European Christians shift from supporting Israel to Gaza
Demonstrators in Oslo, Norway, celebrate a ceasefire that occured in Gaza earlier this year. Photo AFP, Heiko Junge, Norway Out
European Union
After Hamas attacked Israel, many Christian leaders in Europe were quick to respond to the country’s cry for help. Now, many of these leaders and their organisations are backing out in their support for the Jewish state.
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“Genocide!” Christian denominations, such as the national church in Norway, are speaking out about the most terrible atrocity ever and want to see more aid in helping Palestinians.
Not only are Christians responding, but the EU has also questioned Israel’s intentions and is now “putting pressure” on Israel to end the hostilities, as reported by Dagen. The EU remains Israel’s largest trading partner.
Meanwhile, in Norway, the bishops’ council from the nation’s national Lutheran church published an official statement criticising the Israeli government’s recent actions in Gaza. They drafted the statement at their national conference in May.
“We cannot remain silent when individuals are stripped of their humanity.
“The Israeli government, through its excessively brutal military operations that severely impact civilians displays contempt for the humanitarian laws of war. The gravity of the situation is underscored by the fact that the International Court of Justice has warned of a possible ongoing genocide in Gaza and emphasises the shared responsibility of all to prevent it. What is happening now is not only destroying the Palestinian people and their future but also undermines Israel’s moral integrity and democracy,” they say in the official statement.
The bishops also pleaded for compassion and humanitarian aid for Palestinians, including for Palestinian Christian communities.
“We cannot remain silent when individuals are stripped of their humanity. We are disturbed by and condemn the unfolding events in Gaza. We hear the call from our Palestinian brothers and sisters in faith, urging us as a church to rise against the abuses taking place before our eyes.”
FEREDE
It has not only been the national Church of Norway that called for an end to all hostilities in Israel. Evangelical Focus recently reported that the Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain (FEREDE) has become increasingly concerned about the events happening in Gaza.
The organisation called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the “military attacks and civilian casualties”. In their statement, they also demanded unrestricted access to humanitarian aid, a ceasefire as well as serious negotiations to take place regarding lasting peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.
“The Palestinian people have had to pay for the crimes committed by Hamas.”
Despite more Christian organisations calling on Israel to end the conflict, the statements made by the Church of Norway have come under criticism from Vart Land ’s Ernst Harbakk, who believes the messages remain “sharp” and “one-sided.” Harbakk believes that the bishops left out the role of Hamas and its responsibility in the conflict. He noted that holding Israelis as hostages has been used as a “bargaining chip” throughout the war.
“Instead, the Palestinian people have had to pay for the crimes committed by Hamas, which Hamas was obliged to fulfil under international law. It is regrettable that this has not been emphasised in the statement from the country’s bishops,” he says in the Vart Land report.
Church of Norway
Rev. Einar Tjelle, Church of Norway’s Director for Ecumenical and International Relations, believes that Hamas has played a “brutal” role in the conflict. At the same time, he thinks that the current focus should be on Gaza and the brutalities there. He also adds that the Church of Norway has repeatedly condemned the Hamas attack. And in the statement, the bishops urge that the hostages must be released.
Rev. Tjelle clarifies further that the letter was directed at what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank, not about the dialogue back home regarding Jewish people. “We have been very, very clear to criticise the Israeli government, not the Jews,” he says. “It does not mean that we are pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian. Rather, we are pro-human dignity, where we are fighting for basic human rights.”
Norway’s national Lutheran Church has supported human rights-based organisations in Palestine and Israel. They are currently supporting the work in a hospital in Gaza, with headquarters in East Jerusalem. However, the hospital has been bombed at least five times, he says. The Church of Norway also financially supports the Palestinian Lutheran Church in The Holy Land.
“Most Israelis –as most Palestinians– just want to live in peace.”
When it comes to the right to defend, Tjelle emphasised that Israel has a “right to security in the same way that Palestine does.” Regarding the current trend of Christian organisations abandoning support for Israel, he does not believe that churches are shifting sides. Rather, it is more about taking positions. The conflict, he notes, is no longer “symmetric,” where one side’s actions cannot be declared more correct than another’s.
Many Jews and Israelis, he explains, have been quite critical towards their government, and it is important to make that distinction between the government’s actions and protecting the Jewish identity. “Most Israelis –as most Palestinians– just want to live in peace,” he says.
Graveyard
Tomas Sandell, director of the European Coalition for Israel, offers a different view on the current situation. He believes that the real problem is the antisemitic history lurking within Europe’s national churches. Some national churches within Europe have built a structure that has been historically antagonistic towards Israel and the Jews, he says. For example, the Church of Norway has been anti-Israel for a long time, but those prevailing attitudes can also apply to the Church of Sweden, which both belong to the World Council of Churches. Sandell is a Finnish national but currently lives in Sweden.
“Europe is the biggest graveyard of Jews.”
“Many of the leading agents, including the World Council of Churches, have come together to systematically criticise and demonise Israel.”
And it has been not only Norway and Sweden that have spread centuries-long “blood libels” toward European Jews, he explains. Spain and Ireland have also had problematic relations with the Jews in years past. Ireland’s troubled history with Britain led to Irish forces collaborating with the Nazis. Even Martin Luther’s writings remained hostile towards the Jews of his day, Sandell notes.
“Europe is the biggest graveyard of Jews. Not much has changed.”
Hamas
In addition to historical tensions toward Israel’s statehood, a double standard exists when it comes to looking at the sovereign state of Israel itself. What is more, the media want to place a higher moral standard in Israel’s relations with Palestinians. Gaza, on the other hand, is a totalitarian society, and with keeping that in mind, most sources that journalists quote originate from Hamas-owned outlets.”
Numerous examples can resonate with your narrative, but the sources go unchecked. Yet, Christians must realise that we are in a battle with a “jihadist death cult,” he says.
“It is Hamas, full stop. The playback of Hamas is happening now. It’s never in the interest of Hamas to protect any civilians. We have to understand that it is not a few bad apples, but it is more of an ideology that governs the society there.”
Asymmetric
Harald Eckert, former chairman of Christians for Israel International (C4II), elaborated more about the role of Hamas and the humanitarian crisis happening in Gaza.
“Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and with genocidal intentions, cruelly hurt the human dignity of many thousands of Israelis and in a broader sense of the whole people. Hamas is (mis-)using their civilian population as human shields against Israel, which means that Hamas is hurting the human dignity of their population in a large and continuous scale,” he says in a written statement to CNE.
Despite many thinking that the Israeli forces have blocked access to food for Palestinians, it is Hamas who, by force, first used the food for their own needs and interests and then sold the rest very expensively to the broader population, he explains.
It is only now that Israel and the US are trying to implement a different system of food distribution without Hamas’s interference. And bearing this in mind, the conflict has not recently shifted to being “asymmetric,” Eckert believes.
“The nature of the conflict is asymmetric in principle: a terrorist regime, misusing their own population, fighting a war against an army that is trying to protect their own population and at the same time is trying to put much energy into protecting and feeding the Gaza population is not symmetric at all. It has never been.”
Considering the asymmetric nature that Hamas is bringing to Gaza and Israel, Tomas Sandell also warns that Hamas’s “ideology of death” will not stop in these areas. It is bound to spread to Europe. But as of now, Christians need to get the bigger picture of what is happening to Palestinians while acknowledging that any life which is lost comes as a great tragedy. Yet, he says Christians in Europe need to wake up to a greater reality of what may come.
“Let’s have a toolbox, and let’s have a conversation. We cannot tolerate having an enemy that wants to eliminate you.”
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