Experts Challenge Pope Leo’s Claims of Israeli Aggression Against Palestinian Churches
Pontiff slammed for bashing Jews but refusing to name Islamic perpetrators of genocide against Christians
Multiple investigations have uncovered significant inconsistencies contradicting the Catholic hierarchy’s accusations that Israeli settlers and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have targeted churches in Samaria and Gaza.
Pope Leo XIV, who is being slammed for refusing to name the Muslim groups behind recent massacres of Christians in Syria and Nigeria, called out the “Israeli army” in his July 20 Angelus address and a barrage of tweets for an attack on the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza.
“Sadly, this act adds to the continuous military attacks against the civilian population and places of worship in Gaza,” Leo stated, naming the three Christians killed by an exploding artillery shell on July 17. Nine civilians, including the parish priest, suffered injuries.
On July 20, while holidaying at Castel Gandolfo, Leo posted several tweets concerning the incident. On July 17, he took to X to lament “the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack on the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza.”
Cardinal Pizzaballa Celebrates Eucharist in Church Hit by Shell
An IDF inquiry later revealed that the church was “accidentally hit due to an unintentional deviation of munitions” during military “operational activity” near Gaza City. “The IDF directs its military strikes solely at military targets and works to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure as much as possible, including religious institutions. The IDF regrets any harm caused to civilians,” a statement noted.
In response, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, said, “What we know for sure is that a tank — the IDF says by mistake, but we are not sure about this — they hit the church directly.” On July 20, Pizzaballa celebrated the Eucharist in the church with a congregation, debunking exaggerated reports that the structure had suffered severe damage.
In a July 22 statement, issued after returning from Gaza with Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III, Pizzaballa did not blame the IDF for the attack. Instead, he called for humanitarian aid, noting that the war in Gaza is “morally unacceptable and unjustifiable.”
Catholic and Orthodox Patriarchs Visit Taybeh
Earlier, Pizzaballa and Theophilos led an international delegation of diplomats from 20 countries to the predominantly Christian town of Taybeh, east of Ramallah in Samaria. The last remaining all-Christian town is in territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
The patriarchs asserted that “radical Israelis from nearby settlements intentionally set fire near the town’s cemetery and the Church of Saint George,” warning that “this is clearly part of the systematic attacks against Christians that we see unfolding throughout the region.” They stated:
In recent months, the radicals have led their cattle to graze on the farms of Christians on the east side of Taybeh — the agricultural area — rendering them inaccessible at best but at worst damaging the olive groves that families depend on. Last month, several homes were attacked by these radicals, lighting fires and erecting a billboard that said, translated into English, ‘there is no future for you here.’
The Vatican’s media amplified the reports, warning that a “wave of settler violence” was targeting Taybeh.
Palestinian Christian activist Ihab Hassan even claimed on X that Israeli settlers are “setting homes on fire and shooting at residents.” In another post, Hassan accused Israeli settlers of “setting homes and vehicles ablaze.”
Alternative Voices Debunk Claims of Settler Violence
Summing up various independent reports, Dumisani Washington, CEO of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, stressed that “no Jewish ‘nationalist crime’ was committed, no church was set on fire, and no cemetery was desecrated.”
“Quite the contrary, Christian Arabs from the village of Taiba set fire to open areas, four times in one week, to prevent Jews from grazing there,” he said. Jewish cattle herders in the area have long suffered from harassment, attacks, and arson in their grazing areas, including from Taybeh.
“Here a wild blood libel began to turn the arson incident from Arab-Christian terrorism into ‘Jewish terrorism,’” he wrote. “Photos of Jewish boys battling flames with blowers and bats were published by Israel haters and branded as ‘settlers fanning the flames they set.’”
Washington asked why the Christians had not filed a single police complaint even though the police had launched an investigation a week earlier.
Reports Uncover Significant Discrepancies in Narrative
The Press Service of Israel (PSI) said it has “uncovered critical inconsistencies” in the pro-Palestinian reports in an investigation.
Far from setting fire to the pastures near the church, “several young men from the adjacent Jewish farm can be seen running up the hill with fire extinguishing equipment and reflective vests, attempting to put out the flames — not start them,” PSI reported, adding that it had obtained time-stamped documentation of complaints from a Jewish farmer saying someone was starting fires in the area where his sheep was grazing on July 7, 8, and 11. Other Jewish farmers filed similar complaints. The farmland is adjacent to a church compound.
According to Israeli police, ancient church ruins in Taybeh were not harmed, despite media reports and statements to the contrary by high-ranking Christian officials who pointed the finger at “radical Israelis.”
“Investigation reveals no damage to the ancient church in Taybeh & investigation of the origin of fire continues. I have NOT attributed the cause of fire to any person or group as we don’t know for sure,” U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, wrote on X.
Israel Ganz, chairman of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization representing the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria, told PSI, “We are being subjected to vicious blood libels from Palestinian elements who seek to harass settlement in Judea and Samaria and to create conflict between us and communities and between countries.”
Church Leaders Serve as Palestinian Pawns
“Instead of being leaders of truth, these church leaders have become players controlled on the board,” said Amit Barak, former project manager of the Christian Empowerment Council. “They are pawns. In the past, people blamed the Jews. Today, they blame ‘the settler.’”
Dr. Andrew J. Nolte, a professor in the Robertson School of Government and director of the Institute for Israel Studies at Regent University, agreed.
“Unfortunately, the narrative about the settler attack on a church is very much of a piece with the myth-making that surrounds the very real plight of Arab Christians in the holy land,” he told The Stream.
“The story that can’t be told is what happens to Arab Christians under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. Under the PA, Christians suffer everything from forced expropriation of property, discrimination without remedy, and the Islamization of the very city in which the religious left holds its ‘Christ at the Checkpoint’ conferences.
“Lest we forget, Article 3 of the PA charter says that a Palestinian state will be an Islamic state, and Shari’a will be a source of legislation. And under Hamas, I’ve been told stories of torture, degradation, and execution without trial for the ‘crime’ of sharing the Gospel.”
Pope Leo Remains Silent on Islamic Persecution
In an article for the Catholic magazine First Things, Andrew Doran, a senior fellow and advisor with the Catholic Philos Project, explained how “truths about Palestinian Christians are obscured, including by Church leaders who know that to speak with candor about Hamas or Islamism will endanger Christians.”
“Palestinian Christians are dhimmi (people subjugated by Islamic conquest),” Doran wrote.
Many have been driven out by Hamas, such that few remain today. Those who do are instrumentalized in a global ideological campaign whose target is not Israel but the entire West.
Where Church leaders find themselves unable to speak with moral clarity and candor, or suspect they are the pawns of malicious actors, they should consider whether silence would do less harm. The Church should also consider whether it’s of any benefit to the region’s Christians to speak almost exclusively of Palestinian Christians, whether this worsens their plight, and whether they should confront deeper problems such as dhimmitude.
While Leo has blamed “armed militias” for recent attacks in Nigeria and Syria, where hundreds of Christians have been massacred, he has never named Islamic jihadis as the perpetrators.
While the IDF recorded 663 instances of violent attacks by Jews against Palestinians or their property in Judea and Samaria in 2024, Palestinians targeted Jews in Judea and Samaria at least 6,343 times in 2024, according to data published by Rescuers Without Borders. Meanwhile, 27 Israelis were murdered in Judea and Samaria in 2024, and more than 300 others were wounded.
Dr. Jules Gomes (BA, BD, MTh, PhD) has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral.