Arabic-speaking Israeli Christians (who today identify as Arameans) have taken offense at a recent pact signed between a small group of Messianic Jews and Palestinian Evangelicals engaged in an anti-Israel campaign.

The agreement in question was signed earlier this month in Larnaca, Cyprus, where Messianic and Palestinian Christian leaders sought reconciliation even amidst ongoing theological differences regarding the biblical significance of Israel’s modern rebirth.

Opposition arose from other Messianics and Israeli Christians after it was discovered that those present at the gathering had pledged to refrain from publicly criticizing one another.

This despite the fact that many on the Palestinian Evangelical side of the table had in the past tacitly supported anti-Israel terrorism and called for “global theological resistance” against the Jewish state.

Leading the charge was Nazareth-based Father Gabriel Naddaf, spiritual leader of the Israeli Aramean Christian movement, who wondered why “some Israeli Messianic leaders have foolishly joined hands with anti-Israel Christians…who work night and day to poison the church with lies?”

More on Father Gabriel Naddaf:

When Father Naddaf was challenged by a representative of Jews for Jesus, he chastised the group over the fact that another of its representatives had accepted an invitation to speak in the church of the virulently anti-Israel Anglican vicar Stephen Sizer.

“Jesus endorses our right to defend ourselves, not just from Palestinian terrorists, but theological terrorists, who through insidious agreements such as these, concur with the…blood libels and historical lies that you also endorse, causing theological and physical violence against Israel and the Jewish people,” Father Naddaf continued.

The priest concluded by warning that some in the Messianic Jewish leadership had “chosen to be people-pleasers – politicians with a theological mask.”