The Church of Saint Porphyrios is the Greek Orthodox church in Gaza that John Kiriakou says he is “still angry” about, calling it “the oldest continuously operating church in the world.”[1] He says that on October 18, 24 women and children had taken refuge there when “the Israelis blew it up,” an atrocity he frames as part of a broader assault on the ancient Christian communities of the Holy Land.[1] He gives the same account elsewhere, twice: still angry about the October 18 bombing of “the oldest continuously operating church in the world,” where 24 women and children had taken refuge,[2] and, separately, that the Israeli military bombed the church using fighter jets, killing all 24 women and children sheltering there.[3]
Stopping his GWU donations
Kiriakou says he stopped donating to his alma mater, George Washington University, after receiving an automated email from the university’s new president during a wave of campus pro-Palestinian tent encampments. The email declared the university would “do whatever we can to crush” the encampments, bringing in Metropolitan Police alongside campus police, and stated the university “stand[s] with Israel.” Kiriakou’s response was to ask, rhetorically, whether the university stood with Israel when it destroyed the Church of Saint Porphyrios and killed 24 women and children inside, and when it destroyed all seven of Gaza’s hospitals.[4][5]