Every morning now and for the past four months, I have woken up unsettled, with a sense of unease, of dread, of heartache, persisting like a low-grade fever, and understandably so. The horror of Israel’s unrelenting genocide -- the unconscionable, incalculable, consequent human suffering -- and of the complicity of our own country, also now in violation of international law, is unnerving and should be. God forbid that I, or any of us, cease being unnerved. 

The statistics are staggering – over 28,000 Palestinians killed in 18 weeks, 70% of them women and children, one child every 10 minutes, thousands more still under the rubble. Almost as soon as I write these statistics, they are outdated. Such is the unprecedented speed and viciousness of Israel’s slaughter of innocents. And now Israel has threatened an all-out assault on Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians, fleeing south from their homes in every other area of Gaza, are crammed, with nowhere left to go, sheltering, if you can call it there, with few provisions, spreading disease, and the increasing threat of mass starvation. 

On January 26^th the International Court of Justice ruled that there is “plausible evidence” Israel is committing genocide. The ICJ issued binding provisional orders for Israel to take all measures to stop the killing and avoid further harm (See links in Breaking the Stories for videos of ICJ testimony). But Israel is taking no such measures. Instead, it is shamelessly thumbing its nose at the ICJ, and continuing to perpetrate war crimes. Israel’s stated (albeit impossible) goal is to wipe out Hamas. But it is now clear that that goal is being used to provide perverse cover for another of Israel’s goals: to complete the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians started during the 1948 Nakba.

On February 13^th, Kairos Palestine issued A Call for Urgent International Intervention; Stop the Genocide in Rafah and the forcible displacement of Palestinians. “This is genocide and ethnic cleansing,” they write, “This is not the time for people of the civilized world to be silent!” The urgency of this moment cannot be overstated. Now is the time for praying with our feet, for speaking out and public protest, for saying in no uncertain terms as Jesus did, “No more of this,” and for demanding that the Biden Administration stop funding Israel’s genocide. There are Israelis who now understand the urgency of this moment; they have taken to the streets in Tel Aviv calling on Israel to stop the genocide and to protect Rafah’s children. 

As people of faith and conscience who understand the urgency for prophetic witness and action, there is much we can do and much we must do. UCC PIN has completed and is now releasing “Crisis in Gaza: Leading Congregations to Understanding and Action.” We offer it as a resource for equipping congregations to respond to the urgency of this moment. See the next article for more information about the resource and a link for accessing it. Other articles in this month’s E-News describe opportunities, some specific to this season of Lent, for engaging in protest and advocacy, corporately as UCC congregations, as well as individually as disciples of Jesus. Of special urgency is the appeal for the Biden Administration to restore desperately needed funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

Now is the time for action, first and foremost to stop the brutality of this war, to advocate for the end of occupation, and to work for genuine justice and freedom. But taking action also helps us, creating solidarity and generating hope, a balm to our souls. God knows we need such hope.