I grew up in Jaffa, going to church every Sunday with my father, the cantor of our Greek Orthodox church.I joined the Christian Scouts as a boy, later became a leader in the movement and even ran our marching band, a serious source of community pride.
We marched at Christmas and Easter.We celebrated weddings, baptisms and feast days.
We knew which grandmother made the best food and which family was feuding with which other family.In other words, we were a perfectly normal Middle Eastern Christian community.Our neighbors were Muslims and Jews.
We studied together, worked together, argued together and lived together.I grew up Christian, Arab and Israeli.I felt rooted, safe and happy.
Which is why I sometimes wonder whether the Israel I keep reading about is a different country.THE WAR ON AMERICA’S JUDEO-CHRISTIAN ROOTS THREATENS EVERYTHING WE SHAREOrthodox Christians carry wooden crosses along the Via Dolorosa (Way of Suffering) in the Old City of Jerusalem during the Orthodox Good Friday procession before Holy Saturday tomorrow.Christian pilgrims took part in processions along the way as, according to tradition, Jesus Christ carried the cross on his last day before his crucifixion.
(Saeed Qaq/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)Apparently, Christians here live under siege, Christianity is being pushed out and Jewish hostility is making Christian life increasingly impossible.It is an alarming picture, and a very strange description of the country in which I actually live.Let me make one thing clear: There have been ugly incidents of religious radicals spitting at clergy, verbally abusing Christians and vandalizing property.
Such behavior is disgraceful.Israel should confront it forcefully through law enforcement, education and religious leadership.But then comes the question that strangely disappears from much of the discussion:Do those extremists define Israel? Because if they do, we are going to have to rewrite our descriptions of quite a few Western d...