Page 13 - IAV Digital Magazine #440

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Nazareth, Jesus’ Hometown, Cancels Christmas To Protest Trump’s JerusalemMove
By Matthew Martinez
They’re not cele- brating Christmas this year in the town Christians believe to be the childhood home- town of Jesus.
Ali Salam, the mayor of Nazareth who is a Muslim, ordered that all celebra- tions of the Christian holiday be called off, the city council announced Thursday, accord- ing to the Times of Israel.
“Our identity and faith aren’t up for debate,” Salam told the Times. “The decision (by U.S. President Donald Trump about Jerusalem) has taken away the joy of the holi- day, and we will thus cancel festiv-
ities this year.”
Trump offi- cially recog- nized Jerusalem as the capi- tal of
Israel on
Dec. 6, shat- tering
decades of
U.S. neutral-
ity on the subject as it pertains to
the cen- turies-long struggle between Israelites
and Palestinians. Some U.S. allies reject-
ed that move
as “very danger- ous” and “cata- strophic” for Middle Eastern relations.
In fact, clashes broke out again Friday, leading to the death of two
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amid protests of Trump’s recogni- tion, the Associated Press reported.
Nazareth is the capital of Israel’s Northern District, about 100 miles
north of Gaza, and is known
as “the Arab capi- tal of Israel.” It is also considered “the cradle of Christianity,”under scoring the fraught level of tension in not only the city, but the region.
Salam also called Trump “wretched,” and said he stabbed Palestinians in the back with the latest move, according to the Jerusalem Post, which also report- ed that non-offi-
cial celebrations in the city may still proceed this year.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Nazareth was where Jesus grew up, not his birth- place.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine