Roughly 200 Palestinian Christians staged a candlelit march in Jerusalem Wednesday to mourn the death of 21 Egyptian Christians that had been killed by ISIS (Now known as the ‘Islamic State’).
The Palestinians arranged the march in order to invoke stronger support in the fight against the Islamic State and other Islamic radicals.
The demonstrators reportedly carried four cardboard coffins decorated with Gold crosses, and held up banners that displayed the pictures of the 21 coptic Christians that were slain (specifically, beheaded) by the Islamic State in a Graphic video released to the public.
“We call on the international community to respond to the killing of innocents,” one banner read, as an Orthodox priest read out a eulogy for the dead.
As reported by Times Of Israel —
“The somber march made its way to Jerusalem’s Coptic monastery, where banners were displayed featuring stills from the IS video and passages from the Bible.
“We want to express solidarity with Egyptians and Copts, and to show how sad Palestinian Christians and Muslim friends are” about the deaths, said Nashat Filmon, 39.
“It doesn’t make up for the barbaric way they were slaughtered, so we pray for this region to wake up and reject [the Islamic State],” he said.
Joseph George, 25, said the international community should intensify its fight against the group.
“If the US could destroy Saddam Hussein’s regime in a week, why can’t they do it to a small group?” he asked.
“Christianity originated in the Middle East, but now there’s no more place for us — we’ve been fleeing for years,” he said.
“Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek… but if someone tries to kill you for no reason, you should defend yourself.”
Cairo carried out strikes against IS in Libya after the video was released.
IS militants have been hammered by US-led air strikes in Iraq and Syria after taking over swathes of the two countries, and the group has active affiliates in Egypt and Libya.”