Once again, following violence against Jews, Jewish schools, synagogues, cultural centers around the world have gone on high alert, because any local violence against Jews is perceived as a rallying cry elsewhere. The context is an astonishing global surge in antisemitism. Following the attack on Israel of October 7, the Western world erupted in massive…
Continue readingOrthodox Christians in Gaza City
In his fight against those in Gaza whom he called “human animals,” the Israeli defense minister on October 8 vowed to act “accordingly” by cutting off fuel, food, water, and electricity to the impoverished strip of land. With this explicit policy of collective punishment (which has gotten even more collective and punishing in the last…
Continue readingWhat about “The Songs of Zion” (Ps. 137:3)?
The Orthodox Church and the Conflict in Gaza
Until 2023, before I left the Russian Orthodox Church, I was a priest of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem. Thus, I have spent four years in Israel, and on the one hand, and I’m familiar with the context, but on the other I cannot be impartial, still feeling anxious about my friends there. Assessing…
Continue readingJerusalem Belongs to All of Its Creeds
by Seraj Assi | български | ქართული | ελληνικά | Română | Русский | Српски It’s been a brutal week for Palestinians in the city of peace. As hardline Israeli groups prepared a provocative parade through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, Israeli security forces turned their guns on peaceful Palestinian protesters and worshipers…
Continue readingChristians of Holy Land and the Jewish State
by Michael G. Azar Amid the growth of Islamist persecution in the last few years, a variety of think tanks and politicians have sought to bring the plight of Christians in the Middle East to the forefront of American politics. Amid such fervor, Israeli leaders have also claimed their role in the defense of Christians….
Continue readingAmerican Evangelicals, Theological Fantasy, and the Jerusalem Embassy
by David P. Gushee The uncritical US evangelical embrace of the Trump US embassy move, as well as of the hard-line Netanyahu government in Israel, has important but odd theological roots. America’s most visibly pro-Israel evangelicals, fundamentalists, and dispensationalists act as they do, in large part, because for them what the modern State of Israel does…
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