Do We dare as Americans To Look beyond the Wall
I have a huge problem with a “religious” nation, regardless of which religion is in control. That does not mean that I think Jews should be unsafe. I think they should be safe, which for the most part they are in the United States for example. Not perfectly, of course. There are people in this country who hate Jews because they are Jews. Whether they accuse them of “killing our lord” or of having total control of the banking system and therefore serving as a huge part of the subjugation of regular citizens, or having giant lazers, they are hated in some groups in America.
Interesting enough, most of those people, on the right wing flank of our body politic are not ranting about those “horrible Palestinians” and how Israel should be given full support in destroying the entire Gaza Strip where millions of people have been forced to live in a very small area. The Palestinian refugees and allies who speak out against the slaughter that is currently taking place in Gaza, don’t want to hear the cries of those voices. Voices raised because of our own country’s almost full support to the horrors that many innocent Gazans are being subjected to.
Yes, what Hamas did on October 7th was horrible. However, that doesn’t make what Israel is doing to the Palestinians, something that has been going on for years, right or kind. We, in America, don’t have to live with the reality that there is an ugly wall between Jersalem and Bethlehem. Palestinians, which include something like 200,000 Christians are subjected to checkpoints, often lasting hours for every time they need to go though those gates, which are often necessarily if they want to have any income at all.
Well, let’s let some voices speak from behind that wall and then compare it to the dismissive report that “Christmas has been cancelled in Bethlehem this year. Obviously, Christmas was not cancelled this year or any other. The season of Christmas comes every year regardless of the situation on the group…and is noticed in some way by all that honor the story of Jesus and his messages, which are of peace and love.
Munther Isaac is a prolific and outspoken pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church of Bethlehem. He is the author of the book pictured at the top of this aricle. He is also the one who spoke in the church on Christmas morning and celebrated Christmas in a time of great oppressive and with approximately 21,000 deaths reported in the city around him. (the number is getting higher as you read this) Here is his sermon for Christmas. It is a very powerful sermon.
In his book, pictured at the top of the article, he speaks to the problems created for Christians in Palestine/Gaza when Christian Zionists come to Israel and parade in support of the right wing government of Israel who are now at war with the entirity of Gaza in their attempt to “get rid of Hamas”. His position is obvious, and he and other Christians in the area are left having to defend themselves against the anger of their neighbors, the Muslims, who see those Christian Zionists as what they are…enemies of Palestine. He, who has been raised in Gaza with family going back hundreds of years has to then try to reconnect and regain his own safety and credentials as a true citizen of Gaza.
Obviously, there are “bad actors” in the Jewish community. The Palestinians would say that the “settlers” who come across that wall and take land their families have lived on for centuries are “bad actors”. The Jewish people of Israel, naturally, feel that the soldiers of Hama are “bad actors”. In addition, the Christian Zionists are perhaps more passive bad actors in that while they aren’t on the ground killing Palestinians (Arabs), or Jews, they are advocating for a strong reaction by Israel, which not only is deadly for Palestinian Muslims but also the Palestinian Christians like Rev. Isaac.
But that is Rev. Isaac’s situation in Palestinian. Let’s look at the American situation. We currently have a way on anybody that advocates against violence being visited upon the Palestinians. Some insist that there is no such thing as a Palestinians. The inspiration from that is the attitude that celebrates the idea that “Christopher Columbus discovered America.” First of that, that is not actually a true statement but the intent is to imply that somehow this empty terrority was found and the people that followed him over from Europe took this empty land and built a nation on it. Well, Native Americans would be forgiven for thinking that the truth was more that the white people from Europe came and invaded and took over and sent them with heavy military might to places miles from their original homes where they were treated as worse than second class citizens.
That is especially amazing considering now when Hispanics and other refugees from places where things are horrible coming here to what we have bragged about for years as a place of freedom and opportunity are not hated as “invaders”. From the viewpoint of the Native American, WE invaded this continent 400 plus years ago. Well, many of those who now are called Palestinians lived in Gaza for centuries, and see things the way the “Indians” of this country likely do…if one had an honest open conversation with them.
And let’s face facts, who do most of the Christian Zionists in this country support for the office of President. One hint, it ISN’T Biden. Yes, and just how “friendly” do you see a group of people who want Israel to success, not because they like Jews, but because they believe as part of their religious faith that the success of the Jewish state will end in the speeding up of the end of the world as we know it. That is not pro-Jewish, in fact most of the more vocal Christian Zionists are among the most anti-semitic people in the nation. Yet, they call those of us that want equality and fairness for everybody, even those currently being killed with bombs by Israel, a nation where the Prime Minister has tried to over turn the Supreme Court and beome a more or less one man rule of the nation, anti-semitic.
And let’s address the fact that the problem with the idea of a “Christian Nation” in this country is made untenable by definition. Most, if not all, of those advocating for such a thing, would suppress, or try to, the beliefs of many of their fellow Christians. They use their personal understanding of the Bible combined with their own preferences to try and mandate what everybody does. They are trying right now, in this country, to apply their personal prejudices and understanding of a Bible that many scholars will tell you have nothing to say about abortion, to try and criminalize women’s choice about family planning and what they have to do with their own bodies. That same attitude is behind the attempted silencing of groups like Jewish Voices for Peace and other groups that consider Zionism not to be healthful for either the Jews or any of the people that deal with the Zionist government in Israel which is actually divisive.
Here is at least a link to one Christian denomination that is NOT a Christian Zionist religious community. The statement condemns both the actions by Hamas on October 7th of this year but also the bombings and killing of non-combatants by the government of Israel.
Instead of silencing voices, we need to speak, and speak loudly. That is the only way we can ever achieve peace.
And added to that is the Episcopal statement, which is short and concise and I will copy here:
Israel/Palestine
The Episcopal Church has a longstanding policy in support of reconciliation and restorative justice and advocates for sustainable, long-lasting peace. We advocate for a just and peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
