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<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">It seems like a great
document. It does not pussy foot around zionist racial
supremacy ideology. Thanks for posting this review. </font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Art</font></p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/15/25 17:46, sylvia skrepichuk
via Sundaycommunity wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:CH3P222MB1241039593BEB1B1AE9A2A87D8C8A@CH3P222MB1241.NAMP222.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM">
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<div dir="auto">This is not the actual document but about the
document that was released yesterday at the Global Kairos
Palestine Conference, the one I was to attend. </div>
<div dir="auto">Peace</div>
<div dir="auto">Sylvia </div>
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<div id="composer_signature" dir="auto">
<div style="font-size:14px;color:#909090" dir="auto">Sent from
my Galaxy</div>
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<div><br>
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<div>Subject: Will they listen to KAIROS II </div>
<div><br>
</div>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Kairos Palestine II</div>
<div dir="auto">A Moment of Truth After Genocide</div>
<div dir="auto">The Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Introduction</div>
<div dir="auto">In December 2009, Palestinian Christians issued
the first Kairos Palestine document, A Word of Faith, Hope, and
Love from the Heart of Palestinian Suffering. It was a cry from
a people living under occupation and apartheid — a call for
justice rooted in faith, hope and love. Sixteen years later, in
2025, we stand in a radically different landscape. Kairos II
itself states plainly that “we live now in a time of genocide,
ethnic cleansing and forced displacement unfolding before the
eyes of the world” (§2). This alone marks a fundamental shift.</div>
<div dir="auto">Yet even as we identify new elements in Kairos II,
we are not departing from the foundations laid in 2009. We are
building upon them. We remain indebted to the wisdom and
prophetic courage of the original authors. Many of them were
involved again in writing Kairos II; their theological vision
still guides us. </div>
<div dir="auto">Kairos II emerges “from the heart of the assault
on Gaza” (§1.1), from mass displacement, starvation, the
destruction of every sector of life, and the burial of families
under rubble. It speaks as “a cry of hope in a time of
genocide,” renewing faith, hope, and love in the darkest moment.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">1. A New Context: Faith After Genocide, Church
After Gaza</div>
<div dir="auto">Kairos II describes Gaza as having endured
“hundreds of thousands of martyrs and wounded, and nearly two
million displaced” (§1.1). We write with unflinching clarity:
“The Nakba of our people is our daily reality” (§1.3) – it is
not a past event. </div>
<div dir="auto">This is the context from which Kairos II speaks.</div>
<div dir="auto">It acknowledges realities that were only partially
visible in 2009, but which are now undeniable:</div>
<div dir="auto">• The consolidation of “an organized and
sophisticated regime of apartheid” (§1.3).</div>
<div dir="auto">• The exposure of “the hypocrisy of the Western
world” (§1.4).</div>
<div dir="auto">• The shock that “many churches…adopted the
colonizer’s narrative or remain silent in the face of genocide”
(§1.5).</div>
<div dir="auto">• The Christian presence now facing “a real
danger…of ethnic cleansing and extinction” (§1.17).</div>
<div dir="auto">And perhaps most painfully: the weaponization of
theology. Kairos II names Christian complicity, describing
churches that “judge one side and excuse the other — or simply
remain silent” (§1.5). Not only must we think about theology
after Gaza; we must think about being the church after Gaza.</div>
<div dir="auto">This document is written, as it says, from “within
the genocidal war itself,” not in retrospect. It is a cry born
of catastrophe.</div>
<div dir="auto">2. A New Clarity: Naming Reality Without Euphemism</div>
<div dir="auto">Kairos I named the Israeli occupation as a sin
against God and humanity. Kairos II speaks with theological
clarity. It names:</div>
<div dir="auto">• “Genocide” (throughout)</div>
<div dir="auto">• “Ethnic cleansing” (§1.3)</div>
<div dir="auto">• “Settler colonialism” (§1.22)</div>
<div dir="auto">• “Apartheid” (§1.3, §1.22)</div>
<div dir="auto">• “Jewish supremacy…codified in the Nation-State
Law” (§1.3, §4.2)</div>
<div dir="auto">• “Environmental genocide” (§2.6)</div>
<div dir="auto">• “Christian Zionism as a theology of racism,
colonialism and ethnic supremacy” (§3.7)</div>
<div dir="auto">• “The misuse of antisemitism to silence the
Palestinian voice of truth” (§3.4) </div>
<div dir="auto">Kairos II explicitly rejects euphemism. It does
not speak of a “conflict.” It states:</div>
<div dir="auto">“We reject the very concept of conflict. The
reality on the ground is colonial, oppressive tyranny” (§1.22).</div>
<div dir="auto">To call this a conflict is to participate in
erasure. This language is not neutral; it is complicity.</div>
<div dir="auto">Equally dangerous is the refusal to name settler
colonialism — replaced with slogans of reconciliation or
“dialogue.” Kairos II exposes such avoidance:</div>
<div dir="auto">“Any denial of this reality is an evasion of
manifest truth…that reinforces injustice” (§1.22).</div>
<div dir="auto">Refusing to name genocide, apartheid, or
colonialism is not theological caution; it is moral failure.
Kairos II confronts this directly: We have the right therefore
to ask: How can one speak of Christian fellowship or communion
while denying, supporting, justifying or remaining silent before
genocide — especially when such acts are committed in the name
of God and Scripture? (§3.4) </div>
<div dir="auto">3. A New Theological Confrontation: Unmasking
Zionism and Christian Zionism </div>
<div dir="auto">Kairos II is probably the most explicit
theological rejection of Zionism an Christian Zionism ever
produced by a Palestinian Christian body.</div>
<div dir="auto">It identifies Zionism as:</div>
<div dir="auto">“a continuation of European colonialism…built on
racism and ethnic or religious superiority” (§3.3).</div>
<div dir="auto">It names Christian Zionism as:</div>
<div dir="auto">“a theological and moral corruption…[that calls
for] a tribal, racist god of war and ethnic cleansing” (§3.7).</div>
<div dir="auto">And it exposes the complicity of mainline
churches:</div>
<div dir="auto">“We are deeply shocked by the positions of many
churches that adopted the colonizer’s narrative or remain silent
in the face of genocide” (§1.5).</div>
<div dir="auto">This includes the liberal and ecumenical circles
that chastise Palestinians for using words like “apartheid” and
“genocide.” Kairos II calls this what it is: complicity.</div>
<div dir="auto">(Let us remember that it was a European Protestant
bishop, not a Southern Baptist American, who recently had the
audacity to call out a Palestinian bishop for using the word
“genocide” in a sermon in Jerusalem)</div>
<div dir="auto">It also draws a powerful distinction:</div>
<div dir="auto">“Not every Jew is a Zionist and not every Zionist
is a Jew” (§3.4).</div>
<div dir="auto">Thus, Kairos II calls for building relationships
with “prophetic Jewish voices” (§3.12) — those who oppose
genocide and confront Zionism at great personal cost. We
therefore call on the churches of the world to distinguish
between dialogue with Jews and dialogue with Zionism — indeed,
to boycott dialogue with Zionist voices that have supported and
continue to support occupation, apartheid and the genocide of
the Palestinian people. Instead, we call upon the churches to
stand with and amplify prophetic Jewish voices that call for
justice and truth (§3.12)</div>
<div dir="auto">This is new: a reorientation of Christian-Jewish
dialogue away from institutions that demand Palestinian silence.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">4. A ReNewed Call for Creative Resistance:</div>
<div dir="auto">Nonviolence, Love, and Global Solidarity</div>
<div dir="auto">Kairos I affirmed creative nonviolent resistance,
in the logic of love. Kairos II now makes it a central ethical
imperative:</div>
<div dir="auto">“We reaffirm the right of all colonized peoples to
resist…We remain committed to creative resistance” (§2.4).</div>
<div dir="auto">It names BDS as:</div>
<div dir="auto">“effective forms of creative resistance…rooted in
the logic of love and nonviolence” (§2.5).</div>
<div dir="auto">It calls for, and calls the global church to join
us in calling for:</div>
<div dir="auto">• Sanctions and boycott until Israel complies with
international law (§3.10)</div>
<div dir="auto">• An arms embargo</div>
<div dir="auto">• Prosecution of war criminals (§3.10)</div>
<div dir="auto">• Reparations (§4.2)</div>
<div dir="auto">And it expands resistance into a global coalition:</div>
<div dir="auto">“We call upon all people of conscience…believers
from every faith and persons of conviction” (§3.9).</div>
<div dir="auto">Accordingly, we emphasize the same truth: creative
resistance must be practiced in partnership with other faith
traditions, secular justice movements, and global civil society.
No community can resist empire alone.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">5. A ReNewed Theology of Sumud:</div>
<div dir="auto">Steadfastness as Spiritual Resistance</div>
<div dir="auto">Kairos II elevates sumud into a theological
category. It declares:</div>
<div dir="auto">“To hold on to faith and hope is resistance. To
pray is resistance…to safeguard the holy places is resistance”
(§2.3).</div>
<div dir="auto">This is a profound spiritual reconfiguration.
Sumud is not romanticized suffering. It is a deliberate,
embodied, faith-driven refusal to surrender to the reality of
injustice as the norm, and ultimately disappear.</div>
<div dir="auto">The document honors Palestinian women as “the
unbending backbone” (§2.4), youth as “the treasure of hope”
(§2.11), and the diaspora as an essential extension of the
people (§2.13).</div>
<div dir="auto">It affirms:</div>
<div dir="auto">“We are woven into the fabric of this land. Its
very soil knows us as its own” (§2.10).</div>
<div dir="auto">Such language gives theological grounding to
Palestinian presence itself.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">6. A New Political Horizon: After Genocide,
Justice</div>
<div dir="auto">Kairos II insists that no political solution is
legitimate unless it begins with truth:</div>
<div dir="auto">“We have heard much talk of political solutions
and peace while the reality on the ground says otherwise. To
speak of a political solution today is futile unless we first
undertake the serious work of acknowledging and rectifying past
wrongs—beginning with recognition of the historic injustice done
to Palestinians since the rise of the Zionist movement and the
Balfour Declaration. Any genuine beginning must involve
dismantling settler colonialism and the apartheid system built
on Jewish supremacy as codified in Israel’s racist Nation-State
Law. We also reject proposals for a weakened, conditional state
lacking full sovereignty over its borders, waters, airspace and
security. What is required is international action and
protection, accountability for war criminals, and compensation
for survivors of genocide, the Nakba and settler colonialism.
Enduring solutions will not rest on the logic of force, but on
the foundations of justice, equality and the right to
self-determination.” (§4.2).</div>
<div dir="auto">It rejects any state structure built on supremacy
(§4.4) and calls for:</div>
<div dir="auto">• Equality</div>
<div dir="auto">• Full citizenship</div>
<div dir="auto">• Pluralism</div>
<div dir="auto">• The right of return</div>
<div dir="auto">• Justice and reparations</div>
<div dir="auto">• An end to all forms of extremism and racism</div>
<div dir="auto">This is not naïve idealism. It is a sober
articulation of what justice requires in a post-genocide future.</div>
<div dir="auto">7. Renewed Global Call For The Christian Presence</div>
<div dir="auto">Finally, the document makes an appeal with clarity
and urgency: “We are not calling the church to admire our
resilience from afar, or to theologize our suffering. We are
calling you to act” (§2.9–2.11, paraphrased). The document is
explicit: our calling is not to be symbols, but a living
community that must be sustained.</div>
<div dir="auto">What we ask of the global church is simple: help
us stay. Help us remain. Help us keep a Christian presence in
the land of Christ’s birth. As Kairos II states, the Christian
presence is not merely demographic; it is “a national cause and
priority,” for “we are woven into the fabric of this land… its
soil knows us as its own” (§2.9–2.10). This is not about
nostalgia; this is about survival.</div>
<div dir="auto">Kairos II renews the call: “Come and See” (§3.13).</div>
<div dir="auto">This is the invitation the document gives to the
global church — to encounter the “living stones,” to witness our
reality firsthand, and to stand with us in sustaining the
Christian presence. The document calls Christians worldwide “to
challenge the siege imposed on the Christians of the Holy Land,
come and visit the living stones… and help strengthen the
steadfastness of the Palestinians and the Christian Palestinians
among them” (§3.13).</div>
<div dir="auto">Therefore, we say:</div>
<div dir="auto">Stand with the living stones.</div>
<div dir="auto">Strengthen our institutions, our churches, our
schools, our youth, scouts and our families.</div>
<div dir="auto">Accompany us in the daily struggle to protect our
communities from erasure.</div>
<div dir="auto">And above all, help us rebuild Gaza — its homes,
its houses of worship, its schools, its neighborhoods, and its
Christian community. Kairos II pays special tribute to the
Christians of Gaza, saying: “We especially commend the
tremendous work of the churches of Gaza… the faithful have
written heroic stories of steadfastness and witness” (§2.14).
And it urges Christians worldwide “to preserve the Christian
presence in Gaza…and advocate for the right of all who were
displaced to return and rebuild” (§2.14).</div>
<div dir="auto">Against all human logic, against political trends,
and against the machinery of genocide, we insist that a
Christian presence will remain in Gaza. With your solidarity,
your presence, your advocacy, and your support, it can not only
remain — it can live, rebuild, and bear witness.</div>
<div dir="auto">This is not charity; this is discipleship.</div>
<div dir="auto">This is not pity; this is partnership.</div>
<div dir="auto">This is the shared responsibility of the global
Body of Christ — a responsibility articulated and mandated by
Kairos II itself.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto">Conclusion: Costly Solidarity, Costly Sumud, and a
New Kairos Moment</div>
<div dir="auto">And now we face the question:</div>
<div dir="auto">If they did not listen to Kairos I, will they
listen to Kairos II?</div>
<div dir="auto">Our calling is not to guarantee outcomes. Our
calling is faithful witness.</div>
<div dir="auto">And we must say this clearly: we did not want to
write Kairos II.</div>
<div dir="auto">This is not a document we hoped to produce.</div>
<div dir="auto">Its very existence is a painful reminder that we
failed — not in faith, but in impact. The global church did not
listen in 2009. The world did not act. The ecumenical movement
did not rise to its calling. And the consequences have been
devastating: things did not simply remain the same; they got
worse — far worse than anything the authors of Kairos I could
have imagined.</div>
<div dir="auto">Writing Kairos II is therefore an act of lament.
It is an acknowledgment of a wound that was ignored until it
became a catastrophe. And yet, despite this, we still dare to
speak. We still dare to believe. Some may say that making even
stronger demands now, after such profound global failure, is
foolish. But faithfulness sometimes looks like foolishness to
the powers of the world. We write because this is who we are.
Because it is our vocation. Because resilience — sumud — refuses
to let despair have the final word. And because we have not
stopped believing in God, in His goodness, in His justice, and
yes — we have not stopped believing that the church can still
make a difference.</div>
<div dir="auto">Today, solidarity is more costly than ever. Israel
denied entry to participants in the Kairos II launch. Some were
interrogated or turned back. Some paid a personal price for
daring to stand with us. We salute them. This is what costly
discipleship looks like.</div>
<div dir="auto">But costly solidarity is only one side of the
truth.</div>
<div dir="auto">Kairos II also calls for costly Palestinian sumud.</div>
<div dir="auto">To stay is costly.</div>
<div dir="auto">To rebuild is costly.</div>
<div dir="auto">To raise children in hope is costly.</div>
<div dir="auto">To cling to life in the face of death is costly.</div>
<div dir="auto">Our people in Gaza have shown sumud beyond human
measure. Our communities across Palestine carry the weight of
survival every day. Kairos II is not a romanticization of
suffering — it is a call to stay, to hope, to rebuild, to refuse
erasure. It is about the call to carry the cross. Our sumud is
our witness. Our hope is our resistance. Our staying is our
proclamation of life.</div>
<div dir="auto">Kairos II is thus a call to repentance, truth, and
bold action. It is an invitation to build new alliances —
including with prophetic Jewish partners — and to break with the
theological frameworks that have sanctioned our oppression.</div>
<div dir="auto">Above all, Kairos II declares that we are living
in a moment of truth (§1.23) — a decisive, God-given Kairos that
demands the global church choose whether it will stand with life
or with empire.</div>
<div dir="auto">We look toward the day when we shall live free in
our land, together with all the inhabitants of the earth, in
true peace and reconciliation — founded upon justice and
equality for all God’s creation, where “mercy and truth meet,
and righteousness and peace kiss each other.” (Psalm 85:10).</div>
<div dir="auto">With this, and on behalf of the Kairos Group, we
officially launched Kairos II. You are all witnesses to and
participants in this historical kairos moment.</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<div dir="auto"><br>
</div>
<span class="gmail_signature_prefix" dir="auto">-- </span><br
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