(Staff. ACN).
The Cardinal Patriarch of Jerusalem has pleaded for an end to the divisive politics engulfing Gaza and called on people to come together in an effort to heal the crisis in the region. Cardinal Pizzaballa said: “We have Catholics of the Hebrew vicariate serving in the army in Gaza, and we have Catholics being bombed in Gaza. It is not easy.”
The Knesset vote against Palestinian statehood is terrible for Israel
(David Halperin. Time of Israel).
While the vote may score political points for Netanyahu, it harms the country’s diplomacy in the region and relations with the US
Their son captive in Gaza, parents dedicate a Torah scroll to 120 remaining hostages
(Michele Chabin. Relgion News Service).
Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin dedicated the scroll to their son Hersh, the 23-year-old American Israeli wounded at the site of the Re’im music festival before being taken to Gaza by Hamas.
World Court Urged To Recognize Israel
(Stefan J. Bos. Worthy News)
Nearly a thousand Christians from dozens of nations have urged the United Nations top court to recognize Israel’s Biblical right to its historic land, including Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank.
Aiming to share Palestinian art, Umm al-Fahm gallery becomes Israel’s first Arab museum
(TAMAR MOR SELA. Time of Israel).
Director Said Abu Shakra frankly discusses art, his dual Israeli-Palestinian identity and family as the almost 30-year-old gallery finally gets the recognition he has dreamt of
Faith amid bombs: Priests minister to Christians in border towns of Lebanon and Israel
(The Catholic World. Marinella Bandini).
On October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, hostilities between Hezbollah (a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group) and Israel resumed, putting Christian communities on both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border to the test.
Archaeologists find ‘lost’ alphabet created by Biblical civilization 3,000 years ago
(ELLYN LAPOINTE. DAILYMAIL).
Archaeologists have finally traced a lost alphabet that puzzled scholars for decades back to a 3,000 year-old civilization of Biblical significance. Since 1964, archaeologists have found 15 different tablets with strange carvings at the site of an ancient settlement in Jordan. Thanks to new analysis, archaeologists have found that they were likely made by the Canaanites, an indigenous group who thrived in the Middle East until the second half of the 13th century BC.
96% of Jews Across Europe Have Experienced Antisemitism, Survey Finds
(Worthy News).
A major new survey shows that 96% of Jews across Europe had experienced some form of antisemitism, even before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas triggered the ongoing war in Gaza and a global outpouring of anti-Israel sentiment, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports. Conducted by the European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), the poll surveyed nearly 8,000 self-identified Jews in 13 European countries.
¿Está Israel librando una “guerra justa”?
(Zenit).
La teoría de la guerra justa sustentó la decisión de George W. Bush de entrar en guerra en Irak. Sin embargo, el número de muertos en Gaza ha sido tan terrible que algunos partidarios de las «guerras justas» se lo están pensando mejor. Benjamin Netanyahu, primer ministro de Israel, tiene previsto dirigirse a una sesión conjunta del Congreso de Estados Unidos el 24 de julio. Será el primer líder extranjero que hable cuatro veces ante el Congreso. Será un momento incómodo tanto para los políticos estadounidenses como para los israelíes. El presidente Biden está luchando por su futuro político tanto en su propio partido como contra Donald Trump. El primer ministro Netanyahu pronto podría verse obligado a abandonar su cargo si su coalición se derrumba. Así que Netanyahu está desesperado por convencer al Congreso de que siga suministrando a su país armamento y apoyo político. De su discurso dependen muchas cosas.
Être Juif aujourd’hui. Une grande enquête
Être Juif n’a jamais été un long fleuve tranquille, et encore moins à l’heure actuelle. Le massacre perpétré par le Hamas le 7 octobre 2023 a montré que les Juifs, ne sont pas à l’abri des pogroms, simplement parce qu’ils sont Juifs, même à l’intérieur des frontières de l’État d’Israël. La contre-attaque massive à Gaza n’a jusqu’à présent pas été en mesure de renverser la situation, bien au contraire, elle n’a fait qu’accroître dans le monde entier l’isolement de l’État d’Israël et l’aversion envers les Juifs. L’essai du grand démographe israélien Sergio Della Pergola, professeur émérite à l’Université hébraïque de Jérusalem, intitulé « Essere ebrei, oggi. Continuità e trasformazioni di un’identità », publié aux éditions Mulino, tombe donc à point nommé.
(Infocatólica).
Las autoridades de Israel arremetieron ayer martes con dureza contra las iglesias de Tierra Santa por referirse a la «guerra de Gaza» en un documento, que, en su opinión, «con pretextos religiosos y astucias lingüísticas no hace más que oponerse al derecho de Israel a defenderse».
(CNA. Diego López Marina).
In the midst of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, the patriarchs and leaders of ancient Christian churches in Jerusalem have signed a joint document in which they denounce that four Israeli municipalities have sought to levy municipal taxes on church properties in violation of “centuries” of historical agreements. The church leaders, including Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, and Franciscan Father Francesco Patton, custos of the Holy Land, accuse local authorities of launching a “coordinated attack” against the Christian presence in the Holy Land.
(ELIZABETH OWENS. Zenit).
«Ataque coordinado» por parte de las autoridades israelíes es denunciado por los líderes cristianos en Tierra Santa. Los líderes cristianos sostienen que estas acciones son un intento deliberado de disminuir la presencia cristiana en Tierra Santa. La mayoría de estos cristianos son de origen palestino.
(VaticanNews. Andrea Tornielli).
A colloquio con il cardinale Patriarca di Gerusalemme dei latini: ancora difficile vedere vie d’uscita. Quando tutti erigono barriere, la Chiesa deve continuare a mantenere sempre la mano tesa verso l’altro. Il momento è molto doloroso, stiamo vivendo una notte molto lunga. Però sappiamo anche che le notti finiscono. È il momento in cui la Chiesa deve lavorare con tutti coloro che sono disposti a fare qualcosa di bello e di bene per tutti…”. Il cardinale Pierbattista Pizzaballa, di passaggio a Roma, racconta ai media vaticani la situazione in Israele, a Gaza e in Cisgiordania.
(THE TIMES OF ISRAEL. JEREMY SHARON)
In a landmark ruling on Tuesday, the High Court of Justice ruled unanimously that the government must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students into the military since there is no longer any legal framework to continue the decades-long practice of granting them blanket exemptions from army service.
(JULIA FRANKEL. Time of Israel).
Though they’re major landowners, churches traditionally were exempt from property taxes; leaders call warning letters a ‘coordinated attack’ on Christian presence in Holy Land
Leaders of major churches have accused Israeli authorities of launching a “coordinated attack” on the Christian presence in the Holy Land by initiating tax proceedings against them.
While Israeli officials have tried to dismiss the disagreement as a routine financial matter, the churches say the move upsets a centuries-old status quo and reflects what they called mounting intolerance for the Christian presence in Israel and the West Bank.
(Catholic Herald).
The Catholic parishes of southern Lebanon are in an increasingly precarious position as violence spills across its border as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas. Lebanon’s Islamist Hezbollah Party supports Hamas, which has led to a series of Israeli attacks on Hezbollah-controlled areas in Lebanon. Daily rocket fire is taking place in southern Lebanon, which borders the north of Israel. Areas near the Israeli border are particularly affected. Ten Catholic parishes close to the Israeli border, and which make up almost the whole of the Maronite Archdiocese of Tyre, saw an exodus of people as the conflict in Gaza escalated. Now, about 70 per cent of parishioners have returned. Maronite Archbishop Charbel Abdallah of Tyre told Aid to the Church in Need (CAN) that most of the people who fled and went to Beirut or further north “have now returned home because they were short of money and the little houses of their relatives who took them in did not have the capacity to accommodate so many people”. He noted, however, that the parishes of Alma el Chaeb and Quzah remain “nearly empty, because they lie entirely in the areas of the air strikes; a large proportion of the houses there have been completely destroyed.” He added: “We find ourselves in a state of war.” ACN and the local Church are helping the affected population, which is still suffering from a terrible financial crisis that took place in 2019.
(FarodiRoma. redazione).
“Un gesto coraggioso, in un periodo in cui tutti hanno paura a venire. Un pellegrinaggio di solidarietà rivolto non solo ai cristiani locali ma a tutte le popolazioni di Terra Santa, di Israele e Palestina. Spero che questo gesto venga ripetuto anche da altre diocesi perché abbiamo bisogno della presenza dei pellegrini che porta serenità e vita in tante famiglie rimaste senza lavoro”. Il patriarca latino di Gerusalemme, card. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, ha salutato con queste parole il pellegrinaggio “di comunione e pace in Terra Santa” promosso dall’arcidiocesi di Bologna e guidato dal card. Matteo Maria Zuppi, che è anche presidente della Cei. “Siete coraggiosi, siate coraggiosi”: oggi “la Chiesa di Bologna rappresenta la Chiesa italiana”. “E’ tanto in un periodo in cui l’altro è colui di cui si ha paura. Siate i primi di tanti pellegrini che tornano a visitare la Terra santa martoriata dalla guerra israelo-palestinese.”, li ha ringraziati il patriarca latino. Prima tappa il Getsemani, dove i due cardinali hanno concelebrato con il custode di Terra Santa, padre Francesco Patton. “Sappiamo che non scoppierà la pace in questo momento – ha detto Pizzaballa prima della liturgia – ma proprio in tempi terribili come l’attuale, dove gli unici segni che vediamo sono quelli della violenza e della guerra, dobbiamo venire qui in solidarietà per dare fiducia e vicinanza. È di questo che abbiamo bisogno adesso sapendo che possiamo contare su tanti amici nel mondo”. “in questi mesi abbiamo sentito il vuoto dei pellegrini, grazie allora per essere venuti. Vi chiedo – ha fatto eco il custode Patton – di farvi promotori dei pellegrinaggi presso le diocesi italiane. Preghiamo e speriamo che la guerra finisca e tornino le condizioni per un pellegrinaggio sereno. Mantenete questa vicinanza e invitate anche altri a venire”.
(iLFattoQuotidiano. Ranieri Salvadorini)
Con il mito della democrazia occidentale, a Gaza muore anche quello del “grande giornalismo”. The Intercept ha analizzato “termini chiave” in oltre mille articoli (New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times), tra 7 ottobre e il 29 novembre: ne emerge un’adesione acritica alla narrativa israeliana e un pregiudizio anti palestinese e deumanizzante ancora più evidente nei tre principali media via cavo (Cnn, Msnbc e Fox), conclude The Column. Le voci palestinesi? Assenti da 50 anni. Bambini e no “Cimitero dei Bambini” è la definizione delle Nazioni Unite che forse meglio coglie la specificità del genocidio in corso, ma sulla stampa statunitense scompare – tra slittamenti semantici e omissioni. L’Intercept rileva che “solo due titoli degli oltre 1.100 articoli contenuti nello studio menzionano la parola “bambini” in relazione ai bambini di Gaza”.
(The Times of Israel. Michael L. Feshbach).
Friends, I want to express my deep gratitude to you, and to your wonderful pastor, for the invitation to be with you this morning. Reverend Ney is certainly familiar with, and a friend of the Jewish community in this area, having davened out of a different siddur – I mean prayed out of a different prayerbook – over years of service as the accompanist at both my congregation, Beth Israel, in its original Atlantic City location and, later, at Emet Shalom, now part of Shirat Hayam synagogue in Ventnor. And then, of course, she also taught at the Hebrew Academy.
This is my second time in this special place. The first was last November, for the area interfaith Thanksgiving service. I used that occasion to thank Reverend Ney for her powerful words of support for the Jewish community at a service of solidarity held a few weeks prior, a gathering meant to bring comfort following the events of early October. What she said then was, and remains, deeply meaningful to me, and to many others.