NPR’s Asma Khalid interviews Palestinian Christians Munther Issac and Tamar Haddad about their efforts to convince U.S. lawmakers to support a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
ASMA KHALID, HOST:
Bethlehem, long revered as the birthplace of Jesus, is in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. And as the war between Israel and Hamas continues, Christian leaders in Bethlehem say the city will skip Christmas festivities this year in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Munther Isaac and Tamar Haddad, two of these Christian leaders, join us now. Thank you for being with us.
TAMAR HADDAD: Thank you for having us.
MUNTHER ISAAC: Yeah. THANKS.
KHALID: Munther, I want to start with you. What does it mean not to celebrate Christmas? Why did you all decide to do this?
ISAAC: Because it is impossible to celebrate when our people are going through genocide. And we send a message: enough is enough. We hope that this war will end as soon as possible.
KHALID: So no lights, no decorations?
ISAAC: Nothing. No lights, no decorations. Nobody is feeling – nobody is in the mood to party.
KHALID: Tamar, you’re here in the studio with me at NPR because this week you all came to Washington, DC. You met with lawmakers and their teams at the Capitol and White House officials to press them for a ceasefire. What response, if any, did you all receive?
HADDAD: I mean, it depends on which staff members we talked to. Some were completely opposed to a ceasefire, particularly on the Republican side, as you may know. It was actually difficult to have some of these conversations with them, focusing on the eradication of Hamas and not really caring about all the civilian casualties in Gaza.
ISAAC: If the United States government, which boasts and talks so much about its religious freedom and protection of religious communities, if it is not willing to consider a letter signed by the churches of Bethlehem and a travel precisely for this, so I think this is an indictment of American policymakers more than of our message itself.
HADDAD: It’s devastating to feel like… you know, we spent a whole week here trying to talk as much as possible, calling for a ceasefire, meeting with as many people as possible, and then the next day you see no results.
KHALID: Earlier, you mentioned meeting with Republican staffers at the Capitol. You know, I cover politics. This is my daily work. And one thing that I think is very clear is that in American politics, there is certainly a religious right movement among Republicans. Have you experienced or felt a sense of sympathy because you are participating in this conversation as Christians?
ISAAC: I would say that for many on the religious right, their political allegiance actually trumps any concern or sympathy for Middle Eastern Christians in general, but certainly for Palestinian Christians. They will show care and even advocacy when Christians are persecuted elsewhere, especially if they are persecuted by radical Muslims. Yet when we say this is happening in Jerusalem from radical Jews, in reality we don’t get the same reaction.
KHALID: One argument I’ve heard from lawmakers here in Washington, and certainly from the Israelis as well, is that a ceasefire could lead Hamas to regroup and prepare more strikes and atrocities in Israel. So that’s kind of the basic argument that we hear as to why the U.S. government should not advocate a ceasefire. You didn’t seem convinced by this argument.
ISAAC: I mean, tell me, how is the murder of over 6,000 children a response to October 7? What is happening goes well beyond responding to these problems. It’s a campaign of revenge. And when we use words like genocide to describe it, we are only echoing the stated intentions of Israeli politicians regarding this war. They are clear about the intentions of this war. And then, if you look at what’s actually happening on the ground, with the killings and the displacement of populations, I think that in itself is enough to answer: is this an attempt to eradicate Hamas? I don’t think that’s the case. It’s beyond this.
KHALID: I know you all also sent a letter to President Biden. Can you read us just a short excerpt from this letter? I want people to understand what your message was.
ISAAC: Yeah. Well, we were told he got it. Let’s hope it’s true. The letter was written by representatives, as I said, of the Bethlehem churches – Orthodox Catholics, Assyrian Armenians, Melkites and Lutherans. And I have the letter with me. (Reading) For years, as followers of Jesus, we have called for peace based on justice. This land has been crying out for peace and justice for 75 years. It is time for justice to be served. It is time that everyone can live with dignity on this earth. Palestinian and Israeli children deserve to live, to hope and to dream. Dear Mr. President, there can be no peace and security without justice and equality. There can be no peace and security without equal rights for all. Siege, violence and war cannot bring peace and security. A comprehensive and just peace is the only hope for Palestinians and Israelis alike.
KHALID: Have you all visited or met or written a letter to the leadership of Hamas or any of the outside countries, let’s say, that have some influence over Hamas?
ISAAC: No, we didn’t. We do not have direct access. But at the same time, I think it goes back to the idea that Israel has allowed Hamas to flourish over the last few years, has allowed funds to flow to Hamas in order to delegitimize the Palestinian Authority and maintain the Palestinians divided. So we did not contact them.
KHALID: Before we let you both go – Munther, you live in Bethlehem and, Tamar, I believe you are in Jerusalem – how was your daily life there?
HADDAD: I mean, in Jerusalem, when the 7th happened, I would say I didn’t leave my house for a month and a half because I didn’t feel safe, mainly because there was settlers who attack Palestinians. And many killings also took place, even in the West Bank. And I’ll let Pastor Munther talk about it.
ISAAC: Yeah. The situation has been truly horrific in the West Bank since October 7, a massive wave of arrests of Palestinians placed in administrative detention without trial, a siege and expanded checkpoints in every Palestinian city and area. In fact, this is something we raised during our visit with policymakers: even though the focus is on Gaza, there have been so many military raids and so much settler violence in the West Bank. , to the point that it became really dangerous for us to walk. from one place to another.
KHALID: This is Munther Isaac. We were also joined by Tamar Haddad. Both are Christian leaders who came to Washington this week to meet with lawmakers and Capitol staff, as well as White House officials. Thank you both so much for spending time with us.
HADDAD: Thank you.
ISAAC: Thank you.
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