Dear Mr. President:
I am terribly disappointed with the rebuff of Patriarch Bechara Peter Rai who is the Catholic leader of the Maronites worldwide and one of the most respected Christian leaders in Lebanon and the Middle East. The motto of his coat of arms reflects his personality and is call for "communion and love." He has been trying to achieve what no other Middle Eastern political or a religious leader has been able to do: meet others with respect and love, not take sides, and build bridges to a future that will hopefully lead to peace and happiness for all people in the Middle East.
Muslim and Christian groups have all found in him a real father, a
Patriarch. Because he has spoken out expressing his concern for the future of Christians in the Middle East, he has been rebuffed by you and your Administration. It is pure hypocrisy for the leader of the free world to refuse to meet with Patriarch Rai especially since the Prime Minister of Israel can come and completely disregard essential parts of a peace plan and still be given a warm welcome, and the King of Saudi Arabia, where Christians have no freedom whatsoever, can be received with highest honors. Mr. President, you are ignoring the plight of Christians in the Middle East!
Patriarch Rai's warning about the future of Christians in Syria is not taboo. Christians are in a state of peril in the same way that Christians of Iraq were a few years ago when two thirds of them migrated out of the country and are still not protected to this day. To say the Patriarch supports dictators and sides with terrorists is pure nonsense. With his own unique charisma, Patriarch Rai has reached out to all Lebanese with whom he has to live side-by-side. It is a beautiful outreach, one that is uniquely his, without having to be beholden to anyone. He speaks with love and tempers the divisive, hateful talk of many. He gives hope A new day is dawning in the Middle East.
The Arab Spring is happening with little vision for the summer that will ensue. Mr. President, you do not have to agree on everything with Patriarch Rai, but there is no need to avoid or rebuff him.
By doing so, you are showing your disrespect for him and for all Christians of the Middle East
Obama’s Muslim Advisers Block Middle Eastern Christians’ Access to White House
(retrieved from Pamela Geller website on October 27, 2011)
OBAMA AND THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD RELIGIOUS MINORITIES UNDER ISLAM ABANDONED
How deleterious is the influence of devout Muslims and Muslim Brotherhood proxies in the White House? The President of the United States is aiding and abetting the genocide of non-Muslims in Muslim countries worldwide. The slaughter of Christians in Egypt after Obama supported the rise of the Brotherhood in Egypt is a stain on American history. Obama's subsequent silence on this genocide is unspeakable. From Creeping Sharia here:Beirut Arab news agency al Nashra reported on Saturday November 22 [sic], that [White House Muslim envoy] Dalia Mogahed has succeeded in canceling a meeting between the Maronite Patriarch of Lebanon and President Barack Obama. Writing in al Nashra, the reporter said “an unnamed US source told the news agency, that those who sought canceling a visit of (the spiritual head of the Maronite Church) Patriarch Beshara Rahi to the White House are Dalia Mujahid (Mogahed), the highest adviser on Arab and Islamic Affairs in the State Department, who is from Egyptian origins. And that,” according to al Nashra, “heeding a request by the higher leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, who consider that US Administration must support the Islamist Sunni current facing the Iranian current in the region.”The al Nashra report, circulating now widely in the Middle East, but also in the United States and across the Lebanese Christian Diaspora confirms what was already known about the impact the so-called “advisors on Arab and Islamic Affairs” in the White House on Middle East issues in general and on US policies regarding the Christians in the Middle East. (Source: El Cid via Creeping Sharia)Dalia Mogahed is the first veiled Muslim woman to serve in the White House. Mogahed has advisory council, serving with other members of the Muslim Brotherhood.The anti-Middle East Christian lobbying in Washington, attributed to Muslim Brotherhood front groups and sympathizers is not limited to the Maronites, who form the bulk of the two million Lebanese Americans. According to research showing the links between Presidential adviser Dalia Mogahed and the Muslim Brotherhood, and to NGOs representing Middle East Christian groups in the US, blocking Middle East Christian meetings at the White House and the State Department have been associated with the work of the “advisors” and their allies in the Islamist camp in Washington such as CAIR and MPAC. … Observers believe that the campaign against Americans from Middle East Christian descent has also reached Terrorism experts and congressional advisers and NGO leaders whose field focuses on the Islamist and Jihadist movements. Indeed, in a report published this year, John Esposito, the chair of the Saudi-funded Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University (and an associate to Mogahed) endorses sharp attacks against experts and analysts, always charging “Islamophobia.” Blocking the Maronite Patriarch from the White House is a move that is directed to all Middle East Christians in the United States and can have significant effects in the region and even on US politics. Brooklyn Bishop for the Maronites in the US, who are part of America’s Catholic Church criticized President Obama for not meeting the Patriarch during his visit. Bishop Mansour wrote: Patriarch Rai’s warning about the future of Christians in Syria is not taboo. Christians are in a state of peril in the same way that Christians of Iraq were a few years ago, when two-thirds of them migrated out… A new day is dawning in the Middle East. The Arab Spring is happening with little vision for the summer that will ensue. However, for advisors in the Administration to rebuke the spiritual head of a main Middle East Christian community, and engage in a witch hunt against Middle East Christians, including US citizens, for the benefit of the Muslim Brotherhood is a serious matter the American public should not tolerate. The Maronites are Middle Eastern Christians who count about a million people inside Lebanon with more than 10 millions in the Diaspora. There are about one and a half million Americans who are Maronites and five millions in Brazil. There are Maronite members of the US Congress such as Congressman Charles Boustany of Louisiana or former Congressman Ray Lahoud, current secretary of transportation. Maronites are among the 25 millions of Christians in the Middle East, including the 15 million Copts in Egypt, the one million Assyrians and Chaldeans in Iraq, another million Syriacs and Orthodox in Syria as well as Iranian Christians and African Christians in Sudan. Americans who are from Middle East Christian ancestry are about 86% of all Americans from Arab or Middle East Christians and count two times the size of American Muslims.Read it all and contact your elected officials.Shortly after Mogahed's appointment to the Obama administration, an interviewer asked her “what kind of advice” she would be giving the President “to improve relations with U.S. Muslims and the Muslim world.” She replied:“I would advise him to listen first and foremost. Many have claimed that terrorists have 'hijacked Islam.' I disagree. I think Islam is safe and thriving in the lives of Muslims around the world. What the terrorists have been allowed to take over are Muslim grievances. Muslim concerns over injustice have been largely dismissed by the previous [Bush]administration, leaving a vacuum exploited by extremists.”Miss Mogahed, appointed to the President's Council on Faith-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships, said the Western view of Sharia was "oversimplified" and the majority of women around the world associate it with "gender justice". Dalia MogahedThe White House adviser made the remarks on a London-based TV discussion programme hosted by Ibtihal Bsis, a member of the extremist Hizb ut Tahrir party.The group believes in the non-violent destruction of Western democracy and the creation of an Islamic state under Sharia Law across the world.
She said: "I think the reason so many women support Sharia is because they have a very different understanding of sharia than the common perception in Western media. "The majority of women around the world associate gender justice, or justice for women, with sharia compliance. "The portrayal of Sharia has been oversimplified in many cases."