by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
A Palestinian Authority Christian leader has demonized Evangelical Christians as being “pulpits in the service of the Zionist enterprise.”
In fact, the head of the Sebastia Diocese of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, Archbishop Atallah Hanna stated in the Sept. 24, 2018 edition of the official Palestinian Authority daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida that “Evangelical Christians” or “Zionist Christians” do “not belong to Christianity,” and that they “have no connection to the values of Christianity”.
Following is a translation of the article from the Arabic by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).
“Head of the Sebastia Diocese of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem Archbishop Atallah Hanna said that neither the Christian nor the church dictionary contain anything called ‘Evangelical Christians’ or ‘Zionist Christians.’ He added, ‘The aforementioned do not belong to Christianity at all; they have no connection to the values of Christianity and to the evangelical principles that always prefer to identify with the deprived and ill-fated of the world. They are closer to Judaism and Zionism and have no connection to Christianity.’
Archbishop Hanna said, ‘The Christian Evangelists are tantamount to pulpits in the service of the Zionist enterprise. They are enemies of the Christian values, and when they come to Palestine they do not visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Nativity, but rather the colonies located on the stolen lands of our people as a sign of solidarity with the occupation.'”
