Christmas Canceled in Bethlehem as Churches Mourn 20,000+ Palestinians Killed in Gaza
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
December 22, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/12/22 ... transcript
In “mourning and honor” of Palestinians killed in Gaza, the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, has announced the cancellation of traditional Christmas festivities. In Bethlehem, we’re joined by the president of Dar al-Kalima University, Reverend Mitri Raheb. Reverend Raheb relates the story of Jesus, a refugee whose mother had no place to safely give birth, to the plight of displaced Gazans facing a dearth of medical care. “The Christmas story actually is a Palestinian story, par excellence,” he tells us, yet “we don’t hear the Christian community actually doing much about the atrocity happening in Gaza today.” As the world turns its back on the ongoing genocide, Rehab says he fears this could be “the end of the Christian presence in Gaza.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Christmas has been canceled in Bethlehem. As the death toll tops 20,000 in Gaza, we begin today’s show in the occupied West Bank — yes, in the city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ. The Christmas season is normally a festive time in Bethlehem, but not this year, as church leaders have canceled public Christmas festivities, citing Israel’s devastating attack on Gaza.
This is the Reverend Isaac Munther, the Palestinian pastor of a landmark Lutheran church in Bethlehem. He addressed his congregation earlier this month in front of a nativity scene with the figure of Jesus Christ in a keffiyeh, surrounded by rubble.
REV. MUNTHER ISAAC: [translated] Christmas is a ray of light and hope from the heart of pain and suffering. Christmas is the radiance of life from the heart of destruction and death. In Gaza, God is under the rubble. He is in the operating room. If Christ were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble. I invite you to see the image of Jesus in every child killed and pulled from under the rubble, in every child struggling for life in destroyed hospitals, in every child in incubators. Christmas celebrations are canceled this year, but Christmas itself is not and will not be canceled, for our hope cannot be canceled.
AMY GOODMAN: That was the Reverend Isaac Munther, the Palestinian pastor of a landmark Lutheran church in Bethlehem. He spoke in front of a nativity scene with the figure of Christ surrounded by rubble, the baby Jesus.
Earlier this week, Pope Francis accused Israel of committing terrorism in Gaza, after an Israeli sniper shot dead two women — an elderly woman and her adult daughter who had tried to save her mother — at a Catholic church in Gaza City where they had sought refuge. It was the Holy Family Parish church.
Politico reports Israel recently attacked a church and a convent in Gaza, even though congressional staffers in Washington had urged Israel to protect the religious sites and gave them the coordinates of the churches.
We go now to Bethlehem, where we’re joined by the Reverend Mitri Raheb. He’s president of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem, Palestinian Christian theologian who’s authored many books, including Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, the People, the Bible.
It’s hard to say “Merry Christmas” to you, Reverend Professor Dr. Mitri Raheb. But I will ask you how you’re observing Christmas this year. Talk about Bethlehem.
REV. MITRI RAHEB: You know, it’s a very sad Christmas. I don’t think in my entire life I experienced so much sadness, but also so much anger about what’s happening in Gaza. As you said, the celebration — I mean, the festivities were canceled in Bethlehem, so you don’t have Christmas lights. You don’t have a Christmas tree in Bethlehem. There are no tourists coming, because of the war. And the people are not up for celebrations, because our people in Gaza, but not only our people in Gaza, also our people in the West Bank, we here in the West Bank, we’re experiencing apartheid, colonization by Jewish settlers. And, you know, the death toll’s, as you said, 20,000 in Gaza, but also even in the West Bank in the hundreds. And also the detainees, Palestinian detainees, within these 75 days in the West Bank are over 3,000.
AMY GOODMAN: You have said that the story of Christmas, the story of the birth of Jesus, is more relevant now than ever, even though you will not be having festivities around this.
REV. MITRI RAHEB: Correct, because the Christmas story actually is a Palestinian story, par excellence. It talks about a family in Nazareth, in the north of Palestine, that is ordered by an imperial decree of the Romans to evacuate to Bethlehem, to go there and register. And this is exactly what our people in Gaza has been experiencing these 75 days. It talks about Mary, the pregnant woman, on the run, exactly like 50,000 women in Gaza who are actually displaced. Jesus was born actually as a refugee. There was no place at the inn for him to be born, so he was put in a manger. And this is exactly what also the kids that are coming to life these days in Gaza are experiencing. You know, most of the hospitals are damaged, out of service, and so there is no delivery places for all of these pregnant women in Gaza. And then you have the bloodthirsty Herod that ordered to kill the kids in Bethlehem to stay in power. And in Gaza, over 8,000 kids, they have been murdered for Netanyahu to stay in power.
And you have this message that the angels declared here, “Glory to God in the highest, peace on Earth,” which was actually a critique of the empire, because glory belongs to the Almighty and not to the mighty. And the peace that Jesus came to proclaim is not the peace, the Pax Romana, the peace that is based on subjugation and military operation, but on human dignity, equality and justice. And this is actually what we call for. And I have to say I find it really a shame that in this season, where every church hears these words, “peace on Earth,” that the United States is vetoing even a ceasefire. It’s a shame.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about this report in Politico, “Congressional staff tried to protect Gazan churches by sending locations to Israel.” That’s the headline. Now, you’re in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, and this is about Gaza. “The Israeli military received and confirmed the coordinates of the church and covenant in Gaza, both of which aid groups say were later struck by rockets and snipers.” It goes on to say, “The Holy Family church in Gaza was struck last weekend. The location of the church was included on a list of coordinates provided to the Israeli military by aid organizations and staffers on Capitol Hill in an effort to protect those sheltering there.” We reported in the last few days, among others, about the mom, the elderly mother, and her daughter, who were sheltering at the Holy Family church. This is what the pope referred to when he talked about Israel engaging in terrorism. First, the mo was hit. The daughter carries her, and then she’s hit. This is Pope Francis speaking on his 87th birthday at the Vatican Sunday.
POPE FRANCIS: [translated] And let us not forget our brothers and sisters suffering from war in Ukraine, Palestine, Israel and other conflict zones. May the approach of Christmas strengthen our commitment to open paths of peace. I continue to receive from Gaza very serious and painful news. Unarmed civilians are being bombed and shot at. And this has even happened inside the Holy Family Parish compound, where there are no terrorists, but families, children, and sick people with disabilities, and nuns. A mother and her daughter, Ms. Nahida Khalil Anton and her daughter Samar Kamal Anton, were killed, and others wounded, by the snipers as they went to the bathroom. The house of Mother Teresa’s nuns was damaged, their generator hit. Some say it’s terrorism. It’s war. Yes, it’s war. It’s terrorism. That is why Scripture says that God stops war, breaks bows and breaks spears. Let us pray to the Lord for peace.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s the pope speaking on his 87th birthday. I want to go on with this Politico piece. It says, “A church and a convent … were struck in Gaza … listed among Christian facilities congressional staffers had flagged to Israeli authorities for protection — according to a series of emails from October. The emails, which were obtained by POLITICO, show an increasingly frenzied back-and-forth between Catholic Relief Services — one of the largest Christian aid organizations in Gaza — and Senate staff over an effort to get a commitment from Israel to avoid targeting a number of buildings where its staff and civilians were sheltering.” They would ultimately be attacked. Reverend Mitri Raheb, your response?
REV. MITRI RAHEB: You know, Israel have been attacking churches, mosques, hospitals, schools, universities. Believe it or not, 11 universities were destroyed in this war. Over 200 schools were destroyed. Most of the hospitals, except nine, are out of service right now because of Israeli attacks on them.
But let’s come to the churches. You know, this is not the first attack, that happened last Saturday, that the pope talked about, because the first attack on a Christian institution happened to the Ahli Hospital, a so-called Baptist hospital, that belong actually to the Anglican Church. And then Israel had an airstrike on the Greek Orthodox church, Saint Porphyrius, where they destroyed fully the assembly hall of that church, where 50 Christians were having refuge. Twenty were killed, and 14 were injured. And then Israel destroyed a brand-new state-of-the-art Arab Orthodox cultural and social center. It costed $6 million. It was inaugurated just a few months ago. And it was made to rubbles. It doesn’t exist anymore. You cannot see it anymore. And then Israel attacked the Rosary Sister, another Catholic school.
This last week, they attacked — and the Pope spoke about it — actually a rehabilitation center for children with disability, that is run by the Sisters of Mother Teresa. And they attacked again last week the Ahli Hospital, that is now almost out of service, beside the sniper killing these two, the older woman with her daughter, within the Holy Family compound. And you know what? When some other parishioners in that compound wanted to go out to help them and to save them, Israel launched a missile on them, and 10 people from that parish were injured in that missile attack. I’m, on daily basis, in contact with those two parishes to see how they are doing. And I tell you, just a few hours ago, I received again another cry for help that that compound, the Holy Family compound, is surrounded by Israeli tanks, and Israeli snipers are all around on the rooftops of the neighboring buildings.
And this is just two days before Christmas. These are the Christmas gifts of Israel for the Christian community in Gaza. And I fear that this is the end of the Christian presence in Gaza. And, you know, the Christian presence in Gaza is a 2,000-years-old presence. I mean, these are not new converts. Christianity came to Gaza already in the first century. And throughout the last 20 centuries, there was a living Christian work there, and actually an affluent Christian community in Gaza. And I think this community is going to be extinct because of Israel war on Gaza. Three percent of the Christian community in Gaza was murdered in these 75 days. Three percent.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to play for you — and we played this earlier in the week — the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, recently appearing on British news program LBC and claiming, in fact, there are no Christians in Gaza.
NICK FERRARI: Why is it necessary? It would — is reported to start shooting, having snipers outside a church.
FLEUR HASSAN-NAHOUM: I don’t — I saw the report this morning. The church — there are no churches in Gaza. So I’m not quite sure where the report —
NICK FERRARI: Well —
FLEUR HASSAN-NAHOUM: — is talking about.
NICK FERRARI: There’s a Catholic Church in there, isn’t there? That is in —
FLEUR HASSAN-NAHOUM: Yeah, unfortunately, there are no Christians, because they were driven out by Hamas.
NICK FERRARI: Well, there are — respectfully, there are Christians, because I spoke to an MP yesterday who has family members in the church who are Christians.
FLEUR HASSAN-NAHOUM: Well, I don’t know what happened.
NICK FERRARI: Unless you’re telling me she’s wrong.
FLEUR HASSAN-NAHOUM: I don’t know who was attacked. I didn’t see the report.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s the Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum speaking on the British news program LBC. Your response, Reverend?
REV. MITRI RAHEB: You know, I mean, we are unfortunately used to Israeli lies and fake news that they keep spreading. You know, how they cannot know that there are a Christian community in Gaza? I mean, you spoke before that they got the coordinates of the two churches, like they get also the coordinates of the hospitals. And remember, these Christians, every year, were applying for permits to come over Christmas to Bethlehem. So the Israeli authorities, they know everyone by name, by picture, by age, by gender. Again, but these are the lies.
And do you know why Israel can do all of this? Because they are impune. Nobody, because of the American veto, brings them, actually, and makes them responsible for what they are doing. And now they actually are destroying all of Gaza. And guess who will pay for it. They will call some Arab countries or Europe or others to rebuild Gaza. Once Israel is made responsible for its atrocities, they will stop doing that.
And for me, as a pastor, I have to say, you know, imagine — imagine if a synagogue was attacked and 20 Jewish worshipers in a synagogue were killed by an airstrike by any country. The whole Christian world will be in uproar. Unfortunately, we don’t hear the Christian community actually doing much about the atrocity happening in Gaza today.
AMY GOODMAN: Reverend Raheb, I wanted to ask you about your latest book, Decolonizing Palestine, which challenges the weaponization of biblical text to support of the current settler colonial state of Israel. That’s how it’s described. And I was wondering if you could comment on: Some of the most adamant supporters of the Israeli military are U.S. evangelicals, and some of the fiercest critics are progressive Jews, like Jewish Voice for Peace. And if you could comment on both?
REV. MITRI RAHEB: Yes. Actually, in this book, I try to show that, actually, the current state of Israel, in its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, is actually a settler colonial project. And a settler colonial project means these are settlers, that they come, in this case from Europe mainly, to settle permanently in another country, not to live with the native people, but to replace the native people and to drive them out of their own country. And to do that, they have to create a policing state, and they have to demonize the native people as savage, as terrorists, as backwards, as human animals — as you are hearing from Israeli politicians right now.
And actually, if you heard Netanyahu when he said that the Israeli troops are entering Gaza, that same day in October, late October, he quoted the Bible and talked about Amalek. And that is from 1 Samuel 15:3, where God is telling Saul to go and extinct the whole Amalek community, not to spare man, woman, elderly, child, even ox and sheep. And so this is a call for genocide. And this is, again, a settler colonial tool, that was done in North America. It was done in South Africa. It was done in many other countries. So, what happened in the United States 400 years ago to the Native Americans is happening to Palestinians today in Gaza. So this is what I’m talking about.
And this weaponization of — the weaponizing of the Bible by Christian Zionists is something that is, for us, very troublesome. You know, for us, these Christian Zionists are actually antisemite, because they don’t love the Jewish people. They want all Jews to come to Palestine, according to their ideology, that two-thirds will be killed in a war, and the last third will convert to Christianity. So, basically, they are calling for the annihilation of the Jewish people. But Netanyahu has no problem to share bed with them, not out of love, but to fulfill selfish desires, so to say.
And I’m so glad that, actually, Netanyahu doesn’t represent the whole Jewish people. You know, Judaism is very broad, like Christianity and Islam. It’s a very broad religion. You have from the far right to the far left. And for me, groups like Jewish Voices for Peace, Not in My Names and many other groups that I’m in contact with them, they are a sign of hope that actually together, as Jews, Muslims and Christians who are interested in equality, in human dignity, in justice, so that both peoples can share the land and the three religions can live side by side. I think this is the vision that we are calling for.
AMY GOODMAN: Reverend Mitri Raheb, we want to thank you for being with us. Reverend Mitri Raheb is the president of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem, Palestinian Christian theologian who’s authored many books, including Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, the People, the Bible.
Coming up, the United Nations Security Council is preparing possibly to vote on a watered-down resolution on aid to Gaza, after the U.S. repeatedly pushed for delays even though the U.N. is warning more than half a million Palestinians, about a quarter of the population, face catastrophic hunger and starvation. Back in 20 seconds.
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Gazan Attorney Who Has Lost 60 Relatives in Israeli Attacks Says U.S. Is “Complicit in Genocide”
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
December 22, 2023
The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote today on a watered-down resolution on aid to Gaza. Though the resolution originally called for an immediate ceasefire, the United States repeatedly pushed for the vote to be delayed and the resolution’s language weakened before agreeing to support it. In the meantime, the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 20,000, while an additional 500,000 now face hunger and starvation. Ahead of today’s Security Council session, we speak to Ahmed Abofoul, a Gaza-born and now Hague-based attorney with the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, who calls out the “double standards” of U.S. support of Israel’s actions in Gaza, as compared to its mobilization of international enforcement mechanisms against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “The American government is complicit in this genocide. There is blood of Palestinian children on their hands.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.
The United Nations Security Council is preparing to vote on a watered-down resolution on aid to Gaza, after the United States pushed for the vote to be delayed four times this week as Israel continued its massive assault on Gaza that’s killed at this point over 20,000 Palestinians, reaching about the death of 1% of the Gazan population. Health officials in Gaza say at least 390 Palestinians have been killed over the last 48 hours. The United Nations is warning more than half a million Palestinians in Gaza — about a quarter of the population — face catastrophic hunger and starvation.
We go now to Ahmed Abofoul. He is a Gaza-born attorney who works as a legal research and advocacy officer at Al-Haq, the oldest Palestinian human rights organization. He recent wrote an article headlined “We are Witnessing a Genocide Unfolding in Gaza: To Stop it, the ICC Prosecutor Must Apply the Law Without Fear or Favour.” Ahmed is joining us from New York City.
We welcome you to Democracy Now! When you use the term “genocide” — you’re an international human rights lawyer — explain exactly what you mean and why you believe this applies to Gaza, Ahmed Abofoul.
AHMED ABOFOUL: Thank you for having me, first of all.
Second of all, the word “genocide” is a legal term that is specifically defined in international law, and it’s also a crime that has elements. Once these elements are met, the crime is committed. And as you know, this is a term that has not been used a lot before in the context of Palestine, although the crime, we believe, it has been committed. So, for example, what happened in 1948, many would argue, and I agree, was an act of genocide. The only reason we didn’t call it genocide then, that we didn’t have the concept of genocide had crystallized yet. We didn’t have the Genocide Convention. We didn’t have the definition. It was also used in the context of Palestine in the Sabra and Shatila massacre. And this is the only time that the U.N. described the situation as genocide. Genocide in international law is a crime, and it’s defined when there are — certain underlying acts are being committed with the special intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a certain ethnic or religious or political group. And in this case, we believe the situation in Gaza is that of genocide.
Usually in genocide, the hardest thing to prove is the mental element and the special intent to commit genocide. And in order to prove that, courts usually recourse to statements of the perpetrators. In this particular situation, we have numerous statements of genocidal intent, that are also being translated into actions on the ground. We see the level of destruction, the disregard of human life, the — in the words of Biden, the indiscriminate bombing of civilians. And this is not only our conclusion as Palestinian human rights organizations. As a matter fact, 800 genocide and Holocaust scholars have also described the situation as genocide. And certain scholars describe it a textbook case of genocide.
AMY GOODMAN: Now, Ahmed Abofoul, if you can talk personally about Gaza, about your homeland? You grew up in Gaza or were born in Gaza. In fact, your name, Ahmed Abofoul, didn’t someone in your family by that same name just die?
AHMED ABOFOUL: Well, now over 60 of my family have died, including my — have been killed, to be accurate, including my eldest uncle, some of my cousins. And like most Palestinians, we don’t feel like we even have the luxury to grieve, considering the level of destruction and the horrific crimes that are being committed. It’s really heartbreaking. We’ve always grew up to hear the stories of the Nakba. We’ve never imagined that we would live it. It happened in 1948 because it wasn’t televised. The world didn’t know what’s going on in Palestine. But now it’s quite disgraceful that it’s a televised carnage, and the world is literally watching.
You mentioned the Security Council resolution that was watered down and will be voted on today. But if you look at this situation and if you look at the voting record, it’s basically the U.S. versus the world. The U.S. is actually promoting this genocide, supporting this genocide. I would never know, and most probably my family was killed by American weapons. Our children are being torn apart on TV, on your TV screens, by American tax money, by the support of the American government. The American government is complicit in this genocide. There is blood of Palestinian children on their hands.
And that’s why, with our partners in the U.S., with the Center for Constitutional Rights — and I know you interviewed Katie Gallagher, who spoke more about this — but we’re suing Biden and — President Biden, but also Secretary of State Blinken and Secretary of Defense Austin, not only for their complicity in genocide, but also for the failure to prevent genocide. If there is any country in the world that can influence Israeli policies, it’s the U.S.
And if you’ll allow me, I mentioned that I come from a refugee family. So I’m not originally from Gaza. Like over 75% of the population in Gaza are refugees. So, when we say this is a second Nakba, it is a second Nakba. In 1948, over 80% of the Palestinian population were forcibly displaced. Now we have over 90% of the population that is displaced. We have over 60% of Gaza’s residential units have been destroyed. Most of the population are on the edge of starvation. It’s quite shameful, to be honest, that until this very moment the U.S. cannot do the bare minimum of human decency, which is calling for a ceasefire, and trying to provide diplomatic coverage for the genocide that is unfolding in Gaza.
AMY GOODMAN: So, can you account for — on the one hand, you have President Biden warning Israel about indiscriminate bombing, and, on the other hand, you have the U.S. dragging its feet all week. Yesterday, we thought right after the show, I think 10 a.m., they were going to be voting. But now it is Friday. Four times this vote has been delayed, a resolution that will clearly not be for a ceasefire. Can you explain the significance of — what difference does a U.N. Security Council resolution even make? Is it binding? What would it mean? And what it has been watered down to at this point today?
AHMED ABOFOUL: Of course. Well, the Security Council resolutions are binding, although Israel has a history of not respecting those resolutions. The U.S. has been trying to water down the language not to include clear call for an immediate ceasefire. In the same time, they call for safe and unhindered humanitarian supplies and humanitarian aid. But in the same time, they don’t call for a ceasefire. And quite strange formula from the U.S., on the one hand, to want safe and unhindered humanitarian access, but without stopping the fire. So, basically, it wants humanitarian aid workers to work under the hell that Israel unleashed on the Palestinian civilian population.
And as you mentioned, Biden didn’t only warn the Israelis; he actually made a determination, and we agree with him. He said Israel is engaged in indiscriminate bombing. This is a war crime. So, the question is: Why do you then send weapons to Israel? The position of the U.S. is quite hypocritical. And the U.S. cannot claim leadership in the world, because it’s not showing us that leadership. Actions speak louder than words. The U.S. — or, President Biden, only yesterday, tweeted that the U.S. supports the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. Two days before that, the U.S. voted against the resolution on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. So, we don’t want to see words. We want to see actions. And the hypocrisy of the U.S. is quite flagrant. You know, a principal leadership and true leadership is about the consistent application of international law, the principal application of international law on your foes and your allies alike. Hypocrisy, double standards and selectivity don’t reflect characteristics of leadership, but of complicity in genocide.
And if you’ll allow me, what’s at stake at the moment is not only the dehumanization of the Palestinian people and the genocide that they’re facing, but also the whole body of international law is being put to test, because, basically, we saw how the West, led by the U.S., mobilized this body of international law in the case of Ukraine, but in the case of Gaza, they’re preventing or failing to do the bare minimum, which is call for a ceasefire. So I think what’s also at stake is the credibility and the reputation of the U.S., which always portrays itself as a beacon of democracy, but, in fact, is showing us that it supports genocide.
And what’s also, I think, interesting in this situation, that it’s also putting all of these, quote-unquote, “liberal democracies” to test, because all polls show that most Americans want a ceasefire, most Democrats in Congress want a ceasefire, but there seems to be a disconnect between what the people want and what the U.S. leadership is doing. So, we call on Biden and the Biden administration to listen to their people, to listen to their people and do the bare minimum, which is calling for a ceasefire.
AMY GOODMAN: Ahmed, I want to thank you so much for being with us. And also, our condolences on the death of so many members of your family in Gaza. Ahmed Abofoul is legal research and advocacy officer at the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq. We’ll link to your piece,“We are Witnessing a Genocide Unfolding in Gaza: To Stop it, the ICC Prosecutor Must Apply the Law Without Fear or Favour.”
Coming up, we speak to Brazil’s first-ever m