Breaking The Stories: August 2023
Curated by the Rev. Loren McGrail, UCC PIN Steering Committee
Another North American church names Israeli apartheid: The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has declared that “many of the laws, policies and practices of the State of Israel meet the definition of apartheid as defined in international law”:
Gathered Saturday for their biennial General Assembly in Louisville, Kentucky, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the U.S. and Canada decided by an overwhelming voice vote to adopt a resolution naming Israeli apartheid.
There was only one delegate who spoke in opposition. The resolution, Compelled to Witness: Answering the Cry of Our Palestinian Siblings—citing reports from B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and a 2022 Pastoral Letter written by leaders of the denomination—affirms “that many of the laws, policies and practices of the State of Israel meet the definition of apartheid as defined in international law.” Here
Jewish-Israeli Christianophobia Emboldened by Racist and Fundamentalist Israeli Government :
The current Israeli government, the state’s most far-right, fundamentalist and openly racist ever, has emboldened Israeli Jewish fundamentalists’ racist attacks on Palestinians, whether Muslim or Christian, and on Palestinian homes, fields, work places, and places of worship. Islamophobia in Jewish-Israeli society, which is rampant and is further fanned by anti-Palestinian Jewish and Christian Zionist groups in the U.S. and Europe, demands urgent attention but is still relatively better covered in comparison with Israeli anti-Christian racism. This compilation of news items focuses on the latter, Jewish-Israeli anti-Christian racism, sampling some of the older and the newer attacks on Christian churches, priests, cemeteries across historic Palestine (the 1967 occupied territory and the pre-1967 areas). Here
Herzog’s Lullaby: The Biden administration indulges the Israeli President’s nostalgia act even as the promise of a true democracy slips away in Israel/Palestine:
In truth, Herzog’s speech was completely detached from the current reality of Israel, which is in the 56th year of its military occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, with Gaza in its 16th year under a crippling Israeli blockade. The government Herzog represents is steadily consolidating its permanent control over those territories, in blatant contravention of both international law and its own past promises to the United States. It’s a reality in which Palestinians are being steadily displaced and corralled into a set of disconnected reservations (resembling South African bantustans) while facing an official Israeli government policy of collective punishment and ongoing violence by Klan-like, government-backed extremist settlers—all of it underwritten by nearly $4 billion annually from US taxpayers. Here
Other Resources
- Israel’s justice minister gives away the real aim of the judicial coup’s first law: Here
- Judea vs ‘Fantasy Israel: Ilan Pappe on the Collapse of Israeli Pillars and Opportunities for Palestine: Here
- While Israelis were in the streets, Smotrich unveiled his annexation plans: Here
- Haggai Matar & Gideon Levy: Israel’s Fight over Judicial Changes Ignores Occupation & Apartheid: Here
- Israel’s judicial overhaul sparks military crisis as number of refusing reservists grows: Here
- Leading liberal Zionist voices call for ending U.S. aid to Israel: Here
- Anthropologists back Israel boycott in landslide vote: Here
- It should be no surprise that religious nationalists are ascendant in a 'Jewish state": Here
- In Israel and the U.S.,“apartheid” is the elephant in the room: Here
Take Action
- The elephant in the room: Here
