Caught between sympathy and fear: Egypt’s Christians confront the Gaza conflict

[CAIRO] A year after Hamas’s October 2023 assault on Israel, Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Christians remain divided over how to respond to the ongoing war in Gaza. As the Middle East’s largest Christian community, Copts are caught between sympathy for Palestinian civilians and deep fears of Hamas, the Islamist group linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, whose rule in Egypt was marked by violence against Christians.

Coptic Christians make up Egypt’s largest Christian minority and the largest Christian population in the Middle East. Most belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church, which traces its roots to the early days of Christianity in Egypt. Egypt is also home to a significant population of Evangelical Christians, whose church, founded as a mission in the 19th century, is the largest Protestant denomination in the Arab world.

Despite their numbers, both Copts and Evangelicals face ongoing sectarian violence. On August 31, 2024, a fire at the Coptic Diocese of Beni Suef destroyed the building and injured several people, though no lives were lost. While authorities blamed faulty wiring, many in the Christian community remain skeptical, citing a history of arson attacks on churches.

“My friend from the supermarket downstairs asked me about the Christian position on what he called Israeli aggression in Gaza,” said Isaac Ibrahim, a Copt writer in Cairo. “He wanted to know if our solidarity with Palestine had shifted since the death of Pope Shenouda.”

The late Pope Shenouda III, head of the Coptic Church from 1971 until his death in 2012, forbade Copts from visiting Israel, reflecting the pan-Arab stance of the time. His successor, Pope Tawadros II, has taken a more cautious approach, aligning the Church’s position with Egypt’s official diplomatic policies.

“Pope Tawadros doesn’t want to provoke conflict,” said John Gabriel, an Egyptian Dominican priest, speaking to The Media Line from a Franciscan monastery in Leuven, Belgium. “He follows the government’s line, condemning violence on both sides but avoiding the hardline rhetoric of the past.”

This shift has created a more muted stance within the Coptic Church, but divisions remain. While older Copts hold onto anti-Israel sentiments from Shenouda’s era, younger Copts are more skeptical of Hamas and other Islamist groups.

For many Christians, Hamas’ role as a leader in the global “Palestine solidarity” movement complicates support for the Palestinian cause. “Because of the Brotherhood’s treatment of us, some Copts see Jews as similarly persecuted by Islamic extremists,” Gabriel told The Media Line. “They ask, ‘Why defend Palestinians when groups like Hamas, who terrorized us, are leading the fight?’”

Makarios Lahzy, a Cairo-based human rights lawyer, says the complex dynamics of the Arab-Israeli conflict put Christians in a difficult position. “Christians in the East are weakened and exhausted,” Lahzy told The Media Line. “For centuries, we’ve been blackmailed and accused of disloyalty, leading most to become confused and hide. Some Christians exaggerate their hostility towards Israel to avoid such accusations, while others align with Israel as a defense against Islamic domination.”

Lahzy warns that rising support for Hamas in Egypt, especially after the killing of Hamas political leader Yahya Sinwar, could embolden Islamist factions within Egypt. “The backing Sinwar receives from the Arab street reflects a deep-rooted anti-Jewish sentiment in the Islamic mindset,” he said. “What worries us is that glorifying Hamas could turn Islamist factions in Egypt back toward Christians.”

Tensions are heightened by official statements from Al-Azhar, Egypt’s top Islamic authority, which has framed the conflict in religious terms. After Sinwar’s assassination, Al-Azhar mourned him as a “martyr of the Palestinian resistance.”

“When Al-Azhar talks about Jerusalem in terms of jihad and resistance, it taps into old fears of Islamist violence,” Gabriel said. “It’s not just about foreign policy—it raises fears of a revival of sectarian violence in Egypt itself.”

The ongoing war in Gaza has reignited theological debates within Egypt’s Christian community. “Palestinian Theology,” a Christian liberation theology that ties the Palestinian struggle to biblical themes of freedom, has been met with strong opposition from many Copts.

“It’s not theology—it’s a political movement with an antisemitic agenda,” said Bassem Al-Janoubie, a liberal Coptic commentator, speaking to The Media Line. “It’s driven by the fusion of progressive European and North American Lutheran evangelical ideology and political Islam.”

One of the most contentious aspects of this theology is the portrayal of Jesus as a Palestinian. “Jesus was a Jewish king, born of royal blood,” Al-Janoubie told The Media Line. “To suggest he was Palestinian is to deny his role as the Messiah, as depicted in the Gospels.”

This theological friction adds to the wider tensions within Egypt’s Christian community. “Yes, Jesus was in Palestine, but it was the land of Israel,” Gabriel said. “For many Christians here, there’s no distinction between biblical Israel and the modern state.”

Concerns for safety

These theological and political divisions are mirrored by practical concerns about security and sectarian violence. The fire at the Coptic Diocese of Beni Suef, though officially attributed to an electrical fault, has sparked fears of a return to the days when attacks on Christian churches were more frequent. Muslim arson attacks on Coptic churches have a long history, with nearly 1,000 churches attacked or torched since the 1970s.

The war in Gaza, meanwhile, has only deepened these anxieties. “If Hamas wins, many of us fear that Islamists here will turn their attention back to us,” Gabriel warned. “It’s like a nightmare scenario: what if the flames spread to Egypt?”

A year after the October 7 attacks, Egypt’s Coptic Christians remain divided. While many sympathize with Palestinian civilians, fears of Hamas and political Islam make it difficult to take a clear stance.

“We share the Arab world’s sympathy for the Palestinian people,” Gabriel said, “but we’re also fearful of what groups like Hamas represent for us as Christians.”