The United Nations’ refugee agency for Palestinians does not intend to include the Holocaust in the curriculum at schools it runs in the Gaza Strip, a U.N. spokesman said following criticism by Hamas about the purported plan. While Hamas’ objections to including information on the Holocaust in school lesson plans was not particularly surprising, some Jewish organizations have taken issue with the U.N. for apparently backtracking in the face of the criticism from the terrorist group that rules Gaza. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), operates more than 600 schools in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Syria, Jordan […]

The widow of a Christian who was martyred by Muslims in the Gaza Strip prays for revenge, but not the usual kind, her friend Hanna Massad told participants at the New Baptist Covenant regional meeting in Oklahoma. Rami Ayyad, manager of Gaza’s only Christian bookstore, was abducted and executed Oct. 7, 2007, as he closed his shop, explained Massad, pastor of Gaza Evangelical Church. Massad described what it’s like for Christians living in Gaza, a narrow slice of land between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea – 30 miles long by 7 miles wide – that is home to 1.5 million […]

Four more Christians have been beheaded in Somalia, according to the Washington-based human rights organization International Christian Concern (ICC). The four Christians had been working for a non-governmental organization that aids orphans in southern Somalia. The Islamic extremist group al Shabaab, which has ties to al-Qaida, “kidnapped and eventually beheaded the Christians after they refused to renounce their faith,” ICC reported Aug. 11. According to the ICC report: “On Aug. 4, a junior [al Shabaab] militant notified all the families of the victims that the four Christians had been beheaded for apostasy. He described the Christians as promoters of ‘fitna,’ […]

Two Iranian converts to Christianity are standing strong in their faith, according to a report from Iran by the Farsi Christian News Network. The two converts, Marzieh Amirizadeh, 30, and Maryam Rustampoor, 27, were summoned to appear in what FCNN described as “the revolutionary court” in Tehran on Aug. 9. The women have been detained since their arrest on March 5 and have been held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison since a March 18 court hearing. The Farsi Christian News Network, describing the women’s five-month ordeal, said they have “suffered greatly while in prison, suffering ill health, solitary confinement and […]