Islamist terrorists carried out a horrific massacre against Jordan’s Christian community today in Karak, south of Amman. The three attackers opened fire during a funeral at St. George Orthodox Church, killing seven people and wounding dozens in an atrocity that sent shockwaves through Christian communities across the Middle East. King Abdullah II vowed to confront those seeking to destabilize Jordan and threaten its centuries-old Christian presence. Jordanians from across the political spectrum have rallied behind his commitment to combating ISIS-inspired Islamist terrorism. Public outrage intensified after CCTV footage of the attack circulated online, revealing the cold-blooded targeting of defenseless civilians gathered to mourn a loved one.
What is particularly revealing is that some of the same people condemning today’s massacre of Jordanian Christians celebrated or excused Hamas’s equally brutal murder of Israeli civilians on October 7. It is remarkable how readily some affirm the sanctity of innocent civilian life in one context and correctly denounce its killing as terrorism, yet deny that same humanity in another and rebrand the murder of civilians as “resistance.”