Black Church: Duped or Confused on Israel?
The Black Church in the United Kingdom (UK) has been a prominent presence since the 1950s, largely due to the mass migration of individuals from British colonies in the Caribbean and Africa. This migration, known as the Windrush generation, played a pivotal role in shaping the religious landscape of the UK. Seventy-five years later, there are approximately 4,000 Black Christian congregations, with an estimated 300,000 adherents. There are also another 100,000 or so Black members in mainly white denominations.
Conservative in ideology and theology, the Black British Church leadership has been unwilling to engage in a detailed analysis of the issues related to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Greeted with misplaced quotes of “touch not the Lord’s Anointed,” “God’s Chosen People,” and apocalyptic threats of “Armageddon,” the Black Church concludes, “It is complicated.” At the invitation of the Community Renewal Society, out of Chicago, Illinois, USA, I joined a delegation of Black Christians on a Solidarity Pilgrimage to Palestine last month to unravel the proffered complications.
What is quite clear, the Palestinian people are under serious duress politically, socially, culturally, economically and geographically.
44,700 Palestinians were killed and injured 77,704 injured between 7 October 2023 and 7 October 2024.
163,778 structures, or 66 % of Gaza’s buildings, have been destroyed by carpet bombings.
1,000 Palestinian workers who were legally present in Israel on 7 October, 2023 were taken into custody in Israel are still unaccounted for.
More than 42 % of the West Bank is under the control of the Israeli settlements.
1.9 million refugees are currently sheltered in school buildings operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
We, as Black Christians in Africa and the African Diaspora, can’t wash our hands and act as if we have been duped or are confused by what is taking place in Palestine. There is nothing complicated here. Yes, it is a tragedy that a British colonial project has gone wrong, the United Nations misstepped, and Western political and economic ambition in the Middle East created a runaway state called Israel. The result is a disempowered and displaced people, the Palestinians and the creation of an enraged militia such as Hamas.
The attack by Hamas and other Islamic groups on Israel killed 1,200 civilians, and the taking of 254 hostages was indeed evil and traumatic for the families and the State of Israel. We got that.
The above action taken by Israel on the Palestinian people is neither self-defense nor is it a proportionate response. However, it is categorized by the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, be it genocide or crimes against humanity. I know what I saw. I did the duck test. “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck”. The ultimate result of the continued action of the State of Israel is the destruction of the State of Palestine. The erasure of the people of Palestine. The annexation of the land and mineral resources of Palestine.
All of this is being done in our name and justified with a pseudo-Christian theological hermeneutic spawned in the belly of European colonialism. So, we feign ignorance by burying our heads in the sand and claim prayers for Israel. What of righteousness, justice and mercy for all the people? We condemn Herod for slaying the innocents in Bethlehem and his political expediency and say nothing to the Israeli slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians in the name of Western colonial dominance and intrigue in the Middle East region.
Our eloquent preaching, magnificent chorales, energetic worship and emotional prayer meetings do not dismiss God’s desire for ‘justice to roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream’. As we pontificate about the situation in Palestine, God’s guidance is still clear: ‘he has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’
Anything less than that is to be complicit with Ezekiel’s watchman, who sees danger coming and fails to warn the city of impending destruction.
With Love and Lament,
