After the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by the terrorist group Hamas on Israeli civilians, the Arab world and much of the Western Left accused Israel of genocide in Gaza as its military aimed to rid the Gaza Strip of its Islamist rulers. The war produced immense civilian casualties, as the Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas on Earth. As of early October 2025, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry claims that Israel has killed 67,000 Palestinians during the war. Of course, the ministry has been caught red-handed fabricating statistics several times during the war, and Hamas does not differentiate between civilians and soldiers.
It is fair and necessary to criticize Israel’s killing of civilians, but even if the numbers given by Hamas are accurate, it would mean the Israeli military has killed roughly 3% of Gazans over more than two years — in a war Israel did not start. Israel has military superiority over Hamas on all levels, and if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and company truly sought ethnic cleansing in Gaza, the nuclear-armed regional superpower has the weapons and technology necessary to do just that. For perspective, the civilian casualties from the second Iraq War range from 100,000 to 600,000, depending on which reports you choose to believe.
IN FOCUS: PHASE TWO OF ISRAEL-HAMAS DEAL REQUIRES TRUMP’S PATIENT FORTITUDE
There is, in fact, a genocide happening right now in Nigeria, where the Islamist groups Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen, among others, have slaughtered Nigerian Christians at a staggering clip in recent years, including at least 7,000 between January and August 2025. In total, since Boko Haram’s insurgency began in 2009, an estimated 185,000 Nigerians have been killed by terrorists, with an estimated two-thirds being Christians. Over 19,000 churches have been burned or otherwise destroyed by Muslim terrorists in the country.
Comedian Bill Maher accurately pointed out the hypocrisy of the media’s obsession with Gaza, all while they ignore the systematic killing of Christians in Nigeria. The American Left, the domestic and international press, and certain small but vocal enclaves of the Right have a blind spot that resembles the Star of David. Anything Israel-related receives wall-to-wall coverage riddled with both exaggerations and wild conspiracy theories, while the mass murder of Christians, the world’s most persecuted religious group, gets a media blackout, aside from some conservative platforms.
GAZA CEASEFIRE ‘RENEWED’ AFTER STRIKES ON HAMAS, IDF SAYS
The silence on Nigeria is especially galling from pundits whose public personas are centered on Christianity. Tucker Carlson, for instance, discusses Israel and the Gaza war on almost every episode of his show, but he has completely ignored Nigeria. Decide for yourself why a man who speaks regularly of his Christian faith and preaches a doctrine of “America First” isolationism would ignore the slaughter of his Christian brothers and sisters while obsessing over a conflict between Jews and Muslims 6,000 miles away.
Unfortunately for Nigerian Christians, the West has a long-standing policy of ignoring the plight of Africans. Perhaps if Jews were somehow involved, this massacre would receive the coverage it deserves.
Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a musician, political strategist, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.