The civil war and gradual occupation of Lebanon by the Hezbollah and Palestinian Fatah armies from 1974 to 1994 left over half a million refugees and displaced persons. Yet no international aid is provided to these Lebanese refugees, who are victims of UN-funded refugee aid.
Worse still! Since 2004, Hezbollah’s advance and the progressive Islamization of Lebanon have resulted in the exile of some 880,000 Lebanese Christians. Where’s the help for them? There’s nothing, not even a tear, the tragedy is ignored. Who reacted to the Hezbollah coup? It’s easy to criticize the past, but in this case we can still act.
The World Council of Churches
The position taken by Monsignor Saliba, bishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Damascus and member of the World Council of Churches (WCC), in July 2011 is astonishing: The source that finances and motivates all these international organizations, in the East as well as in the West, and especially in the Arab world … is headed by a single evil organization, known as Zionism. It is behind all these movements, all these civil wars, all these evils. It uses Westerners – in the USA, in Europe – or their followers. Any intelligent person who reads the Protocols of the Elders of Zion will recognize the extent of its influence on the politics of our region and the world.215 What is its view today, after years of civil war that have turned Syria into a boundless graveyard?
According to official representatives of the World Council of Churches, the terrible situation of Christians in the Middle East is not caused by Muslim fundamentalism. To hear them tell it, if churches are burned, if Christians of all denominations are massacred, if the daughters of Christian families are raped, if the status of women is violently undermined, there is only one party to blame: Israel.216 This report, entitled Faith under Occupation: Le sort difficile des chrétiens indigènes en Terre sainte, is a heap of half-truths and outright lies that hardly conceals a primary anti-Zionism, not to say virulent anti-Semitism. The title: The plight of the indigenous Christians means that Christians were the first inhabitants of the Holy Land. Any people who came after them would practice colonization? This is totally incoherent! This report ignores 4000 years of life for the Hebrew people in the land that bore their name at the time of Christ.
Now there’s a so-called indigenous people, the Palestinians, and there’s a colonizer, Israel. Of course, this ignores the other conquest raging on the spot, which consists in denying the Jewish past by protesting against the Judaization of Jerusalem. Dramatically, the authorities forming the international Church do not dare to question Arab-Muslim domination.
In his presentation to the press, Mathews George Chunakara, WCC director of international affairs, criticized Israeli and Christian Zionist propaganda that Palestinian Christians are leaving their villages because of Muslim fundamentalism, clearly linking their emigration and suffering directly to the Israeli occupation.217 The sad Yasser Arafat expelled the 9 monks of an Orthodox monastery to set up his personal whorehouse, in the eyes of the WCC, is this desecration Israel’s fault?
The Israeli hostages of October 7, 2023, illegally held by Hamas in Gaza, the WCC doesn’t mention them! Not a single call for their release! At a time when calls for a ceasefire are almost daily. This silence almost says too much! This silence is not an expression of quietude, peace, support, love or faith. Each of us is responsible for our own silences, and must take responsibility for them . Free those who are being dragged to their deaths, those whose throats are about to be slit, save them! If you say: Ah, we didn’t know! Does he who weighs hearts not see it? 218
Is it the function of the WCC to intervene politically? That’s its right, as long as there’s a clear coherence. The problem is one-sided denunciation. Is it credible to criticize Tsahal, which is doing everything it can to free its deported citizens, and say nothing about the hostages? It shows a blatant bias in favor of Hamas and the Palestinians. In seeking to understand the appeal to all WCC churches, reference is made to the Kaïros-Palestine text, excerpted below:
2.2.2 This is why it is not permissible to transform the Word of God into dead letters that disfigure God’s love and providence in the lives of peoples and individuals. This is the flaw in fundamentalist biblical interpretations, which bring us death and destruction when they freeze the Word of God and pass it on, as a dead word, from generation to generation. This dead word is used as a weapon in our present history, to deprive us of our right to our own land.
2.3 In the light of the Holy Scriptures we see that the promise of the land was never the basis of a political program.
2.5 We also declare that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories is a sin against God and against the human person, for it deprives Palestinians of the fundamental human rights God has granted them, and disfigures the image of God in both Israelis – who have become occupiers – and Palestinians, who are subjected to occupation. Any theology that claims to justify occupation on the basis of Scripture, faith or history is a far cry from Christian teachings, for it calls for violence and holy war in the name of God, subjecting Him to human interests of the “present moment” and distorting His image in human beings who suffer political and theological injustice.219
My book shows that the arrival of Jews in Erets Israel is the will of the living and almighty God. Am I a sinner? Because I believe in the authority of the Holy Scriptures, I’m a fundamentalist. Is this wrong? And the Lord says: I watch over my Word to carry it out.220 Remember what happened in ancient times; for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. I announce from the beginning what is to come, and long in advance what is not yet fulfilled.221 An Almighty God is able to watch over His declarations, He watches over His Word, and does not need interpreters to determine what is right, what is acceptable and what is not. It’s not up to an ecclesiastical institution to define what dares to be taught. Jesus informed the disciples that it is the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who will teach them: When the Comforter comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak for himself, but he will speak all that he has heard, and he will declare to you things to come. He will glorify me, he will take of what is me and announce it to you 222. God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit want a direct relationship with every human person, Jewish, Christian or otherwise.
Point 2.3 is incredible, making you wonder if the authors of the Kairos-Palestine declaration have read their Bible. Joseph, governor of Egypt, was a politician, Moses a spiritual guide and political authority, Saul, David and Solomon were kings, a political authority par excellence, and Daniel was a governor, and therefore politically committed. As for the apostle Paul, he even appealed to Caesar, an unquestionably political act. The books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are not only philosophical and spiritual reflections, but also political ones.
2.5 We also declare that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories is a sin against God … raises a host of questions, so enormous is this statement, for the wages of sin is death. 223 Who has the spiritual right to declare what is sin or not? If the God of the Bible or the Eternal God of Israel had disapproved of the Jews’ return to Erets Israel, why does He allow this arid region to be planted and become a huge garden? Why didn’t the Jews remain among the nations? Which people, dispersed for more than 18 centuries, returned to the land of their ancestors? Which people survived industrial destruction such as the Shoah? The days are coming, says the Lord, when people will no longer say: “As the Lord lives, He brought the children of Israel up out of the land of Egypt! But they will say, As the Lord lives, He who brought back the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the North, and from all the countries where they were scattered! And they shall dwell in their own land.224
The declaration of kairos prevents mutual acceptance and a normal social life between Jews and Palestinians. But the lives of 1.9 million Arabs and Druze living in Israel show that living together is not only possible, but appreciated by a large group of people. If the appeal corresponds to the feelings of inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza, using this text as a universal reference seems to me inadequate. Its circulation generates hatred against the so-called occupier, misunderstanding and normalized violence. And this, in the name of the universal Church, is a very serious matter. Is this acceptable? I don’t think you can call yourself a Christian and hate the Jews.225
Arab Christians
Gaza’s Christian bookshop burned down 14 times before closing for good. If the church of Baptist pastor Naïm Khoury was burnt down, was it because of Israel, which hasn’t been there since 2005, or Hamas, which reigns supreme?
If Christians abandon Gaza and the West Bank, is it because of the Israeli occupation or because they are persecuted? If they emigrate to Israel, is it out of a desire to sacrifice or to live their faith in the only Middle Eastern country where religions are almost all equal?
The situation of Christians in Palestinian territory is terrible. Having chosen to follow Christ, they have also chosen non-violence, love and understanding. They are not with Hamas, but they are not especially friendly to the Israelis, whose ultra-Orthodox are particularly unattractive and unsympathetic. They live between two warring parties.
From the point of view of the Jews and especially the IDF, Arab Christians should collaborate with Israel, otherwise they are marching with the enemy. Hamas considers them to be collaborators with Israel, because they refuse to be Muslims. They also refuse to take part in terrorist activities to liberate the country. Consequently, for both sides in the conflict, Arab Christians are troubling and, above all, suspicious people.
Courageous and full of faith, these brothers and sisters working for peace and mutual understanding between Jews and Arabs deserve our intercession and support. If peace seems impossible, let us salute the efforts made by all the Messianic churches, bringing together Jews and Palestinian Arabs. Their efforts are not in vain; they are part of the prophetic goal to come. But at present, spiritual blindness and too much misinformation are preventing significant progress. The Spirit of God must remove the blindness of the Jews and the nations according to prophecy: And on this mountain he will destroy the veil that is over all peoples, the covering that covers all nations.226
The only remedies for this situation are unconditional love, committed prayer, a willingness to understand and solidarity.
The Western Church
Calls for boycotts by anti-Semitic and pro-Palestinian movements – boycotts supported by many churches – leave more than one Christian perplexed. The argument most often heard is that there ‘ s no smoke without fire, or that if Israel were God’s people, we’d be entitled to expect different behavior towards the Palestinians. Western churches have different ways of feeling about this Jewish state. Adherents of replacement theology (according to them, the Church has definitively replaced the Jews) eagerly defend their point of view. However, the creation of the State of Israel was not exclusively to the detriment of the Palestinians. Isn’t the Palestinians’ stubborn refusal to compromise of any kind the root cause of their real and supposed misfortunes?
Given the scale of certain anti-Israel demonstrations, and the echo they receive in the media, many Western Christians are questioning the validity of such expressions of hatred. It’s all too easy to forget that innocent people are suffering on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides. Given the reluctance to express sympathy for the Jewish victims, it is important that voices are raised to break this deafening silence of indifference.
These are the moments that the Spirit chooses to challenge more and more believers. Questions arise in the mind. Isn’t the Church’s vocation to bless? Is it our duty to shout with the pack, or to console? Is it not up to us Christians to ask ourselves whether what Israel is reproached for corresponds to reality? Truth? To justice? Don’t we have to defend a tiny nation if it is accused unjustly? As Victor Hugo said If there are only ten left, I’ll be one of them, and if there’s only one left, I’ll be that one! 227
While Israel is engaged in a war in Gaza, is it the church’s role to show solidarity with the Palestinians of Hamas? Is it the church’s role to support those who have publicly announced dozens of times that they want to exterminate Israel? They even tried, on October 7, by committing a massacre of unprecedented brutality, a carnage, an orgy of violence! Church, where is your ability to judge and discern between good and evil? He who absolves the guilty … is an abomination before the Lord… A friend loves at all times, and in trouble shows himself a brother.228 It’s impossible to ignore Carl Barth’s words of December 5, 1938, a few days after Kristallnacht: …By attacking the Jewish people and destroying the synagogues, we are attacking the very roots of Christianity. Whoever is an enemy of the people of Israel is an enemy of Jesus Christ. Let us learn from the past, as Pastor Niemöller, who survived seven years in a German concentration camp, said at the first meeting of Protestant leaders in Treysa in August 1945: The main blame rests on the shoulders of the church. It did not denounce the prevailing injustice until it was too late. The Confessing Church clearly saw what was going on, but feared men more than God. In disobedience, we fundamentally neglected the mission entrusted to us. That is why we are guilty.229
Israel has nothing to fear, as the prophet says: Fear not worm Jacob, weak remnant of Israel; I come to your aid, says the Eternal.230 But isn’t the Church’s role to stand by this rejected and threatened state? Is it not the vocation of Christians to remind the Jews of the extraordinary prophetic promises of which they are the principal beneficiaries? It is in this sense that I understand the words of the prophet: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry out to her...231 The faithful Church has a wonderful vocation: to console the Jewish people, to encourage them, to help them re-establish their relationship with the Eternal. The apostle Paul’s words: “Let us therefore seek those things which contribute to peace and mutual edification “232 apply only to Christians. Why not include Jews too?
It is time to seek the Lord until he comes
and dispense justice for you.233