Slaughter of the innocents and the war in Gaza. Can we avert our eyes?

 

It’s a haunting painting. Titled Scène du massacre des Innocents (“Scene of the massacre of the Innocents”), it was painted by the French painter Léon Cogniet in 1824. 

It illustrates the killing of baby boys by Herod’s soldiers following the birth of Jesus (recorded in the gospel of Matthew 2:16-18). Today it hangs in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes, France. 

In the painting, a terrified mother cowers in a corner, muffling the cries of her small infant son so they won’t be discovered as the soldiers — who are seen behind her, just out of her view, rampaging through Bethlehem as they chase down other desperate mothers carrying their babies in their arms. 

What makes the painting so riveting is the mother’s gaze. She’s looking directly at the viewer, pleading for help but most certainly knowing it will not come — her son will be slaughtered. 

Cogniet’s painting came to mind when I read about a horrifying new study that found that 96 per cent of children in Gaza feel that their death is imminent and almost half want to die as a result of the trauma they have been through.

Read my most recent column reflecting on the painting and the study in the Free Press.