Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Harbi Tlaib attended the March 30, 2019 event commemorating the Palestinian Land Day. The event was held by the Arab American Heritage Council and the Palestine Aid Society of America – Detroit Chapter.
Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Harbi Tlaib and the Bishop of Jerusalem Atallah Hanna were speakers at the Land Day Commemoration. Tlaib and Hanna posed holding hands for joint pictures.
Atallah Hanna’s support of the Palestinian intifada and Assad regime
On August 22, 2002 The Associated Press and Baruch Kra, Ha’aretz Corespondent reported: “Police on Thursday released a bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, after he was detained and questioned on suspicion of expressing support for terrorist organizations and illegally entering an enemy country… Hanna is suspected of attempting to meet with heads of terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah spirutal leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, and of praising suicide attacks in comments published by the media in East Jerusalem.” No charges have been laid against him.
An excerpt from Atallah Hanna’s interview with Jordan’s Addustour daily (published on December 25, 2002, originally in Arabic):
Question: What is your position regarding the Palestinian struggle and specifically the suicide operations?
Atallah Hanna: The peoples that suffered from the occupation and colonialism were not liberated without struggle and they were not liberated without resistance. When we return and read the history of the people that were colonized and suffered from the occupation we see that all peoples fought and that the Palestinian liberation fight is a legitimate fight for a noble and legitimate cause.
An excerpt from Atallah Hanna’s interview with Lebanon’s Annahar daily (reposted by bintjbeil.com on March 15, 2002, originally in Arabic):
Atallah Hanna: We have good relations with them [all Palestinian groups]. Our people is united in his intifada [uprising/ fight] and its struggle against the despicable Israeli occupation, and we are also connected with all the mujahedeen and the fighters.
Atallah Hanna denied the allegations against him. According to Hanna, he supports the Palestinian non-violent struggle and opposes the suicide attacks and the killing of civilians. He added that these attacks harm the Palestinian cause.
In 2017 Atallah Hanna was a keynote speaker in an event commemorating the “great fighter” Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, who as the head of the Greek Catholic Church in Jerusalem was arrested in 1974 and convicted of using his Mercedes sedan to smuggle arms to Palestinian militants.
Atallah Hanna sides with Syrian regime in the fight against its enemies during the civil war and in 2017 he met in Damascus with Syria’s President Bashar Assad.
The following are excerpts from Atallah Hanna’s statements on his Facebook page regarding Syria (originally in Arabic):
April 7, 2017 – We emphasize our solidarity with Syria, its President, government, people and army. I believe that at this time all Arabs must express solidarity with Syria… We wish that Syria defeat its enemies because its victory is a victory for all of us…
August 15, 2017 – We are proud of our visit to Syria… Some portray my meeting with President [Bashar] Assad as a crime, but I’m proud of this crime, and I’m also proud of my meeting with this Arab national person [President Assad] who defended Syria… I’m proud of my meeting with President Assad… President Assad is a distinct Arab national person and history will record the name of this great leader who worked to foil the conspiracy against the State of Syria with the Arab Syrian Army and all the sons of the Syrian people… President Assad is not a murderer or a butcher as some say and circulate, but he is a distinct Arab national leader… Those terrorists and their funders who portray Assad as a murderer and a butcher are in fact the real murderers and butchers…