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BETHLEHEM REV. ISAAC PROTESTS CONTINUING GAZA GENOCIDE  
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Interview by Amy Goodman
December 23, 2024
Democracy Now
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_ Reverend's Christmas sermon titled "Christ is Still in the Rubble"
given while Christmas celebrations were canceled in the West Bank and
the city of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ’s birthplace, for the second
year in a row. _

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Christmas celebrations are canceled in the West Bank and the city of
Bethlehem, Jesus Christ’s birthplace, for the second year in a row
in response to Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza and ethnic
cleansing of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We feature an
excerpt of the Christmas sermon of Reverend Munther Isaac of the
Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, titled “Christ
Is Still in the Rubble,” referencing a sermon he gave at this time
last year titled “Christ in the Rubble,” about the loss of
Palestinian life to Israel’s assault of Gaza. We also go to
Bethlehem to speak with Reverend Isaac. He shares his message to the
U.S. and the rest of the world. “Our fear here in Bethlehem is that
there is no one who’s going to hold Israel accountable,” he says.
“We’re tired and sick of these wars, which are enabled by American
tax money and American politics.”

AMY GOODMAN: This is _Democracy Now!_, democracynow.org. I’m Amy
Goodman.

We turn now to Palestine, where Christians are preparing for a second
Christmas under ongoing Israeli attacks as the number killed in Gaza
has risen to 45,317, though the toll is likely so much higher. In the
past 24 hours alone, dozens of Palestinians have been killed in
Israeli strikes in Gaza.

On Friday, the Palestinian theologian and pastor Reverend Munther
Isaac delivered a Christmas sermon at the Evangelical Lutheran
Christmas Church in Bethlehem, in occupied West Bank, the birthplace
of Jesus, called “Christ Is Still in the Rubble.” He’ll join us
in a minute. First, this excerpt of his address.

REV. MUNTHER ISAAC: “Never again” should mean never again to
all peoples. “Never again” has become “yet again” — yet
again to supremacy, yet again to racism and yet again to genocide. And
sadly, “never again” has become yet again for the weaponization of
the Bible and the silence and complicity of the Western church, yet
again for the church siding with power, the church siding with the
empire.

And so, today, after all this, of total destruction, annihilation
— and Gaza is erased, unfortunately — millions have become
refugees and homeless, tens of thousands killed. And why is anyone
still debating whether this is a genocide or not? I can’t believe
it. Yet, even when church leaders simply call for investigating
whether this is a genocide, he is called out, and it becomes breaking
news. Friends, the evidence is clear. Truth stands plain for all to
see. The question is not whether this is a genocide. This is not the
debate. The real question is: Why isn’t the world and the church
calling it a genocide?

It says a lot when you deny and ignore and refrain from using the
language of genocide. This says a lot. It actually reveals hypocrisy,
for you lectured us for years on international laws and human rights.
It reveals your hypocrisy. It says a lot on how you look at us
Palestinians. It says a lot about your moral and ethical standards. It
says everything about who you are when you turn away from the truth,
when you refuse to name oppression for what it is. Or could it be that
they’re not calling it a genocide? Could it be that if reality was
acknowledged for what it is, that it is a genocide, then that it would
be an acknowledgment of your guilt? For this war was a war that so
many defended as “just” and “self-defense.” And now you
can’t even bring yourself to apologize. …

We said last year Christ is in the rubble. And this year we say Christ
is still in the rubble. The rubble is his manger. Jesus finds his
place with the marginalized, the tormented, the oppressed and the
displaced. We look at the holy family and see them in every displaced
and homeless family living in despair. In the Christmas story, even
God walks with them and calls them his own.

So, today, let us reflect on the child Jesus, the child of Bethlehem.
At the heart of the incarnation, there is a child. And this child, in
his weakness, he is our hope. He is our consolation. He is our
strength. This child — let us remember, this child shook Herod’s
throne when he was born. And while there are some who talk about the
“Roman Empire” or glorify Herod as “great,” we are the ones
who think of a child born to refugees escaping a massacre. …

Yes, it has been 440 days. It is 440 days of Palestinians’
resilience, _sumud_. Indeed, it is 76 years of _sumud_. But we have
not and will not lose hope. Yes, it is 76 years of an ongoing Nakba,
but it is also 76 years of Palestinian _sumud_, clinging to our
rights and justice of our cause, 76 years of praying and singing for
peace. I was thinking about it. We are stubborn people. We continue to
pray for peace year after year after year, and sing about peace, and
we will continue to do so. And we will continue to echo the words of
the angels, “Glory to God in the highest, peace on Earth.”

AMY GOODMAN: Excerpts of this year’s Christmas sermon from pastor
Reverend Isaac Munther at the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in
Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, in Palestine. Reverend Isaac’s
forthcoming book is titled _Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible,
and the Genocide in Gaza_.

The pope has just repeated his call for a ceasefire in Gaza. He also
unveiled this year’s nativity scene at the Vatican, portraying a
baby Jesus in a crib lined with a Palestinian keffiyeh. The Israeli
government has now denounced the pope for calling for an international
inquiry into Israel’s assault on Gaza to see if it constitutes a
genocide.

The pastor Munther Isaac is joining us now from occupied Bethlehem.

Your thoughts on what’s happening, on the pope being condemned by
Israel, on what’s happening in Bethlehem, the second year that
Christmas activities have been canceled because of the more than
45,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza? Reverend Isaac, thank you for
joining us.

REV. MUNTHER ISAAC: Thank you for having me.

Well, if Israel was true that they are engaging within the rules of
war, then why should they be concerned if anyone, not just the pope,
calls for investigation into whether war crimes are taking place or
not? Israel is clearly committing a genocide. I mean, the evidence is
very clear. And of course they should be concerned, because if an
investigation takes place, it’s going to reveal truly what is taking
place.

And even here Bethlehem, it’s not easy. It’s another Christmas
with isolation, with Bethlehem being completely isolated from
Bethlehem, more blockades, more gates, checkpoints outside of
Bethlehem. And my fear and our fear here in Bethlehem is that there is
no one who’s going to hold Israel accountable. And that’s why
statements like this from his holiness the pope make a difference,
because Israel needs to know that we live within a community that
respects the rule of law; otherwise, chaos will prevail if everyone
just does what they can. And if the rule of “might is right”
rules, then is this the kind of future we want to leave for our
children?

AMY GOODMAN: Reverend Isaac, we spoke to you in our studio in New
York. You came here to New York. You went to Washington, D.C. As the
Biden administration wraps up and President Trump is about to become
president again, what are you demanding of the United States?

REV. MUNTHER ISAAC: That it respects the international law. I mean,
it cannot be the United States and Israel versus the rest of the
world, as every United Nations vote reveals. Again, if the United
States is honest about its call for freedom, ideas, human rights, then
they should respect that and that they should abide by the
international law. My message is that they are enabling Israel into
politics that’s leading the whole region into chaos and destruction.
There can be other ways. There are other ways. And we’re tired and
sick of these wars, which are enabled by American tax money and
American politics.

AMY GOODMAN: Tell us more about “Christ in the Rubble” and that
image that you created in the manger last year, that you continue this
year. We said well over 45,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza. Close
to 800 have died in the West Bank under Israeli assault. Talk about
the situation where you are.

REV. MUNTHER ISAAC: Yeah, I mean, we’re still seeing images of
children pulled from under the rubble. It’s unthinkable to me that
it’s been more than 14 months now into this genocide, and we’re
still seeing the same images. It seems like we’re powerless, and it
seems that the world is content with letting this go on. And here in
the West Bank, as we watch from Bethlehem what’s happening in
Ramallah or Hebron, we wonder, “Are we next?” Israel has made it
clear they plan to annex the West Bank next year. What would this mean
on the ground? Again, we live in this moment of anticipation, of
anxiety. And at the same time, we’re broken by the fact that the
world seems content with letting this go, without serious efforts to
make it stop or put accountability and restraint on those who commit
war crimes.

AMY GOODMAN: Reverend Munther Isaac, we thank you so much for being
with us, Palestinian Christian theologian, pastor at the Evangelical
Lutheran Christmas Church in occupied Bethlehem, where his Christmas
sermon this year was titled “Christ Is Still in the Rubble.” He
was speaking to us from Palestine.

* Israel-Gaza War
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* Stealing Christmas
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* Genocide
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