Advent 2025

In Advent we light candles of hope in a world where the news is often a litany of war, occupation, hunger and oppression. The darkness of genocide still overshadows Gaza, where the killing and restriction of humanitarian aid continues despite the ceasefire. While the focus of international attention is on Gaza there is an escalation of land theft, settler attacks and forceable displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. In a recent solidarity visit, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, went to the threatened Bedouin village of Umm al-Khair south of Hebron, where he personally experienced harassment from settlers. They simply do not care what the world thinks about their criminal actions. Archbishop Cottrell uses strong words such as ‘apartheid’, ‘ethnic cleansing’, and ‘genocidal acts’ to describe what he witnessed. In an article in the Church Times (18th November) he supports the call for divestment of church funds from companies doing business with Israel.

Moment of Truth: Faith in a time of Genocide

On Nov 14th at the Kairos Palestine Conference 2025 held in Bethlehem, Kairos Palestine launched the 2nd Kairos document, “A Moment of Truth: Faith in a time of Genocide.” The new Kairos document is a renewed call from Palestinian Christians to the global church amidst genocide, ethnic cleansing, and settler colonialism. The document condemns Israeli Zionism that seeks to expel all the indigenous people of Palestine and take control of the entire land, and Christian Zionism, which supports these crimes being committed by Israel. The document condemns the silence of the western world in response to this brutal reality.

Visit to Belfast by Pastor Ashraf Tannous, pastor of the Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem

On the 20th and 21st October, Ashraf Tannous, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church, Bethlehem, spoke at meetings in Belfast. He was also interviewed on Radio Ulster ‘Talk Back’. Addressing public meetings and church representatives, Ashraf highlighted the increased checkpoints and restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. He described the displacements and attacks by settlers in the West Bank as a ‘silent genocide’ as Israel continues its aim of annexing all of historic Palestine.

While Ashraf was in Belfast speaking about the realities of life under military occupation four Unionist MLAs were visiting occupied East Jerusalem at the invitation of the Israeli government. One of the four was the Minister for Education, Paul Givan, who used the official departmental website to comment on the trip. This led to condemnation by teachers unions and to a vote of no confidence in the Northern Ireland Assembly tabled by Gerry Carroll, who had met Ashraf in Stormont.

Still waiting for government action on the Occupied Territories Bill

On the 18th November a letter signed by 30 Organisations appeared in the press prior to a debate in the Dáil on the Occupied Territories Bill. Promises were made by the government parties during the last general election that the Occupied Territories Bill to ban trade between Ireland and the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank would be passed into law. The government is stalling on this promise using the excuse that it is waiting for an opinion from the Attorney General. The Attorney General has had four months to consider his opinion. It is time to comply with the ruling of the International Court of Justice that the occupation is illegal and should be ended. The OTB to ban trade in goods and services is one small step to comply with this ICJ ruling.

Saturday 29th November – International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

The next national march for Palestine takes place on Saturday 29th November, starting at 1pm from the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin. This is the 18th National Demonstration since Israel began its genocidal onslaught on Gaza in October 2023. Despite the ‘ceasefire’ Israel continues to kill people, and destroy buildings and limit access to essential humanitarian supplies in Gaza. The government of Israel must feel the weight of world opinion against their human rights abuses.