If you love babies, this is a must-read

Genocide has cost Gaza over 12,000 innocent children (photo by Marina Shatskih, via Unsplash) (photo)

This is unspeakable – but we must speak of it, and we must make it stop.

by Kathryn Shihadah, reposted from Patheos, Grace Colored Glasses

We are all about babies today. Babies and toddlers. Because what’s not to love about children. They are innocent and energetic, joyful, and loaded with potential.

With some exceptions.

Israeli leaders have declared, “it is an entire nation that is responsible,” and “all of Gaza should be erased” and “there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza” and “Now we all have one common goal—erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth.”

Below are the names of just some of the children whose lives were stolen from them by Israel. (Find the complete list here.)

If you are the parent, grandparent, aunt, or uncle of a young child, remind yourself: these children were just like your loved one. They were loved, doted upon, cuddled, photographed incessantly. Their families had dreams of their future happiness and success.

Scroll slowly, please. Scroll reverently. See the message at the bottom.

0 years old – Didn’t reach their first birthday

Abd al-Jawad Mizar Jamal Hoso (0 years old)

Abdel Khaleq Fadi Khaled Al Baba (0 years old)

Abdel Rahim Ahmed Abdel Rahim Awad (0 years old)

Abdel Rahman Ahmed Essam Salah (0 years old)

Abdel Rahman Samir Salama Saad (0 years old)

Abdel Raouf Ibrahim Abdel Raouf Al-Farra (0 years old)

Abdul Karim Abdullah Omar Shehab (0 years old)

Abdul Karim Kamel Zidane Al-Hawajri (0 years old)

Abdullah Ahmed Khalil Zorob (0 years old)

Abdullah Amir Abdullah Al Khor (0 years old)

Abdullah Muhammad Abdul Hamid Muhanna (0 years old)

Adam Magdy Jaber Al-Dahdouh (0 years old)

Adam Muhammad Fouad Al Agha (0 years old)

Adam Muhammad Samir Abu Ajwa (0 years old) ….Read more.

Kathryn Krause Shihadah is a Christian raised in the Lutheran denomination in Illinois, where her parents owned a Christian bookstore. She attended Christian schools, including college, where she received intensive Bible instruction, and has continued these studies throughout her adult life.

Her particular interest in Scripture as it relates to the Holy Land was sparked by her husband Ziyad, a Gazan refugee who asked her the simple but penetrating question, “Why do Christians seem to hate Palestinians?”

Kathryn is an editor and staff writer for If Americans Knew. She occasionally blogs at Palestine Home and has a column called Grace-Colored Glasses on the faith-based website Patheos.

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