Tag: West Bank

“American Christians Need to Come Back to Jesus”

My good friend, Dr. Rob Dalrymple recently produced a fascinating interview with another friend, pastor Alex Awad.

Mr. Awad is a Palestinian Christian who spent much of his adult life pastoring a church in east Jerusalem.

He begins by telling the story of his father’s murder by an Israeli soldier in the early days of Israel’s war for Palestine. His widowed mother was an amazing, godly woman who raised her seven children to love Jesus. And the love of Jesus radiates from Alex.

Mr. Awad is also one of the founders of Bethlehem Bible College in the city of Bethlehem which is located in the West Bank. I have visited there many times.

Mr. Awad’s commitment to, and public promotion of, non-violence as the way of Jesus is another piece of evidence undermining the stream of Israeli propaganda insisting that all Palestinians hate Israel and only want to destroy it with violence.

Baloney.

Let me also promote Rob Dalrymple’s online ministry. After watching his interview with Alex Awad, please check out Rob’s website at Determinetruth Ministries and subscribe to his podcasts. He does excellent work and you may want to support his ministry.

Now enjoy a wonderful interview with a wonderful man:

 

My Friend, Munther Amira, Has Been Released from Prison

I know that my friend, Munther Amira, thanks you for your prayers on his behalf. He was finally released from an Israeli prison on Friday, having lost over 73 pounds in body weight.

Below I have included several pieces of information describing Munther’s abuse while in prison. The first is a news interview available on YouTube. The second is a statement issued by Munther himself where he again describes the torture, beatings and sexual abuse he endured at the hands of his Israeli jailers.

The video my only be viewed  on the YouTube webpage. To do this, copy the url that appears INBETWEEN the quotation marks below. Paste that address (minus the quotation marks) into your computer’s web browser and press enter. It will take you to the video of Munther’s interview which you can then watch for yourself.

“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1dZhYTWDus&rco=1”

Below is Munther’s personal statement describing his prison experience. He was held for 2 1/2 months without charge. No trial. And no explanation as to why he was finally released.

His family and friends simply thank God that he is back home with family and friends.

From the Cemetery of the Living: A Plea for the Rights of Palestinian Detainees Statement by the
freed Palestinian detainee, Munther Amira
8 March 2024

With a heart heavy yet buoyant with gratitude, I reach out to you through these words, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit against oppression. Your steadfast commitment, vocal advocacy, and
unwavering support have been the lifeline for those of us who have endured the shadows of incarceration under the Israeli occupation. Today, I stand as a voice for the voiceless, a beacon for the countless souls still languishing in what can only be described as living tombs, to express our profound thanks and to bear witness to the atrocities that bespeak a grave humanitarian crisis.

The conditions under which Palestinian detainees live are a stark violation of every tenet of humanity and dignity. Subjected to extreme forms of torture, degrading treatment, and deliberate deprivation of basic
needs, including food and medical care, Palestinian detainees are living through what can only be described as a systemic campaign of dehumanization. The Israeli occupation, through its policy of mass
arbitrary detention, aims not just to suppress Palestinian voices but to erase their existence, their rights, and their struggle for freedom and self-determination.

In the broader context of the ongoing genocide against Gaza and the catastrophic impact on the Palestinian population, the situation of detainees becomes even more harrowing. This genocide against
the Palestinian people casts a long shadow over the fate of those behind bars. The link between the mass arbitrary detentions and the wider war against Palestine is unmistakable and intentional, designed to break
the will of the people and to quash any form of resistance against the occupation.

My personal ordeal, characterized by severe mistreatment, deprivation of medical care, and exposure to torture and sexual violence, mirrors the unfathomable suffering of many. These prisons, akin to graveyards for the living, stand as stark symbols of a settler colonial regime that seeks to erase our identity, our dignity, and our very existence. The draconian measures imposed upon us—ranging from the denial of familial and legal connections to the restriction of basic human necessities and freedoms—underscore a systematic campaign to dehumanize and demoralize.

This policy of widespread and systematic abuse is not merely an affront to Palestinian dignity but constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions. The complicity of the Israeli judicial system, with its alarmingly high conviction rates for Palestinians and the virtual impunity granted to perpetrators of crimes against Palestinians, underscores a judicial apparatus that functions as an instrument of occupation.

I cannot express enough gratitude to the countless individuals, organizations, and the vast sea of humanity who have taken to the streets in solidarity, raising their voices high to demand justice for Palestine and
calling for a ceasefire. Your impassioned pressure and relentless pursuit of justice have not only contributed to my release but also continue to shine a light on the ongoing struggle for the freedom of all Palestinian detainees. Your unwavering support is a powerful testament to the strength of collective action and the indomitable spirit of global solidarity.

The international community must recognize that the plight of Palestinian detainees is not an isolated issue but a reflection of the systemic violence and oppression perpetrated by the Israeli occupation. The widespread and systematic violations of their rights, including through the use of torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, and the forcible transfer of detainees to jails within Israel, constitute grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and amount to war crimes under international law.

The silence and inaction of the international community in the face of these atrocities only serve to embolden the perpetrators and perpetuate the violence and suffering. It is incumbent upon all states, in line with their legal obligations under international law, to take immediate and decisive action to protect the rights of Palestinian detainees. This includes holding the Israeli occupation accountable for its actions, demanding the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained Palestinians, and ensuring that those responsible for such egregious violations are brought to justice.

Moreover, the international community must work tirelessly to address the root causes of the settler colonial regime, advocating for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. This includes acknowledging and addressing the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.

As a freed detainee, I have witnessed firsthand the unimaginable horrors faced by my fellow Palestinians behind bars. The scars of torture, the pain of separation from loved ones, and the constant fear of death are experiences that no human being should ever have to endure. Yet, despite these atrocities, the spirit of the Palestinian people remains unbroken, their resolve unwavering.

In solidarity with those who continue to suffer in silence, I urge you to lend your voice to this cause, to stand up for justice, and to join us in the fight for the freedom and dignity of all Palestinian detainees.

Together, we can shed light on the darkness of their existence and pave the way for a future where human rights are not just a privilege for the few but a fundamental right for all.

Munther Amira
Aida Refugee Camp,
Beitlahem, Palestine

Now, I ask you to continue to pray for my friend Anas abu Srour who continues to be held in prison without charge. His family has heard nothing about his eventual release.

Anas has yet to see his newborn daughter.

The Gray Zone: Life in Jerusalem Under Israel’s Military Dictatorship

The video speaks for itself.

I have shopped and eaten at the Educational Bookshop many times. It is generally the first place I visit when in Jerusalem.

Listen to the Christmas Message that Every American Christian Should Hear

The Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac is the pastor of the Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Christmas church. He is also a professor at Bethlehem Bible College.

This Christmas Eve, he delivered a power prophetic, gospel-inspired message directed at the western Christian church.

As the Gaza Strip is demolished, its people massacred, and ethnic cleansing continues unabated throughout the West Bank, far too many US evangelicals approve of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

As pastor Isaac says, “Silence is complicity.” Yes, too many remain silent, but even more damnable are the “Christian” voices raised in support of Israel’s war against Gaza because, some how or another, this slaughter is preparing the way for the return of Christ.

There are three things that I know with certainty about following Jesus. Walking with Christ never requires us to sanction, much less to embrace, ignorance, prejudice or bloodshed.

Those now approving of Israel’s genocide are committing all three of these inexcusable sins.

The following clip of Rev. Isaac’s message is 17 minutes long. Please take the time to listen to it in full. We all need to listen, lament, repent, and become activists for peace and justice in the name of Jesus Christ. We can begin by calling for a ceasefire in Gaza:

The following clip is a 12 minute interview with pastor Isaac broadcast by Democracy Now. Listen to him explain how the Palestinian people feel abandoned by the world, the Palestinian church abandoned by their western brothers and sisters. Remember — Gazan churches are being bombed; Gazan Christians are being murdered along with everyone else.

Have we no compassion for the Arabic-speaking family of God trambling in terror, huddled in the ruins of bombed out churches, desperately praying for God’s deliverance?

 

 

 

Bethlehem Pastor Proclaims a Prophetic Word to the Western Church

Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac is a professor at Bethlehem Bible College as well as the pastor at the bethlehem Lutheran Christmas church. Terry and I often  worship at this church whenever we are in the West Bank.

Pastor Isaac understands that now is the time for a prophetic word addressed to the western church. He declares hard truths powerfully.

He is a Christian leader speaking to his fellow believers in the western Church — a Church that largely approves of Israel’s current campaign of destruction against his people. How can this be?

Our only proper response is repentance.

Bethlehem Churches Live Out the Biblical Tradition of Lament in War Time

I am privileged to count both the Rev. Drs. Mitri Raheb and Munther Isaac among my friends. You will meet them in this video from Democracy Now.

Together with the other Christian leaders of Bethlehem, they are speaking prophetically to the rest of the world as public celebrations have been cancelled in Bethlehem this Christmas.

Oh, they are not neglecting the wonder of Jesus’ birth. But they are grappling with the contexual realities of remembering Jesus’ birth while also suffering brutal Israeli attacks in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Thus, they haver turned to the Old Testament tradition of lament, that is crying out to God in protest against both worldly injustice and his apparent absence.

The western Christian church has become immune to the biblical concept of collective, corporate lament. Even when we try to construct a lament service, we don’t really know how to be comfortable with it.

In part, this awkwardness is due to American isolationism, ignorance, and lack of empathy for others.

We fail to identify with our Palestinian brothers and sisters in Christ because many don’t realize that Palestinian Christians exist.

We ignore the news of literal genocide occurring in Gaza because we are generally disinterested in the rest of the world.

And when we go to visit Israel, we are more feverish about visiting Zionist synagogue services than we are about worshiping with Palestinian brothers and sisters.

The Palestinian church is showing us once again what biblical lament means as they endure a multitude of the cruelest war time injustices.

As Gaza is Flattened, Land Theft and Ethnic Cleansing Continues Apace in the West Bank

Never before has the Jewish settlement movement held as much power as they do today. Several of their leaders are members of the Israeli cabinet. They now call the shots in the West Bank, accelerating Jewish attacks against Palestinians, stealing their homes, destroying their crops and killing them with impunity.

The following video compilation offers a glimpse into this world of daily threats and violence:

Meet My Palestinian Family as They Gather Together Following the Attack on Their Homes

Our friend, Layla, is a journalist working for the online news magazine, Mondoweiss. She filmed some members of the Amira and Al Azzah families after the Israeli soldiers, who had physically attacked them all, had finally left with Munther laying in the back of their truck.

This is our extended family in the West Bank. I admire their fortitude and resilience. I wish I was with them right now.

 

The Case of My Friend, Anas, Is Brought Up on the Floor of the UK House of Commons

Anas’ illegal arrest and imprisonment is receiving international attention. Please continue to pray that he will be released and allowed to return home to his family. (For previous posts about Anas, see here and here.)

 

 

“What Would I Have Done?” We Now Know How to Answer that Question

What would I have done?

That’s the common question we usually ask ourselves when watching a movie like “Schindler’s List,” the academy award winning film about one man’s efforts to rescue Jews from Hilter’s gas chambers.

Schindler risked his life to save others. And he was not the only one.

Others such as the Dutch woman, Corrie Ten Boom, broke the law by hiding Jews inside their homes, risking their freedom while trying to rescue people like Anne Frank, who hid in her neighbor’s attic.

Even though the majority of German church pastors supported the Nazi regime, there was a small  minority of faithful ministers of the gospel who eventually lost their freedom because they would not remain silent in the face of Nazi criminality.

Books like Defying Hitler tell the stories of the many ways in which ordinary people in Nazi Germany said No, refusing to march with the majority who refused to speak up or to act out against the wanton atrocities unfolding around them.

Which, again, raises the question, What would I have done?

Would I have remained inactive and silent? Or would I have spoken up, protested, or used whatever means I had at my disposal to work against the genocide and save whomever I could?

Now we all know the answers to those questions. We don’t have to wait any longer.

We are living in a unique moment of history. For a real genocide, a horrendous program of ethnic cleansing is now occuring before our eyes.

Though the American/Western mainstream media gives it all scant attention, anyone with a wider bandwidth of human interest can watch the scandalous, ugly images of daily attrocities as they unfold in real time.

Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, The Electronic Intifada, The Gray Zone, and the Katie Halper Show (among others) are thankfully offering the news coverage that corporate America does not want us to see.

And that news is shockingly repetitious. For what Israel is now doing in Gaza and the West Bank “is a textbook case of genocide.” Those are not my words but the words of Craig Mokhiber, formerly the Director of the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights.

Mr. Mokhiber is the former director because he recently resigned from his position at the United Nations over its efforts to censor his reports on Israel’s attrocities in Gaza.

As a result, Mokhiber ranks among the heroes with Mr. Schindler and Corrie Ten Boom for doing what he could to speak out, protest, and even to hinder the genocide unfolding before our eyes.

He has shown us how he answers the question, “What would I have done?”

It is all too easy to cast ourselves as heroes in our own imaginations, especially when we have no contemporary circumstances to offer us an immediate heroic option.

So, I always imagine myself the hero. But today I do not need to imagine anything. I can face the evidence squarely by looking at my actions today.

What am I doing today to protest, to act, to work against the textbook case of genocide now being written in the pages of modern history with Palestinian blood?

This is the answer for both you and me.

If I am doing nothing to defend Palestinian life today, then that’s what I would have done to defend Anne Frank — nothing.

If I am doing nothing to protest the genocide now occurring in Gaza, then I would have remained silent as I inhaled the stench of Auschwitz.

We can all go to bed tonight knowing that we have answered the perpetually troubling moral question: What would I have done?

Can you still sleep well?