People are losing perspective over the situation in Gaza.
As someone who has worked firsthand to support persecuted Christians in the Middle East – including helping to found a Catholic news agency in Arabic for the region – I can say without hesitation: Support for the Christian presence in Gaza should not be a political liability.
Unfortunately, in the fog of war and the age of social media, there is a dangerous tendency to conflate legitimate concerns about human suffering with support for Hamas.
It’s time to recover the moral high ground on this issue, with all its appropriate nuance.
People should be able to disagree with indiscriminate bombing that results in a suffering civilian population and damage to places of worship – without being smeared as supporters of Hamas.
Pope Leo was right to call the continuing situation “barbaric,” especially after July 17, when an Israeli tank fired on Holy Family Church, Gaza’s only Catholic church, killing three people and injuring several others, including a parish priest.
Israel says the attack was made in error. We’re willing to accept that.
But it is also important to note that violence against Christians in the area isn’t limited to the realities of war in Gaza. The last few weeks have brought unsettling reports of worsening settler attacks on Christian farms and families in the West Bank as well.
Christians in the region are direct descendants of the Upper Room. Indeed, there are churches in the region that were founded by members of the Twelve Apostles.
That means there have been Christians in the Middle East for twenty centuries. Concern for their safety has been a top priority for the Church… and always will be.
The bottom line is this: Our Christian brothers and sisters are suffering in Gaza through no fault of their own. They deserve our prayer and anything else we can do to alleviate their pain.
That’s why, in June, CatholicVote sponsored over 20,000 hot meals for those Christians in Gaza who were in dire need.
Pope Leo has called for aid to the vulnerable in Gaza, so we’d like to do even more.
Will you please help us replenish the resources that went into our Gaza effort?
$50 will cover the cost of 25 hot meals sent to Christians in Gaza
$100 will cover the cost of 50 hot meals sent to Christians in Gaza
$500 will cover the cost of 250 hot meals sent to Christians in Gaza
May God grant us a speedy end to the Gaza conflict. As one young man from Gaza seriously wounded by the attack on Holy Family parish said from his hospital bed: “As always, love is stronger than war.”