Over 700 days!
The fifth of September marked 700 days since October 7th attacks and the genocide in Gaza began. 90% of Gaza is now destroyed and 73,700 people have been killed or remain missing, including over 20,000 children and 12,500 women. Hundreds of thousands of aid trucks continue to be blocked from entering Gaza.
Holy God, we are overwhelmed by grief and by injustice that does not end. In times of such darkness, we hold onto the promise that you are never absent, that you are present with all who are captive, wounded and the grieving. Continue to hear our cry in this desolation, and deliver us from this evil. We pray for the courage to make the world anew and to rise with those who suffer. – Sabeel Jerusalem
Let’s increase the pressure on the Canadian government to take action
If you encounter a moment in which family or friends express dismay about what is happening, invite them to take action with our joint Kairos/CFOS advocacy campaign.
Here are three excellent presentations that can address questions they may raise regarding what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank:
1. Father David Neuhaus is a Jewish citizen of Israel, born in South Africa to German Jewish refugees from Nazi persecution, converted to Roman Catholicism in 1988, joined the Society of Jesus in 1992, and was ordained a priest in 2000. Fr. Neuhaus holds a PhD in political science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, advanced degrees in theology, and teaches scripture in Palestine and Israel.
One of his most recent public presentations on Gaza and the genocide, titled “Witnessing the Horror,” took place at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. Just under 40 minutes in duration, it’s on YouTube here, hosted by the channel of the Jesuit Institute of South Africa. In his presentation, Fr. Neuhaus explains how he came to recognize that Israel is without doubt committing genocide in Gaza.
Read more about Father David’s life and spiritual journey here.
2. On August 11, American right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson set off a vehement controversy on his weekly podcast. Carlson spoke with Mother Agapia Stephanopoulos, an Orthodox nun from the U.S. who has lived since 1996 in the occupied West Bank town of Bethany, on the slope of the Mount of Olives.
In their 90-minute conversation, she describes from personal experience the lives of West Bank Palestinian Christians at the hands of Israeli occupiers, including seizure of Christians’ land, destruction of their properties, and restrictions on their movements, emphasizing that Christians equally with Muslim Palestinians face Israeli aggression and gradual genocide.
For many in Carlson’s overwhelmingly conservative and largely evangelical Christian audience, this was their first exposure to the Palestinian Christian point of view, via a media figure that they trust, or have trusted. The reaction was typical. As of now, a month later, the YouTube video has received 1.8 million views, and 39,900 comments. Mother Agapia concluded saying, “[W]e have to have many more people come and see and not go on an AIPAC junket but really go and as Christians tell your communities….”
See the entire interview and comments here.
3. In a recent podcast for Makdisi Street, entitled “Is God Listening?”, Rev. Munther Isaak, Palestinian Lutheran pastor in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine, describes the anger, frustration and fear Palestinians live with, as Israel's genocide on Gaza continues and as it threatens the West Bank as well. He discusses Palestinian Christianity in the context of the Gaza genocide, the theology of empire, the anti-Palestinian distortions in both so-called Christian Zionism and liberal Western Christian churches, the urgent need for rethinking the meaning of witness, and his recent book Christ in the Rubble. Rev. Isaak says, "Sometimes we feel as if God is not listening." Hear his call for a new theology and a new faith to respond to the cry of Palestinians and, indeed, all of humanity."
View the video here.
“Art as Resilience”: CFOS silent art auction returns!
Last spring, CFOS had to postpone an online art auction that we had planned to celebrate Palestinian artistry and to raise funds for our educational work of amplifying the voice of Palestinians. This special event has now been rescheduled for November 1-22. It is titled "Art as Resilience: A Silent Auction for Palestine.” More information will be available next month. In the meantime, our website will be updated regularly in the weeks leading up to this silent auction. Please save the dates!
Risking death to care for the vulnerable
In late August, Israel announced an intensified military assault on Gaza City – it said “the doors of hell will open” -- and it ordered civilians to vacate to the south of Gaza to be spared. Some families did relocate, even though they had already been displaced many times and expressed great fear that they would not find safety, security and food in the south. Others chose to remain, despite the very real threat of death.
Gaza City is home to St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox and Holy Family Catholic churches – two of only a few Christian churches in Gaza. Both churches have come under Israeli attack since October 2023. These two communities have for months been sheltering hundreds of displaced persons – especially the elderly, the young and those with disabilities. Recognizing that another forced displacement would be a “death sentence” for these people, the priests and nuns at the two churches announced on August 26, 2025 that they would remain in place to care for those sheltering in their church compounds.
More on this courageous and faithful witness here.
“To stay is to bear witness and to love”
A group of Christian leaders in Jerusalem, who call themselves “A Jerusalem Voice for Justice,” recently wrote directly to congregants and clergy about the ongoing exodus of Christian families expelled or pressured to leave Palestine/Israel because of the horror of “death, displacement, starvation and despair” all around them.
These leaders do not criticize those who chose to leave. But they affirm that to stay in the land is courageous and faithful. Staying means:
To bear witness. “To stay is to say with our lives: this land, bruised and bleeding, is still holy.”
To act with love. “Our presence is a form of resistance -- not of hate, but of deep and abiding love. We love this land not as property, but as gift. We love our Muslim and Jewish neighbours not abstractly, but in solidarity and in action.”
To be the church. “Together we constitute a living and incarnate Church in the land of the Incarnation.”
Read the entire statement here, and be heartened that such faithful, courageous witness continues amid genocide.
Resources for WCC World Week for in Palestine and Israel
The annual World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel takes place September 20-26. Once again, the World Council of Churches has prepared “resources for people and churches all over the world to pray, advocate, and stand in solidarity with people in the Holy Land.” This week includes the UN’s International Day of Peace on September 21.
The theme of this year’s resource is “We must give account,” based on Hebrews 4:13. The resource includes liturgy, poetry, prayer, testimonies, and reflections. Access this resource here.
Weekly events hosted by Sabeel Jerusalem
Join with Sabeel in their on-line worship service, in English, on Thursdays at 11AM EDT. These services are a time to meet with others to discuss how weekly scripture readings apply to lives today, especially in Palestine/Israel, and to pray for the specific needs of this region through the Sabeel Wave of Prayer. Register to participate.
Sabeel’s weekly topical Wave of Prayer draws on specific experience during that week; you can find each week’s prayer .
Sabeel’s Kumi Now program continues its weekly on-line sessions. Every Tuesday via live-stream Kumi Now highlights a different organization working to raise awareness about specific issues in Palestine/Israel, provide information about a specific issue of injustice through the stories of those effected, and promote a creative nonviolent advocacy action. Register to participate . After streaming live, all sessions are posted on the Kumi Now’s YouTube channel.