Christians weep for victims in Ukraine but not Gaza

Palm Sunday last week marked the start of the religious holiday during which Christians contemplate the promise of hope and redemption offered by the death and resurrection of Jesus, concepts central to their faith.

It was the prelude to this weekend’s Easter celebrations. Easter is the most significant time of year for Christians, more so even than Christmas, which marks the birth of Jesus. Together, these holy days reflect the foundations of a faith that rejects violence and promotes compassion for those in need.

So, it was interesting to see how Christians reacted last weekend to two incidents of violence by terrorist armies.

One was an attack by Russian forces on the city of Sumy in Ukraine, where dozens of civilians celebrating Palm Sunday were massacred. The other was an assault by Israeli forces on several locations in Gaza City that claimed the lives of dozens of Palestinians, including strikes that destroyed or damaged parts of the Anglican Al-Ahli hospital.

Christians in the West, including America, awoke on Palm Sunday to a deluge of news stories about the killing of 33 people in Sumy, and the resultant outrage expressed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and leaders around the world.

When the Israeli strikes in Gaza were mentioned, the media didn’t make the connection between the victims and the Christian hospital.

Ray Hanania

Nearly 2,200 kilometers from Sumy, Israel launched missile strikes on Gaza City that killed more than 20 Palestinians and destroyed or damaged parts of Al-Ahli Hospital, a symbol of the Christian presence in the territory that has been erased by the 19-month Israeli assault.

The mainstream news media was full of details and descriptions of the Russian missile strikes on Sumy in Ukraine and the 33 people killed there, but less so when it came to covering Israel’s bombing of the Christian-run Al-Ahli Hospital, and the 20 people killed there.

Most people understand the reasons for this discrepancy in humanity displayed not only by Christians but by nearly everyone in the US; Israel’s government has America in a “headlock of intimidation.” Anyone who criticizes Israel is automatically denounced as antisemitic.

Holders of Green Cards and visas who dare to speak out against the genocide in Gaza are rounded up, accused of supporting “Hamas” and “terrorism.”

When the American media covered the Russian attacks on Sumy, the timing of Palm Sunday was a prominent part of the story. Ukraine is a Christian nation. But when the Israeli strikes in Gaza were mentioned, the media didn’t make the connection between the victims and the Christian hospital.

I guess we do not know whether the women and children killed in Gaza on Palm Sunday were Christian or Muslim. If they were Muslims, the West apparently seems to care about them even less than they do about the tragedy of Christian Palestinians in Gaza, a community that has been devastated during the 19 months of Israeli terrorism.

What Israel is doing in Gaza is not only a war crime and an act of great inhumanity, it is a transgression of the worst kind, one driven by Israeli bloodlust.

Jesus taught the principles of nonviolence, urging his followers to resist evil not with physical force but love, forgiveness and nonretaliation. This included turning the other cheek, loving their enemies, and praying for their persecutors. His teachings emphasized active resistance to injustice through nonviolent means, and in so doing demonstrated that true power lies in compassion and a refusal to descend to the level of the oppressor.

What is happening in Gaza contradicts everything Christians stand for and by ignoring it, it is an abandonment of the very fundamentals that make them Christians.

American Christians who remain silent are not truly Christian at all. They are the opposite of Christians. 

• Ray Hanania is an award-winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and columnist. He can be reached on his personal website at www.Hanania.com. X: @RayHanania