While millions of Americans have been celebrating Christmas, Israeli forces have been attacking men, women, & children in the Bethlehem region, where shepherds are said to have received a profoundly wondrous message: “Peace on earth, goodwill to men”… Defense for Children reports: “Israeli forces targeted Palestinian children with excessive force making 2021 the deadliest year for Palestinian children since 2014.” (videos)
Christians and other faith-based groups are speaking out against Israel’s latest attempt to silence the discussion on human rights for Palestinians. We can all be a part of this fight for justice.
“The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) in its commitment to justice seeks to lift up the cries of the Palestinian people to draw attention to the abuses and atrocities that are faced by Palestinians on a daily basis. We hope that this resource will be used by churches to have a deeper understanding of the Palestinian question and its global implications.”
Plenty of Israel partisans deny or explain away the Nakba – the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians c.1948 – but Israeli political leader Bezalel Smotrich openly admits it, and wishes it had gone further.
While the evangelical Christian establishment is firmly in the pro-Israel camp, this may change as increasing numbers of young evangelicals now support Palestinian rights – a position held by many Southern Baptists when they overwhelming opposed Truman’s instant 1948 recognition of Israel…
The common evangelical Christian cry to “support Israel no matter what” has zero basis in Scripture – in fact, that is the opposite of what the Bible says.
“We reject Israel’s apartheid system of laws and legal procedures,” the United Church of Christ (UCC) stated at its general synod, in a resolution approved by 83 percent of members despite an appeal by the American Jewish Committee. (The term ‘apartheid’ for the Israeli system has been used by numerous experts, including South African apartheid leader Bishop Desmond Tutu, a South African report on Israel, and scholars on the region.)
While the words “apartheid” and “sin” caused fear and trembling among some delegates, and were ultimately stricken, the UCC statement in support of justice for Palestinians was met with 83% approval (14% opposed, 3% abstained).
Jewish author Michael Lesher – who blogs for the Times of Israel, among other outlets – muses on many Jewish leaders’ responses to the recent attack on Gaza: “trust in God and believe in Jewish infallibility.” Lesher suggests that instead, they should “devote their efforts toward restraining the Israeli war machine,” and consider the consequences of “[building a] future on a foundation of stolen property and murdered children.”
How Israel and its partisans recruited Christian TV entrepreneur Glenn Plummer, a prominent evangelical pastor, to embrace Israel – and raise money for it from Black Christians – despite Israel’s deep ethnic and religious discrimination against Christians and others…