Why does the Christian West ignore the plight of Palestinian Christians?

Western leaders are turning a blind eye as Israel destroys the Christian presence in Gaza as part of a genocide.

Palestinian journalist Daoud Kuttab (Daoud Kuttab) paid attention to why the governments of Western countries that believe in the Christian religion turn a blind eye to the massacre of Christians by Israel in Palestine. Here is his full article published by Al Jazeera.

Since October 7, Israel and its allies have been actively comparing Hamas to ISIS, trying to frame the war in Gaza as a "war on terror." Many who equate Palestinians with Muslims actually believe this false narrative.

But Israel's brutal war against Gaza is not targeting "only terrorists" as it claims. Instead, he massacred Palestinian Christians as well as Palestinian Muslims - in the words of jurists, this means genocide.

The Christian community in Gaza has lost at least 21 members so far. This may seem like a small number, but given that they numbered only 1,000 before the war, these massacres threaten to wipe out the Christian presence in the sector for the first time in almost 2,000 years. Proportionally, the Palestinian Christian death rate in Gaza is double that of the entire Palestinian population.

And yet, the leaders of many Western Christian countries have remained surprisingly silent on the plight of Palestinian Christians. Joe Biden, a resident of the United States of America and a devout Catholic, did nothing or did nothing to protect other Catholics in Gaza targeted by the Israeli army.

Similarly, the racist state of Israel, which threatens the existence of Christians in the Holy Land, has been supported by Western Christians for decades.

History of persecuted Christians

Israel's attack on Palestinian Christians long predates the establishment of Hamas. During the Nakba of 1948, when Jewish militants attacked Palestinian villages and towns, Palestinian Christians were targeted as well as Palestinian Muslims.

Then the Christian Palestinians were expelled from Lydda (today's Israelis call it Lod). Many found refuge in Ramallah and walked dozens of kilometers trying to escape from the Jewish militants.

Palestinians were evicted regardless of their faith in Jerusalem and other areas. My family members - my father, uncle and grandmother - had to flee for their lives. My aunt and her family, who live in the Musrara neighborhood, seek refuge near the Notre Dame Catholic Church, hoping to be safe there, but a Jewish sniper shoots and kills her husband, leaving her a widow with seven young children.

Even after the establishment of the state of Israel, terror and occupation did not stop. For example, after the Arab-Israeli war, the inhabitants of the two villages of Ikrit and Biram, which fell in the north of Israel, mainly inhabited by Palestinian Christians, were forced to leave in November 1948. They were told they could return "within two weeks". However, the State of Israel never allowed this.

In the following decades, the Palestinian Christians who remained in the territory claimed by Israel faced the same apartheid regime as the Palestinian Muslims. According to research by the Haifa-based NGO Adalah, they are forced to obey some 65 racist laws that deprive Israel's Jewish citizens of their rights.

One of the earliest of these laws was the 1950 Law of Return, which established the right of Jews to come to Israel, settle and automatically obtain citizenship. Despite UN Resolution 194, which mandated that Palestinians be allowed to return to their homeland and that they be compensated for the loss of their homes, the law denied the dispossessed Palestinian indigenous population rights.

The Knesset recently approved the National State Bill in 2018, which would formally declare Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, further cementing Jewish legal supremacy. This emboldened extremist elements in Israeli society and fueled their violence against Palestine.

There has been an increase in cases of Jewish extremists harassing and intimidating Palestinian Christians, spitting on them and attacking their processions. Christian properties, including churches and cemeteries, were also targeted.

A few days before Hamas' attacks on southern Israel on October 7, a group of Jewish men and boys chased a Christian procession carrying a cross and spat on them. A video of the incident went viral and sparked an international outcry, while Western leaders remained silent. Repeated calls from Christian church leaders over the years to take action against Jewish violence have fallen on deaf ears.

Western indifference to the plight of Palestinian Christians

On October 17, just after the start of the humanitarian war against Gaza, Israel bombed the courtyard of the Christian-run Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, killing hundreds of people who had taken refuge there. The Israeli propaganda machine tried to blame the attack on the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but further investigations confirmed that the "evidence" it provided was fabricated.

Two days later, the Israeli army bombed the Church of Saint Porphyry, the third oldest church in the world, killing at least 18 people.

According to the Jerusalem Orthodox Patriarchate, which manages the church, most of those inside at the time were women and children. "Targeting churches and their institutions, in addition to the shelters they provide to protect innocent civilians, is a war crime that cannot be ignored," the statement said.

However, the targeting of Palestinian Christians continued. On December 16, two Palestinian women who sought refuge in the Catholic Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City were shot dead by an Israeli sniper. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said the two women had been "shot dead", while Pope Francis condemned the killing during his weekly Sunday Mass.

British MP Laila Moran, whose relatives were trapped in the church, said they witnessed the Israeli army targeting solar panels, water tanks and generators, as well as using white phosphorus against civilians , making life in the shelter even more dangerous.

During the past 80 days of war, Christian Palestinians have not stopped appealing to the world to focus on their plight and that of all Palestinians, and to take action to stop the genocide.

A Palestinian Catholic mother issued an appeal to Biden, urging him to rely on his moral convictions in his politics. "We are not children of a small God, Mr. Resident, we are Palestinian Christians of the Holy Land, where the message of peace and justice has begun, and we call on you to stop the genocide . "

In an open letter to the leaders of the Palestinian Christian community, as well as Western church leaders and theologians, it challenges "Western theologians and church leaders who uncritically support Israel," calling on them to repent and change.

Biden and other Christian-majority Western leaders have shown indifference to Palestinian lives—both Muslim and Christian. The US has repeatedly voted against peace resolutions in the UN Security Council and has blocked any attempt to pressure Israel to stop the massacre of Palestinians or even to criticize it in the slightest.

Biden and his administration have indeed treated Palestinian Christians as "children of a lesser God." He and other Western leaders who support Israel are fully responsible for the genocide of the Palestinian people. Humanity will not forget what they did.

What gives many people hope in this sad time is that, despite Israeli brutality and Western silence, Muslim and Christian Palestinians have united as one front. Israel has long used divide and rule tactics against us, but in the last two and a half months we have shown that our unity in the face of Israeli colonial violence and racism is stronger than ever.