How America Betrayed Middle Eastern Christians

In May of last year, the devout Catholic Senator J.D. Vance spoke out about the plight of Christians in Iraq and elsewhere, victims of American interventionism abroad. “Traditional neoconservative foreign policy keeps on leading to the genocide of Christians,” he stated. It is telling that as Vice President, Mr. Vance sings a different tune about America’s Middle Eastern involvement. The United States should provide weapons to Israel, whose recent war has been devastating for Christians in Lebanon and Palestine, so that the Israelis can “prosecute this war the way they see fit.” Whereas Vance once at least partially measured the success of American policy in the Middle East by its contribution to the welfare of Middle Eastern Christians, he now thinks it of paramount importance only that Americans don’t drop the bombs ourselves. Vance’s shift is symptomatic of a broader pattern on the American right, dating back decades, one which uses Middle Eastern Christians as props in political debates but fails to take their plight seriously.