💭 When we hear Muslims claim that the State of Israel posed threats to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, our attention should be turned again to Haj Amin al-Husseini, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, a collaborator with Nazi Germany and the leader of Arab Palestinian nationalism before and immediately after World War II. Some historians and, briefly, Israels Prime Minister Netanyahu also attributed to Husseini a significant decision-making role in the Holocaust in Europe.
🛑 Travellers on an intercity train in Austria were startled on Sunday when a recording of an Adolf Hitler speech was played on board.
Instead of the normal announcements, a crowd could also be heard shouting “Heil Hitler” and “Sieg Heil” over the train’s speaker system.
The operator said there had been several such incidents in recent days.
One passenger on the Bregenz-Vienna service told the BBC that everyone on the train was “completely shocked”.
David Stoegmueller, a Green Party MP, said the speech by the Nazi German leader was played over the intercom shortly before the train, an ÖBB Railjet 661, arrived in Vienna.
“We heard two episodes,” he said. “First there was 30 seconds of a Hitler speech, and then I heard ‘Sieg Heil’.”
Mr Stoegmueller said the train staff were unable to stop the recording and were unable to make their own announcements. “One crew member was really upset,” he added.
In a statement sent to the BBC, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) said: “We clearly distance ourselves from the content.
“We can currently assume that the announcements were made by people directly on the train via intercoms. We have reported the matter to the police,” the ÖBB said.
It is understood that complaints have been filed against two people.
Mr Stoegmueller said he had received an email from a man who was on the train with an old lady who was a concentration camp survivor. “She was crying,” he said.
He said another passenger remarked that when other countries had technical problems, it involved the air conditioning breaking down.
“In Austria, the technical problem is Hitler.”
Hitler was born in Austria and emigrated to Germany in 1913 as a young man.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on October 4, 2022
👹 U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe, who is retiring at the end of the year, was in Ethiopia this past weekend. For the 2nd time since the fascist Oromo-Islamo-Protestant regime began the genocidal war two years ago against Orthodox Christians of Tigray, Ethiopia. Of course, the Senator gave 👹 evil Abiy Ahmed Ali another green light to massacre children and women of Tigray. Today, the fascist Oromo’s air force conducted a horrific drone attack in Adi Daero town of Tigray. The air strike on Tigray camp for displaced people killed dozens of children and elderly. This is the second time in a month.
💭 Kosovo all over again. That’s why America is babysitting and allowing the fascist Oromo regime of Ethiopia (which is the enemy of historical Ethiopia, Orthodox Christianity and the Ge’ez Language) to survive – and attack civilian targets:
The aim of this genocidal war is to destroy Ethiopia + Orthodox Christianity + The Ge’ez language.
👹 Senator James Inhofe visits the black Hitler, Abiy Ahmed Ali.
Ethiopian leaders have expressed their genocidal intent in closed-door talks & openly on social media platforms. A while ago, their supporters called, openly, to ‘drain the sea.’ Look at what’s happening in # Tigray; # TigrayGenocide is not a plan anymore, nor is it a hidden desire
💭 TigrayGenocide | The Nobel Peace Laureate PM A. Ahmed The Black Adolf Hitler?
☆ The majority, according to Christian Ethiopians and ministry workers in Ethiopia that I interviewed, support the military operation. Their support has held strong even as reports of civilian deaths, ethnic cleansing, horrific human rights abuses, and widespread hunger inflicted on the Tigrayan population rise in scale and urgency.
☆ That evangelical support seems to be rooted in a particular interpretation of what God is doing in the current conflict. Many evangelical Christians, such as theologian and preacher Paulos Fekadu, have publicly declared that ☆ “what is happening in north Ethiopia, in Tigrayis the judgment of God.” Several of the Ethiopian Christians I interviewed said their friends and family readily declare that the Tigrayans “deserve what they get.”
☆ Her friend Desalajn Assefa Alamayhu, an evangelist who is Tigrayan himself, agrees. And he accuses Orthodox Christians in Tigrayof being active contributors to the conflict.
“ TigrayOrthodox Christians participate in evil things with TPLF. They participate completely with TPLF. They said, ‘In the Bible, we can oppose federal government because we need freedom.’” In contrast, he contends, “most Protestant Christians in Ethiopia agree with the federal government because Dr. Abiy teaches and preaches from the Word of God.”
☆ The The Elephant that many evangelical Ethiopians seem to be wrestling with is this: With whom would Jesus side—the charismatic evangelical leader determined to defeat his enemies, or the primarily nonevangelical Orthodox Tigrayans who are suffering immensely?
💭 EndNote: 98.5 % of Protestants side with the evil monster Abiy Ahmed Ali, who is guilty of war crimes and genocide in Christian Tigray.
As the humanitarian issues escalate in the largely Orthodox north, the conflict tests evangelicals’ loyalty and theology.
The transition to an ethnically Oromo leader marked a break from 27 years of rule by the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). And in a country historically dominated by Orthodox and Muslim believers, Abiy became the first openly evangelical head of government Ethiopia ever had.
But since a bitter and violent conflict broke out between Abiy’s government and the formerly ruling TPLF in the northern Tigrayregion in November 2020, evangelicals—who make up just over 18 percent of the population—have been divided over how to respond.
The majority, according to Christian Ethiopians and ministry workers in Ethiopia that I interviewed, support the military operation. Their support has held strong even as reports of civilian deaths, ethnic cleansing, horrific human rights abuses, and widespread hunger inflicted on the Tigrayan population rise in scale and urgency.
💭 Green Light from USA to The Fascist Oromo Regime of Ethiopia to Go Ahead with Genocide of Christians?
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 21, 2021
Fears that fascist Abiy Ahmed may set up a bomb attack at tomorrow’s rally in Addis Ababa & attribute it to Tigrayans to instigate a genocide against them. The international community should follow this closely!
🔥The Reichstag Fire — Hitler Consolidates Power🔥
The Reichstag Fire was an event that greatly aided the Third Reich’s plans to end German democratic rule.
On February 27th, 1933, the Reichstag, or German parliament building, burned. The Nazi Party blamed the fire on a Communist plot, though Nazi Party members may have played a role in the arson. Hitler used it as a pretext for imprisoning political opponents and abolishing citizen rights, such as freedom of the press and speech. Further emboldened by the blaze, the Nazis accelerated rearmament plans and expansion of the armed forces, part of Hitler’s broader effort to rebuild German military might.
A Protestant television transmitted the “exorcism” seen in the clip which directly and openly demonizes Tigrayans and Tigray. The video shows a woman “possessed” by a “spirit” that has been killing and attacking the Ethiopian national defense forces in Tigray and is aiming to destroy Ethiopia.
☆ The majority, according to Christian Ethiopians and ministry workers in Ethiopia that I interviewed, support the military operation. Their support has held strong even as reports of civilian deaths, ethnic cleansing, horrific human rights abuses, and widespread hunger inflicted on the Tigrayan population rise in scale and urgency.
☆ That evangelical support seems to be rooted in a particular interpretation of what God is doing in the current conflict. Many evangelical Christians, such as theologian and preacher Paulos Fekadu, have publicly declared that ☆ “what is happening in north Ethiopia, in Tigray is the judgment of God.” Several of the Ethiopian Christians I interviewed said their friends and family readily declare that the Tigrayans “deserve what they get.”
☆ Her friend Desalajn Assefa Alamayhu, an evangelist who is Tigrayan himself, agrees. And he accuses Orthodox Christians in Tigray of being active contributors to the conflict.
“Tigray Orthodox Christians participate in evil things with TPLF. They participate completely with TPLF. They said, ‘In the Bible, we can oppose federal government because we need freedom.’” In contrast, he contends, “most Protestant Christians in Ethiopia agree with the federal government because Dr. Abiy teaches and preaches from the Word of God.”
☆ The question that many evangelical Ethiopians seem to be wrestling with is this: With whom would Jesus side—the charismatic evangelical leader determined to defeat his enemies, or the primarily nonevangelical Orthodox Tigrayans who are suffering immensely?
💭 EndNote: 98.5 % of Protestants side with the evil monster Abiy Ahmed Ali, who is guilty of war crimes and genocide in Christian Tigray.
As the humanitarian issues escalate in the largely Orthodox north, the conflict tests evangelicals’ loyalty and theology.
The transition to an ethnically Oromo leader marked a break from 27 years of rule by the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). And in a country historically dominated by Orthodox and Muslim believers, Abiy became the first openly evangelical head of government Ethiopia ever had.
But since a bitter and violent conflict broke out between Abiy’s government and the formerly ruling TPLF in the northern Tigray region in November 2020, evangelicals—who make up just over 18 percent of the population—have been divided over how to respond.
The majority, according to Christian Ethiopians and ministry workers in Ethiopia that I interviewed, support the military operation. Their support has held strong even as reports of civilian deaths, ethnic cleansing, horrific human rights abuses, and widespread hunger inflicted on the Tigrayan population rise in scale and urgency.
Earlier this month, the UN announced that more than 350,000 people in the Tigray region are already living in famine conditions, with another 1.7 million approaching famine. While the national government this week unilaterally declared a ceasefire after Tigrayans recaptured their regional capital, the TPLF is vowing to continue the fight.
Mazaa (a pseudonym), a 44-year-old who runs a K-8 school with her husband outside of Addis Ababa, has tried to share her concerns about the grave suffering of Tigrayans with fellow evangelicals. She asked not to be named out of fear of retribution against her students’ families.
Her school near the capital city serves a number of Tigrayan families; she has seen firsthand how the fathers of her students have been “disappeared,” and then how the surviving widows and children are isolated socially and economically. Her friends’ response? “These people brought it on themselves. It’s not without cause.”
“I don’t care what the cause is,” Mazaa told me. “Jesus says we have to love one another. Love doesn’t take any conditions. The love we offer and give has to be without any condition.”
She also believes the war is unnecessary. The dispute between Abiy and the TPLF “should have been resolved another way. Fighting could have been avoided, if there was dialogue or reconciliation or willingness on their part to go through a lot of steps.”
But Mazaa is in a relatively small minority. Among non-Tigrayan evangelicals, the justification for the war extends decades back. Under the TPLF, Protestantism was treated like a second-class religion. Muslims and Orthodox Christians were given preference in myriad ways, from political access to venue options for worship services.
In Ethiopia, the term “Pente,” which began as a nickname for Pentecostals, has come to refer to evangelicals and most Christians outside the Orthodox Church. The prime minister attends a Pente church whose denomination is part of the Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Ethiopia.
“Right now, the evangelical Christian is getting more attention, is getting rights, is getting more opportunities to be part of the political movement because we’re being led by an openly evangelical Christian,” explains Eshe (a pseudonym), who works for two evangelical ministries and attends a Mennonite-affiliated church in Addis Ababa.
She does not support how Abiy is handling the conflict, and she expressed concern that her views could get her labeled as part of the “opposition.” But for many other evangelicals, Abiy is a gift from God, an anointed leader, and even a prophet.
Abiy’s many political and social reforms have been widely celebrated across Ethiopia—and the world. Up until last year, Abiy was best known as the man who made peace with longtime foe and neighbor Eritrea, which resulted in the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
But the evangelicals’ gain has been the Tigrayans’ loss, including evangelicals living in the Tigray region, which is home to a higher concentration of Orthodox Ethiopians and their holy sites. According to a recent statement from the Evangelical Churches Fellowship of Tigray Region:
Tigray has been ravaged by a war of revenge, destruction, and death. The damage to the people of Tigray is immeasurable, and the enormity of the need of millions of people is great and pressing.
One of the unforeseen and unexpected experiences of the current conflict has been the fact that the leadership of the Ethiopian Evangelical church has supported this evil war against the population of Tigray. The Ethiopian Evangelical church has lent its financial and unwavering spiritual support to the Ethiopian government through false prophecy of guidance and praying for the success of the military mission against the people of Tigray.
That evangelical support seems to be rooted in a particular interpretation of what God is doing in the current conflict. Many evangelical Christians, such as theologian and preacher Paulos Fekadu, have publicly declared that “what is happening in north Ethiopia, in Tigray is the judgment of God.” Several of the Ethiopian Christians I interviewed said their friends and family readily declare that the Tigrayans “deserve what they get.”
Biruktawit Tsegaye, a 27-year-old volunteer with an evangelical college ministry, believes the TPLF laid the groundwork for the current conflict.
“TPLF corrupted the nation, the people, based on ethnicity. TPLF sowed a bad seed based on ethnicity, so the nation is divided. TPLF is based on differentiating and dividing the nation in the past 20 years,” she explained to me. “After that, with the new government coming in, they refuse to participate and accept the new change. That is the main reason for the division and the war.”
Her friend Desalajn Assefa Alamayhu, an evangelist who is Tigrayan himself, agrees. And he accuses Orthodox Christians in Tigray of being active contributors to the conflict.
“Tigray Orthodox Christians participate in evil things with TPLF. They participate completely with TPLF. They said, ‘In the Bible, we can oppose federal government because we need freedom.’” In contrast, he contends, “most Protestant Christians in Ethiopia agree with the federal government because Dr. Abiy teaches and preaches from the Word of God.”
But to Eshe, a just response to past offenses and the current insubordination of the TPLF should not have been a large-scale conflict.
“It was just between two political parties. The leaders are the ones in conflict,” she explains. Eshe believes that the previous TPLF leaders who committed serious crimes number less than a hundred. Abiy’s government should have simply gone after those individuals instead of “taking war as a solution.”
The question that many evangelical Ethiopians seem to be wrestling with is this: With whom would Jesus side—the charismatic evangelical leader determined to defeat his enemies, or the primarily nonevangelical Orthodox Tigrayans who are suffering immensely?
Where they ultimately land is complicated by the fact that media reports and even interpersonal communications coming out of Tigray have been tightly controlled; misinformation and propaganda abound. And under a government that has shown itself increasingly willing to punish dissidents, there is the real threat that vocal opponents of the war could be jailed—or worse.
For Kofi (a pseudonym), where his loyalty lies is clear.
“For me, as a Christian, our allegiance is with God first. The Bible says we have to ally with those who are hurt,” said the 26-year-old, who declined to be named to protect his missions agency, which partners with churches and evangelizes in Tigray.
“That’s one of the things that Christ says to the disciples: Cry with those who are crying, share with those who don’t have nothing. We have to be with those who are suffering. No matter the political explanation, I don’t care. That’s not the primary need. There are many who are suffering and in need of our prayers and help.”
EndNote: Nevertheless, 98.5 % of Protestants side with Abiy Ahmed Ali, who is guilty of war crimes and genocide in Christian Tigray.
💭 The Nobel Committee Should Resign Over The Atrocities in Tigray
🔥 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for a Pact of War
🔥 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for a Pacte de Famine?
😈 The demon possessed traitor & anti-Ethiopia PM Abiy Ahmed Ali has been been able to make a lot of embarrassing, awkward and bad luck stories – and to bring trouble on many – this involve or lead to acts that damaged the reputation and interests of of the following entities:
❖ Ethiopia / Tigray
❖ The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
❖ Relationships between Tigrayans & Amahra; between Tigray & Eritrea
❖ Ethiopia’s ethnic groups & tribes
❖ The Horn of Africa: Kenya + South Sudan
❖ The sane & humane International Community
❖ The African Union
❖ The United Nations
❖ The Nobel Prize Committee
😈 While this cruel monster helped the following entities to substantially push their satanic agendas at every turn:
☆ The Oromos
☆ The Muslims
☆ The Arabs
☆ Egypt
☆ North Sudan
☆ Somalia
☆ Djibouti
☆ The Protestants
☆ The Sodomites
👉 Do I’ve anything else to say? Traitor, Antichrist! 😈
✞✞✞[Isaiah 33:1]✞✞✞ “Woe to you, O destroyer, While you were not destroyed; And he who is treacherous, while others did not deal treacherously with him. As soon as you finish destroying, you will be destroyed; As soon as you cease to deal treacherously, others will deal treacherously with you.”
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 6, 2021
For the last few years, political tensions have been simmering across Ethiopia due to competing political visions and narratives and sharp disagreements about the past, the present and the future of the country. Those tensions eventually boiled to full-fledged war, when on November 04, 2020, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali – claiming that the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces based in Tigray were pre-emptively attacked, launched a military campaign against the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) and its leadership. The military operation initially labelled by the Ethiopian government as ‘law enforcement’ brought together a disparate band of actors – the Ethiopian National Defence Force, the Eritrean Defence Forces and the Amhara Regional Forces. What materialized was a full scale to campaign of destruction resulting in what the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdeo Church – alongside other notable international observers – have called a “genocide” designed to wipe out Tigrayans.
This campaign is now in its eighth month. From the outset, reports trickling out from underneath the draconian communication blackout imposed by the government, revealed extensive human rights violations and atrocities against civilians. Thousands were displaced and massacred, women and children raped, aid blocked from reaching millions, heritage and religious sites desecrated, critical infrastructures and refugee camps targeted and destroyed. These atrocities and the magnitude and total nature of the war directed against Tigrayans, their culture and identity shocked the world. In the words of the United Nations and human rights organizations, atrocities against civilians are described as cruel and “beyond comprehension”.
In light of all this, the persistent and sustained ideological and religious support given to the war by Ethiopian religious leaders and influencers, has been one of the most troubling elements of this brutal conflict. Most prominent in this regard have been the significant numbers of evangelical Christians who remain some of the most vocal proponents, cheerleaders and advocates for the war, even now.
“Blessed are the warmongers”
Evangelical Chrisitians came out in support of the war the Ethiopian government launched on Tigray from the start. In the first two weeks, gospel singers, influential figures and pastors enthusiastically took part in a social media campaign calling Ethiopian to stand with the Defense forces against Tigray in what was essentially a civil war. Ironically, even the country’s reconciliation commission, made up of the country’s top religious leaders, including evangelical leaders, joined the public endorsement of violence and death. It bears noting that there is of course nothing wrong with Christians to publicly display patriotism. Such enthusiastic support and war mongering in the context of a civil war where millions of fellow members of the Ethiopian religious institutions – brethren in faith and citizenship – are subjected to death and destruction was not only in bad taste but unethical and clear contradiction of Christ’s teaching of being peacemakers.
“Blessed are those who rejoice in the destruction of a city”
The euphoria that followed when the federal government announced the capture of the regional capital Mekelle was unparalleled in the recent history of the country. Prior to the capture, a top army general warned residents of Tigrayan capital, Mekelle – a city of a half a million people – that there would be shelling and that “there will be no mercy”. While millions of Tigrayans across Ethiopia and the world waited with deepest dread and grief to hear about the news about their loved ones in Mekelle and across Tigray, their Christian brothers and sisters were out on the streets cheering and jubilating the fall of the city. The former Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Dessalegn, who professes a Christian faith, wrote at the time “Praise God for his mercy upon us” – a twisted but befitting doxology for a city that was shown no mercy.
“Blessed are those who pronounce Christian fatwas”
In the course of the current war in Tigray, Evangelical Christians continued to play an active role in providing religious justification for the war. Weeks into the conflict, ‘prophecies’ about the capture of TPLF (Tigrayan) leaders circulated on social media. A prominent theologian and preacher with thousands of followers on social media wrote that “what is happening in Tigray is God’s judgement” a warped theology that portrays God as the author of death and suffering. The idea that God delights in the death of the innocent is anathema to the central teaching of Christ who came not to judge but save the world. The same person also wrote that “to be a Christian and support the TPLF is similar to becoming a drug-dealing Christian” conflating religious and political convictions.
“Blessed are those who go extra mile to deny massacres”
Three months into the war, a prominent theological scholar wrote an op-ed, denying the massacre of hundreds in the city of Axum. The massacre, as it turned out was not only true, but also referred as as “ranking among the worst documented so far in this conflict” was perpetrated by Eritrean soldiers and verified by Amnesty International, who had interviewed 41 survivors and analysed satellite images. The author, in the name of being objective and providing context, wrote a diatribe about how evil the TPLF is and justified the “law enforcement operation” of the government. While this Op-ed posed as a critical query into media claims – which is an essential and legitimate task – what it ended up being was a blanket denial of an atrocity crime and “whataboutism”. Political considerations or past injustices, however, cannot justify massacres, rape, and the use of starvation as a weapon of war nor can it excuse using assymetric access to media and information to gaslight and to silence Tigrayans speaking out about atrocities being committed on thier families.
“Blessed are those who suppress the critics”
One particular phenomenon that has emerged in the course of the war is the use of prophetic messages and scripture either to silence critics of Abiy Ahmed or portray him as a victim of international pressure. Once videos and reports started to emerge, war crimes and atrocities committed by Ethiopia defense forces, Amhara regional forces and Eritrean defense forces became untenable. The pressure from the international community increased. Tigrayans as well as concerned citizens both at home and abroad started to criticise Abiy Ahmed and his war policy. In the midst of this rising criticism, evangelical Christians began misquoting Romans 13:1 to silence any legitimate criticism of the government. Moreover, some went an extra mile to portray anyone who dared to criticise Abiy as having the spirit of the Anti-Christ. Still others used scripture to portray Abiy Ahmed as king David who was distressed by the rousing anger of people.
“Blessed are those who denigrate bearers of God’s image”
In addition to offering justifications, ideological and theological support and religious legitimacy including to the proof-texting and misinterpreting the scriptures, Christians have also failed Tigrayans by ignoring and contributing to the hate rhetoric against them.
In the first instance anti-Tigrayan othering and “us” ”them” rhetoric ramped up to alarming degrees in the last three years. However, the church kept silent. This is a grave failing by omission. But beyond the silence, religious figures have since the start of the war come out into the open with hate speech against Tigrayans. A prominent scholar and theologian who is a visiting Assistant Professor at a reputable Christian University in the United States recently called Tigray a “curse” that should be allowed to “go to hell”.
A Protestant television transmitted the “exorcism” seen in the clip below which directly and openly demonizes Tigrayans and Tigray. The video shows a woman “possessed” by a “spirit” that has been killing and attacking the Ethiopian national defense forces in Tigray and is aiming to destroy Ethiopia. In a bizarre and worrying coincidence another video of “exorcism” openly demonizing Tigrayans has surfaced in Eritrea.
The critical question is what would Jesus do about the war in Tigray? More importantly, why do evangelical Christians, who claim to worship Christ Jesus – who has taught his disciples to be peacemakers, love their enemies and modeled a life of servant – chose to side with the state that is determined to wipe out Tigrayans and collaborated with a foreign army to bring death, destruction and despair to millions? The Evangelical tradition in Ethiopia prides itself as bible-centered, and as focused on personal renewal and insists and claims to offer the promise of eternal life – but its silence and outright complicity in the current war on Tigray has only brought the thin foundation of its social ethics to the fore. Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, came to seek and save the lost, not to steal, destroy and kill – and it is imperative for his disciples to follow his footstep and stand in solidarity with all who suffer. In the midst of war, the spiritualization of politics and the politicization of religion should be tamed before it engulfs the whole country. Ethiopians of all persuasions bear the image of God, regardless of where one stands in the current politics – all deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on July 6, 2021
A Protestant television transmitted the “exorcism” seen in the clip which directly and openly demonizes Tigrayans and Tigray. The video shows a woman “possessed” by a “spirit” that has been killing and attacking the Ethiopian national defense forces in Tigray and is aiming to destroy Ethiopia.
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Addis Ethiopia Weblog 