SUMMARY
“Are you able to help us get our freedom back? For this is the only way you can help the two peoples attain justice, peace, security and love.”
Moment of Truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering.
Released in 2009, this cry from the Christians of Palestine has provided a roadmap to action for church leaders and for people of faith throughout the world to stand with the Palestinian people in their struggle for their rights, their homeland, and a future of peace, dignity and coexistence in the land called Holy. “What is the international community doing?” the document continues. “What are the political leaders in Palestine, in Israel and in the Arab world doing? What is the Church doing?
As Christians and as Americans, we confess and acknowledge our nation’s deep complicity. We have continued to arm Israel in its fruitless attempt to achieve security through the brutal suppression of the Palestinian national movement. Our support for Israel’s policies has brought not security for the citizens of Israel but unending conflict and fear. We grieve for both peoples: for the Palestinians, who, despite enduring unremitting suffering and losses, continue the fight to preserve their culture and identity in their cities, universities, farms and villages. We grieve for the Jews of Israel, whose dream of liberation from millennia of marginalization and slaughter has turned into a nightmare of fear and insecurity.
The United States alone has the power to pull Israel back from its descent into militarism and barbarism. Calling for “ceasefire” is not enough. After the bombing has stopped, we must not continue to support a status quo that will inevitably bring more violence, loss and suffering.
On July 4, twelve former U.S. Government officials who had resigned due to “grave concerns with…U.S. policies towards Palestine and Israel” issued a statement titled “Service in Dissent.” Our policy, they wrote. “It has not made Israelis any safer, while it has been devastating for the Palestinian people. U.S. policies in this regard have been deeply damaging for our global credibility, the credibility of U.S. values, and the credibility of the West.”
As Americans and as practitioners of a faith that originated as a grassroots movement of resistance to tyranny, we are in full alignment with these words. The Declaration that follows concludes with a series of demands, among them the following:
- That the policy of the United States be to bring about an end to military occupation and illegal settlements, including in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. All further military aid must be conditioned to Israel’s compliance with this policy.
- That Congress immediately address violations of the Leahy Law and Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, that prohibit providing military aid to foreign security forces that have committed gross human rights violations.
- That the United States support efforts toward a negotiated settlement that brings an end to the decades-long violations of the rights of the Palestinian people.
- That the United States government oppose efforts, on local, state and federal levels, to silence voices calling for changes in our policy toward Israel by equating criticism of Israel’s unjust actions with antisemitism.
- That the United States support initiatives between Israelis and Palestinians and interfaith partnerships that combat apartheid and occupation and create opportunities to work for a common future of mutual respect and dignity.
Read the complete text of declaration and add your voice by signing with your name, title and affiliation.
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THERE IS ANOTHER WAY FOR ISRAEL AND PALESTINE: A DECLARATION OF FAITH AND URGENCY FROM CHRISTIAN CLERGY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES
“Are you able to help us get our freedom back? For this is the only way you can help the two peoples attain justice, peace, security and love.” So reads the plea of the Palestinian Christians in “Moment of Truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering.” Released in 2009, this urgent cry from the Christians of Palestine, made on behalf of all Palestinians and addressed to the international community, has provided spiritual direction and a roadmap to action for us as church leaders and for people of faith throughout the world to stand with the Palestinian people in their struggle for their rights, their homeland, and a future of peace, dignity and coexistence in the land called Holy.“The hearts of the faithful are filled with pain and with questioning” the document continues. “What is the international community doing? What are the political leaders in Palestine, in Israel and in the Arab world doing? What is the Church doing?
We are leaders from multiple denominations, spanning the political, racial, and geographical range of Christians in our country. We have come to Washington to ask you, our nation’s leaders, “what is the United States doing?”
The situation has only worsened since the Palestinians issued their urgent cry. The October 7th attack by Hamas, resulting in the deaths of over 1000 Israelis, most of them civilians, and the continuing captivity of over 100, has hurled Israeli society into an agony of fear and grief. Israel’s merciless retaliation has killed a reported 40,000 Palestinians with countless thousands unaccounted for, rendered the Gaza Strip uninhabitable, and displaced 90% of Gaza’s population. As Christians and as Americans, we confess and acknowledge our nation’s deep complicity in this ongoing humanitarian disaster.
It did not begin on October 7th. The United States has continued to support Israel in the land taking and settlement building that has all but eliminated the possibility for a Palestinian state. We have continued to arm Israel in its fruitless attempt to achieve security through the brutal suppression of the Palestinian national movement. Our support for Israel’s policies has brought not security for the citizens of Israel but unending conflict and fear, internal dissension that is tearing the country apart, and Israel’s rapidly increasing isolation in the community of nations.
We state these facts with sadness and increasing alarm. “The mission of the Church is prophetic,” write the Palestinian Christians, “to speak the Word of God courageously, honestly and lovingly in the local context and in the midst of daily events.” We believe that a just and equitable relationship between Israelis and Palestinians is the only course towards peace and security for each.
We grieve for both peoples.
We grieve for the Palestinians, who, despite enduring unremitting suffering and losses, continue the fight to preserve their culture and identity in their cities, universities, farms and villages. They refuse to be erased. They refuse to be displaced.
We grieve for the Jews of Israel, whose dream of liberation from millennia of marginalization and slaughter and of building a society based on social justice and freedom has turned into a nightmare of fear and insecurity. The ongoing conflict has brutalized its sons and daughters, condemning them to the role of occupier and to service in armies of elimination.
A MOMENT OF TRUTH FOR AMERICA
As we stand in this moment of truth for our country, we are reminded of the courageous words of one of our finest religious leaders, a prophet who was not afraid to call our country to account:
They move sadly and apathetically as we herd them off the land of their fathers into concentration camps where minimal social needs are rarely met. They know they must move on or be destroyed by our bombs. So they go, primarily women and children and the aged. They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. They must weep as the bulldozers roar through their areas preparing to destroy the precious trees. They wander into the hospitals with casualties from American firepower. So far we may have killed a million of them, mostly children.
The date was April 4th, 1967. The words are those of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The people of whom he spoke were the South Vietnamese and the occasion was King’s “Time to Break Silence” speech at Riverside Church in New York City. King’s words reach us today with eerie and shocking resonance. “The situation,“ he said, “is one in which we must be ready to turn sharply from our present ways. In order to atone for our sins and errors in Vietnam, we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic war.” He called on us to take a hard look at ourselves: “We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values…to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies.”
Ever the preacher, King had these words for the assembled on that day in New York City: “On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” Recalling the early days of the civil rights movement, he reminded his compatriots — religious leaders of many faiths and public servants at all levels of government — that he and his coworkers had set out “[t]o save the soul of America.”
The stakes today are just as high.
The United States alone has the power to pull Israel back from its descent into militarism and barbarism. The task before us goes beyond “ceasefire” and “rebuilding.” We must ask the question, rebuilding what? We must not continue to fund a return to a status quo that will inevitably bring more violence, loss and suffering. Are we able to change course, or will we continue to be, to use King’s words, a “purveyor of violence?” Will we heed the warning of the International Court of Justice that there is a “plausible case” that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza? Will we heed the recent ruling of that same court that in its occupation Israel has breached international laws concerning racial segregation and apartheid? Will we show ourselves and the world at large that we are better than this?
From this day forward, we as a nation must be guided by an examination of the key role we have played in creating the conditions for the current crisis. The “edifice,” to use King’s term, to be confronted is an Israel spiraling deep and deeper into violence that threatens the stability of the entire region. Helping Israel out of its self-destructive course and its descent into authoritarianism, rather than continuing to fund and defend it in its self-destructive course is consistent with our commitment as Americans to stand for freedom and against tyranny. It is in line with our commitment as Christians to “release the captives, give sight to the blind, and set free those who are oppressed.” (Luke 4:18). In this commitment we stand not only with the Palestinian people but with the Israelis, who suffer under a regime whose policies have brought them endless fear, loss, and insecurity.
There are modern day prophets — individuals who have raised their voices and put their careers on the line. On July 4, twelve former U.S. Government officials who had resigned “due to our grave concerns with current U.S. policy towards Gaza, and U.S. policies towards Palestine and Israel more broadly” issued a statement titled “Service in Dissent.” Our policy has failed, they wrote:
It has not made Israelis any safer, it has emboldened extremists while it has been devastating for the Palestinian people. As a group of dedicated Americans in service of our country, we insist that there is another way.
Today, we too protest against our nation’s failed policies toward Israel. We, too, do this as an expression of dedication to our country. As Americans and as practitioners of a faith that originated as a grassroots movement of resistance to tyranny, we raise our voices to demand that our country be true to its foundational principles of fairness and equality. We declare ourselves to be in unqualified alignment with the words of these twelve public servants:
Rather than using our immense leverage to establish guardrails that can guide Israel towards a lasting and just peace, we have facilitated its self-destructive actions that have deepened its political quagmire and contributed to its enduring global isolation. There is no regional settlement, no agreement with autocratic regimes, no diplomatic step short of the resolution of the Palestinian right to self-determination that can provide Israel with real security. U.S. policies in this regard have been deeply damaging not only for U.S relations in the region, but for our global credibility, the credibility of U.S. values, and the credibility of the West.
Today, assembled in our nation’s capital, we call on our country to take the side of justice and human dignity, as Jesus did through his ministry and his sacrifice.By not holding Israel to account for its human rights violations, we have acted in bad faith with the Palestinians, who had trusted us as an honest broker. We have failed our friend and ally the State of Israel in having enabled it in its self-destructive course. Finally, in supporting Israel’s merciless and wholesale destruction of life in the Gaza Strip we have failed in our commitment to upholding a global world order based on justice, fairness, and international law.
THERE IS ANOTHER WAY
Like our compatriots in service to our country, we insist that there is another way. Accordingly, we respectfully submit to you the following:
- That the policy of the United States be to bring about an end to military occupation and illegal settlements, including in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. All further military aid must be conditioned to Israel’s compliance with this policy.
- That the United State government take immediate action to strengthen oversight and accountability mechanisms within the Executive Branch, greater transparency regarding arms transfers, and an end to the silencing and sidelining of critical voices in government.
- That Congress Immediately address violations of U.S. laws, namely the Leahy Law and Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, that prohibit providing military aid to foreign security forces that have committed gross human rights violations.
- That our government join with other world leaders and international bodies such as the U.N. to employ political, diplomatic and economic means to stop Israel’s violations of human rights and international law.
- That the United States support efforts toward a negotiated settlement that addresses the core causes of the current crisis and brings an end to the decades-long violations of the rights of the Palestinian people in accordance with international law.
- That the United States government oppose efforts, on local, state and federal levels, to silence voices calling for changes in our policy toward Israel by equating criticism of Israel’s unjust actions with antisemitism.
- That the United States support initiatives between Israelis and Palestinians and interfaith partnerships that combat apartheid and occupation and create opportunities to work for a common future of mutual respect and dignity.
- That our government work to change the organizational cultures and structures that have enabled the United States’ longstanding policy of unconditional military and diplomatic support for Israel. This will be brought about by a broader and historically-informed understanding of the costs, to both peoples, of Israel’s militaristic and expansionist policies.
Linking hands and joining hearts, we pray for the clarity, determination and courage of Martin Luther King, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Desmond Tutu, Daniel and Phillip Berrigan, and others throughout history who devoted their lives to the preservation of the most sacred principles of their faith. We call on you, the leaders of our nation, to honor the principles of justice, equality and human dignity that we claim to stand for. We call on you to join us in this moment of truth for America.
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