“We, the Arab Christians, always defend Islam and our Muslim brothers – no one defends Islam like the Arab Christians do.” And Lord knows they need defending: our Muslim brothers seized the Melkite Greek Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation, removed all the icons and crosses and every trace of Christianity, and made it into their headquarters. Certainly Islam needs a terrific defense after that, and after our Muslim brothers terrorized Melkite Greek Catholics all over Syria, destroyed their churches, and drove them from their homes.

It’s a good thing that our Muslim brothers have a personage as illustrious as Gregory III Laham, Patriarch of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem and All the East, to defend them after all that, because otherwise someone might get the crazy idea that Islam teaches something that might have led our Muslim brothers to behave in this odd way toward their biggest defenders, Melkite Greek Catholics. If any Melkite Greek Catholics get out of line and start telling the truth about Islam’s doctrines of warfare and subjugation of Infidels, including their good friends the Melkite Greek Catholics, our Muslim brothers can rest assured that they have the Patriarch Gregory III Laham and his faithful bishops in their corner, ready to silence all such effrontery, which everyone knows is a continuing danger to the Church.

It’s marvelous, it’s magical, it’s ecumenical. The only problem is that Gregory III Laham’s people are being slaughtered by our Muslim brothers, and instead of defending his people, and calling attention to why they are being slaughtered, the Patriarch of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem and All the East is sticking up for the belief system that incited their slaughterers. It’s barbaric, it’s a betrayal, it’s a travesty. Melkite Greek Catholics and all the victims and the present and future and potential victims of Islamic jihad deserve better than these clerics who do nothing but betray them into the hands of those who hate them.

Does the Patriarch think his shameless groveling will keep our Muslim brothers from slitting his throat (in accord with Qur’an 47:4) if they have the inclination and get the opportunity? It will not. Nor will it save any of his people. All it does is impede efforts to spread understanding about why what is happening to Middle Eastern Christians is happening, and thus also impedes attempts to formulate effective means to counter the persecution and genocide. Siding with killers against their victims isn’t Christian charity by any rational standard, however much Gregory III and his minions try to dress up their betrayal in clerical robes.

“Greek Catholic Patriarch: No One Defends Islam Like Arab Christians,” by Deborah Danan, Breitbart, January 21, 2016 (thanks to Peter):

TEL AVIV – The head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church declared that Christians love Muslims and no one defends Islam more than Arab Christians, MEMRI reported. In an interview earlier this month with the official Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, Gregory III Laham, the spiritual leader of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, expressed concern over the fate of Christian communities in the Arab world. Gregory III, who is also the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and Alexandria and Jerusalem, is a strong advocate of Christian-Muslim dialogue, but said that these days Christians lack faith that Muslims are willing to accept them. Asserting that there is a “great wound” in Muslim-Christian relations, the Patriarch called upon leaders of both faiths to build mutual trust. “These days I am in the midst of writing a letter to the presidents, kings, and emirs of the Arab and Muslim [countries] in order to say to them, in a letter from an Arab [Church] patriarch to the Muslims, that we love you,” the Patriarch said. The Patriarch lamented the fact that Muslim tolerance of the other has not become more widespread in the Arab street and in schools and curricula. He also berated Muslims who receive aid from the Red Cross and then scratch out the cross because it offends them. He added, “And when they are asked from whom they received [the aid], they say: We got it from some kuffar [infidel].” On the other hand, he said, Christians in the Middle East have always stood up for Muslims. “We, the Arab Christians, always defend Islam and our Muslim brothers – no one defends Islam like the Arab Christians do.” The Patriarch praised Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for being a “great president” and said he met with Sisi to ask him to lead the Arab world, a mantle befitting the leader of the Middle East’s biggest Muslim country with the highest number of Christians. Finally, Gregory III called upon the Arab League to present a map for peace in Syria and a plan for defeating the Islamic State, and said the Arab world must not wait for Europe and the U.S. to present a solution.

Not a bad idea, since if they wait for Europe and the U.S. to come up with a plan to defeat the Islamic State, they’ll be waiting for a long, long time.

The Patriarch was one of the dignitaries who walked out on a speech by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in which the latter asserted that Christians have no better ally than Israel, resulting in the senator being booed off stage.

Disgraceful.