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Philos Catholic, a Catholic initiative under the Philos Project that “seeks to positively engage Catholics… with the people of the Holy Land,” is facing fierce backlash after Executive Director Luke Moon criticized Church leaders for speaking out last week against Israel’s deadly strike on Gaza’s only Catholic church.
One day after the July 17 Israeli tank strike on Holy Family Catholic Parish — which killed three Catholics and left others seriously wounded — Moon took to X to criticize the Holy Land’s top Catholic leader over his condemnation of the attack.
“Catholic churches and Christians are regularly attacked by Islamists around the world,” Moon wrote. “These events are either ignored or presented without blaming anyone. A church is hit in Gaza, and the Cardinal calls it intentional.” Moon was referring to Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Moon went on to criticize “Church leaders” more broadly, seemingly including Pope Leo, who also spoke out strongly against the Israeli strike.
“Church leaders are quick to blame Israel (and Israel has apologized),” he added. “They never speak so clearly about Islamists. They’re afraid to. It’s not courageous to attack the Jews. It’s easy. It’s been easy for almost 2000 years. One would think that the leaders of a billion member Church might not be so afraid, and yet they are.”
The post elicited an outpouring of outrage, including from former associates and supporters of Philos Catholic, many of whom took Moon to task for downplaying the Church’s longstanding efforts to support persecuted Christians worldwide.
Sohrab Ahmari immediately asked Moon to remove him from the Philos Project’s advisory board, stating: “I don’t cooperate with anti-Catholics who attack princes of the Church.”
“What are you even talking about?” Ahmari responded in another post directed at Moon. “The Catholic Church has entire ministries devoted to spotlighting Islamist threats to Mideast Christians and aiding their victims. But you’d attack a holy cardinal shortly after his flock is wounded — with zero expression of sympathy or concern?”
On July 20, Moon doubled down in a sarcastic X post, again suggesting Catholic leaders have been selectively anti-Israel while ignoring the plight of Christians suffering under radical Islamist threats.
“Welcome to all the new advocates for persecuted Christians,” he wrote. “Where have you been the last 15 years?”
Ahmari called the remark “beyond insulting.”
“Here’s what actually happened: In your only statement(s) on the Holy Family attack, you failed to express even a scintilla of sympathy and concern for the victims,” Ahmari added. “Instead, you immediately jumped to attacking a beloved cardinal of the Holy Roman Church.”
Moon attempted to defend against Ahmari’s accusation, pointing to an earlier post in which Moon had called the strike “tragic” and added that praying “for an end to this war must always include the defeat of Hamas and the return of hostages.”
Ahmari dismissed it as a “single pro-forma word,” criticizing Moon for offering no prayers for the victims, no support for the parish, and no call for aid or investigation.
Other Catholics also joined the criticism of the Philos Catholic executive.
Stephanie Slade, a Catholic writer and editor, called Moon’s comments “horrifically insulting, from the leader of a group I was once happy to have an association with.”
Khalil Sayegh, a Palestinian Catholic and former Philos Project staffer who studied human rights at the Catholic University of America, accused Moon’s organization of abandoning its original mission of advocating for Christians.
“I once believed they were genuinely concerned about persecuted Christians,” Sayegh wrote of Philos. “However, I later realized they were nothing more than a hasbara organization, taking half-truths like the ones Luke is mentioning and presenting them as the whole story.”
Sayegh wrote that while Palestinian Christians reject Hamas and Islamist groups, they also oppose Israeli occupation and oppression — which Philos routinely ignores.
“Luke and the Philos Project,” he wrote, “simply choose to ignore the primary issue and focus solely on ‘Islamists, Islamists.’”
