(RNS) — Evangelical Christians have long been ardent supporters of the state of Israel. Sometimes for political reasons. Sometimes for misguided theological ones. And the past week and a half, in the wake of the Hamas attacks and Israel’s retaliation in Gaza, has been no exception.

In a letter to President Joe Biden and Congress, evangelical leadership offered full-throated support for Israel and its right to self-defense, calling for “clear-eyed thinking and moral certainty” and rejecting a “false equivalence” between the attacks by Hamas and the actions of Israel’s military.

In an Oct. 7 editorial, the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, Russell Moore — who also signed the letter — wrote that “American Christians Should Stand with Israel under Attack,” and in a follow-up column he warned that “‘Bothsidesism’ About Hamas Is a Moral Failure.”

Christians should stand with people, not states. We should stand with Israelis — and Palestinians. Thousands of innocent people have experienced utter devastation in the past several days due to the brutal and horrific attacks of Hamas, the rockets from Gaza, the bombs from Israel and the armed conflict on the ground. Civilians always pay the highest cost for war. And today, God would not support the bombing of the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of people.

Accusations of “bothesidesism” or “false equivalence” oversimplify what critics of Israeli policy vis-à-vis Palestinian occupation are saying. One can absolutely abhor Hamas’ actions and also advocate for justice for Palestinians. 

The grotesque reality of the massacres by Hamas militants in southern Israel should be unequivocally condemned. The stories of slaughter, rape and torture constitute crimes against humanity. No excuses, no justification. 

But now, the 2 million-plus people living in Gaza — more than half of them under the age of 18 — are under a catastrophic siege by the state of Israel. As Biden said clearly this weekend, the vast majority of Palestinians do not support Hamas and are innocent civilians who deserve to be protected.

If there are truly “both sides” to this conflict, it should be considered those who are for peace and those who are not.

Moore and other evangelical leaders cannot ask Christians to stand with Israel’s cutting-off of basic life-giving services, like water, electricity and gas, to an entire population. Such collective punishment will gradually result in dehydration, starvation and death by exposure as winter temperatures drop. These actions are not only illegal by international law but also constitute war crimes. They amount to an ethnic cleansing.

Yes, Christians do need “moral certainty” about this war. Still, not the kind of certainty that ignores the facts on the ground that have long been known by the U.S. experts at the State Department, those in foreign service and international analysts in every U.S. administration since the 1960s.

The brutal decades-long occupation of the Palestinian people has resulted in abundant human rights abuses, including but not limited to: the deaths of hundreds — sometimes thousands — of Palestinian civilians every year, including children; the demolition of thousands of homes; a strangling of the Palestinian economy; severe restrictions and limited mobility; ongoing control by an occupying military force; settlement expansion through the confiscation of Palestinian land; the military detention of children; and numerous other realities that are regular day-to-day life for Palestinians living in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

The occupation is a reality, not justification for the horrific attacks of past days. If there is ever to be peace for Israelis, the occupation cannot be ignored. The Israeli security establishment agrees, as was indicated in the award-winning 2012 documentary “The Gatekeepers,” in which former heads of Israeli security forces described the ongoing occupation as the greatest threat to Israeli security. 

Finally, as Moore describes Israel as a “liberal democracy,” I wonder if he comprehends what the past weeks and weeks of protests against the current Israeli government have been about. Tens of thousands of Jewish Israelis have been protesting that their very own democratic rights are under threat with the judicial reform of the Netanyahu government — and that is still ignoring any rights for Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

To claim Israel’s identification as a “democracy” as a reason for American Christians to “stand in solidarity” is conflating political nonsense with reality. A Christian leader — and journalist — with as much responsibility and influence as Moore has an obligation to deeply understand issues before misdirecting Christian loyalties that will lead to further division, violence and even death.

Moore is right about how the world was silent amid the horrors and genocidal atrocities of the Third Reich. This can never happen again — to Jews or any people group. Jews absolutely must have safety, security and protection from constant threats and fear of death and brutality. Further violence, bombing and attacks against civilian populations in Gaza will not accomplish security for Jews. Rather, violence begets violence.

U.S. support of a vengeance-seeking Israeli military operation will only more deeply harden anti-American sentiments in the Arab world. God does not call Christians to vengeance; rather, the Bible tells us that the Lord says “vengeance is mine.” But God does call Christians to grieve alongside and be near to the brokenhearted, to stand for accountability and justice and to work toward peace for all people.

(The Rev. Mae Elise Cannon is executive director of Churches for Middle East Peace and the editor of “A Land Full of God: Christian Perspectives on the Holy Land.” She is also co-author of “Forgive Us: Confessions of a Compromised Faith.” The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily represent those of Religion News Service.)