"The Responsibility Lies with Us"
“Those in the West who facilitated this horror from the beginning—we have the responsibility to end this abomination by stopping our governments from arming and facilitating it. Palestinians have made that abundantly clear. We have a responsibility and it's about how we use that responsibility and whether we can say in the future that we did everything we could … that we listened to the Palestinians, that we elevated their voices, that we didn’t look away… We owe it to the people to never give up.” – Owen Jones, celebrated British journalist
Art as Resilience: A Silent Auction for Palestine
Mark your calendars and set your reminders! CFOS is bringing back our silent auction for Palestine!
Centred on the theme of “Art as Resilience,” this auction will promote the work of Palestinian artists and allies and will highlight the many ways Palestinians create art to express identity, struggle, resistance, and resilience. The funds raised will support CFOS’s education and advocacy work. Bidding opens November 1 and closes November 22. Save the dates, follow @canadianfriendsofsabeel on Instagram and Facebook for further updates, and check out our website for more info.
“Beyond Pilgrimage” video series
A brand-new video series highlights the voices of Palestinians expressing their deepest despair and their profoundest hope during these times of inexpressible suffering. “Beyond Pilgrimage” is created by Palestinians “seeking a Christ-centered response to the violence and apartheid in Palestine/Israel, unpacking harmful theologies and exploring prayerful and practical action towards reconciliation, justice, and peace.”
This project profiles theologians, activists, human rights defenders, farmers, Bedouins, and others. It invites viewers to step off the “well-worn tourist trail” and delve into the lived experience of Palestinians on the ground today. The brief videos will move, inspire, and challenge! Find them here.
CFOS expresses disappointment in Catholic Bishops’ statement
As referred to in our last CFOS e-bulletin, the Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops’ statement on Gaza, available here, has generated considerable critique. The CFOS board recently issued this response to the statement:
CFOS wishes to express its deep disappointment in the statement regarding Gaza issued by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops in August. Despite clearly laying out the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the devastating attacks on civilians by the Israeli army, as well as extensively quoting Pope Leo’s call for a ceasefire, the bishops did not make any request for the rest of us to support Pope Leo in this advocacy, but rather invited us to the weak response of prayer and fasting. This is greatly disconcerting, especially in light of much stronger statements recently issued by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (see below), KAIROS Canada, and others.
We as CFOS stand with Development & Peace/Caritas Canada and Catholics for Justice & Peace in the Holy Land (CJPHL), who both, as Catholic organizations, have been consistently calling for a more vigorous response to the crisis. CJPHL has posted a detailed critique of the bishops’ statement. Caritas Internationalis, a network of Catholic relief agencies, “calls on all people of faith and conscience to raise their voices, pressure their governments, and demand justice” through seven key demands, listed here.
Owen Jones visits Palestine
Celebrated British journalist Owen Jones has posted a 35-minute YouTube video filmed on a recent trip to the West Bank, where he was accompanied by Sabeel. Watch the video to meet and hear from many brave and articulate Palestinians who are well-known in Sabeel circles and beyond—Sam Barhour, Issa Amro, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Ubai Al-Abidu, and Sabeel’s own Omar Haramy. Walk the ruins of Lifta village and meet a family imprisoned in Beit Ijza.
Jones reacts with infectious passion to the assaults, expulsions, and genocide—what he calls “the constant asphyxiation of Palestinian life.” He ends with a question for the international, especially Western, community: “Will they [the Israelis] be allowed to do that?” “The responsibility,” he says, “lies with us”: We must pressure our governments to end their enabling of what he calls this “horror show.” In its first six days, the video received almost half a million hits. Watch it here. It’s vivid and convincing.
United Church passes motions for Palestinian solidarity
At a September 13 meeting, about 180 representatives of the United Church of Canada (UCC) General Council formally adopted the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism instead of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition.
The Jerusalem Declaration has been endorsed by over 300 international scholars in the fields of Holocaust history and Jewish and Middle Eastern studies. The full text, available here, asserts that support for justice and equal rights for Palestinians and evidence-based criticism of Zionism or of Israeli government policies and practices are not antisemitic. The UCC’s action implicitly rejects the IHRA definition, which was adopted by Canada in 2019 and has been widely used to weaponize the term “antisemitism,” label almost any criticism of Israeli government policy and practice as “antisemitic,” and stifle free speech.
At the same meeting, the UCC also authorized contributing actively to the development of a post-Gaza theology and affirming UCC support for the creation of a Palestinian state. More details here.
Lutheran bishop urges members to act
The Rev. Dr. Larry Kochendorfer, as National Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), has written a letter to all ELCIC members lamenting that “the government of Israel continues to disregard appeals to protect civilians.” The letter refers readers to the United Nations Commission of Inquiry’s conclusion “that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.” You can read the entire 72-page report here. The National Bishop’s letter also urges members to join the Gaza Letter Campaign by Kairos Canada and CFOS, and to send a message to the Canadian government “to take concrete action to end human suffering in Palestine.” The Kairos campaign portal is here. Read the entire ELCIC letter here.
How did we get from the Bible to a genocide in Gaza?
The Mennonite Church Canada Palestine-Israel Network is hosting, “How did we get from the Bible to a genocide in Gaza?” with Dr. Dan Epp-Tiessen, retired professor of biblical studies at Canadian Mennonite University. This popular three-part webinar series will be offered on Wednesday evenings: October 22, 29, and November 5 at 7 p.m. (CDT). The three sessions will focus on:
Oct. 22: How the Bible helped generate Israel’s settler-colonialism and the dispossession of Palestinians
Oct. 29: How Christian antisemitism, inspired by the New Testament, led to the creation of the state of Israel and the oppression of Palestinians
Nov. 5: How Christian Zionist readings of the Bible have enabled the genocide in Gaza
All sessions are on Zoom, free of charge. Find more details and registration here.
Weekly events hosted by Sabeel Jerusalem
Sabeel conducts a weekly English online worship service on Thursdays at 11:00 AM EDT. The services are a time to meet together to discuss how weekly scripture readings apply to life today, especially in Palestine and Israel, and to pray for the specific needs of this region through the Sabeel Wave of Prayer. Register here to participate.
Sabeel’s weekly topical Wave of Prayer email draws on specific experiences from the preceding week; you can find each week’s prayer here.
Sabeel’s Kumi Now program hosts weekly online sessions every Tuesday via livestream. Each week, Kumi Now highlights a different organization working to raise awareness about specific issues in Palestine and Israel, provides information about a specific issue of injustice through the stories of those affected, and promotes a creative nonviolent advocacy action. Register to participate here. After streaming live, all sessions are posted on the Kumi Now YouTube channel. To subscribe, search Kumi Now on YouTube and click Subscribe. Watch the most recent Kumi Now, “Legalizing Dispossession in East Jerusalem,” here.