Since October 7, Israel and its allies have tried to frame the war in Gaza within the framework of the “war on terror” by actively comparing Hamas to ISIS. Many who instinctively equate Palestinians with Muslims have actually fallen for this false narrative.

But the brutal war Israel is waging against Gaza was not, as claimed, “just aimed at terrorists.” Instead, both Palestinian Muslims and Palestinian Christians were massacred, which legal scholars say amounts to genocide.

The Christian community in Gaza has lost at least 21 members so far. That may sound like a small number, but considering there were only 1,000 before the war, these massacres threaten to wipe out the Christian presence in the Strip for the first time in nearly 2,000 years. Proportionally speaking, the mortality rate of Palestinian Christians is twice that of the entire Palestinian population in Gaza.

And yet the leaders of Christian-majority countries in the West have remained shockingly silent about the plight of Palestinian Christians. US President Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, has said nothing and done nothing to protect his fellow believers in Gaza, who have also been targeted by the Israeli army.

This is consistent with decades of Western Christians’ unwavering support for the racist Israeli state, which has threatened the Christian presence in the Holy Land for decades.

A History of Targeted Christians

The Israeli attack against Palestinian Christians took place long before the founding of Hamas. During the Nakba of 1948, when Jewish militias attacked Palestinian villages and towns, Palestinian Christians were targeted, as were Palestinian Muslims.

Christian Palestinians were expelled from Lydda (as Israelis now call Lod). Many eventually fled to Ramallah, walking dozens of kilometers as they tried to evade the brutal Jewish militants.

Palestinians were also expelled in Jerusalem and other areas regardless of their faith. Members of my own family – my father, my uncle and my grandmother – had to flee for their lives. My aunt and her family, who lived in the Musrara neighborhood, sought refuge near the Notre Dame Catholic chapel, thinking they would be safe there, but a Jewish sniper shot her husband, leaving a widow with seven small children.

The terror and expropriation did not stop even after the founding of the State of Israel. For example, the residents of the two predominantly Palestinian-Christian villages Iqrit and Biramwhich was in northern Israel at the end of the Arab-Israeli War, were expelled in November 1948. They were told they could return “within two weeks,” but the Israeli state never allowed them to do so.

In the decades that followed, Palestinian Christians who remained in the territory claimed by Israel were subjected to the same apartheid regime as Palestinian Muslims. They were about abandoned 65 racist laws This deprives them of the same rights as Jewish citizens of Israel, according to an investigation by the Haifa-based NGO Adalah.

One of the earliest of these laws was the 1950 Law of Return, which enshrined the right of Jews to come to Israel, settle there and automatically receive citizenship. It denied the same rights to the displaced indigenous Palestinian population, even though the United Nations decided in Resolution 194 that Palestinians should return to their homeland and receive compensation for the loss of their homes.

Most recently, in 2018, the Knesset passed the National State Bill, which officially declared Israel the nation state of the Jewish people, further cementing the legal implementation of Jewish supremacy. This further emboldened the extremist elements within Israeli society and encouraged even more anti-Palestinian violence.

Incidents of Jewish extremists harassing and intimidating Palestinian Christians, spitting on them and attacking their processions have increased. Christian properties, including churches and cemeteries, were targeted.

Just days before the October 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel, a group of Jewish men and boys harassed and brutally spat on a Christian procession carrying a cross. A video of the incident went viral, sparking international outrage, but clearly not from Western leaders. Repeated appeals from Christian church leaders to take action against Jewish-Israeli violence have fallen on deaf ears for years.

Western silence on the plight of Palestinian Christians

On October 17, just days into its brutal war on Gaza, Israel bombed the courtyard of the Christian-run Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, killing hundreds of people who had sought shelter there from the bombardment. The Israeli propaganda machine tried to attribute the attack to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but investigations followed confirmed that the “evidence” it had produced was fake.

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

The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which runs the church, said many of those present at the time were women and children. “The targeting of churches and their institutions, as well as the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens… constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored,” it said in a statement.

But attacks on Palestinian Christians continued. On December 16, two Palestinian women found refuge in the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City were shot by an Israeli sniper. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said the two women were “shot in cold blood,” while Pope Francis condemned the killing in his weekly Sunday sermon.

British MP Layla Moran, whose relatives are trapped in the same church, said they witnessed the Israeli army using white phosphorus against their compound, in addition to targeting the solar panels, water tanks and generators, damaging people sheltering there , which made life incredibly difficult.

Over the last 80 days of war, Christian Palestinians have not stopped calling on the world to take note of their plight and that of all Palestinians and to take action to stop the genocide.

A Palestinian Catholic mother posted an appeal to Biden, asking him to base his policies on his moral convictions. “We are not children of a lesser God, Mr. President, we are the Palestinian Christians of the Holy Land, where the message of love, peace and justice began, and we call on you to stop this genocide.”

Leaders of the Palestinian Christian community also sent an open letter to Western church leaders and theologians, in which they “challenged Western theologians and church leaders who have uncritically expressed support for Israel and [called on] to repent and change them”.

Unfortunately, these appeals were completely ignored.

Biden and other leaders of Christian-majority Western nations have shown a remarkable disregard for Palestinian life — both Muslim and Christian. The US has repeatedly voted against ceasefire resolutions at the UN Security Council and has blocked all attempts to pressure Israel to stop the slaughter of Palestinians or even marginally criticize it.

Biden and his administration have actually treated us, Palestinian Christians, as children of a lesser god. He and other Western leaders who have supported Israel bear full responsibility for the genocide of the Palestinian people. What they did will not be forgotten.

Today we don’t celebrate Christmas. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, does not celebrate either. All celebrations have been canceled as Palestinian Christians mourn the victims of Israel’s genocide.

What gives hope to many in this dark time is the fact that Muslim and Christian Palestinians are forming a united front despite Israeli brutality and Western silence. Israel has long used the divide and conquer tactic against us, but over the last two and a half months we have shown that our unity is stronger than ever in the face of Israeli colonial violence and racism.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.