Who Cares About Christians in Pakistan
If you were to read this article about the first Christian woman in Pakistan to become a brigadier general, you’d think that Pakistan was a bastion of tolerant interfaith liberalism. Nothing is further from the truth. Let’s look at this in the proper context.
Last month, something horrible happened in Bethlehem. “Christ at the Checkpoint” is a clever name for a nefarious orgy of hatred organized by people who call themselves Christians but who advocate for the destruction of Israel and the massacre of Jewish people. It is built on a biblically baseless foundation riddled with replacement theology, propagating the lie that God no longer has a covenant with the Jewish people.
Unfortunately, more and more people believe and advocate for this, including a recent interview by Tucker Carlson with Reverend Munther Isaac, one of the leaders of Palestinian liberation theology and the biggest proponents of the hollow theology that it represents.
I was reminded of this recently when a Christian friend in Pakistan contacted me to ask for my help. I cannot write anything that will reveal who or where she is, but her circumstances, along with those of many Christians in Pakistan, are harrowing. I, an Orthodox Jew, have been helping them for years.
My friend and her family have been subject to multiple instances of persecution and assault. Recently she and another family member were hospitalized due to Muslims beating them just because they’re Christian. I’ve seen the X-rays for broken bones that will heal, but in a society that is hopeless in its hate. The most recent attack on her family is the third in recent months, as they try to force them to convert to Islam and force their women to marry Muslim men.
My friend is incredibly strong in her faith. I wish I could share everything that I know. But she, her family, and countless other Christians live in fear. I have several Christian friends in Pakistan who tell me the same story.
She asked for my help because they feared for their lives. They need to leave Pakistan to flee to another country.
She told me where they could go to claim asylum and how much it would cost. On the one hand, she is my friend, and I want to help in any way I can. Because of my work building bridges between Jews and Christians, I am also focused on helping Christians who are in dire need, especially here in the Middle East, and especially when facing similar threats from Muslims as we do in Israel. From a human perspective, it’s hard to say no.
Another friend has asked me for months if I can help him get a visa to any country where he can find work. Unfortunately, I have no connections to help him, and unfortunately, even other Christians with links to Pakistan who I have asked to help have been unresponsive. You can walk across the Mexican border without a problem, but getting a visa to flee is insurmountable.
I know that if it were possible, an infinite number of Christians would flee Pakistan and other Arab Islamic countries. A timeless Jewish teaching is that “he who saves one life saves the world.” The Genesis 123 Foundation is committed to saving as many lives as possible.
I thought of Tucker Carlson‘s horrible interview because he not only allowed but propagated a lie about Christians suffering at the hands of Israel. He and Munther Isaac blamed the suffering of Palestinian Arab Christians on Israel, without once mentioning anything about Islam or the actual Muslim neighbors who truly threaten Christians, and under whose control Bethlehem has gone from a city of 80% Christian to less than 10%.
I also know the truth of Christians being persecuted and threatened in the Palestinian Authority and in Israel by their Muslim neighbors firsthand from Arab Christians who share with me their frustration and fear.
Tucker Carlson asked rhetorically why more people don’t stand up for Christians in the Middle East to set up a way to blame Israel rather than identify the cause. Since I have worked helping Christians in Pakistan, Turkey, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority for years, my response is very clear. Christians typically are not as tribal as Jews and do not see the suffering of Christians in other parts of the world as being something for which they have an inherent responsibility or ability to overcome. Jews consider helping one another an imperative.
In the past, when I initiated major campaigns to help Christians in the Middle East, I was frustrated with the lack of support, wondering why at least a million Christians don’t donate $10 to make a real difference—maybe $25.
Nevertheless, I cannot stop advocating for my friends, Christians living in Arab and Muslim nations, and Christians in general.
For my friend’s family of five, it will cost $37,000 to pay for their visas, airfare, and initial setting up of a home in another country. That’s $7400 each to give them a new life free of fear, free of violent assaults, and with the ability to live as Christians. But it’s also half of an average annual Pakistani income. So, the dream of leaving is no more possible than the unbearable nightmare of their reality. Somewhere in there is a clever Mastercard commercial. But this is life and death; saving a single life is “priceless.”
I suspect that the closest that Tucker Carlson ever has come to actually doing something tangible on behalf of Christians in the Middle East is his disappointing and dishonest diatribe blaming Israel for problems rather than looking for actual solutions than truly doing anything to help directly. That is shameful. It’s one thing to be dispassionate and do nothing. But it’s another thing to spread lies that make the situation for Christians in the Middle East even worse. Maybe Tucker will see this, and maybe he will surprise us and donate the $37,000.
But let’s assume that he doesn’t and that nobody else will step up. As a network of Jews and Christians working together worldwide, I have asked and received a warm response so far for people to join the Genesis 123 Foundation to make a difference and help at least this one family since there are far more persecuted Christians in Pakistan than those promoted to brigadier general.
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