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UCC PIN JUNE E-NEWS
In this issue:
- UCC PIN Issues Urgent Call to Religious and Political Leaders
- "It's Past Time: Naming Israel's Genocide in Gaza" - UCC PIN Statement
- Stepping Out for Justice: Ceasefire Walks & Pilgrimages
- Stones Cry Out Virtual Delegation: Maintaining the Momentum, Mobilizing for Change
- Breaking the Stories, curated by the Rev. Loren McGrail
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Follow UCC Palestine Israel Network | |
Forced Displacement Again in Gaza, collage and watercolor by Loren McGrail | |
UCC PIN Issues Urgent Call to Religious and Political Leaders | |
Image from Jewish Voice for Peace Facebook page | |
With this issue of E-News, UCC PIN is releasing our statement, "It's Past Time: Naming Israel's Genocide in Gaza," through which we call for religious and political leaders, and all people of faith, to use the word ‘genocide,’ to describe Israel’s assault on Palestinians in Gaza. While the International Court of Justice has yet to issue their final ruling, they declared that, even as early as January, there was “plausible” evidence of Israeli genocide and, at that time, they issued binding provisional measures for Israel to cease their hostilities and violence. Since then, Israel has brashly defied that ICJ order, and subsequent ones, engaging in ongoing aerial bombardments, ground invasions, and obstruction of the delivery of humanitarian assistance, creating conditions of full-blown famine and forced starvation. The evidence of genocide is in plain sight, visible for all to see. It is even visible, as the JVP graphic above depicts, from space.
It is indeed past time to name Israel’s genocide. As Nidžara Ahmetašević writes in her article, “It’s not ‘ethnic cleansing’; it’s genocide,” (see Breaking the Stories) “using proper terminology and calling things as they are” matters. Holocaust survivor and co-founder of Human Rights Watch Aryeh Neier is now using the terminology of genocide. In a recent interview, he went public about the reasons for his determination that Israel is carrying out a genocide. When we are seeing horrific images of killing, burning, starvation, as Aryeh Neier has seen and as we, and the world, are seeing daily, it is incumbent on us all – it is our moral and ethical responsibility – to call things as they are and to say, “this is genocide.”
With this statement, shared in its entirety below, the United Church of Christ Palestine Israel Network publicly recognizes, acknowledges, and names Israel’s war on Gaza as genocide. We urge all members of the UCC – congregants, clergy, conference ministers, national staff – to use this terminology. And we encourage you to share this statement widely, from the pulpit, at conference annual meetings, and in newsletters. You can access PDF versions of the statement as a letter sized two-sided document here and as a bulletin-insert sized booklet here. You can also find these formats on our UCC PIN website. For some liturgical resources and reflections on genocide, see Ken Sehested's article included at the end of Breaking the Stories.
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"It’s Past Time: Naming Israel’s Genocide in Gaza"
UCC PIN Statement
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The United Church of Christ has always been on the front end of movements for peace and justice in the US and abroad. Specifically, regarding unjust war and the violation of human rights, we, as a denomination, have never been afraid to name atrocities wherever and whenever they occur. For one compelling example, in 2015, the General Synod of the UCC passed a resolution commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, which specifically named genocide as a crime that should be “prevented, halted, acknowledged and recognized.”
Inspired by and consistent with this history, the United Church of Christ Palestine Israel Network recognizes and acknowledges Israel’s war on Gaza as genocide. This reality requires bold action. Therefore, we call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages and prisoners, an end to the blockade of Gaza, and an end to the illegal Israeli occupation of the West Bank. We further call for Palestinians to be granted the rights to self-determination and statehood, in compliance with international law.
We make this call alongside others in the United Church of Christ, including the newly formed group UCC for Ceasefire, who recently circulated a statement naming the crime of genocide which was signed by over 800 UCC members, including both clergy and lay people.
We make this call in solidarity with our Palestinian Muslim and Christian partners, who have been begging us to stand with them. Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem said, “Genocide is clear. Truth is evident for all to see... If you are not appalled by what is happening, if you are not shaken to your core, there is something wrong with your humanity. And if we, as Christians, are not outraged by this genocide... we are compromising the credibility of our Gospel message. If you fail to call this a genocide, it is on you. It is a sin and a darkness you willingly embrace."
We make this call agreeing with our Jewish siblings who are speaking out against the war. Our friends at Jewish Voice for Peace have not been afraid to name genocide, calling the invasion of Rafah "the final stage of genocide." Raz Segal, an Israeli historian and himself a scholar of genocide, recently wrote an article in Jewish Currents calling Israel’s war in Gaza “a textbook case of genocide.”
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We make this call knowing that it is consistent with international law. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide identifies acts that constitute genocide, many of which have been documented since October 7, 2023. To date, over 36,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 80,000 have been injured. Defense for Children Palestine has noted that at least 1 million children need mental health care due to the trauma they continue to endure. Israel has destroyed nearly all infrastructure that supports life in Gaza—hospitals and schools have been bombed; food, water, and medical supplies are severely lacking, and humanitarian aid distribution is practically at a standstill; and approximately one-hundred thousand housing units have been destroyed, with thousands more severely damaged and uninhabitable. Famine is already present in parts of Gaza, and it is spreading every day, leading to what famine expert Alex de Waal called “a massacre in slow motion.” All of this has been done with genocidal intent, as minister of defense Yoav Galant demonstrated when he stated, “we are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly,” and "we will eliminate everything.”
In addition, and especially critically for us as US citizens, we make this call because our own government, the Biden Administration and Congress, are now complicit in genocide through providing Israel with diplomatic cover, financial support, and an on-going supply of deadly weapons.
It is past time for all our political and religious leaders to recognize and name the atrocity in Gaza for the genocide that it is. We therefore urge all in positions of authority and influence to answer this call immediately. Millions of lives, as well as our very humanity, are at stake.
| Stepping out for Justice: Ceasefire Pilgrimages and Walks | Walk for Gaza CT, Day 1, May 23, Beinecke Plaza, Yale University, New Haven, CT | |
This past Lent, Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage, a global network of autonomous Christian groups, inspired people around the world to walk the linear distance of the Gaza strip, about 25 miles, in a prayerful show of solidarity. Over 140 walks were held at that time, in 20 or more countries. The season of Lent was just the start. Since then, similar walks have continued to be organized, customized for specific locations, offering a powerful way to engage communities in stepping out, literally, and being visible as justice-seeking advocates.
Walk for Gaza CT offers one such example. Members from five southern Connecticut UCC congregations, joined other activists, in organizing a three-day walk, first in New Haven, next in Bridgeport, and then along the CT shoreline, May 23-25, that cumulatively covered 25 miles. The Walk included stops along the way, at two Congressional district offices, three hospitals, Yale University’s investment office, and also Beinecke Plaza, the site of the Yale student encampment. At each stop, there were speakers -- for example, students and doctors -- who described the wanton and systematic destruction and decimation of Gaza, in specific its medical and educational infrastructures.
The Walk’s final stop was at Hammonassett Beach State Park.
There many walkers flew kites in the spirit of the poem, If I Must Die, by Palestinian writer and activist Refaat Alareer, who this past December was targeted and killed in Gaza by an Israeli airstrike. Scheduled during the Memorial Day weekend, Walk for Gaza CT was a procession of lament, grieving the mind-numbing thousands of people who have died in the violence over these past eight months. It was also a call for action with demands for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to all U.S. military and financial aid to the Israeli government for the prosecution of its genocide against Palestine, and the safety and negotiated release of hostages on both sides. In addition, the Walk raised over $7,200 for UNRWA, far exceeding the Walk’s $5,000 goal.
People, of all ages, well over a hundred, participated, walking portions or all 25 miles of the distance. UCC folks who helped with the organizing and/or walked were from First Congregational Church, Guilford; First Church, Middletown; First Congregational Church, Madison; First Congregational Church, Old Lyme, and Shalom UCC, New Haven.
“It was powerful each day to be walking alongside such a diverse group of individuals, families and community activists including the Veterans for Peace. Most pedestrians and motorists raised their fists or beeped their horns in support of our peaceful nonviolent march,” observed the Rev. Laura Fitzpatrick-Nager, senior associate minister, Old Lyme. "On the last day, as we passed breathtaking views of Long Island Sound and pastoral scenes, it was painful to be imagining, in contrast, the devastation and suffering Palestinians in Gaza are enduring in real time. We can and must do much more and continue praying with our feet, as Rabbi Abraham Heschel famously said.”
Solidarity walks and pilgrimages are gaining momentum. Following its inaugural Lenten pilgrimage, Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage is now launching a phase two: Pilgrimage to Places of Power. To learn more about this second phase of the Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage, go here. If you scroll down on that landing page, you will find the logos of the many organizations, including UCC PIN, that have endorsed this initiative.
| Stones Cry Out Virtual Delegation: “Maintaining the Momentum, Mobilizing for Change” | |
Throughout this summer, the Stones Cry Out will be offering a series of webinars as part of a Virtual Delegation, focused on equipping, mobilizing, and empowering a broad spectrum of faith leaders for advocacy. The capstone for and culmination of these summer webinars will be a September 23-27, Washington D.C. gathering of church leaders and human rights activists, there to speak out to the Biden Administration and Congress, through witness, worship, advocacy, and direct action. The goal? To change U.S. policy on Palestine and Israel.
Sam Bahour, a Ramallah-based Palestinian-American businessman and activist, is the presenter for the first webinar in the series, Wednesday, June 5, 1 pm ET. Register here.
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The next of the June webinars will be Monday, June 17 at 1 pm ET with Omar Haramy, the Sabeel Palestinian Liberation Theology Center, Jerusalem. Register here
Following that on Thursday, June 20, at 1 pm ET, the webinar will be with Rifat Kassis, Global Kairos for Justice, and the Rev. Munther Isaac, Christmas Lutheran Church, Bethlehem and Christ at the Checkpoint. Register here.
The last webinar in June will be at 1 pm ET on Wednesday the 26th with Dr. Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian ER doctor who has worked extensively in Gaza. Register here.
This Stones Cry Out Virtual Delegation builds on, and is an extension of, the advocacy of the first Stones Cry Out delegation this past March (See story in UCC PIN’s March E-News). Prime movers in the Stones Cry Out planning are Michael Spath, Indiana Center for Middle East Peace; Mark Braverman, Kairos USA; and Doug Thorpe, Episcopal Bishop’s Committee on Peace & Justice in the Holy Land, Diocese of Olympia. UCC PIN is one of several organizations supporting this initiative, including Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace, Christians for Ceasefire, Churches for Middle East Peace, Sabeel, FOSNA, and many others.
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Breaking The Stories: June 2024
curated by the Rev. Loren McGrail,
UCC PIN Steering Committee
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Rafah Holocaust by Jordanian artist Hani Alqam | |
It is not ‘ethnic cleansing’, it is genocide | |
People gather near bodies lined up for identification after they were unearthed from a mass grave found in the Nasser Medical Complex in the southern Gaza Strip on April 25, 2024, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces [File: AFP] | |
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Over the past eight months, like many people around the world, I have been starting my day by checking the news from Gaza and the rest of Palestine. I rely on the reports from people on the ground in Gaza, mostly on social media, to get reliable information about what is happening.
At the same time, I follow the mainstream media, leaders, representatives of big international organisations and scholars to get different perspectives. Unfortunately, too often, I hear them using the term “ethnic cleansing” when referring to the ongoing genocidal campaign against the Palestinians. Each time I hear this phrase, it reminds me of the war I survived in the 1990s in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Here
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Rudderless, incompetent and complicit | |
“There’s no mathematical formula.” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during a White House briefing on 22 May. Yuri GripasCNP | |
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Little illustrates Washington’s diplomacy on Israel’s genocide in Gaza better than the temporary pier the US military constructed at great cost to bring aid to the territory’s 2.3 million people suffering an engineered famine that is nearing catastrophic levels. Announced in early March – and always a ludicrous idea when the US could have simply insisted that Israel keep land crossings open, saving the $320 million construction cost – the pier finally became operational on 17 May.
For its first five days, no aid that arrived there was distributed. Then high waves washed away some of the vessels meant to deliver aid, causing further disruption. Finally, the pier itself broke apart on 28 May, just 11 days after it was deemed operational. The entire structure will now be removed and taken to Ashdod port for repairs. Costly and incompetently executed, the pier was a direct result of a pronounced unwillingness in Washington to directly confront Israel over its gross restrictions on aid into Gaza. Here
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To Continue the Gaza genocide, Israel and the US must destroy the laws of war | |
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An Israeli army tank operates in southern Israel near the border with
the Gaza Strip on 29 May 2024 (AFP)
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The world's two highest courts have made an implacable enemy of Israel in trying to uphold international law and end Israeli atrocities in Gaza.
Separate announcements last week by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) should have forced Israel on to the back foot in Gaza.
A panel of judges at the ICJ – sometimes known as the World Court – demanded last Friday that Israel immediately stop its current offensive on Rafah, in southern Gaza.
Instead, Israel responded by intensifying its atrocities.
On Sunday, it bombed a supposedly "safe zone" crowded with refugee families forced to flee from the rest of Gaza, which has been devastated by Israel’s rampage for the last eight months.
Here
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More Resources
“This Is a Crime”: Ken Roth on Israel’s Secret War Targeting the ICC to Derail War Crimes Charges Here
Israel says war on Gaza likely to last another seven months Here
REVERBERATIONS OF OCTOBER 7 Mobilization Against Genocide Undeterred by Peak Anti-Palestinian Repression by Palestine Legal Here
Netanyahu’s response to the ICC invokes another genocidal biblical reference Here
US State Department official resigns, says US report on Gaza inaccurate Here
Rights groups demand Biden halt Israel arms transfers after ICJ ruling Here
Why Are Progressive Legislators Opposing New York’s First Anti-Settlement Bill? Here
The Message of Israel’s torture chambers is directed at all of us, not just Palestinians Here
Rights groups file complaint against Booking.com for listing Israeli settlements Here
The Complicity of Israeli Academia Here
US lawmakers threatened ICC with 'The Hague Invasion Act', but what is it? Here
Can Palestinians imagine a future with Israelis after this war? Here
'Israel goes after UNRWA in al-Quds, orders it to vacate headquarters Here
Media Resources
Fire breaks out at Ramallah market amid Israeli raids
Here
Israeli Historian Ilan Pappe on Interrogation at U.S. Airport and "the Collapse of the Zionist Project" Here
Liturgical Resources
When discussing the war in Gaza, we must ask the question about genocide Here
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