Transcript [00:00] Good afternoon. There's a lot of [00:01] discussion around the world these days [00:03] of the Christian community in Israel. [00:05] Well, we're here on a windy day in the [00:07] Holy Land. The Jordan Valley and the [00:09] Jordan River lies just below me here and [00:11] behind me is the one and only fully [00:15] Christian, 100% Christian town of Thai [00:18] Bay. My point of today uh taking you [00:20] here today is to show you what's really [00:23] happening here. Now, we're going to lay [00:25] all the biases aside. We're going to [00:26] look, we're going to have open minds to [00:28] go in and talk to the people of Tabbe, [00:29] talk to the Christians here and hear [00:31] what's really going on. Are they [00:33] persecuted? What's the story? Are they [00:34] threatened? What's what's uh how are [00:36] they feeling? Are they feeling [00:37] threatened by Israel? Well, technically, [00:39] Israel doesn't have any rule here. So, [00:41] uh if Israel is going to help them, [00:43] there needs to be actually sovereignty [00:44] brought. Israel needs to actually come [00:46] and to be able to help them, there needs [00:48] to be uh rule of law here by Israel. [00:50] Right now, it's only the Palestinian [00:51] Authority. and [music] [00:53] we're going to ask them how do they feel [00:54] under the Palestinian Authority? Do they [00:56] think Israel can help? Israel is not a [00:57] help. What do they think? We're going to [00:59] go in and we're going to ask the people [01:00] uh how they feel about this. [01:07] We just met Sam. Uh Sam, you were born [01:09] here. [01:10] >> Yeah. [01:11] >> Born here in Taipei. And uh I want to [01:14] ask you a few questions about how it is [01:15] to be a Christian here in Taibbe. How do [01:17] you feel? Do you feel like the as a [01:20] Christian here, you're able to live [01:22] freely? [01:23] >> No, it's very freely. [01:25] >> Freely? Yeah, [01:26] >> it is free. [01:27] >> Um, a lot of people around the world are [01:29] talking about how Christians here are [01:32] being persecuted. Do you feel [01:33] persecuted? [01:34] >> No. [01:35] >> No. [01:35] >> No, [01:35] >> not at all. [01:36] >> Not at all. [01:37] >> Explain how you don't feel persecuted. [01:39] >> Uh, all I don't know how explain but all [01:44] body here is like same, you know. [01:46] >> Uh-huh. [01:47] >> Mhm. Do you have uh good relationships [01:49] with both the Arabs and the Jews? You [01:52] feel both you feel like both are uh good [01:55] to you? [01:55] >> Mhm. Yeah. [01:57] >> Really? [01:57] >> I love it. [01:59] >> More You think it's more political? [02:00] >> Yeah. [02:01] >> Yeah. [02:02] >> Um so when you were growing up here, did [02:04] you ever feel threatened like like [02:06] someone was going to hurt you? [02:07] >> No. No. No. [02:08] >> You didn't? [02:09] >> No. I saw a video the other day where [02:11] people were coming to the u down the [02:14] street at the statue of Jesus that you [02:16] have in the corner, you know, the big [02:17] statue of Jesus in the in the [02:20] roundabout. [02:21] >> Yeah. [02:21] >> Yeah. [02:22] >> And I saw a bunch of people were uh [02:25] yelling and throwing rocks. [02:26] >> Really? [02:27] >> The statue. [02:29] >> I wondered if you felt that much of [02:31] that. You feel you feel like uh have you [02:34] ever seen that? M [02:36] >> you don't you don't uh you didn't see [02:38] where they were throwing rocks on the [02:40] statue of Jesus. [02:41] >> No, no, [02:42] >> no. [02:43] >> You don't see the Muslims or the Jews [02:45] being [02:46] >> No. Same. Muslim and Jewish and Western. [02:50] >> All same. [02:50] >> Yeah. [02:52] >> So, what we're finding in the town here [02:53] is actually pretty interesting. No one's [02:54] really talking to us yet um about it. It [02:57] seems to be a little bit political, but [02:59] at this very site just a few months ago, [03:01] there was mass um Arab [03:04] um riot where they came and were [03:07] shooting guns and throwing rocks at the [03:09] statue of Jesus. Um when I asked about [03:12] it, they kind of said, "I didn't know [03:13] that happened." Well, I would be uh I [03:16] would be very doubtful whether that is [03:19] truthful on their part, and I would [03:21] assume that there's a lot of fear to say [03:24] uh what's actually happening here. So, [03:26] we're going to keep going and seeing if [03:28] we can find anyone that will be willing [03:29] to actually share the truth. Uh, we [03:31] offer to blur people's faces, blur their [03:33] voices, and we'll see. We'll see if [03:35] anyone is uh willing to actually work [03:37] with us to actually get to the bottom of [03:40] the truth of what's actually happening [03:41] here. But for sure, Arab Muslim radicals [03:44] were going through the streets throwing [03:46] rocks at the statue of Jesus and [03:49] shooting guns uh in a big uproar. We [03:51] have video evidence of that. [04:03] You speak English? [04:04] >> Oh, [04:04] >> no. You speak English? [04:07] >> Yeah. [04:07] >> Yeah. I'm here from Tennessee. [04:11] We're uh Christians from Tennessee. [04:13] >> You're welcome. [04:14] >> Thank you. We're just trying to get [04:15] people that uh wanted to talk uh about [04:18] their being Christian and living in Tae. [04:21] >> I cannot speak in this. You have to go [04:24] to the church [04:25] >> to go to the priest. [04:26] >> Yeah. To the priest. [04:28] >> I wanted to find something authentic [04:29] from the from the people that live here. [04:31] But would you want to say a few words? [04:34] >> Sorry. [04:35] >> No. Okay. No problem. No problem. [04:38] >> You're welcome. [04:38] >> All the best to you. Thank you. [04:40] >> English. [04:41] >> No. [04:41] >> No English. You sound like it. [04:44] [laughter] [04:48] >> Everybody, [laughter] [04:49] you can tell by their accents that they [04:51] speak English. [04:52] >> Yeah. They don't want anything to do [04:53] with us. [04:55] >> I tried to talk to people in the street [04:57] because it's uh [04:58] >> people want to hear. They're very [04:59] scared. [05:00] >> Scared. They will lock you up. [05:01] >> Yeah. [05:02] >> The priest, you know, he's covered. [05:03] >> He has coverage. Yeah. [05:05] >> Yeah. [05:06] >> No English. [05:07] >> Yeah. [05:10] >> Overall, everybody in this village [05:12] doesn't want to say anything. [05:15] They are definitely scared about [05:16] something. There's no doubt about that. [05:18] No one wants to say anything aside from [05:21] one young person. That's it. And they're [05:24] very scared. They're very scared about [05:26] something which tells me [05:29] uh there's other issues going on here. [05:31] They all say, "I don't want problems. [05:35] No, I'm not interested." And there you [05:37] can see this the the fear uh in their [05:39] eyes. So, if that doesn't tell you [05:41] something, it's pretty obvious. They're [05:45] afraid of the Islamic [05:47] push back. If they were to say anything [05:50] that says that Islam is a problem, [05:59] we're going to see if we can find the [06:00] priest here to talk to. But in the [06:01] meantime, um I'm kind of getting the [06:03] idea that there's some political uh [06:05] connections uh in the church. The only [06:08] flag flying here at this church is the [06:10] uh Palestinian Arab flag. I'd say [06:13] there's some uh PA [06:15] connections on the uh [06:19] on this [06:21] church, this entity. [06:24] Let's see if we can find the priest [06:26] though to ask about it. After a quick [06:28] search around the church, we ended up [06:30] finding Father Jack Noel Abbid, who is a [06:33] Melite [music] Greek Catholic priest [06:36] serving in one of the three churches of [06:38] Taibbe. And he was more than willing to [06:41] talk to us. [06:43] >> Unfortunately, [06:45] the state of Israel of today, [06:48] there's no connection between them and [06:50] the Jews on the time of Jesus. [06:54] We are proud to be in good relation with [06:56] 15 surrounded Muslim villages [07:00] >> that today and tomorrow is the beginning [07:02] of Ramadan, the the month of Lent and we [07:06] respect them because all their kids [07:10] they're sent they were sent to our [07:12] schools to to to learn in our schools [07:15] >> really [07:15] >> and we are proud to educate Muslim [07:21] students. Do you believe [music] the the [07:24] Christians of Taipei are are thriving? [07:28] >> Not only Christian of Tae, [07:29] >> they're not thriving. [07:30] >> All all around the West Bank, we are [07:35] less than 1% of the population. [07:38] >> Right. [07:39] >> 2005, [07:40] >> the population, the Christian population [07:42] of Gaza were about 5,000 people. Now [07:47] less than,000 people. [07:49] >> Right. Right. [07:50] >> Yeah. Unfortunately, [07:52] >> and the same thing in Bethlehem, there [07:54] was uh 85% of Bethlehem was Christian. [07:57] And when uh the Oslo Accords came, it [07:59] was like a a very quick [music] change [08:02] to the [08:02] >> unfortunately [08:03] >> today only 10%. So [08:06] >> the the Oslo agreement were and was [08:09] [music] [08:09] against the good of the Palestinian [08:13] people. Mhm. It's interesting to me [08:16] because the uh Christians of uh Israel [08:20] inside outside of Judea and Samaria [08:22] area, the West Bank area, [08:23] >> the the 8 the 48 area [08:26] >> 48 area. [08:26] >> Yeah. [08:27] >> So the ones inside have grown uh have [08:30] doubled since [music] the 70s, 1970. [08:33] >> Not so much. Not so much because [08:36] uh the statistics of 1948 during the [08:40] Nakba or till the Nakba the Christian [08:43] population of the Holy Land between the [08:46] river and the sea were 20%. [08:50] Now we are less than 1% in Israel. [08:54] >> Has there been Christians killed here? [08:57] >> Uh yes during the first and the second. [09:01] I guess my question is is I hear on the [09:04] streets people talking about the [09:05] settlers, but when I see the um what the [09:09] settlers uh are doing and then I was I [09:12] uh saw videos of the local Muslims in [09:15] the streets with uh throwing rocks at [09:19] the Jesus uh statue in the middle of [09:22] town and shooting guns in the air. And I [09:25] thought to myself, [09:27] "Wow, that's [09:29] >> No, no, no. It's a interior issue. It's [09:32] not uh [09:34] uh [09:35] >> it's internal. [09:37] >> It is internal issue problem between us [09:40] and the [music] [09:42] >> it's not [09:43] >> the the Muslim. [09:44] >> The Muslim [09:45] >> don't feel threatened by the Muslims. [09:47] >> No, never. [09:50] >> So when they when they [09:51] >> This is the the Israeli and the Sonistia [09:55] that want to put [09:56] >> Uh-huh. Uh-huh. But if why would they be [10:01] uh going through the streets shooting [10:02] and throwing rocks at the Jesus statue? [10:05] >> In every community there is bad people [10:09] but it doesn't mean that they are [10:11] against us. [10:14] >> You don't feel threatened? [10:15] >> No. Because they were uh heated. [10:20] So why they want to to uh make against [10:24] us something but it's not on the level [10:27] as a settlers are doing against us. [10:37] [music] [10:39] So my overall um experience in Taibbeay [10:43] for me was is that these citizens, the [10:46] Christians, the 100% of the Christians [10:49] of Taibbeay from everyone we talked to [10:53] were scared. They're scared of [10:54] something. And if I were to put my [10:56] finger on what they're scared uh about, [10:58] I would say they're scared of the [10:59] Islamic [11:01] rulers that rule over them, the [11:03] Palestinian Authority, even though they [11:04] themselves would not say that. There's a [11:07] reason why they wouldn't say that. And [11:09] the reason is because it would cost them [11:10] their life. We spent all day there. Um, [11:13] of course, the priest uh that we were [11:15] able to speak with is just a puppet of [11:18] the Palestinian Authority. He's not [11:20] speaking on behalf of the Christians. [11:23] Um, he is speaking on behalf of the [11:25] Palestinian Authority and the Arab [11:27] regime of the area. And if he did speak [11:29] against it, obviously it would cost him [11:31] his job, his position, and potentially [11:32] his life. I guess the biggest thing for [11:34] me today was is to understand that the [11:36] Palestinian Christians [11:39] and the Palestinian Muslims are more [11:42] aligned than what I would like to think. [11:44] Under Israel, Christians are thriving, [11:48] have doubled in population since 1970. [11:52] And in Bethlehem, we see what was 80% [11:56] 85% Christian. [11:59] Today is only 10% Christian. [12:02] In Gaza, we saw 5,000 Christians before [12:06] Israel pulled out. And today, there's [12:08] only 1,000. [12:11] It's clear. The writings on the wall. [12:13] The state of Israel is the solution to [12:15] Christian persecution [12:17] in Israel, in Judea and Samaria, in [12:20] Gaza. That's clear. To me, this is the [12:23] greatest fulfillment of biblical [12:25] prophecy today. The Jewish people are [12:28] still God's chosen people. God never [12:30] changes. Not yesterday, not today, and [12:34] not ever. God does not change. God's [12:37] promises are alive and being fulfilled [12:40] here in the land of Israel. If you're a [12:43] Christian out there, [12:45] believe it. Don't fight against it. It's [12:48] never going to work.
