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by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News

It was widely reported this week in both the U.S. Corporate Media as well as in non-Western media sources, that Gaza’s oldest Christian Church was bombed leaving many people dead, including children.

Ibrahim Jahsan’s young family has been sheltering at the Saint Porphyrius Church in Gaza City since the war began.

One of Gaza’s 1,000 Christians, Jahsan never doubted the church was a safe space for him, his pregnant wife and two children aged five and six. The Greek Orthodox church – the oldest in the city, located in the Zaytoun neighbourhood – has traditionally served as a sanctuary for both Christians and Muslims during Israel’s periodic wars against Gaza.

The church was sheltering hundreds of people when an Israeli bomb severely damaged one of the four buildings in its compound on Thursday evening, causing its ceiling to collapse and leaving dozens trapped under slabs of concrete, according to witnesses.

By Friday afternoon, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem told Al Jazeera at least 18 people were confirmed to have been killed, including several children.

“The building that they bombed is beside the church,” said Jahsan, still shaken from what he says was a massive blast. “We just pray to god to end this war.”

About 200 children, women, elderly and sick people were taking shelter at the church when Israeli warplanes targeted the building with two raids, said Ibrahim Al-Souri, another survivor who had also been taking shelter. (Source.)

Adam McAdams, writing for The Ron Paul Institute, reported that former U.S. Representative Justin Amash had some of his family members killed in this attack. Amash is Palestinian, and was the sole member of the Libertarian Party in Congress.

Former US Rep. Justin Amash (L-MI), who was the only US House Member representing the Libertarian Party, announced today on Twitter/X that several of his relatives were killed when Israel bombed Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church in Gaza. Amash’s relatives, along with many others, were seeking shelter in the Church as Israel continues to flatten Gaza.

As one commenter on Amash’s thread pointed out, Saint Porphyrius Church “symbolized coexistence. It’s worth noting that this church is located near the Jewish Quarter in Gaza as well.”

Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church is the third oldest existing Christian church in the world, standing very nearly since the time of Christ. Another commenter on Twitter added that “Gaza’s oldest church the Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius”…was a refuge for at least 380 civilians. At least 40 have been reported dead and more searches continue among the rubble.”

Earlier this week Israel is accused of bombing al-Shifa hospital in Gaza – the only Christian hospital in the Palestinian enclave – and hundreds have been reported killed in that attack. While Israel has denied responsibility for that bombing, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak told the BBC that Israel was “determined” to destroy the hospital. (Full article.)

Sadly, what is often missing from the Zionist Western Media coverage of the war in the Middle East which seeks to pit Muslims against Jews, is the fact that there are very significant numbers of Arabs who are Christians, and always have been Christians, and are frequently murdered in these Israel/U.S.-Muslim conflicts.

Instead, pro-Zionist politicians, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are supporting genocide and ethnic cleansing of entire Arab nations.

In my own community where I am currently staying, I frequently visit a “Middle Eastern” grocery store to stock up on supplies for the Middle Eastern dishes I love to prepare, having spent many years of my younger adult life living in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, where I developed a very fond taste for Middle Eastern food.

The small store is owned and operated by Syrians, and they are part of a Syrian Orthodox Christian community, and all part of the same church.

And yet, it never ceases to amaze me how on any given day I can walk into this store and observe BOTH Muslim and Christian Arabs all smiling and laughing together, sharing their common Arab heritage. One of those customers runs his own small kabob restaurant in town, and he is a Palestinian Muslim.

But these Arab people share their common Arab heritage, and get along just fine. The Middle Eastern Christian Arab store owner makes sure that his meat is certified “Halal” so his Muslim customers can purchase it. Religion does NOT separate them at all, as they all accept each other’s religious differences.

But there is one issue that they are all united on: The loss they have all suffered from the murder and slaughter of innocent people in their homelands by U.S. and Israeli military sources who continually bomb them.

Here are a couple of articles from the Alternative News that were published this week who do not support the Zionist propaganda, publishing the “other side” that the Corporate U.S. News and Zionist Alternative News networks would never publish.

Criminality Beyond Description: Netanyahu Supports both Hamas as well as Al Qaeda Terrorists

Israel Actively “Cooperates” with the Islamic State and Al Qaeda

by Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Editor, Global Research

For those who have doubts concerning the criminality and insidious role of Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government:  

1. Netanyahu is on Record for Supporting and Financing Hamas Terrorists: