UCC PIN AUGUST E-NEWS

In this issue:

• Turning the Tide Toward Justice: the International Court of Justice July 19, 2024 Advisory Opinion
• Blocking a Theology That Kills: Report on the Interfaith Action for Palestine
• Praying into the News: Pause for Palestine
• The Stones Cry Out: Palestinian Solidarity Actions, September 23-25, Washington, DC
• Take Action: Global Ministries' Third Thursday Alert
• Breaking the Stories, curated by the Rev. Loren McGrail
• Recommended Recent Podcasts

The Last Supper by Palestinian Artist Subhia Hassan Qais

Turning the Tide Toward Justice:

the International Court of Justice

July 19, 2024 Advisory Opinion

a Reflection by the Rev. Allie Perry,

UCC PIN Steering Committee

by UK artist Billy Ruffian

The July 19, 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), aka the World Court, the highest judicial body of the United Nations, has been hailed as “historic,” “a seismic event,” “a landmark ruling,” “ a significant milestone,” “a watershed moment.” It is “crystal clear” in its ruling that Israel’s occupation is illegal under international law and must be dismantled. Will the ICJ’s ruling create the kind of “great sea-change” that the poet Seamus Heaney describes in his poem, The Cure of Troy, when “justice can rise up/And hope and history rhyme?” That remains to be seen.

One sign, however, that the tides are shifting is a recently released statement by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby. In a reversal of his previous position, he wrote, “The Advisory Opinion by the International Court of Justice (19 July 2024) makes definitively clear that Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is unlawful and needs to end as rapidly as possible.” (See article in the section of Breaking the Stories specific to the ICJ ruling).

UCC PIN celebrates and applauds the ICJ’s advisory opinion and has written a working paper, “Israel’s Occupation is Illegal: What we can do; what we must do,” detailing why we believe this ruling “marks a critical inflection moment for human rights and the rule of international law, for Palestinian solidarity work, and for the UCC’s and UCC PIN’s ongoing work for justice.” You can access UCC PIN’s working paper in its entirety on our website here.

In their recent statement, “A Prophetic Call for Justice and Peace in Palestine,” the UCC’s national executives – the Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson, the Rev. Shari Prestemon, and the Rev. Dr. Bentley DeBardelaben-Phillips – lift up the ICJ’s advisory opinion, calling for the United Nations General Assembly “to take clear and decisive action” in its support. This is one of several prophetic calls in their powerful and comprehensive statement. Some examples of other calls include: the call for an end to Israel’s genocide; the call for the release and return of all Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees; the call for U.S. policymakers to end the sale of weapons to Israel and withhold all military aid; the call for addressing root causes and dismantling Israel’s systems of apartheid; support for the call from the International Criminal Court prosecutor for warrants for the arrest of Israeli and Hamas leaders responsible for crimes against humanity; and the call for “the necessary reparatory justice Palestinians are owed” by Israel. UCC PIN encourages clergy and congregations to engage in a close study, a kind of lectio divina, of “A Prophetic Call for Justice and Peace in Palestine” and to listen for how God is calling us all to action. Go here to read the full statement.

God is calling us all to action. About that we can be sure. We have a part to play in the rising up of justice, contributions to make to a sea-change. With their advisory opinion, the ICJ has given the world not just a strong legal framework, but the strongest of legal foundations. It provides an important and essential “tool in a toolkit to use for advocacy efforts by civil society,” as Wesam Ahmad of Al-Haq says in The Inside Story podcast (see link at the end of this newsletter). It is incumbent upon all those working for Palestinian rights, he goes on to say, “to make use of this decision and to turn it into tangible action.” 

One very tangible action for us all to continue to push and pursue is boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). Craig Mokhiber argues for this in his article, “The ICJ finds that BDS is not merely a right, but an obligation,” (see Breaking the Stories). There he points out that the advisory opinion of the ICJ allows activists to “credibly assert that participating in boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israeli occupation, colonization, and apartheid is not only a moral imperative and constitutional and human right, but also an international legal obligation.”

In 2015 the UCC passed a General Synod resolution supporting BDS. In 2023, the national UCC took the pledge to be Apartheid-Free. Now is the time for us all to double-down even more in our advocacy, including our promotion of BDS, to stem the tide of Israel’s occupation, apartheid, and genocide, and to catch the wave as the tide turns instead toward justice and human dignity and flourishing, until the day when finally “hope and history rhyme.”

Blocking a Theology that Kills: a Report on the Interfaith Action for Palestine

by the Rev. Linda Noonan,

UCC PIN Steering Committee

An interfaith group of clergy and other pro-Palestinian protesters blocks buses filled with attendees for the Christians United for Israel summit in National Harbor, Md., July 30, 2024. (RNS photo/Jack Jenkins)

The bus driver could have been pissed. About a dozen of us put our bodies in front of his tour bus as it pulled up to a busy intersection at the National Harbor in Maryland. Christian pastors and Jewish rabbis, we sat on the pavement in front of the rumbling bus – some of us “locked in” together in a physical and symbolic gesture of solidarity with our siblings in Palestine and one another – and prevented it from moving forward. The bus was full of CUFI (Christians United for Israel) members heading from their conference at the National Harbor to the Capitol to lobby their representatives for more money and more bombs to Israel, fueling the genocide in Gaza.

The bus blockade was designed to interrupt – if only briefly – CUFI’s deadly Christian Zionist theology rooted in white Christian nationalism, racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and ethnic cleansing. CUFI is the largest, most powerful pro-Israel organization in the United States. With over ten million members, there are more CUFI members in this country than there are Jews. Their goals are to move all Jews to Israel, ushering in the end times in which Jesus will return and save only Christians. They are fiercely aligned with far-right Christian nationalists, and have widespread support among U.S. politicians. CUFI is simultaneously pro-Israel and anti-Jewish. John Hagee, CUFI’s founder and president has said, “God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land.”

This was just one among many actions during the Interfaith Action for Palestine – the recent three-day (July28-30) multi-action, multi-state disruption of CUFI organized by Christians for a Free Palestine, Rabbis for Ceasefire, and other faith-based groups, and endorsed by UCC PIN. The actions included a singing “flash mob” which delayed the start of the CUFI conference, interfaith leaders, including UCC PIN steering committee member the Rev. Crystal Silva-McCormack, registering as CUFI participants and disrupting the conference from within, a banner drop, a series of kayaks on the national harbor with a large sign saying “CUFI Kills,” bird-dogging and meeting with representatives, the raising of voices in the Capitol, and a teach-in on Christian Zionism.

Our group of activists delayed the bus for an hour, praying and singing, surrounded by police. As a white American Christian pastor, I came to put my body on the line with other people of faith, offering an alternate narrative in which all human life is sacred, and a vision of the world in which solidarity, not bombs, is what keeps us all safe. I sat where I believe Jesus would sit.

That man driving that bus could have been furious. It’s no easy thing to place your body in front of a 24-ton, moving mass of steel, not knowing who is behind the wheel or how they will respond. But when you offer yourself in witness, you can’t know how you will be received. After the angry CUFI members stormed off the bus, our bus liaison checked back in with the driver. With hands clasped as he leaned out the window, the driver told her, “I am a Syrian American. Thank you for being here. Thank you for caring about Palestine.”

Photo Source: Christians for Free Palestine Instagram

I, for one, am willing to risk the consequences of an action like this if it means that one Syrian man driving a busload of people who just prayed for God to “rain down fire” on his own people feels less alone. I pray that bus driver knows that those people do not speak for Jesus. They certainly do not speak for me.  

Praying into the News: Pause for Palestine

Every day heartbreaking reports from Gaza and Palestine inundate us. We feel grief, we feel anger, but often have limited means of responding. As UCC clergy, we have found ourselves longing for ways to help us pray into the news of these days. To address this longing, the Liturgical Resource Team of UCC PIN has developed a brief, weekly prayer - “Pause for Palestine” - that connects the realities of this time, like Micah Bucey's prayer here, prompted by the the recent bombing of the Al-Tabin school as people there were beginning to pray. 

UCC PIN recently launched this initiative and will be releasing these weekly prayers, written by different members of our Liturgical Resource Team, every Thursday on the UCC Palestine Israel Network Facebook and Instagram pages. Our hope is that others will find these prayers helpful and incorporate them into worship and use them for personal meditation.  

The Stones Cry Out: Palestine Solidarity Actions September 23-25

Washington DC

by the Rev. Sara Ofner-Seals, UCC PIN Steering Committee

The Rev. Sara Ofner-Seals praying at a White House vigil during the March 2024 Stones Cry Out witness

This September a delegation of faith leaders and activists, convened by The Stones Cry Out, will be gathering in Washington, DC, to advocate for Palestinian rights, for justice, for an end to Israel’s occupation, and for the U.S. to stop its complicity with genocide. This gathering is a follow-up to an initial The Stones Cry Out delegation this past March when 50 people traveled to DC.

Half of that group had spent a week, guests of Palestinian Christians, in the West Bank and went directly to DC on their return where I and others joined them in lobbying legislators to do more to stop the devastation in Gaza and to advocate for justice for Palestinians in the West Bank. In addition to meeting with members of congress, we held a vigil outside the White House, heard from prominent activists and leaders like Miko Peled and Representative Jamaal Bowman, and ended our time with an interfaith service of lament and solidarity where we heard from, among others, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.

The Stones Cry Out is organizing this second DC delegation recognizing that time is of the essence; our advocacy now is all the more urgent. The official death toll in Gaza is purportedly around 40,000, but most experts agree this is a vast undercount. When you add in the number of indirect deaths from disease and starvation, and the tens of thousands missing and presumed dead, the number of deaths in Gaza since October 7, 2023, soars to over 100,000, and that’s a conservative estimate.



Meanwhile, life in the West Bank has gotten even more dangerous for Palestinians. Israeli settlers are so terrorizing Palestinian villages that many residents are being forced to flee their homes. Since October 7, over 600 West Bank Palestinians have been killed and nearly 10,000 have been arrested and put into detention, with rarely any charges against them. Last month, the UN International Court of Justice ruled that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, in place since 1967, is illegal according to the Geneva Conventions.

All of this is why I will be traveling to DC in September, because if we do not speak up, I believe that even the stones would cry out for justice. Indeed, “the living stones,” as we call the Palestinians and Israelis working for a just peace in their land, cry out every single day. I stand in solidarity with them.

Ever persistent, those gathering in September (from the afternoon of September 23 through the evening of September 25) will participate in advocacy, meeting with Members of Congress and engage in public actions at the US Capital and elsewhere in DC. We will once again be hearing from prominent leaders in the movement, including Rev. Graylan Haglar, activist Miko Peled, Medea Benjamin from Code Pink, and Laila El-Haddad, author of Gaza Mom and Gaza Kitchen. There will be an opportunity to visit the Museum of the Palestinian People. An interfaith worship service will end our time together. Over a dozen organizations are sponsoring The Stones Cry Out witness, including Sabeel Liberation Theology Center, Friends of Sabeel North America, Kairos USA, and our own UCC Palestine-Israel Network.

Let your voice be heard. Please join this powerful gathering of faith leaders and activists. To participate, contact our lead organizer, Doug Thorpe, at dthorpe@spu.edu. Once you have indicated your interest in joining us, you will receive more information and a detailed schedule. We hope to see you there!

Take Action through Global Ministries' 3^rd Thursday Action Alert: Urge U.S. officials to institute guardrails for U.S. arms transfers and sales

Effectively ignoring the mandates of the ICJ’s advisory opinion not to “render aid or assistance in maintaining [Israel’s] illegal occupation,” the Biden-Harris Administration announced this week the approval of $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel, including F-15 fighter jets, missiles, and tank munitions.

As the 3^rd Thursday Action Alert asserts, “U.S. legislators must withhold U.S. aid to pressure Israel to adhere to international norms and law — and a genuine commitment to pursue peace as devotedly as Netanyahu is now pursuing war. Palestinians, Israelis, Americans, and the world depend on U.S. legislators showing meaningful leadership on guardrails for military arms transfer.”  Let your elected officials know how you feel about this. To email them, go here. 

Breaking The Stories: August 2024

curated by the Rev. Loren McGrail,

UCC PIN Steering Committee

Summer at the beach, Gaza 2024

by Loren McGrail

The dawn left a taste of

blood on my scorched tongue.

Why does August bear so much death?

I have not died yet, but my

children scream at my seared

face. “Dad. Wake up. We

haven’t departed yet.”



Mohammed Moussa, Gaza Poets Society

Promising signs that Palestine advocacy is building political power in Washington

Upwards of 400,000 Pro-Palestine protestors take the streets in a national march in Washington DC to show support for Palestinians and call for a ceasefire and end the genocide in Gaza, January 13, 2024. (Photo: Eman Mohammed)

The defeat of Cori Bush in her primary election on Tuesday left a lot of advocates for Palestinian rights in the United States despairing. It’s an understandable feeling.

Cori Bush is a tireless activist, working against injustice, racism, economic oppression, against apartheid and ethnic cleansing in Palestine, and genocide in Gaza. In that last fight, she was successful enough to draw the ire of AIPAC. The pro-Israel lobbying group directly spent at least $11 million between its two affiliated PACs to defeat Bush.

That is a stunning amount of money to spend on an election where only a little over 125,000 people voted. AIPAC’s support made up most of the four-to-one spending advantage to Bush’s opponent, Wesley Bell. Coupled with Jamaal Bowman’s defeat earlier in his primary, this can be discouraging. Here

US weapon used in Gaza City school massacre that killed 100

Palestinians search for victims after an Israeli attack that killed

more than 100 people at a school in Gaza City on 10 August.

 Mahmoud ZakiUPI

Israel killed at least 100 Palestinians at a school being used as a shelter for displaced people in central Gaza City on Saturday, according to Gaza officials.

The attack came one day after Israeli tanks pushed back into Khan Younis, the largest city in Gaza’s south, forcing war-weary families to once again flee to the unknown.

Israel dropped leaflets on eastern Khan Younis ordering residents and displaced people sheltering there to “evacuate from an area that has already seen repeated waves of fighting,” Reuters reported. Here

EXCLUSIVE: Biden Administration Sending 6,500 Munitions to Israel, Despite Ongoing Killing Of Civilians in Gaza

Smoke rises after Israeli warplanes launch airstrikes in the central Gaza Strip

on July 20, 2024. (Photo by Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The State Department has formally notified Congress of a direct sale of 6,500 joint direct action munitions (JDAM) to Israel — while calls for an arms embargo to the government accused of war crimes grow louder.

JDAMs are guidance kits used to convert non-targeted bombs into more precise “smart” munitions. The order comes after the shipment, valued at $262 million, was reportedly delayed in May, as it was pending under review. Zeteo has learned that the sale will now go through. 

The original review came as the U.S. sought to prevent Israeli forces from pursuing a major ground invasion in Rafah — where Israeli forces have nevertheless bombed multiple targets and had a large ground presence for months.

Sarah Leah Whitson, the executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), said it was “mind-boggling” for the administration to move forward with the sale. Here

The ICJ finds that BDS is not merely a right, but an obligation

BDS Activists in New York (Photo: Joe Catron)

Israel and its lobby have, for years now, been engaged in a frenzy of activity to further insulate Israel from accountability by using their influence in the West to effectively outlaw organized opposition to Israel. Foremost among these efforts has been the Israeli campaign to penalize calls to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel for its gross violations of human rights. As a result, countless laws and policies are now on the books across the U.S. and the broader West, trampling on core constitutional principles and internationally guaranteed human rights in defense of Israeli impunity. But an advisory opinion issued last month by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) should help to turn that around. Here

Responses to the Internal Court of Justice ‘Advisory Opinion’

‘Impunity must end’: World reacts to ICJ ruling against Israeli occupation Here

US criticizes ICJ opinion on Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories Here

The World Court says Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land is illegal: 4 steps NZ can take now

Here

In significant reversal, Church of England head says Israeli occupation must end following ICJ opinion

Here

More Resources

NYC Journalist Faces Hate Crime Charge for Allegedly Filming Gaza Protest Action; Police Raid Home Here

Israeli rape of detainees is the result of a society that sees Palestinians as ‘human animals’ Here

Kamala Harris Is Speaking. Is She Listening? Here

Turkey joins genocide case against Israel at the ICJ after months-long delay Here

Reports

Welcome to Hell: The Israeli Prison System as Network of Torture Camps by B’Tselem, Aug. 2024 Here

Thematic report - Detention in the context of the escalation of hostilities in Gaza (October 2023-June 2024) [EN/AR] Here

Palestinian children plagued by lice, scabies and rashes in Gaza’s overcrowded tent camp Here

State of the Occupation, Year 57: A Joint Situation Report Here

Media Resources

Silence is Complicity: A Palestinian Call to Action (Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac) Here

Francesca Albanese: Why Israel ‘should be treated as a pariah state’ – Real Talk Here

Recommended Recent Podcasts

ICJ says Israel’s occupation is illegal — On this episode of the Mondoweiss podcast we are joined by Craig Mokhiber, an international human rights lawyer and activist, and a former senior United Nations human rights official to discuss the ICJ’s recent ruling. Here

Understanding Israel’s “System of Domination” — The process of Jewish expansion over Palestinian land has involved maintaining a "system of domination," says author Nathan Thrall on this week's Intercepted. Here

Settler Colonial Spillover in the West Bank – In this episode of Rethinking Palestine, Fathi Nimer, Al-Shabaka Palestine policy fellow, joins host Yara Hawari to discuss the acceleration of Israeli settler colonialism in the West Bank amidst the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Here



Will the ICJ’s ruling on Palestinian territories have an impact? The UN's top court rules Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories is unlawful. The International Court of Justice says it must end as rapidly as possible. This episode of The Inside Story considers the impact of this non-binding ruling. Will it change anything on the ground? Here