Cape Town - Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church pastor in Bethlehem, Reverend Dr Munther Isaac says no one is better suited with the moral credibility to mobilise for a global anti-apartheid movement than the people of South Africa, who knew too intimately its reality.
Reverend Isaac is part of a larger Palestinian delegation, including Dr Mustafa Barghouti, Saleh Hijazi and Dr Basem Naim, among several others in South Africa currently taking part in the Global Anti-Apartheid Conference on Palestine from today to Sunday at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg.
Standing in front of a segment of a graffiti wall across from St George’s Cathedral, Reverend Isaac said the vestige of what was once part of the Berlin Wall was proof that walls of separation, of apartheid, were meant to fall down.
Reverend Isaac joined the St George’s Cathedral for the Sunday Eucharist Service last week, presided over by Reverend Canon Michael Weeder, followed by a sermon at the Groote Kerk in the evening.
The following day, he addressed attendees at Masjidul Quds in Gatesville, in collaboration with Gift of the Givers.
The Palestinian reverend is widely known for his outspokenness on the Israeli occupation of Palestine and more recently in referring to Israel’s attacks on Gaza as a genocide from as early as October, following the events of October 7.
“When we saw people being forced to move from the north to the south, memories of our Nakba in 1948 came to mind when half of the Palestinian people became refugees, but we never expected that this would be even worse than the Nakba of 1948, so we had to call it a genocide because we knew what was coming and we knew this was the intention.”
During the Christmas period, Isaac said if Jesus were to be born today, he’d be born under the rubble in Gaza, now a famous attribution.
During his Christmas sermon, Isaac expressed his outrage over the complicity of the church in the form of their silence, noting that some churches had not even called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
He said that mosques and churches had been targeted and attacked, as in the case of hospitals, schools and universities, by the Israeli government.
“We’ve had Palestinian Christian women killed by snipers inside the church campus where they are taking refuge; nobody is safe,” Munther said.
“I can’t say that the church is entirely silent, but definitely, especially in the West, we’ve been a little bit disappointed, even angry by the positions of some, whether its the justification of this genocide, Christian Zionism or the silence of many who chose neutrality and what I call naive peacemaking in which they want to be neutral.
“When there is a genocide, you can’t just sit on the sides and watch and pray for peace. You have to intervene, you have to speak out, you have to call things by their name. And this is why we have been urging the church to speak louder, even challenging and speaking in this forceful manner.”
Isaac said a visit by a delegation of South African Christian leaders during the Christmas period had given him the courage to speak boldly in his Christmas sermon, which was widely praised and shared, making international headlines.
The aim of the conference is to mobilise a global anti-apartheid movement to hold Israel to account and dismantle apartheid policies.
Chair of the conference steering committee, Reverend Frank Chikane said a steering committee was constituted in May last year, comprising Palestine solidarity organisations, faith-based organisations, academics, activists and others.
“The objective is to develop strategies to mobilise the people of the world,” Chikane said.
“So our strategy is to put pressure – especially on governments that support the genocide in Gaza – to stop supporting the genocide, to stop the occupation of Palestinians which has been on for 57 years. It’s the longest occupation of people ever,” Chikane said.
“Israel is running an elaborate apartheid system that is worse than apartheid in South Africa – but it’s also military. We were not occupied by the military (who were) controlling our movements.”
Chikane also called out Zionists and Christian Zionists for their support of Israel and its actions.