Three gunmen walked up to a Greek Orthodox church in Jordan and opened fire on funeral mourners Friday, killing seven and wounding at least 34 — an act of terror against a Christian minority that the Western press, which never stops lecturing Americans about tolerance, could barely be bothered to cover.
The attack struck the Fuhais village church in Karak governorate, roughly 110 miles south of Amman. Karak is home to one of Jordan's minority Christian communities. CCTV footage broadcast on Jordanian state television and verified by the BBC shows three armed men approaching the church grounds, two carrying handguns and a third wielding a semiautomatic rifle. They fired on the congregation for several minutes before fleeing. A mourner, Khaled Burqan, told state-run TV that dozens had been inside the church when the shooting started.
Jordanian authorities say the assailants remain unidentified. A government statement called the attack "carried out by unknown assailants" and said "investigations are underway at full speed." Security forces have flooded the area. Prime Minister will chair a National Security Council meeting attended by all ministers, according to government spokesman Dr. Mohammad al-Momani.
Notably, the casualty counts conflict across outlets — the Los Angeles Times reported seven dead and 34 wounded, while the BBC initially reported six dead and 28 injured, a gap that raises questions about how quickly Western correspondents are gathering facts on the ground, or whether they're gathering them at all.
King Abdullah II posted on X that Jordan "will confront the terrorist act that targeted Karak with the harshest penalties" and offered condolences to "the families of the martyrs." Condemnation came from across the region: Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Oman, and Iraq all issued statements. Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar — the Sunni Muslim world's foremost religious institution — called it a "heinous terrorist attack." Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein affirmed "Iraq's solidarity with Jordan in the face of terrorism."
This isn't Karak's first encounter with terror. In 2016, gunmen ambushed police in a series of attacks in the same city, including at a Crusader-era castle, killing 10 before security forces killed the attackers in a prolonged standoff.
The pattern is clear: Christians in the Middle East remain targets, and the communities that shelter them remain vulnerable. What's also clear is the selective outrage of the Western press. When a mosque is attacked in the West, it's wall-to-wall coverage and days of solemn commentary about Islamophobia. When Christians are gunned down at a funeral in the Middle East, it's a brief wire item buried below the fold. The grand imam of Al-Azhar showed more moral clarity in a single sentence than most Western editors have mustered in their entire coverage of this attack.
Twenty-seven of the wounded were still being treated as of Friday, according to Jordan's director of public security, Maj. Gen. Obeidallah Maaytah. No arrests have been announced. The gunmen remain at large.
