An Israeli Christian organizer whose activities are thought to have been targeted in a controversial statement put out by church leaders condemning Christian Zionism last month says the move was initiated by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem under pressure from the Palestinian Authority and Jordan.

Ihab Shlayan, founder of the Israeli Christian Voice advocacy group, was not named in the January 17 statement, which sparked an interconfessional fight on social media over Israel and Zionism. But he was widely understood to have been its focus due to his criticism of church leadership and embrace of Israel and its military.

Yet while some have pointed to the letter as evidence that Shlayan and other evangelical Zionists fall outside the margins of mainstream Christianity, questions have arisen regarding the actual extent of support for the extraordinary statement.

The declaration was issued under the rubric of the Patriarchs and Heads of Local Churches of Jerusalem, an umbrella group which includes the heads of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Eastern Catholic, and other Orthodox churches.

According to Shlayan, the driving force behind the initiative was Greek Orthodox leadership under the heavy guidance of forces outside Israel, which he maintains wields only symbolic power in East Jerusalem.

“Those who control the entire Patriarchate and all of East Jerusalem are the Jordanian Waqf and the Palestinian Authority,” he said. The Waqf refers to the Jordanian-controlled endowment that administers the Temple Mount for Muslims.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, Jordanian embassy and PA all did not respond to requests for comment.

Shlayan said the statement was the result of his outreach activities on behalf of Christians in areas where the church leaders and others felt he had no standing to do so.

“So many events happened recently [involving Israeli Christian Voice] that the [Greek Orthodox] patriarch started receiving pressure from Jordan and the Palestinian Authority because I spoke on behalf of Christians in the Palestinian territories about what they’re going through there,” alleged Shlayan.

“The day that Israel and the US wake up and understand that things can’t continue like this, then these types of statements won’t go out,” said Shlayan.

In the statement, church leaders condemned “recent activities undertaken by local individuals who advance damaging ideologies,” singling out Christian Zionism by name.

“The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches further note........

© The Times of Israel