Israel has levelled a northern Gaza district after giving families still there a half-hour warning to escape, as it made clear that a command to invade Gaza was expected soon. It has also ordered the evacuation of the biggest Israeli town near Lebanon, Kiryat Shmona. In Washington, US President Joe Biden, back from a trip… Continue reading Gaza district razed, invasion imminent, as Sydney protest approved

“Learn to do right; seek justice; defend the oppressed” (Isa 1:17). We, at the undersigned Palestinian Christian institutions and grassroots movements, grieve and lament the renewed cycle of violence in our land. As we were about to publish this open letter, some of us lost dear friends and family members in the atrocious Israeli bombardment… Continue reading A Call for Repentance: An Open Letter from Palestinian Christians to Western Church Leaders and Theologians

19/10/2023 33:7) aiah“The angels of peace are weeping bitterly” (Is As fellow Shepherds we add our voices to those of our Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches of Jerusalem. We care deeply for every human life, whether Israeli or Palestinian, created in the image and likeness of God. We weep for all victims and offer… Continue reading Appeal for a Just and lasting Peace in the Holy Land

(The Age, 19/10/2023) ( https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/this-is-a-massacre-basic-humanity-needs-to-be-restored-in-gaza-20231018-p5ed7k.html ) As we learn of the bombing of the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, once again we are forced to believe the unbelievable. As well as treating people injured in the war, the hospital was also hosting displaced Gazans who believed a medical facility would be a safe haven in… Continue reading ‘This is a massacre’: Basic humanity needs to be restored in Gaza

(The Age, 19/10/2023) ( https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/hospital-explosion-blame-game-pushes-middle-east-closer-to-all-out-war-20231018-p5ed9q.html ) Tel Aviv: A blame game over a deadly explosion at a packed Gaza hospital has pushed the Middle East closer to all-out war and damaged efforts by US President Joe Biden to broker a deal protecting civilians from the fallout of Israel’s impending invasion of Gaza. Hundreds of patients, staff… Continue reading Hospital explosion blame game pushes Middle East closer to all-out war

Dear Mr. Biden  Perhaps I am one of the few who had hoped against hope that your arrival into the holy land today would make a difference.  Perhaps this was not the case for those who have already passed, but definitely, would have for those who are still alive.  I was shuddering after the horrific… Continue reading A LETTER TO PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN

(Canberra Times, 18/10/2023) ( https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8389589/act-teens-labelled-terrorists-as-hell-on-earth-unfolds-in-gaza/?cs=14329 ) Canberran teenager Sarah Luay Taleb says she has been called a “terrorist” more times in the past week than she has heard the word itself her whole life. After war erupted between Israel and Hamas, Sarah, 17, and her sister Salma, 15, have been the subject of ignorant comments… Continue reading Palestinian-Australian students called ‘terrorist’ at school and online, community feels ‘isolated’

Gaza: An explosion has killed hundreds of Palestinians at a Gaza City hospital crammed with patients and displaced people, health authorities in the besieged enclave said. The reported strike on Tuesday, Israel time, was the bloodiest single incident since Israel launched an unrelenting bombing campaign against Gaza in retaliation for a deadly cross-border Hamas assault on southern… Continue reading Explosion at Gaza hospital kills hundreds

A Labor senator has demanded the government condemn Israel for “the killing of innocent civilians in Palestine”, accusing the Jewish state of “indiscriminately” attacking Gaza including with controversial white phosphorus munitions. Western Australian Senator Fatima Payman – a devout Muslim – said Israel had a right to defend itself, but “this cannot equate to the annihilation of Palestinian… Continue reading Labor senator Fatima Payman attacks ‘killing of innocent civilians in Palestine’