Will Evangelical Christians Pray For The Palestinian Children Under Attack By Israel?

In this heart-wrenching report by AlJazeera, "Why does Israel target Palestinian hospitals? Psyops, say analysts" there is a 2-minute video "Gaza war: 31 premature babies evacuated from al-Shifa as Israel seizes hospital". Although the large evangelical church I attend does not preach Christian Zionist dogma from the pulpit, there is a Christian Zionist undertow within the congregation that might begrudge showing any compassion towards the Palestinians. Here's the letter that I sent to the pastor to challenge him to pray for peace and a ceasefire in Gaza.

"Pastor, your sermon on Sunday was good however I was greatly saddened by your preamble prayer. You did not pray for peace and a ceasefire in the Israel/Palestine conflict. My friend at her evangelical church said their pastor prayed for peace in Israel this past Sunday. The "war" has escalated and the death toll in Gaza continues to rise with more than 5,000 innocent Palestinian children being killed. Israel's latest atrocity is the siege on the Al Shifa hospital where 39 premature babies were forced to be evacuated to a southern hospital in Gaza. I beseech you to watch this 2-minute video report at the bottom of the AlJazeera report on this tragedy. Eight of the babies could not be transported because they died. I pray that this will motivate you and the elders to call for a churchwide prayer meeting to pray for peace and a cease-fire to this conflict that is spiraling out of control.

Our leaders in Washington do not want a ceasefire. But we as followers of Christ are called by Jesus to be peacemakers. I would guess that there is a sizeable number of members at our church who may, because of their eschatological beliefs requiring them to protect Israel no matter what it does, not want a ceasefire or prayer meeting.  Recall one of our members who was baptized at our church told me that all the Palestinians should be killed. If the genocide continues, his wish may come true. I pray that our church will stand for peace and the protection of innocent lives.

Peace & Blessings,

Tom Compton