Why Does No One Protest The Ongoing Slaughter Of Christians By Muslims In Nigeria?

What is it about Israel that inspires that special intense hatred and anger among the cadres of the left? “Anti-semitism” is a description of the phenomenon, and an appropriate one, but tells us nothing about the causes, and particularly does not explain why among all the conflicts in the world this one dispute should be the focus of all the left’s energy.

Yesterday it was more of same here in New York City. The New York Post reports this morning on well-organized protests yesterday that blocked various bridges and a tunnel that cross the rivers into Lower Manhattan. The headline is “Anti-Israel protesters create commuter chaos at three NYC bridges, Holland Tunnel — over 330 taken into custody.” Fortunately, I don’t have to navigate any of these crossings on a regular basis; but for those who do, it was a nightmare. Some of the protesters are Muslims of Middle Eastern origin, but most are not; they’re just run-of-the-mill everyday local leftists for whom being anti-Israel and anti-Jew has become the cause du jour. The Post has a list of some of the organizations behind the latest protests, which include “the Democratic Socialists of America, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Palestinian Youth Movement.” And of course, actress Susan Sarandon had to get into the act. From the Post: “Susan Sarandon . . . said at the protest, ‘There’s no place for genocide.’”

“Genocide”? I’m still struggling to understand how the treatment of Palestinians by Israelis at all fits the definition of that word. Meanwhile, there is no shortage in the world of behavior that does clearly fit the definition of the word genocide without any need to contort its meaning. But for some reason you won’t find the Democratic Socialists of America or Susan Sarandon or any other leftist group uttering a peep about these real genocides.

For Exhibit A, how about the ongoing slaughter of Christians by Muslims in Nigeria? Do you even know about that one? If you do, it’s not from reading the New York Times, or from watching CNN. To get any details, you will need to go to a specialized site that specifically covers this subject. I recommend the Gatestone Institute, and its frequent contributor, Raymond Ibrahim. Ibrahim’s most recent post (from January 7) on the ongoing genocide of Nigerian Christians at the hands of Muslims is “'A Gory Christmas': Christians Slaughtered in the Nigerian Genocide.”

The gist of the latest news is that Muslims in Central Nigeria used the occasion of the Christmas holidays, particularly December 24 and 25, to undertake a round of massacres against Christians. Ibrahim:

While around much of the world, the holiday was being celebrated with peace and joy, in Nigeria, starting on Christmas Eve and into Christmas Day, Muslims massacred nearly 200 Christians. During this holy time, "well-armed" Muslim Fulani tribesmen hacked, stabbed, riddled with bullets, and burned alive their Christian victims, many of whom were in the process of celebrating Christmas. . . . More than 300 Christians were also seriously wounded, 29,350 people displaced, and countless homes and churches — including 221 homes in just one village — torched during the jihadist raids.

Ibrahim then cites a source called the Christian Post, from December 30, with this quote:

"At least 25 communities across three Local Government Areas [in Plateau State] were targeted. Survivors recounted militia men attacking in large numbers, indiscriminately killing and destroying homes, vehicles, farmlands and other properties. About 37 individuals, primarily women, children and the disabled, were burned to death in their homes. Eight churches and parsonages were also destroyed..."

This was by no means a one-off event. Rather, it is part of an ongoing campaign of slaughter that has been going on for a decade and more. Ibrahim’s post has some of the history. The big picture is that the North of Nigeria is mostly Muslim, the South mostly Christian; and then there is a middle zone — including the current flashpoint, Plateau State — where the Muslims and Christians live in close proximity. There, the Muslims regularly slaughter the Christians. Excerpt:

Muslims are now openly committing genocide against Christians in Nigeria, as confirmed by international observers. According to one report, between just 2009 and April 10, 2023, 52,250 Christians "have been butchered or hacked to death" in Nigeria. Since then, that number has continued to grow -- not only due to the 200 slain on Christmas, but the many others who have been slaughtered since April 10, 2023, as documented in the monthly "Persecution of Christians" reports. Also since 2009, 18,000 churches and 2,200 Christian schools were attacked, many "destroyed in part or in whole including being razed or burned down."

Follow the links in that excerpt for much further detail.

By any objective standard, this ongoing slaughter ought to be big international news. But why do you have the sense that you have barely heard of it? It’s because our mainstream media flatly refuse to cover it. My Google search of the New York Times on the subject turns up one article from June 2022 about an attack on a church in a town called Owo (in the Southwest of the country, and thus not even in the central zone where most of the violence is occurring), and nothing else since 2012. To its partial credit, the Associated Press has had occasional coverage of the subject, including this December 26 piece about the Christmas 2023 massacres. But, as Ibrahim notes, the AP barely mentions that this is a matter of almost entirely unprovoked attacks by Muslims against Christians, instead wildly attempting to spin the matter as somehow a dispute between “herders” (who are Muslims) and “farmers” (who are Christians) over resources like land and water. Ibrahim:

In its report on last Christmas's slaughter of nearly 200 Christians, for instance, the Associated Press (AP) failed to mention that the massacres occurred during Christmas, just as it failed to mention the identities of the attackers (Muslims) and their victims (Christians). Rather, it presented the conflict, as many commentators increasingly do, as a supposedly regrettable byproduct of climate change – which is, according to them, is forcing herdsmen (Muslims) to encroach on the lands of farmers (Christians).

This ongoing genocide is completely heinous. There is nothing unfair or improper about criticizing the perpetrators in the harshest terms available. They should be condemned. If there is to be a protest about “genocide,” why not this one? Call me “Islamophobic” if you want. I don’t even know what the term means. It is not a “phobia” to call out someone who is committing genocide for committing genocide.

The victims of this genocide are all black. Is that why the left has no interest? They will have to answer that question for themselves. I agree with this from Ibrahim:

[F]or the mainstream media and many politicians, black lives — well over 50,000 and counting — apparently do not matter. At least not when those lives are Christian and being slaughtered by Muslims.

As for the Democratic Socialists of America, Jewish Voice for Peace, Palestinian Youth Movement, Susan Sarandon, et al., I’ll believe you actually care about “genocide” when you protest real genocide. Until then, you are exposed for what you are, which is rank anti-semites.