by Robin Phillips
A group of nuns and orphans remain missing after their abduction at the hands of Syrian rebels.
Over two months have now elapsed since Mother Superior Pelagia Sayyaf and at least 11 other nuns were kidnapped on 2 December from their Convent of St. Thecla, Maaloula, Syria. The orphans who lived in the monastery were also taken captive.
A group calling themselves the “Free Qalamoun Battalion” accepted responsibility for the seizure, which occurred at one of the most ancient Christians communities. The group is associated with al-Qaida and forms one of the many armies that have been trying to overthrow the lawful Syrian government.
The kidnappers have refused to free the nuns until their demands have been met. These demands include the release of 1,000 Syrian rebels held in regime prisons.
Mother Pelagia is reported to have got a message through to say that she and the sisters were “fine and safe.” In a video released by the rebels, Mother Pelagia and the nuns testified to their safety and well-being, although it is uncertain if they said this under duress. Metropolitan Philip, leader of the Antiochian Orthodox church in America, disregarded the video as a “mockery,” asserting that the nuns were forced into making this video under “extreme psychological pressure.”
Father Nicola Daoud of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Tripoli and Koura has warned that Mother Pelagia and her nuns may suffer the same fate as two previously kidnapped archbishops that we reported on last June.
Syrian rebels have raped at least 37,000 women in the civil war to overthrow the government.
The worst case scenario is that the nuns have been raped and sexually abused by their captors. A report issued by the National Reconciliation Commission in Syria states that some 37,000 women have been raped since the civil war began. Raymond Ibrahim reported in The American Thinker that “pro-war Islamic clerics have issued any number of fatwas, or Islamic rulings, permitting sexually frustrated, female-deprived rebels to rape women.” The brutal history of attacks against women bear this out.Raymond Ibrahim has chronicled some of these:
- Somalia: In response to Pope Benedict’s historical quotes, which, like so many other things —including teddy bears — so enraged the Islamic world, Muslims in Somalia shot Leonella Sgarbati — a 66-year-old nun who had devoted 30 years of her life working in Africa — in her back. Her last words before dying in hospital were: “I forgive; I forgive.”
- Pakistan: In September 2012, gunmen on motorbikes dressed in green (Islam’s color) opened fire on the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Cathedral in Hyderabad, murdering at least 28 people. Their immediate target was a nun, Mother Christina.
- Libya: In February 2013, after the fall of Col. Gaddafi, Islamic rebels threatened Christian nuns into fleeing the nation. They had been there since 1921, focused primarily on helping the sick and needy.
- Philippines: In an article discussing a Christmas Day church bombing in a Muslim-majority region, we learn that the jihadi group responsible “has been blamed for several bomb attacks on the Roman Catholic cathedral in Jolo since the early 2000s and for kidnapping priests and nuns.”
- Guinea: In June 2013, during a mob-led frenzy, Christians and their churches were savagely attacked in the Muslim-majority nation — with some 95 Christians slain and 130 wounded — including “the quarters of the nuns, [which] was looted before being torched.”
United States Strangely Silent Amid International Outcry
The lawful Syrian government and state-run news organizations have joined the international community to condemn the kidnapping of Mother Pelagia and her nuns.
Syrian Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that “these nuns devoted their lives to serve the orphans, the needy and the poor and they should be kept at a distance from political disputes.”
Syria’s Relief and Social Affairs Minister, Kinda al-Shammat has called on the “international community” to pressure those countries who support terrorists to release their hostages, including terrorists in Syria.
On December 2, 2013, Foreign and Expatriates Ministry sent two identical letters to UN Security Council chairman and UN Secretary-General, saying that “the Arab Republic is facing a barbarian war launched by extremist takfiri gangs targeting its present and future.” The Ministry went on to report the Mother Pelagia Sayyaf incident in Maaloula.
Metropolitan Philip has called on Obama to take a stand against the terrible kidnappings perpetrated by Syrian rebels
On December 4, 2013, Russia’s Foreign Ministry and the Russian Orthodox Church demanded the release of Mother Pelagia and her nuns. The rights ombudsman for Moscow’s Foreign Ministry pressed the international community to “condemn the incident,” because he believes Christians are increasingly in danger in Syria.
Meanwhile, the United States government has shown reluctance to condemn this atrocious event even though it has been heavily involved in the Syrian situation. The uncomfortable reality is that the United States has sent weapons and training to the very Syrian rebels who have been raping and pillaging Christian communities.
Metropolitan Philip, leader of the Antiochian Archdiocese in the United States, wrote a letter to President Obama and Mrs. Obama. He explained the situation concerning Mother Pelagia, emphasizing that these nuns were “peaceful women do not have arms and do not fight but pray for peace every day and night.” However, the White House remains strangely silent, preferring to portray the Syrian rebels as peace-loving protestors forced into warfare out of a desire for liberty.
I hope all who read this article will share it with their friends. I think it’s a dishonor we bring amongst ourselves as Americans, by supporting politicians supporting these Muslim Terrorists. The reputation that these Obama supported Muslim Terrorists have of beating, raping and murdering unarmed, innocent Christian men, women and children for no other reason than not bowing down to their god, we can only doubtfully hope that these Nuns haven’t been hurt. In times past Americas leaders would have at the very least spoken out against this behavior but now our own President is the one supporting these Muslim Terrorists who are committing these kidnappings, beatings, rapes and murders against the innocent. Our President says nothing about this behavior, he spoke out against the use of sarin gas being used, but before any real evidence was produced of who was actually using it. Just as We The People wouldn’t support Hitler or Stalin we shouldn’t support our own President supporting this behavior. – God Bless America, Israel, the NRA and all Real Freedom Fighting Patriots.
And, in keeping with that, we’re sure you have railed against George W. Bush and Dick Cheney regarding a completely unnecessary war in Iraq, sold to the American public as being a way to stop Sadam from using non-existent “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, which we know they never actually believed were there. We know; we have the declassified documents; that within weeks of assuming office and before 9/11 they were planning an Iraq invasion to attempt to guarantee the free flow of Iraqi oil and the ability of Halliburton and others to profit from the oil. Halliburton, the company Cheney was CEO of prior to assuming the vice presidency, in fact made 4 Billion (with a “B”) dollars from the Iraq invasion. 100,000 Iraqis and nearly 4000 Americans perished because of a war that Bush/Cheney were determined to wage BEFORE 9/11 provided a way to sell it to Americans.
According to the article in Frontpage Mag titled “Syria Hiding Saddam’s WMDs Back to Iraq” Do you remember when the Inspectors were going to Iraq but they were delayed from going, and it was suggested that Saddam moved the WMD into Syria, before allowing the inspectors in. Well it would seem those WMD have gone back to Iraq now. I don’t recall President Bush supporting Muslim Terrorists to the degree of placing Muslim Brotherhood members in U.S. government positions as President Obama has done. I don’t recall President Bush supporting the Muslim Brotherhood as President Obama has done in Egypt, where he helped push out our ally Hosni Mubarak to be replaced by Morsi a Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist who wanted to force sharia law down the throats of the Egyptian people. After the protesters and the Egyptian Military rid themselves of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorists, the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Savages destroyed 80+ Coptic Christian Churches and beat, raped, and murdered unarmed, innocent Coptic Christian men, women and children. Because of President Obama’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorists we lost an ally in Egypt who will not again trust President Obama nor his administration. My hope is that one day they will enjoy the Liberties and Freedoms that we are fighting to keep here. In Syria President Obama again is supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, along with al-Qaeda, al-Nusra and others who are fighting Assad but also beating, raping and murdering unarmed, innocent Christian men, women and children. The Christians in Syria would rather live under Saddam than the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorists who they fear will kill them all if Assad is pushed out. Remember the liberals “war on women” and “save the children” campaign shams? Here’s where the real “war on women” is, and these children need saving, why the silence from the left? Are the women and children in Egypt and Syria not worthy of saving, why don’t they insist the President Obama stop supporting the Muslim Terrorists committing these atrocities. Isn’t it ironic that it was Vladimir Putin who called for countries to come together against the genocide of Christians by Muslim Terrorists. President Obama ignored this request, I can only believe it was because he supports some of the worst Muslim Terrorists committing these brutalities against Christians. The Muslim Brotherhood Terrorists President Obama supports is the same Muslim Brotherhood whose spiritual leader called for the killing of U.S. Soldiers in Iraq, the same Muslim Brotherhood who gave shelter to Terrorists wanted by the U.S. government, the same Muslim Brotherhood whose been involved in assassinations, the same Muslim Brotherhood who was involved in the Holy Land Foundation scheme, where money (approx. 12 million dollars) was collected and sent to the Hamas Terrorists who is the Palestinian chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood, so as to continue their Terrorist activities, and during the investigation phase documents were found indicating how the Muslim Brotherhood will destroy America from within, the same Muslim Brotherhood who supported and worked with Adolf Hitler during WWII. With all the information out there why would a President of the United States support the Muslim Brotherhood?
FrontPageMag’s Infiltration of the Muslim Student Association Was a Bust – 3/11/2013 5:16 pm. Intrepid FrontPageMag reporter Mark Tapson didn’t quite find what he was looking for when he infiltrated the Muslim Student Association’s annual West Coast conference last month…but, he alleges, that’s just more proof of a secret Muslim Brotherhood plot to “radicalize” college students. Tapson told Janet Mefferd in a radio interview Friday that far from finding anything “radical” or “damning” at the conference, “it was largely very innocuous.” He had high hopes for a workshop called “Islamatics,” for instance, but found that it was just about Islam and American politics. He even took pains to register for the conference under a “variation” of his name, only to be admitted with no questions asked. But Tapson has a theory about why the MSA’s conference was so “innocuous.” It’s all part of Muslim Brotherhood plan, he tells Mefferd, to capture “the hearts and minds of the young.”
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So, you’re a reader of the far-right rag “FrontPage Mag”. No wonder you have such ridiculous notions as the WMD were moved out of Iraq (without any of the peering eyes of the world’s media and investigative bodies ever being able to detect this), and now have been moved back in. Absolute unsourced nonsense. Provide a reliable non-uber-right-winged source for the silly assertions of Muslim Brotherhood this and that. You can’t, because you’re living in a bubble foisted by periodicals like FrontPage Mag.