In the Holy Land, Just a Couple of Dead Catholics
There is much to feel today — love, family, community, kindness, etc. I hope you are all well and where you want to be. My best wishes to you and your year ahead.
I also didn’t want the day to end without remembering what happened last year at Christmas. Nahida Khalil Anton, a 70-year-old Palestinian Catholic mother of seven and grandmother of 20, and her 50-year-old daughter, Samar Kamal Anton, were executed by the Israeli Army while attending Mass at Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City. Nahida had gotten up to use the restroom which was across the courtyard on the church grounds. The Israeli sniper on top of a nearby building tracked her through his high-powered scope as she made her way to the bathroom and pumped three bullets into her body, including one that tore a hole through her stomach as she fell to the ground. Nahida’s daughter, Samar, who worked for the nuns as their cook at the Mother Teresa convent attached to the church, ran to her mother’s lifeless body and began to drag her to safety. As she did this, the sniper put his scope on her, aiming his powerful military assault rifle directly at her head and murdered her instantly by blowing her head apart. An Israeli tank on the street fired three large shells into the church and convent destroying much of it and then shooting and wounding at least another 7 Catholics, including Samar’s brother Edward who works with Doctors Without Borders. “They were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the parish,” witnesses including priests, nuns and parishioners reported.
Pope Francis condemned the killings by the Israeli forces as an “act of terrorism”. Of course the entire assault on the civilian population of Gaza has been one act of terrorism after another — ethnic cleansing, genocide, forced mass starvation, obliterating nearly every hospital, school, and apartment building. Murdering Catholics? Of course! Who do you think the regime is that rules — with the consent of the people — the State of Israel?
One year later I thought we should not forget them. We should offer up to their memory, their souls, our promise that not only will they not be forgotten, we will not give up our fight for their freedom and the freedom of their families. Say their names. Place this photo of them somewhere special. And make no mistake about what you and I are paying for. It’s on us.
Nahida Khalil Anton
Samar Kamal Anton
I know this is a day we’d rather focus on happier things.
Or perhaps the purpose of today is exactly this: Peace on Earth, Good Will to those that are Oppressed and living under Occupation.
Thank you everyone for what you do to make this world a better place.
— Michael Moore
P.S. One year ago today, December 25, 2023, Netanyahu went to Gaza to congratulate his IDF troops for killing 250 people in 24 hours — including attacks on refugee camps — saying, “We do not stop.”
One last request of the pro-Netanyahu crowd — the death toll of the innocents murdered in Gaza and the West Bank is now nearing 50,000 — the vast, vast majority of them babies, children, women and the elderly — can you please just give me a number as to when your thirst for revenge/blood will be satiated? Of the 1,200 slaughtered by Hamas fighters on 10/7/23, how many more Palestinian civilians need to be executed? I know there has to be a number. Would another 100,000 do? A million? Just give us a number so we’ll know when this can end. And how many people can we Americans go kill in Guatemala tonight so we can avenge the death of the woman on the NYC subway last week who died when that Guatemalan migrant set her body on fire? Would it not be righteous for us to just drop an atomic bomb on Guatemala and wipe ‘em all out? I want blood! I want the blood of Guatemalans dripping from my mouth! Justice! Revenge! More murder! Yes!!!! Oh, it feels soooo good during the holidays!
Photo: Marcus Yam / LA Times
** In order to have a troll-free, hate-free comments section — and because if there’s one thing I know about my crazy haters, they would rather spend an eternity in hell with Marjorie Taylor Greene than send me $5 if forced to become a paid subscriber — my Comments section here on my Substack is limited to paid subscribers. But, not to worry — anyone can send me their comments, opinions and thoughts by writing to me at mike@michaelmoore.com. I read every one of them, though obviously I can’t respond to all. The solution here is not optimal but it has worked and my Comments section has become a great meeting place for people wanting to discuss the ideas and issues I raise here. There is debate and disagreement, but it is refreshing to have it done with respect and civility, unfettered by the stench of bigotry and Q-anon insanity.
Michael thank you for everything you do! Old female Catholics are such a threat. How do these IDF forces sleep at night. I can't sleep knowing the blood is on my hands from our collusion with these terrorists. Peace Brother.
I was with a delegation in El Salvador at Christmastime in 1987 remembering the 4 North American churchwomen raped and killed by Salvadoran military men trained at Fort Benning, Georgia. Today, I, too, thought about the Palestinian Christian population in Gaza who are blessed to have had Pope Francis calling them daily. I then attended a public Hanukkah lighting on my town plaza and saw familiar faces of people who used to talk to me and now block me on social media and stay distant from me because I want a ceasefire and I don't want my tax dollars being used to provide weapons of mass destruction to kill and maim and starve a trapped population of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. You may have heard of the class action lawsuit that was filed in federal court in San Francisco last Thursday by over 500 people in 10 Northern California counties as Taxpayers Against Genocide (TAG) who are suing our US Congressmen, Mike Thompson and Jared Huffman, for their votes in April 2024 that allow $26 billion dollars in weapons aid to Israel. I am beginning a fast for as long as 8 days, hopefully, to see if I can last as long as the oil in the lanterns. The barbarity of the actions of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is appalling and I am working to figure out how to persuade my community to commit to peace, nonviolence and compassion. Thank you for always bravely speaking out, Michael Moore.