Etiquettes : Palestine, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Christmas, Munther Isaac, genocide, western world,
On a live streamed worship session in the Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, Reverend Dr. Munther Isaac gave a Christmas message criticising those who are complicit in Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza and words of encouragement to the Palestinian people. Here is the whole speech text :
Christ under the rubble. We are angry. We are broken. This would have been a time of joy. Instead, we are mourning. We are fearful. More than 20.000 killed. Thousands are still under the rubble. Close to 9000 children killed in the most brutal ways. Day after day. 1.9 million displaced. Hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed. Gaza, as we know, it no longer exists. This is an annihilation. This is a genocide. The world is watching. Churches are watching.
The people of Gaza are sending live images of their own execution. Maybe the world cares, but it goes on. We are asking here, could this be our fate in Bethlehem? In Ramallah? In Jenin? Is this our destiny too? We are tormented by the silence of the world. Leaders of the so called free lined up one after the other to give the green light for this genocide against a captive population. They gave the cover. Not only did they make sure to pays the bill in advance. They failed the truth and context providing the political cover.
This world has confirmed to us that the world does not see us as equal. Maybe it’s the colour of our skins. Maybe it is because we are on the wrong side of a political equation. Even our kingship in Christ did not shelled us. So they say if it takes killing 100 Palestinians to get the single Hamas militant, then so be it. We are not humans in their eyes, but in God eyes, no ne can call tell us that. The hypocisy and racism of the Western World is tranparent and apalling. They always take the word of Palestinians with suspicion and qualification. No, we’re not treated equally. Yet on the other side, despite the clear track record of misinformation, lies, their words are almost always deemed infallible.
To our European friends, I never ever want to hear your lecture us on human rights or international law again. And I mean this. We are not white I guess, it does not apply to us according to your own logic. In this war, the many Christians and the Western World made sure the Empire has the theology needed. It is thus self-defence, we were told, and I continue to ask, how was the killing of 9000 children? Self defence? How was the displacement of 1.9 million Palestinians? Self defence.
In the shadow of the Empire, they turned the coloniser into the victim and the colonised into the agressor. Have we forgotten? Have we forgotten that the state they talk to at that state was built on the ruins of the towns and villages of those very same Gazans. Have they forgot that? We are outraged by the complicity of the church. Let it be clear friends. Silence is complicity and empty calls for peace without a ceasefire and end to occupation and the shallow words of empathy without direct action, all under the banner of complicity. So here is my message.
Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world. Gaza was hell before October 7th and the world was silent. Should we be surprised that they’re silent now? If you are not appalled by what is happening in Gaza, if you are not shaken to your core, there is something wrong with your humanity. And if we as Christians are not outraged by the genocide, by the weaponisation of the Bible to justify it, there is something wrong with our Christian witness and we are compromising the credibility of our Gospel message. If you fail to call this a genocide that is on you. It is a sin and a darkness you willingly embrace.
In our pain, anguish and lament, we have searched for God and found him under the rubble in Gaza. Jesus became the victim of the very same violence of the Empire. He was tortured. Crucified. He bled out as others watched. He was killed and cried out in pain: ‘My God, where are you?’ In Gaza today, God is under the rubble.
And in this Christmas season, as we search for Jesus, he is to be found not on the side of Rome, but our side of the wall — in a cave, with a simple family. Vulnerable. Barely and miraculously surviving a massacre. Among a refugee family. This is where Jesus is found.
When we glorify pride and richness, Jesus is under the rubble. When we rely on power, might and weapons, Jesus is under the rubble. When we justify, rationalize and theologize the bombing of children, Jesus is under the rubble.
This is his manger. He is at home with the marginalized, the suffering, the oppressed and displaced. This is his manger. It’s a manger that is about resilience. The resilience of Jesus is in his meekness, weakness and vulnerability. The majesty of the incarnation lies in its solidarity with the marginalized.
It’s resilient because this very same child rose up from the midst of pain, destruction, darkness and death to challenge empires, to speak truth to power and deliver an everlasting victory over death and darkness. was in the United States just after Thanksgiving and I was amazed by the amount of Christmas decorations and lights and all the commercial goods. I couldn’t help but think: They sing about the Prince of Peace in their land while playing the drum of war in our land.
This is our message to the world today. It is a gospel message, a true and authentic Christmas message, about the God who did not stay silent but sent his Word, and his Word is Jesus, born among the occupied and marginalized. He is in solidarity with us in our pain and brokenness.”
Portions of the service were conducted in Arabic, including some of the liturgy as well as beautiful versions of hymns including “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Three scriptures were read: Lamentations 3:21-26, 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 and Matthew 2:13-18, Matthew’s account of the holy family fleeing to Egypt, which was read in Arabic.
One of those worshiping in person at Christmas Lutheran Church was the Rev. Frank Chikane, a member of the African National Congress in South Africa and moderator of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs for the World Council of Churches. Bringing greetings at my invitation, Chikane said it was a privilege to be here with you to share in this service as part of a delegation that included representatives from South America, the United States, Canada and Latin America.
We are here at this critical moment in your history to be in solidarity with you, Chikane said. “We are here … to listen, to pray and to share in your pain because if one part of the body of Christ suffers, the rest suffers.
It was a risky thing to say, ‘We are going where the war is,’” Chikane said. “If our brothers and sisters are affected, we must be with them, and that’s why we are here. May God bless you. Amen.
Worshipers were dismissed with a benediction that included these words: “Give us the strength to be mediators of peace and reconciliation.”
#Israel #Gaza #Palestine #Hamas #Christmas #MuntherIsaac