Chapter one of this story began when Father Gabriel Naddaf, a Greek Orthodox priest in Nazareth, started to speak up for the idea that it was time for Christians to embrace their homeland, Israel, and their Jewish roots.
“Christian Arabs are hostages.” — Father Gabriel Naddaf.
“We have a joint fate in this land [Israel], because whatever happens to the Jews here will happen to us.” — Father Gabriel Naddaf.
“On what authority does President Abbas claim that Jesus was a Palestinian? The Bible says that He was born in the Jewish city of Bethlehem to Jewish parents from the city of Nazareth and was circumcised on the 8th day as a Jew and presented to the Jewish Temple by His parents according to the Mosaic law.” — Father Gabriel Naddaf.
Father Naddaf has been providing leadership to unite Christians and Jews; a rapidly increasing number of Christians see him as offering them the opportunity to envision and build a tremendous future.
When Father Gabriel Naddaf, a Greek Orthodox priest in Nazareth, Israel, launched his campaign to convince Israeli Christians to enlist in the Israel Defense Force (IDF), he unwittingly ignited a firestorm between opposing forces within and around Israel’s Christian and Muslim communities.
His decision, born of his love and respect for his native land — combined with his acknowledgement of Judaism and Israel as the cradle of Christianity — perhaps has set the stage for a long overdue reunification in Israel between contemporary Christians and Jews.
In the short term, Father Naddaf’s decision has polarized the Christian community, a large part of which has aligned itself with the Arab-Palestinian narrative — a narrative engineered by forces behind Yasser Arafat in the 1960s — and designed to obliterate Israel as a Jewish nation.