Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food?
For months, Palestinians in Gaza have faced deep food insecurity and the threat of famine while enough food to feed everyone in Gaza is being prevented from getting in. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), like other organizations, has struggled to deliver humanitarian assistance because the government of Israel is deliberately obstructing food and other essential supplies from entering Gaza.
Since October 2023, Israel has stopped issuing work visas to humanitarian workers, impacting the ability of relief agencies, including the United Nations (UN), to effectively respond to the crises in Gaza and the West Bank. MCC’s Representatives for Jordan, Palestine and Israel were forced to relocate from Jerusalem to Amman, Jordan, in July because Israel refused to renew their work visas.
Not only is Israel obstructing the delivery of food, it also routinely denies the entry of shelter materials, medical supplies and other humanitarian assistance into Gaza. Israel continues to subject Palestinians in Gaza to disease and death by obstructing the delivery of these life-saving items at a time when:
MCC is responding to the immense humanitarian crisis through its partners in both Gaza and the West Bank. Our partners in Gaza are working tirelessly to help those most affected even though they themselves have been forcibly displaced multiple times and are living in terrible conditions. They have experienced the deaths of multiple family members and relatives by Israeli missile strikes on the schools and tents where they sought refuge. Our partners speak of unimaginable terrors that they witness daily, including the sight of children dying from malnutrition.
In Matthew 25, Jesus challenged followers to consider that when they turn away from someone who is hungry or sick, they are turning away from Jesus. As an organization that strives to share God’s love and compassion for all through relief, development and peacebuilding, we call on our governments to do all they can to ensure the safe delivery of aid to those suffering in unimaginable conditions:
- We urge the U.S. and Canadian governments to press Israel to uphold its obligations under international humanitarian law. This includes, as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered, that Israel take “all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay … the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza.”
- We urge the U.S. government to resume funding for UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, as every other UNRWA-funding country, including Canada, has already done.
- We urge the Canadian government to continue to publicly condemn violations of international humanitarian law, call for accountability for perpetrators, and continue to push for increased humanitarian aid access.
Lord, our hearts break to see your children suffering. Give us strength as we respond in your name to help those most affected by violence. We ask that you break all barriers and obstructions that prevent us from serving those who are hungry. Give us the courage and conviction to speak out against violence and hate. Change the hearts of the powerful so they may reflect your compassion.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
When the biblical prophet Isaiah observed the power of violence to cause suffering and injustice, God gave him a vision of the future in which God’s children would beat their swords into plowshares and would not know war anymore (Isaiah 2:4). Anabaptists have a long history of rejecting the use of violence on a personal level, and of speaking out against all forms of violence, including violence committed by governments.
We began our work in Gaza in 1949 in response to the Nakba where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced to create the state of Israel. MCC partners with Palestinians and Israelis to address humanitarian needs of those affected by violence and to seek a just peace. MCC denounces this latest iteration of violence in which:
- Approximately 1,100 people in Israel were killed and 251 people were taken captive by Hamas.
- More than 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israel; of those killed, about 40% were children.
- Over 10,000 people are estimated to be buried under the rubble in Gaza.
- More than 250 humanitarian workers, 500 medical workers and 116 journalists have been killed by Israel.
- 300 doctors have been indefinitely detained by Israeli officials and 54 journalists have been arrested.
- In Gaza, churches, mosques, schools, universities, UN buildings and tent encampments of displaced Palestinians in areas declared “humanitarian zones” by the Israeli government have been systematically targeted by the Israeli military.
- Since October 2023, in the West Bank, more than 3,400 Palestinians have been displaced and more than 600 killed, some by the Israeli military and others by Israeli settlers.
As followers of Jesus, we have an opportunity—and a responsibility—to intercede to stop this cycle of violence. In January 2024, MCC called for a halt to arms transfers to Israel and armed Palestinian groups from all states, a movement that has grown to include over 250 humanitarian and human rights organizations, UN human rights experts and several member states of the UN. MCC has also advocated for the implementation of the ICJ provisional ruling issued in January which calls on Israel and all states to prevent genocide in Gaza. And we continue to call on our governments to work for a ceasefire, with the latest proposal agreed to by Hamas and endorsed by the UN Security Council, but held up by Israel.
- MCC applauds the recent decision by the government of Canada to restrict arms sales to Israel, including from a U.S. subsidiary company based in Quebec, as well as the decision to stop issuing new permits since March of 2024. We call on the Canadian government to continue to cancel arms permits issued before March of 2024. We also call for continued diplomatic engagement to push for a ceasefire.
- MCC decries the near unmitigated military support that the U.S. government has provided to Israel to carry out a genocidal campaign against Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank, supplying more than 50,000 tons of military equipment to Israel since October 2023, part of $230 billion USD in military aid since 1946. We call on the Biden-Harris Administration to immediately cease all military support to Israel to comply with U.S. and international law and with the ICJ’s ruling to prevent genocide.
- We remind the global community that the pillars of international justice—the ICJ and the International Criminal Court—were set up in the wake of World War II to prevent atrocity crimes. Their rulings must be respected, including the responsibility to withhold weapons from countries where there is a plausible risk of atrocity crimes, such as genocide.
Lord, help us not to lose hope in the midst of violence and despair. Bless us once again with visions of peace in which the nations beat their swords into plowshares. Encourage us as we transform spears into pruning hooks. Give us the confidence to advocate to the nations so that children born tomorrow can thrive in a world where they will not learn war anymore.
They shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid
In Micah 4:4 we are gifted with the image of a community in which all “sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.” We dream of a time when Israelis and Palestinians flourish together in peace, when the world rejects militarism and war, and when we are all in right relation with God and neighbor.
As Rachel Beitarie, director of Zochrot, one of MCC’s Israeli partners, put so well:
“We cannot go back to the status quo. We must end the occupation! But … it is not enough to resist this occupation. We must offer an alternative vision.
Together, we can create a future that is not based on separation, dispossession, racism and the denial of all those but on solidarity, equality and justice. On the interconnected stories of us all that do not come at each other’s expense.
Instead of placing our hopes in generals or tycoons, we can offer the solidarity among us and with our Palestinian sisters and brothers. Instead of power politics, [we can offer] the midwife’s wisdom: To manage to see the potential of what is not yet born, what does not yet exist. A society that has not yet emerged, whose contours we do not yet see. To overcome fear and take risks so that the future we want can be brought into this world. A joint future for all the inhabitants of this land, for all the refugees, a society that will heal the wounds, and be based on compassion and love.
… Let us be the midwives of this wonder. Let’s keep pushing, let’s keep laboring, until everyone is free.”
For more than 100 years, MCC has been committed to working with partners around the world to build a future where each can sit under their own vine and fig tree. A future of peace, rooted in justice. We remain committed to that vision today.
We encourage you to add your voice, to be a peacemaker:
Ann Graber Hershberger, MCC U.S. Executive Director
Rick Cober Bauman, MCC Canada Executive Director
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), a worldwide ministry of Anabaptist churches, shares God’s love and compassion for all in the name of Christ by responding to basic human needs and working for peace and justice. MCC envisions communities worldwide in right relationship with God, one another and creation. Serving in more than 40 countries, MCC has been walking alongside churches and local partner organizations in Palestine and Israel for 75 years.
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Contact:
Linda Espenshade
Mennonite Central Committee
7178591151
lindaespenshade@mcc.org
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of RNS or Religion News Foundation.
