Is Islamic State threatening Jerusalem’s Christians?
Although raising initial concerns among Jerusalem's Palestinian Christian community, an alleged threat by the Islamic State fell largely on defiant ears.
Some members of Jerusalem's small Palestinian Christian community were worried for a while this summer by what appeared to be threat from Islamic State sympathizers ordering them to vacate East Jerusalem or be killed. The threat turned out to be nothing but hot air.
Concern began to emerge June 28, when leaflets bearing IS' insignia appeared in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, calling on Christians to leave the city during Ramadan or be massacred on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, the feast at the conclusion of the holy month of fasting.
The Tarazi family has been part of the Greek Orthodox Church for centuries. Margo Tarazi, who works in a family-run tour agency in Jerusalem, told Al-Monitor that she was never much worried by the threat. “We Palestinians are united and aware, and this kind of thing doesn’t shake us,” she said.
The Palestinian leadership seemed to have reached a similar conclusion. In the weekly cabinet meeting held June 30, the government emphasized the unity of the Palestinian people. It did not stoop to mention the threatening leaflet itself, but the press statement issued after the session denounced the “dubious announcement seeking to harm the unity of the people and to incite a struggle in the holy city."
