Thursday, April 04, 2024

“A Genocide Has Been Normalized”

The Reverend Munther Isaac is a Palestinian Christian theologian and the pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem.

Last Christmas, Rev. Isaac delivered a sermon entitled “Christ in the Rubble: A Liturgy of Lament,” which received worldwide attention. At last weekend's Easter Vigil mass, the focus of Rev. Isaac’s sermon was Western complicity in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. Following is an excerpt.

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Today we have entered a new phase of the war of genocide, in which the people of Gaza are being killed by hunger, thirst and disease. They are starved to death. It is a slow death. They are hanging between heaven and Earth, dying slowly while the world is watching. They have no form or majesty, that we should look at them, from whom men hide their faces.

It took more than five months and 32,000 people killed, including 13,000 children, for the U.N. Security Council to finally pass a ceasefire. But nothing has changed on the ground. Since when does Israel care about U.N. resolutions? Israel has never been held accountable or even condemned by Western leaders. This remains the single biggest problem today. Right now we are pleading for aid and food to enter. We gave up on a ceasefire. Just bring food, water and medicine. Lord, have mercy.

Friends, a genocide has been normalized. And as people of faith, if we truly claim to follow a crucified savior, we can never be okay with this. We should never accept the normalization of a genocide. We should never be okay with children dying from starvation, not because of drought or famine, but starvation, man-made catastrophe, because of the empire. A genocide has been normalized, just as apartheid was normalized in Palestine and, before that, in South Africa, just as slavery and the caste system were normalized. It has been firmly established to us that the leaders of the superpowers and those who benefit from the modern colonialism do not look at us as equals. They created the narrative to normalize genocide. They have a theology for it. A genocide has been normalized. This is racism at its worst.

And the very same political and church leaders who lined up in October, one after the other, to give the green light for this genocide, giving it the cover of self-defense, cannot even bring themselves to condemn the obvious war crimes being committed by Israel. They are good at raising their concern, make statements that they are “troubled” by the killing of our children. We’re sorry that the killing of our children by your weapons, actually, troubled you. They want to convince us that they actually care. So, their response? They are silent during the genocide and then show up afterwards with charity to say that they care. Can we really accept this?

Many countries rushed to suspend their funding of UNRWA based on mere allegations that were not fully proven, yet did nothing with regards to the clear findings of the ICJ. The amount of hypocrisy is incomprehensible, and the level of racism involved for such hypocrisy is appalling. And now some politicians claim that their patience with Israel is ending. And we say nothing can wash the blood from your hands.

– The Reverend Munther Isaac
Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church – Bethlehem
Excerpted from “Easter Vigil for Gaza
March 30, 2024


For Democracy Now’s April 1, 2024 interview with Rev Isaac, click here.



NEXT:
“This Is a Genocidal Project”



Related Off-site Links:
Doctor at Israeli Detention Camp for Gazans Blows Whistle on War Crimes – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, April 4, 2024).
Road to Famine: Israeli Law Professor Neve Gordon on Israel’s History of Weaponizing Food Access in GazaDemocracy Now! (April 4, 2024).
80+ Groups Urge Biden to “Reverse Course Before Thousands More Die” in Gaza – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, April 3, 2024).
The New York Times Finds U.S. Complicity in Genocide Unremarkable – Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, April 2, 2024).
Israel’s Dictionary of Deception – Dubravka Žarkov (Common Dreams, April 2, 2024).
War on Gaza: “Reasonable Grounds” to Believe Israel Committing Genocide, Says U.N. ExpertMiddle East Rye (March 26, 2024).
U.N. Expert Says She Faces Threats After Israel-Gaza Genocide ReportRising (March 27, 2024).
U.N. Rapporteur Francesca Albanese Urges Arms Embargo and Sanctions on Israel over War Crimes in GazaDemocracy Now! (March 12, 2024).
Biden Administration Quietly Approves 100+ Arms Sales to Israel While Claiming Concern for Civilians in GazaDemocracy Now! (March 7, 2024).
U.N. Expert: “Apartheid Is in Front of Your Eyes Everywhere You Go” – Meron Rapoport (+972mag, February 6, 2024).
“The Worst of What Humanity Is Capable Of”: Pediatrician Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan on What She Saw in GazaDemocracy Now! (March 28, 2024).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Voices of Reason and Compassion on the Crisis in Israel and Gaza
More Voices of Reason and Compassion on the Crisis in Israel and Gaza
Josh Paul: Quote of the Day – March 28, 2024
Phyllis Bennis: Quote of the Day – March 28, 2024
Michael Fakhri: Quote of the Day – February 27, 2024
Sabrina Salvati: Quote of the Day – January 2, 2024
Christmas 2023 – Reflections, Activism, Art, and Celebrations
Jehad Abusalim: Quote of the Day – December 8, 2023
Ta-Nehisi Coates: Quote of the Day – November 2, 2023
In the Midst of the “Great Unraveling,” a Visit to the Prayer Tree
Prayer of the Week – October 16, 2023
Something to Think About – October 12, 2023
Eric Levitz: Quote of the Day – October 11, 2023
Phyllis Bennis: “If We Are Serious About Ending This Spiraling Violence, We Need to Look at Root Causes”
“Nothing About Today is ‘Unprovoked’”
“The Mistreatment and Discrimination Against Palestinians Is Not Unprecedented. It’s Baked Into the Foundation of the Political System in Israel”
Progressive Perspectives on the Ongoing Israeli-Palestinian “Nightmare” (2021)
Something to Think About – July 29, 2018
Noura Erakat: Quote of the Day – May 15, 2018
For Some Jews, Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians is Yet Another Jewish Tragedy
Remembering the Six-Day War and Its Ongoing Aftermath
David Norris: Quote of the Day – August 12, 2014


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