President Donald Trump stated that, acting as Commander in Chief, he directed the United States to carry out a “powerful and deadly strike” in northwest Nigeria against ISIS terrorists, whom he identified as responsible for targeting and killing innocent Christians at historically severe levels.
On Christmas night, President Donald Trump announced:
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump wrote:
I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was. The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing. Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.
DONALD J. TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The strike follows weeks of intensifying reports of religiously targeted attacks against Christians in Nigeria, which experts and human rights advocates have consistently described as genocidal in nature. According to Breitbart News reports, Islamist groups such as Boko Haram and Fulani jihadist militias have carried out coordinated attacks across the Middle Belt and northern Nigeria for over a decade, focusing on the systematic eradication of Christian communities. These assaults have historically spiked around Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter.
During a December 16 briefing attended by Breitbart News, Nigerian officials, human rights lawyers, and religious freedom advocates described the violence as a deliberate campaign of “obliteration” against Christians. Steven Kefas, a journalist with the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, reported a pattern of attacks occurring more frequently on Sundays and Christmas Eve. “If this [were] just random criminality, why not attack the Muslims in the Middle Belt on the eve of their celebration, or on Friday?” he asked rhetorically. “You never hear that.”
The situation has been exacerbated by continued denials from Nigerian government officials, including President Bola Tinubu, who has dismissed the religious nature of the violence, attributing it instead to “bandits” or climate-related conflict. Tinubu, a Muslim married to a Christian, rejected President Trump’s October designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern for religious freedom, even as international concern over anti-Christian attacks grew. Despite later declaring a state of emergency and firing his defense minister, reports continue to document threats against Christian victims and those who speak out, including journalists. According to Open Doors, Nigerian Christians now endure an average of eight violent attacks per day — a crisis that critics say the government has consistently downplayed or ignored.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, in his Christmas Eve message, highlighted Israel’s protection of Christians, stating that it is “the only country in the Middle East where the Christian community is thriving.” He also briefly referenced the situation in Nigeria, declaring that “Muslim militant displacement and attacks against Christians in Nigeria — that too must end.”
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