Jewish Policy Centre group causes outrage by ‘threatening’ Gaza’s Christians

The US-based Jewish Policy Centre (JPC) non-profit organisation has caused an outcry after it appeared to threaten Gaza’s Christian population, amid relentless Israeli bombardment in the vicinity of Gaza's churches.

The Israeli army this week demanded that civilians sheltering in the Orthodox Church in Gaza City evacuate to allow them to proceed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to occupy the Gaza Strip, starting with Gaza City.

Dozens of Christians have been sheltering in the Church of St. Porphyrius, amid heavy Israeli bombardment and no safe areas to flee to. It also comes as Israel is in the process of carrying out mass forced transfers of the population.

Palestinian Christian political analyst Khalil Sayegh ,who was born in Gaza but is based in the US, commented on the social media platform X about civilians’ refusals to leave the church despite the evacuation orders.

JPC responded in a way that was viewed as threatening.

In a now-deleted post on X, JPC wrote: "Important to understand. If Gaza Christians believe Israel will not conduct its war in Gaza City, they are mistaken. They have implanted themselves in a battlefield. They are part of the battle. If they are looking for martyrdom, well…".

The post has since sparked widespread outrage.

"Calls like this expose the extreme and dangerous agenda of some Zionist-linked groups. Threatening civilians and religious leaders is part of a pattern of intimidation that fuels fear and suppresses dissent," one person wrote.

"Imagine calling yourself a policy centre when the "policy' you push is genocide—flattening homes, murdering families, erasing whole communities, and grabbing land that was never yours to begin with," another commented.

Sayegh said the organisation was "calling for the killing of Christians, including priests and nuns, who refuse to leave their churches".

Right-wing political commentator Tucker Carlson, who has been increasingly critical of Israel in recent weeks, said the statement from JPC was "Just another casual threat to murder Christians".

"It’d be interesting to know who’s associated with the Jewish Policy Center. It’d be even more revealing to know what Ted Cruz, Speaker Mike Johnson and other self-described Christians in the congress think of it. Maybe someone will ask them," he added.

The JPC has since issued a follow-up comment to address the anger, reading: "The opposite, if you read our posts. We WANT the Christians to evacuate - all civilians to evacuate. We were responding to a post in which certain Christians announced they would not do so. We are sad for them & all civilians caught up in the morass of Hamas hatred".

However, the organisation was panned again after this, with critics and social media users stating that their response was a commonly touted excuse to cover up the forced expulsion of all Palestinians from Gaza.

Israel has killed at least three percent of Gaza’s Christian population since the start of the war in October 2024.

Churches in the enclave have also been heavily bombed, with Palestinian minister of state for foreign affairs Varsen Aghabekian last year raising serious concerns over the threat to the Palestinian Christian presence.

According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, there are around 1,200 Christians in Gaza, out of a total population of around 2.4 million.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 62,966 Palestinians since October 2023 and wounded over 159,266 others. The war has been determined to be a genocide by leading rights groups, including Amnesty International.