Sunday 7th September 2025
“Seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before your God” Micah 6:8
This has been a strange week. Last Sunday we went to Golders Green to sit shiva with the family of our son’s partner – their grandmother had died. It was lovely to be included in this family gathering, and to share in the prayers led by the rabbi. All our faiths are rooted in God and God’s word.
Yesterday we were worshipping with Christians for Palestine at the Bloomsbury Baptist Church before joining the Palestine Solidarity March. On the altar were three things – a sculpture of a violinist made from decommissioned weapons; a photo of Christ in the Rubble – the nativity scene created in the the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem; and a coloured woodcut of Christ breaking an AK47 across his knees. In lieu of a sermon we watched a short film produced by Christian Aid entitles the Lord’s Prayer – Just Peace Reflection (1) in which we saw the demolition of people’s homes, water supplies and livelihoods by the Israeli forces, and heard the long suffering laments of members of the Palestinian community.
The March ended in Whitehall where speeches were given. One speaker was a British surgeon who volunteers some of his time working in hospitals in Gaza. He spoke of the many boys who they treated for bullet wounds. The Israeli soldiers shoot them as they collect food and water. This daily practice has become a game – one day the soldiers aim for the head or neck. Another day it will be the chest. Another day legs. Another day testicles.
It is hard to understand how a nation can inflict such cruelty on civilians living within their borders.
It is equally hard to understand how the UK government can wring it’s hands about the suffering and yet continue to supply Israel with arms and military support, continue to trade with them and enter into new deals with their arms manufacturers.
It is hard to understand how people can carry on their daily lives without expressing concern or anger about this continuing genocide. I know we all need to continue to live each day as it comes, to fulfil the demands of work, to attend to household chores, to love and care for our loved ones – and carry the burden of other issues such as the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, the civil war in Yemen, the plight of refugees etc – but many of these are linked by the failure of governments and businesses to focus on justice and truth rather than popularity and profits.
Yesterday’s Palestinian Solidarity March was overshadowed by the Lift the Ban action in Parliament Square, demanding that the de-proscription of Palestine Action.
Palestine Action is a campaign group that uses nonviolent direct action to challenge the continued manufacture in this country of weapons by Elbit (an Israeli owned arms company) for use against Palestinian people – against men, women, boys and girls and babies. You can surely understand the outrage anyone would feel about such weaponry being manufactured here in the UK. Nonviolent action can be the last resort when governments ignore the issue – and rather continue to facilitate such companies. Nonviolent action can include blocking roads and access into manufacturing sites. It can include spraying paint. It can include breaking windows. It can include breaking machinery. Nonviolent action does not aim to injure or kill people. Nonviolent action is not terrorism.
Yet Palestine Action has been proscribed by Parliament as a terrorist organisation. (This was set before Parliament as part of a package in which a total of three groups were to be proscribed – Maniacs Murder Cult, Palestine Action and the Russian Imperial Movement. There was no option of voting on each individual case. A full list of proscribed organisations can be found on the Government website (2) where you can read a brief description of each one. Palestine Action stands out as lacking any intention of injuring or killing people. Further information can be found at, for example, Amnesty International –https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-banning-palestine-action-disturbing-legal-overreach-uk-government-amnesty).
The legality of the proscription of Palestine Action is due to be reassessed as of a Judicial Review in November. In the meantime Defend our Juries has taken on challenging the proscription. There is a genuine concern that if Palestine Action is proscribed as a terror organisation, that other organisations using nonviolent direct action will also be targeted and that the right to free speech and protest will be curtailed even more than at present. Democracies depend on free speech and the right to protest.
Since the proscription of Palestine Action, thousands of people have taken action, risking arrest, to question to legitimacy and morality of this course of action by the government. They have each sat quietly holding a sign that says ‘I oppose genocide; I support Palestine Action.’ And has been noted by the press, the majority have been older people – some well into their 80s.
Yesterday some 1500 people sat in Parliament Square holding such placards. They were surrounded by well wishers and supporters ready to witness to what was happening. Those familiar with Parliament Square will know that those sat on the grass will have been under the gaze of the statues of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Millicent Fawcett, all civil rights activists. A large scale police operation has been put in place to enable to police to arrest and take away these peaceful protestors. Areas around d Parliament Square were cordoned off for the initial processing before arrestees were pit in police vans and driven to various police stations around London. The process was slow and tedious because of the sheer number of people willing to oppose the ban on Palestine Action. Individuals were still being arrested one by one as dark fell – most of those taking action remained sat in place once the police had begun making arrests, rather than simply opting to walk away.
Outside the cordon a team of volunteers was there to encourage those being placed in police vans – an acknowledgment of their bravery in standing up for justice. A further team of volunteers took their places outside police stations (once it was known were the arrestees had been taken) waiting there through the night to welcome each arrestee as they were released on bail, providing them with phones to call loved ones, giving them food and warm drinks, big hugs where needed, and advice and help to get back to their homes.
Images courtesy of Jonathan Sterling.
So where does this leave those of us whose personal or family circumstances do not make the risk of arrest an option, or those those of us who were regrettably ignorant about the plight of Palestinian people, or ignorant of the threat to civil liberties?
Where does this leave those of us who do not want to stand by and do nothing? Do we want to be citizens of a nation whose government continues to sell arms to Israel, that continues to hold back on imposing sanctions against Israel, that continues to enter into trade deals with those perpetrating genocide?
Where does this leave those of us whose feel helpless in the face of the ongoing suffering and abuse?
As Christians, our ongoing response will include prayer. Prayers for peace, for justice, for reconciliation. Prayers for the perpetrators as well as the victims – including those still being held hostage and their families – and for all those who find themselves sucked into this tragedy.
We can sign up for emails with news, information and prayers from people on the ground, such as Embrace the Middle East – https://embraceme.org/
Christian Aid – https://www.christianaid.org.uk/appeals/emergencies/gaza-appeal/resources
Sabeel-Kairos – https://www.sabeel-kairos.org.uk/
Christians for Palestine – https://www.facebook.com/people/Christians-for-Palestine-UK/61555041637853/
We can include Palestine and the whole topic in intercessions at church. We can talk about the issues with friends and neighbours.
Read reliable newspaper and other reports to ensure we are well informed – the above groups plus for example
Even Friends of the Earth has produced a statement on the issue.
We can write to our MP asking for action. We can write to the Home Secretary, the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister Minister asking for action and express our grave concerns.
We can write to the national and local press.
We can sign petitions – eg
Amnesty International – https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/restart-ceasefire-now
We can boycott products and companies that support the genocide –
We can make financial donations to groups such as those listed above and others eg –
Medcins Sans Frontieres – https://msf.org.uk/issues/gaza-genocide
UNICEF – https://www.unicef.org.uk/donate/children-in-gaza-crisis-appeal/
(1) https://christianaid.resourcespace.com/pages/view.php?ref=17041&k=83006eb892
The Green Tau 