Our Christian cultural heritage is being wiped out before the eyes of the world

In southern Lebanon and Gaza, villages and shrines that have stood since the time of the apostles – places that survived Arab conquests, crusades and millennia of Islamic rule – are being razed. Now they are threatened with total annihilation under the relentless advance of the Israeli army. This is not just war damage, but a deliberate cultural murder that wipes out the last strongholds of the Christian minority.

In Lebanon, Christian villages such as Debel, Rmeich, Alma al-Shaab and Dardghaya have been hit mercilessly. Satellite images and shocking testimonies show how entire neighborhoods are razed to the ground by bulldozers. In Debel, Israeli soldiers were filmed smashing a Jesus statue with sledgehammers – a barbaric act that sparked global outrage but was quickly silenced. The ancient shrine of Maqam Shamoun Al-Safa in Chamaa, according to tradition the burial place of the Apostle Peter and revered by Christians for almost 2,000 years, has been destroyed after shelling and explosions. St. The George Melkite church in Dardghaya is in ruins after aerial bombing. Homes, statues of saints and entire villages are systematically destroyed.

In Gaza, the devastation is even worse. Before Israel’s attack, Gaza had a small but ancient Christian minority – a living link to early Christian Palestine. Now they are about to be wiped out. The 4th-century Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrios – one of the world’s oldest – has been shelled repeatedly and civilians seeking shelter there killed. The Church of the Holy Family, the only Catholic church in Gaza, was badly damaged and two women were killed in the attack.

This is a tragedy like no other. The Christian congregations, the ancient villages and the sanctuaries are the testimony of a Christian presence that existed in the land of Jesus for almost two thousand years. Despite thousands of years of Muslim rule, they have survived and been preserved. Now they are being deliberately and systematically exterminated by the Israeli invasion army to, according to the Israeli Defense Minister, make the areas uninhabitable and prevent future threats.

Why this silence in Swedish and Western media? Despite documentation from eyewitnesses, local media and organizations such as International Christian Concern, the devastating disaster for the oldest Christian denominations is hardly talked about. Is it politically inconvenient to admit that precisely the Christian minorities – already hard pressed in the Middle East, risk being wiped out from the cradle of Christendom? The silence is a moral betrayal.

Sweden’s Christian community, the Church of Sweden and politicians have a duty to raise their voices. We cannot turn a blind eye when the heritage of the apostles’ time – churches that have stood for 1700 years – are razed to the ground by bulldozers and bombs. This is not about taking sides in the larger conflict. It is about safeguarding our common cultural heritage and about protecting the last remnants of the cradle of Christianity.
It is high time to protest and stop the cultural murder and protect our Christian heritage!

Leif Nilsson