Some Arabic-speaking Christians in Israel are well aware that they live in the region’s only safe haven for their faith. And they have decided to do more than give thanks.As a result, Naddaf has been threatened and his son attacked.
They want to defend their homeland, and a number of them have chosen to take action. Not only do they want to serve in the IDF, but they also are forming a political party and seeking reforms in Israel’s educational system, insisting that its curriculum include Christian history alongside that of Judaism and Islam.
Father Gabriel Naddaf leads this movement. He is articulate, bold and outspoken. He explained to the Jerusalem Report (Oct 7, 2013). “We want to be fully integrated into Israeli society... This land is holy to us too, and we are partners in it. We live under its protection and we should protect it along with its citizens.
“Given all that is happening in the region,” he says emphatically, “the time has come to discuss this. Now.”
Now, he is being stripped of his role in the Church by the West Bank-based Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III.
Theophilos' spokesman, Father Issa Musleh, said that as a result of Naddaf's political activities, he will no longer be allowed to perform his pastoral and ecclesiastical duties.
He said, "We have asked several times for Father Gabriel Naddaf, priest of the Church of Jaffa, Nazareth, to retreat from positions that call for recruitment in the army of occupation, as we reject it. "
Musleh said Naddaf cannot work with any church in Palestine (which includes, clearly, Israel.)
He also said that Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah II contacted the Patriarchate about this issue and support the decision.
This shows how frightened the Palestinian Arabs are of the still small initiative to recruit Christians to the IDF. In 2013, the number of recruits tripled.
It remains to be seen if any Christian leaders of other denominations will criticize this heavy handed interference by Palestinian Arab churches into Israeli clerics and churches.
UPDATE: The story was denied.(h/t Ian)