When Injustice Has a Name
- Jun 10
- 2 min read
“You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien,
for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”
Exodus 22:21
Dear Friends,
On October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by Hamas killed 1,195 people. Two thirds of these people were civilians. They also took about 250 people hostage. It was a ruthless, horrible attack by members of Hamas.
Israel’s response was to begin a war on Gaza. Since then, over 71,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 171,000 injured in Gaza. In spite of cease fires, the bombing and killing continues. Israel also engaged and continues to engage in hostilities against Lebanon as part of its proxy war against Iran.
Of course, the hostilities began long before the October 7th attacks. In the aftermath of World War II when the United Nations partitioned part of what was then called “Palestine” to provide for a Jewish homeland, tens of thousands of Palestinians were displaced and the Middle East has not been at rest since. For most of that time, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have been Israeli-controlled, occupied territories. By almost all accounts, this occupation has been very harsh on the Palestinians with restricted travel, extremely limited ability to develop, and gradual but continuous seizure of Palestinian land and property by the Israeli government. Concurrently, Palestinians have very little standing in Israeli courts and have no recourse when lands and properties are seized or when they are arrested. This brings me to the heart of my update today…
On June 2, Natalie Abuddayeh was taken at gunpoint by Israeli forces from her apartment in the West Bank and presumably arrested. Natalie is a fellow Lutheran and is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Beit Jala. Bishop Imad Haddad of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land has asked us to pray for her release. His letter is attached below.
I invite you to read his letter and pray for Natalie’s release. If you have other ways of advocating for her, I invite you to pursue those. I also ask you to pray for all of the other “Natalie’s” whom we may not know about, for all those impacted by the hostilities in the region, and especially that there might be a desire to establish a real peace where all lives are respected and honoured.
Peace,
Pastor Phil
Comments