IRAQ: ELDERLY ASSYRIAN CHRISTIAN WOMEN
STABBED AS JIHADISTS TERRORIZE
THEIR HOMELAND COMMUNITY
BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
The whole world is obsessed about the Palestinians who are referenced as “indigenous people” when they are really peoples from Ottoman South Syria. The Jews are the indigenous inhabitants of their land, as are Christians throughout the Middle East–both groups tormented by jihadists who want them to either be dhimmis or vanish. The aim of the Palestinian leadership to obliterate Israel is no secret and neither is the continual persecution of Christians.With this propaganda driven obsession about “indigenous” Palestinians, who pays attention to the rights of truly indigenous Assyrians? They are “the descendants of the original inhabitants of ancient Assyria, have lived in the Middle East for millennia and are indigenous to Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey. The Assyrian language they speak, which is also known as Aramaic, Syriac or Neo-Aramaic, was the mother tongue of Jesus.”“Since the rise of Islam in the seventh century, however, Assyrians and other Christians became “dhimmis,” or second-class subjects”, which also happened across the Middle East. For example, Egypt was 99% Christian before the bloody jihadist conquest of their country. Christians are also driven out of their ancestral homeland, Bethlehem.Assyrians are now being terrorized in accordance with the Islamic instruction to cast terror into the heart of disbelievers. Who wouldn’t be terrified under these circumstances….On May 13, assailants broke into an Assyrian Christian home and attacked two elderly women, a mother and daughter, in the Iraqi town of Bartella. The women were repeatedly stabbed with a knife and their gold and money were stolen. The two victims were then hospitalized in Mosul. The daughter, who sustained a violent head injury, remains in critical condition.The horror of the 1400 year old Islamic jihad is a continued fresh reminder for the Assyrian Christian minority who simply wish to live in peace in their homeland, like Jews who try to do the same in Israel.Western countries are doomed to become replicas of the Middle East and Africa if they allow Islamization to proliferate.“After Attacks On Assyrians, Northern Iraq’s Christian Minority Recommits To A Homeland”, The Daily Caller, May 16, 2019:Christians in Iraq continue to be exposed to violent attacks and oppression at the hands of various armed groups.On May 13, assailants broke into an Assyrian Christian home and attacked two elderly women, a mother and daughter, in the Iraqi town of Bartella. The women were repeatedly stabbed with a knife and their gold and money were stolen. The two victims were then hospitalized in Mosul. The daughter, who sustained a violent head injury, remains in critical condition.Two men who were arrested for the crime are from Shabak, a Shia group that is supported by Iran alongside the Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militia, reported the human rights organization, International Christian Concern (ICC).Bartella is a town in the Nineveh plain in Iraq, the ancient Assyrian heartland, where Assyrian Christians still constitute a demographic majority and have for years sought autonomy or self-governance. However, since the defeat of ISIS, Bartella has been occupied by the Brigade 30 militia under the Hashd al-Shaabi. And the number of Shia Shabak people is increasing in the southern towns of Nineveh.Susan Patto, an Assyrian living in Baghdad, told the Daily Caller, “the attack on those elderly women is not just a crime of theft; it’s a message to Assyrians that you are not safe in your homes and towns.”“The fragile security situation in Nineveh Plain, where different sides control security, and most of them are not even people of that area, is creating more problems, and also increasing the fear of people to go back to their towns,” Patto added.“There is also the problem of rebuilding what was destroyed; it’s not going as it should be. People are not compensated for what they have lost, and there are no decent houses to live in, no infrastructure, and no jobs, and these are massive obstacles for people to go back. So the most urgent concerns of Christians are security and the rebuilding of their towns.”The Assyrians, who are the descendants of the original inhabitants of ancient Assyria, have lived in the Middle East for millennia and are indigenous to Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey. The Assyrian language they speak, which is also known as Aramaic, Syriac or Neo-Aramaic, was the mother tongue of Jesus.Ancient Assyrian civilization made an enormous contribution to the history and culture of the region. For instance, ancient Assyrians developed mathematical inventions and sophisticated medicine which influenced science as far away as Greece.Since the rise of Islam in the seventh century, however, Assyrians and other Christians became “dhimmis,” or second-class subjects…..
