My wife is Georgian Orthodox. She was raised Georgian Orthodox during Soviet times, when being Christian was not encouraged. Her great-grandfather studied in the Gori Seminary, but eschewed the priesthood in favor of revolution, joining the Bolsheviks. But while religion may be brushed aside by men in favor of politics, it lives in the hearts of women, and my wife’s grandmother and mother were devout Georgian Orthodox Christians, baptizing their children in the faith of their people (my wife did the same for our daughters, who observe the traditions of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

The history of the Georgian Orthodox Church traces its roots to the earliest times of Christianity. Christianity was brought to what is today modern Georgia in 327 AD by St. Nino, a Christian lady whose faith was grounded in the Patriarch of Antioch, the original Christian church, and whose territory encompassed what is today modern Syria. The Georgian Orthodox Church was declared to be an independent church around 420. But Georgians know their faith, and their history.

Shortly after taking control of Damascus, terrorists from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an affiliate of the Al Qaeda terrorist group, disrupted a mass at St. George's Syriac Orthodox Church—the seat of the Christian faithful who share the same roots as the Georgian Orthodox Church, forcing the priest to vacate the premises, and looting the church’s treasury and donation box. HTS terrorist previously had driven faithful Christian’s from their ancestral homes and places of worship in the province of Idlib, which fell under HTS or Al Qaeda control since 2016. Christians throughout Syria today are being killed, raped, imprisoned and persecuted by HTS terrorists.

Shortly after HTS seized control in Syria, the political leadership of Hamas declared that “We stand strongly with the great people of Syria … and respect the will, the independence, and the political choices of the people of Syria.”

HTS leadership was not a political choice of the Syrian people. Moreover, the destruction of Christianity in Syria is not a “political choice” that deserves respect.

I have stood up and declared my support for Hamas in its courageous struggle against Zionism and in support of a free and independent Palestine because it was the right thing to do.
But at the end of the day, I am not a Palestinian.

I am an American who is married to a Georgian Orthodox woman.
And I cannot stand side by side with a people who have expressed their support of terrorists who are destroying the foundations of my wife’s faith.

As long as the Palestinians do not condemn whole heartedly the actions of HTS and its affiliates in Syria, I cannot call myself their ally.

Because at the end of the day, one must stand up in defense of their own people.

And “my people” includes the people, like my wife and daughters, who have embraced the Georgian Orthodox faith, a faith grounded in the history and faith of the Church of Antioch—the original Christian Church—which is in the process of being eradicated by the HTS terrorists whose “accomplishments” in Syria are praised by many supporters of the Palestinian cause.

I will never stand with Israel, and I will always condemn the genocide perpetrated by Israel on the people of Gaza.

But I will never again say that I stand with Hamas, for the simple reason that Hamas has declared it stands with HTS, a terrorist entity that is in the process of destroying the historical legacy of the faith of my family.

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⁣NO NUCLEAR WAR: A Call for Reason

Event in Washington DC, December 7th

Keynote

Full video CLICK HERE

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I'M PISSED OFF!
Interview for Sabby Sabs

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Any discussion of the “crimes” committed by Assad that doesn’t discuss the Muslim Brotherhood is no discussion at all.

The Brotherhood was an Islamic cancer to a secular Syria.

The Syrian government fought a deadly war of extermination to eradicate this cancer.

Similar to the “dirty war” carried out in Algeria in the 1990’s.

Secular governments like that which governed in Syria and which continues to govern in Algeria believe that radical Islam is a cancer to modern society.

The cure they imposed was harsh.

It certainly demands scrutiny and condemnation.

But to pretend the violence happened in a vacuum borders on ignorance.

The Muslim Brotherhood was an outlawed Islamic terrorist organization which sought the violent overthrow of the Assad government.

Live by the sword…

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⁣I support that which promotes a free and independent Palestine and the destruction of Zionist Israel.

There were divisions inside Hamas.

Sinwar represented one school of thought.

He was in favor of good relations with Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran.

He is dead.

Khalid Mashal is fully aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood.

He cheers the fall of Assad, and is critical of Hezbollah and Iran.

I supported the Palestine of Sinwar.

I do not support Khalid Mashal’s vision.

But you do you.

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