kings.
Speaker 0: Christian Palestinians are the oldest bloodline of Christianity in the
Speaker 2: world. Living stones.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Of course. 100%. No. I I I definitely agree with you.
I think the persecution needs to stop. You know, just also, I forgot to mention, but I see Jewish people in Israel also being beaten up and persecuted by the Israeli government because they don't wanna participate in So this this Israeli government is not I wouldn't even call
Speaker 0: the Jewish state, honestly. If you don't know It's not they hijack the religion.
Speaker 1: They they hijack the religion.
Speaker 0: Zionism is completely different. Because if you really look at the Jewish religion, there's two principles. One of them is called Tikkun Olam, which means to fix the world. Mhmm. And the other one is to save the
Speaker 1: soul. Yeah.
Speaker 0: And none of the Zionism is not practicing any of the major principles of Judaism. And it pisses off a lot of Jews. Like, don't in my name.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I just hope, you know, Jews, Muslims, Christians, we can all just come together and and stop this killing. At the very least, stop funding it.
But yeah. But thank you for sitting here and talking with
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Was a real pleasure. Thank you so much.
Speaker 0: I appreciate how knowledgeable you are.
Speaker 1: I do what
Speaker 2: I get.
Speaker 0: It's not honestly, like, you're not asking ignorant questions.
Speaker 1: I I try to keep it interesting. But everyone, please go to orderofsaintgeorge.org. I'll be with you.
Speaker 2: Thank you.