When I visited the West Bank in 2018, staff from a local organization that receives support from Mennonite Central Committee took us on a tour of the Jordan Valley. The valley is strategically located and...
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I finished reading Michael McRay’s book just as deep fissures were developing in the United States about whether stay-at-home orders were an appropriate measure to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 or whether...
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With income falling short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mennonite Central Committee is ending programming in several countries, cutting its workforce and canceling for this year an international exchange...
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Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem tells terrible truth about the complicity of many, including Christians, in Hitler’s campaign of hatred and genocide across Europe. I leave darkened halls of that...
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Taha Mqat, his wife and seven children have watched their home be destroyed or damaged by Israeli bombs three times. The family lives in Gaza, a strip of land that is 139 square miles — about the size of...
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In August I visited my friends the Issa family, who live just outside of Jerusalem in the refugee camp of Anata in Palestine. The wall that divides the West Bank from Israel literally runs through their...
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“At that time the Canaanites were in the land.” With that casual aside, the biblical account of Abraham and Sarah arriving in Canaan states that the territory already was populated. “To your offspring I...
[read more]Peacemakers believe it is possible to earn the trust of both sides in a conflict. They are careful not to divide the parties into friends and enemies. It’s a narrow path to walk, but Mennonites are trying to...
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I’m technically on a “blogging sabbatical,” but I decided to interrupt it to offer a few reflections and observations on a trip I’m presently on to Israel and Palestine. One of the things we...
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David Chow recalls sitting in Sunday school as a child in a Christian Missionary Alliance congregation in Calgary, Alta., and learning what the nation of Israel meant for Christians. Chow grew up believing the...
[read more]In faithful response to the Seeking Peace in Israel and Palestine resolution that passed overwhelmingly at the 2017 Mennonite Church USA convention, Manhattan (Kan.) Mennonite Church unanimously voted Feb. 19...
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On the first day of the Mennonite Central Committee Ottawa Office student seminar, MPs and government officials explained to us all the reasons why Canada will not pressure Israel to end the military...
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Renewed controversy in recent months over the location of Israel’s capital (Tel Aviv or Jerusalem?) takes my imagination to biblical Bethel in the West Bank. At this “thin place” between heaven and...
[read more]According to J. Denny Weaver (“On Jerusalem, Leave Prophecy Out of It,” Blog, Jan. 1), biblical prophecy is only meant for the audience the prophet was speaking to. Never mind that Isaiah’s prophecy of...
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In a recent broadcast of The 700 Club, the evangelist Pat Robertson welcomed President Trump’s announcement about moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. “It’s absolutely crucial in terms of...
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My wife and I have led 13 groups of college students to the Middle East since 1991 as part of Eastern Mennonite University’s required cross-cultural program. During the semester-long immersive travel, we...
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“Everyone needs a home — where families are safe and secure, where their basic needs are met, where they can come and go freely, and where they can imagine a future.” That’s the way a new campaign...
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The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Oct. 11 on behalf of a Mennonite teacher challenging a new Kansas law barring state contractors from taking part in boycotts against Israel. Esther...
[read more]The Mennonite Church USA resolution on Israel-Palestine is not anti-Israel. That is one of the first things advocates of the statement want everyone to know. They call it a third way, a recognition that...
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ORLANDO, Fla. — For 3,200 people at the Mennonite Church USA convention July 4-8, “Love Is a Verb” was more than a grammar lesson. The week’s theme focused on the basic truth that Christian faith is...
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ORLANDO, Fla. — Mennonite Church USA delegates on July 6 overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Israel-Palestine, confessing “our own complicity in this web of violence, injustice and suffering” and...
[read more]We are writing to express our support for the resolution, “Seeking Peace in Israel-Palestine,” being considered July 6 at the Mennonite Church USA assembly in Orlando, Fla. We participated in April 2016 on...
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The whirlwind appeared so quickly and came so swiftly toward us on the dusty road at Tel Dothan that I scarcely had time to take the lens cap off my camera. Then the little twister was upon us, blinding our...
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Jonathan Kuttab, a Palestinian-American who attends Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster, Pa., spoke at a New York City synagogue on Nov. 29. He spoke in favor of Palestinian nationalism — a message he...
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After months of speculation about a United Nations Security Council resolution on Israeli settlements, everyone assumed it was no longer in the works when the Security Council seemed to wrap up its work before...
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