The following is a Catholic Action League of Massachusetts action alert…
Lebanon is the last Christian stronghold in the Middle East. Although it no longer has a Christian majority, it is the home to more than 2.2 million Christians, comprising 32% of the country’s population.
Most Christians are Maronite Catholics, followed by Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholics, and Armenian Apostolics.
It has the highest percentage of Christians of any Arab country, and it is the only Muslim majority nation in the world where the President of the Republic must, according to the foundational National Pact, be a Catholic.
Lebanon’s Christians are now caught in the crossfire between Israel and the Iranian proxy Hezbollah.
Israeli attacks and evacuation orders have forced the displacement of more than 1.2 million Lebanese, with more than 1,000 killed and more than 2,800 wounded.
Israeli targets have included a Catholic suburb of Beirut, with the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) claiming that Iranian guards were operating in the area.
On March 9th, a Maronite Catholic parish priest, Father Pierre al-Rahi, was killed by an Israeli tank shell, when he entered a home in the Christian village of Qulayaa, to aid the inhabitants after they were struck by Israeli shellfire.
According to the Sovereign Order of Malta, the humanitarian situation in Lebanon is “catastrophic.”
Now, to compound all of this, the third ranking member of the Israeli cabinet, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, earlier today, called for the Israeli annexation of southern Lebanon up to the Litani River.
The area south of the Litani River comprises 8% of Lebanon’s national territory, and was the home—prior to the Israeli evacuation order—of 200,000 Lebanese citizens.
The Israelis are now saying that the displacement of Lebanese civilians may be permanent.
The only person who can stop this illegal seizure of southern Lebanon is the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.
Please contact President Trump, using the White House email contact box, and tell the President that the Christians of Lebanon have suffered enough, without having part of their country stolen and hundreds of thousands of their fellow-citizens driven from their homes.
You may also call and leave a comment at 202-456-1111.
Urge the President to stop this unlawful annexation of southern Lebanon!
Many claim to be followers of Christ, but are indifferent to the fate of Christians in the Holy Land. As Catholics, let us never forget our brothers and sisters under attack in the Middle East.
Thank you.
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Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Lebanon Chapel. Serge Melki from Indianapolis, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
