Christianity and it's link to Palestinian Oppression / A.J. Hendry
My heart has been heavy this week as I've reflected on the plight of our Palestinian whānau.
Heavier still as I've watched many within my own faith whānau stand with the oppressors, promoting anti-human, anti-Palestinian, Israeli propaganda in support of Palestinian oppression.
It saddens me that my faith tradition has been so instrumental in the events which have led to our Palestinian brothers and sisters being torn from their whenua, murdered, forced into poverty, and oppressed. It grieves me that I, and many others, were taught to celebrate the suffering of Palestinians, and rejoice in the boot Israel placed upon their necks.
Like many kids who grew up within the Western Christian Tradition I was taught Israeli propaganda as a child. I grew up believing that Palestinians were all terrorists, and in fact weren't even a real people. I was taught that the state of Israel was chosen by God, and any injustices, or atrocities (murders, forced evictions, occupation and colonization) were the fault of the Palestinian "terrorists" (freedom fighters?) not the Israeli state.
I was taught that the States creation was an act of God, a Divine sign that biblical prophecy was coming true right before our eyes, a warning of Christ’s imminent return.
And I was taught that God was unequivocally on the side of the Israeli state, and that those who dared speak against Israel, spoke against God.
This was my view until perhaps my early twenties. I was studying theology at Laidlaw College and took a paper on Majority World Theology. In it I came across the work of Palestinian Liberation Theologians and learnt of the history and context of the creation of the Israeli state. Of how the state had been largely resourced and supported by Christian Zionists. How many indigenous Palestinians had at first anticipated the return of European Jews with joy, intending to welcome them home after the atrocity of the holocaust with open arms. How instead they had been torn from their homes and forced into refugee camps, how men, women and children had been massacred, and how entire families had their livelihoods and wealth stripped and stolen from them.
I learnt of the inhumane conditions Palestinians in the Gaza strip were forced to live in, and of how the Israeli state continued a policy of forced eviction and relocation of the indigenous people of the land, many whose ancestors had lived in the whenua for time immemorial.
And I learnt of the lie of the embattered Israeli state, defended by God against a host of blood thirsty Arab nations. Instead, I learnt of the military dominance of the Israeli state, and how – funded by the west – they had managed to build a world class military force that rivalled the Palestinian peasants, and Arab neighbours they opposed.
From listening, and learning, from the voices of Palestinian Theologians, I saw past – for the first time – the image of the bloody thirsty, Jew-hating, radicalized Palestinian I’d been taught about from many of the elders within my faith tradition.
I saw Palestinians.
I saw humans.
And, through the suffering, the Love, and the courage of the Palestinian Christian community, I met the Divine. I learnt of Christian Palestinians fighting for justice for their people, yet also advocating for peace, and seeking a form of Liberation founded in Love, that both demanded Justice, and at the same time, sought reconciliation.
From the likes of Naim Ateek and other Palestinian theologians who came in his wake, I learnt of a God who though unequivocally on the side of the poor, and oppressed, also had room for the oppressor, opening His arms to the colonizer, and inviting him to repent, to change sides, to join the resistance.
Today, Christian Zionism is still a dominant feature of the Western Christian Tradition. Many Christians still believe and teach that the “conflict” in Palestine is due to the radical nature, and unholy hatred of Palestinians towards the Israeli’s. The idea that God is on the side of the Israeli state, and that it is God’s will that Israel expands, and that the Israeli’s take the land, is still deeply rooted within the psyche of the Western Christian.
Perhaps this is your view. Perhaps, this is what you’ve been taught since you were a child. If so, I implore you to think deeper.
Is God on the side of forced evictions, sending entire families into homelessness?
Is the Divine in favour of massacring Palestinian men, women, and children in order to steal their land?
Is God in support of a Israeli state that requires Palestinian children to grow up in poverty?
Shamefully Christianity - in direct opposition to the Divine - has been used to fund and legitimize the oppression of the Palestinian people.
And yet, I am reminded, despite how the Church has often championed Israeli colonization and occupation, God is on the side of the Palestinians.
Jesus was born in the Gaza strip.
He grew up under the thumb of Israeli occupation.
He is sympathetic to Hamas' cause.
He is opposed to the occupation.
Even now He calls for Justice.
Even now he demands The Right of Return.
Even now he renounces those who would preach Zionism in His name.
Even now he calls Israel, the West, her Church, to repent.
Even now he preaches the Gospel, sharing the Good News that Palestine will be Liberated
And the Israeli occupation will end.
When we stand for Israel, against Palestine, we stand against God.
Christian Zionism is anti-Christ.
To follow the Way, we must repent of our Traditions collusion with the Israeli State. This is not a neatral fight. Jesus is Palestinian, and His Gospel is the peoples Liberation.
Jesus calls you to Gaza!
A.J. Hendry