You’ll be relieved to know that the world’s most accomplished and respected diplomats are set to convene at United Nations Headquarters in New York in order to formulate strategies to eradicate once and for all the foremost scourge of our time: “Islamophobia.”
Yes, we can all breathe easier, now that the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC)/Office of the United Nations Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, working closely with (who else?) the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), is planning what it calls “a high-level event” with the lofty title of “Addressing Islamophobia and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief – the Nexus to Human Rights.”
The event is set for March 16, which in itself demonstrates a bit of mission creep on the part of the courageous warriors against “Islamophobia.” The UN has already designated March 15 as the “International Day to Combat Islamophobia,” and now, just as we are plagued with Pride Month in addition to all manner of celebrations of Pride all through the year, the day has grown into two. Soon there will likely be a “Combat Islamophobia Month,” in line with a UN resolution on “Measures to Combat Islamophobia,” calling for concerted action to combat the terrible fact that some people find Islam, with its stonings, amputations, misogyny, antisemitism, and violence, distasteful.
Meanwhile, far from the august gathering of the great and the good in Manhattan, way down in the real world, the concerns of people who will never see for themselves the grandeur and magnificence of the UN building have vastly different concerns. On Wednesday, Joseph Puder, the founder and director of the Interfaith Taskforce for America and Israel (ITAI), published an illuminating survey of the plight of Christians in the Middle East.
Puder notes that while “Islamophobia” is “a hate crime in the United States and in the West, in general, with even non-offenders of Islam dreading an accusation of Islamophobia,” in “Muslim majority states, particularly in the Middle East,” the reality is starkly different: Christians “have been persecuted, discriminated and abused. The judicial system in most of these states actually encourages anti-Christian persecution.” The UN’s imaginings about the supposed difficulties Muslims face in the West don’t come close to the level of persecution Christians endure in Muslim countries.
Nevertheless, as Puder points out, “Western politicians seem to be ignoring the suffering of Christians in the Middle East.” In fact, there is not a single Muslim-majority country in the world where Christians enjoy full equality of rights with Muslims, which should surprise no one in light of the fact that the Qur’an calls upon Muslims to be “ruthless to unbelievers, merciful to one another” (48:29), and directs the believers to fight against the “people of the book,” that is, primarily Jews and Christians, “until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued” (9:29).
And so all around the Middle East, we see variations of the same these. “There is a long history of persecution and violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt,” Puder states, “especially in the Minya governorate.” In Iraq, meanwhile, “the Christian population has plummeted from approximately 1.5 million in 2003 to roughly 150,000 today.” In the neighboring Islamic Republic of Iran, Christians, “especially those who have converted from Islam, are treated as ‘national security threats.’ As of early 2026, many continue to be sentenced to long prison terms for ‘propaganda’ or practicing their faith in underground house churches.”
Since the jihadis of the current President Ahmed al-Sharaa overthrew the Assad regime In Syria, Christians “face heightened insecurity. The transitional government’s reliance on Islamist factions is creating risks of targeted violence and societal and religious marginalization. Key examples include the 2025 bombing of a major church in Damascus and intimidation by armed jihadists.”
Even Turkey, the alleged friend and NATO ally of the U.S., “was ranked 41st among the 50 countries where Christians face the most challenges in practicing their faith, by Open Doors World Watch List.” And with good reason: “a troubling mix of cultural, legal and social challenges that continue to marginalize the Christian population, which includes the deportation of foreign Christian workers considered to be a ‘security threat.’”
While the world rails against Israel, “Christians in the West Bank and Gaza face significant persecution and hardship that has resulted in a dwindling population (less than 2% in the West Bank, around 1,000 individuals in Gaza as of 2025).”
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In Qatar, which Tucker Carlson recently compared favorably to Israel in its treatment of Christians, the faithful “must use extreme caution when gathering for worship, while Christians who are not citizens must worship in a government-controlled compound that is closed to Qatari citizens. About 65% of the country’s population is composed of foreign workers, mostly Filipinos. Foreign Christians in Qatar have been deported for evangelistic activities among native Qataris.” (Israel, by contrast, is the only country in the Middle East where the Christian population has grown and faces no discrimination.)
Saudi Arabia, which has supposedly been modernizing and reforming, still “severely restricts Christian practice and bans public worship, churches and proselytizing. Those who openly practice or convert from Islam are at risk of arrest, detention and deportation. Christians, especially converts, face surveillance, discrimination and potential mistreatment.”
It isn’t any better for Christians in Muslim countries outside the Middle East. Yet the UN has nothing to say about all this persecution; it is too busy looking for instances of “Islamophobia.” That’s where collaborating with the OIC is going to lead you.
