An Open Letter to our Presbyterian Representatives
Dear Presbyterian Representatives,
As your Presbyterian siblings, we are called by our faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, as well as by the exhortation of the Rev. Jihyun Oh, the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of Presbyterian Church (USA), “to stand in the deepest places of suffering, to speak when silence enables harm, and to act wherever human worth is disregarded.”
The tears of lament filling our throats will not quell our moral outrage at the active part you are playing in the direct facilitation of Israel’s genocidal violence against the Palestinian people of Gaza. Since the earliest days of Israel’s war, Netanyahu has invoked the biblical image of the Amalekites to suggest that Palestinians should be wiped from the face of the earth. This is an abhorrent and racist use of scripture, yet it has not deterred you from defending Israel and hosting Netanyahu, on multiple occasions–a man charged, under international law, with crimes of extermination, persecution, and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.
Your ongoing support for Israel signals to the world that the Presbyterian Church, and U.S. Christianity as a whole, is supportive of the genocidal actions of Israel. We are writing to refute your false witness as a representative of the PC(USA). The actions you have condoned and enabled are not only in violation of international law, but in violation of God’s ultimate law to love our neighbors.
As Presbyterians we profess to believe in the sanctity of all life and that we are created by God to be stewards- care takers- of the earth and all creation. And yet, due to policies and arms deals you have directly supported, ince October 7th at least 10% of the population in Gaza has been killed or wounded. Israel’s own records show at least 83% of those deaths recorded have been civilian casualties of noncombatents, children and adults alike. Since October 7th, Israel has dropped more than a hundred thousand tons of explosives on Gaza–more than was dropped during WWII on London, Hamburg, and Dresden combined; poisoning land, sea, and sky alike for generations to come. It is estimated that 70% of all structures in Gaza–homes, mosques, churches, schools, libraries, etc., are either severely damaged or completely destroyed. Beyond these senseless mass civilian casualties, Israel has been restricting the flow of food, medicines, hygiene supplies, shelter materials, and more as well as access to water and electricity. At least 400 Gazans have already died from starvation, including at least 141 children, something more than a hundred humanitarian and human rights organizations have been sounding the alarm about.
Rev. Oh has asked us to name what we are witnessing: “The deliberate targeting of civilians and the systematic erasure of Palestinian life demand urgent accountability. Increasing numbers of international legal scholars, Christian denominations, human rights organizations, and genocide experts, including Christian, Jewish, and Israeli voices, have warned that the unfolding destruction in Gaza meets the criteria of genocide under international law.” Yet your refusal to hold Netanyahu accountable for his war crimes and your continued defense of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza demonstrates a calculated decision on your part to parrot the talking points of empire over the decades-long Presbyterian witness on Israel/Palestine.
Did you know that the Presbyterian Church (USA), at its 226th General Assembly, approved through its consent agenda, a rejection of Christian Zionism in all its forms and confessed our complicity, as mainline protestants, in this theology that oppresses and erases Palestinians but also exploits Jews?
Are you further aware that our General Assembly has:
Called for an end to military occupation and systemic discrimination.
Opposed the blockade of Gaza and the use of collective punishment.
Urged the U.S. government to ensure that its aid does not contribute to violations of human rights.
As a Christian person of faith, and as a member of the PC(USA), we implore you to stop supporting the genocide in Gaza. Stop using American tax dollars to facilitate Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Stop working as a pawn in Netanyahu’s criminal destruction of Palestine and simultaneous endangerment to our Jewish siblings around the world. Follow the good guidance of your own denomination’s policies to work for a just peace for all and a permanent ceasefire.
As Presbyterians, we expect you to fulfill the duties of your faith and your elected office: to uphold U.S. law that prohibits military funding for human rights violations, end U.S. complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people, and get unobstructed humanitarian aid immediately into Gaza. We call on you to join the growing number of Senators and US Representatives committing to stop sending US-tax-funded weapons to Israel by introducing companion legislation to the Block the Bombs Act (H.R. 3565) introduced by Rep. Delia Ramirez. to. Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem cannot wait. Your own constituents cannot wait. Presbyterians have helped shape this nation from its earliest days, and we will not idly watch this chapter be written in the blood of our Palestinian siblings. As your siblings in Christ, we are calling you back to the path of loving justice and asking you to remember your responsibility to protect those whom God loves- everyone. May the Spirit of the Palestinian Jewish Jesus of Nazareth convict and guide each of us, but especially you, right now.
Your Presbyterian Siblings,