Reflections on MennoPIN conversations as of Mid-October 2025

by David Janzen

The five-year relationship of Fellowship of Hope of Elkhart IN and other church friends with the Gaza YMCA Board and Leadership has been full of drama, beauty, inspiration and tragedy. We have witnessed the impact of their work with children and their families in addressing social/psychological needs, providing artistic and athletic development, and celebrating holidays including lighting a Christmas tree. Most of the YMCA has now been destroyed, like nearly all Gaza buildings.

Our most recent Zoom meeting on October 14 with Gaza friends came just days after the welcome release of Israeli and Palestinian captives, many of whom were in confinement before the debacle of October 7, 2023. The complication of releasing bodies from both sides appears to be slowing down food and medical supplies so desperately needed. Gunfire is threatening those seeking life-sustaining resources.

As important as this step is, achievement of real peace is far away until Palestinians regain and retain their homes and establish a viable state run by competent leaders. Little was said by those brokering the hostage release of what next steps are required and who will provide the political and financial resources. The continued usurpation of Palestinian land in the West Bank, along with the near-total destruction of Gaza, must be addressed for any stability to be achieved. Until that happens, conflict will erupt again with the dream of a shared, stable land remaining a fantasy. Strong, capable and compassionate leaders are needed and immediate aid provided to stop starvation that is commonplace. The United States should stop providing Israel military resources and work with other countries to save the lives of those suffering.

Our contact persons from Gaza, now living in the US and Egypt, receive occasional news from Gaza residents about their desperate situation, although communication is difficult. Hundreds continue to shelter in two of the churches still standing in Gaza City.

We at Fellowship of Hope have sent regular assistance to them through contributions of many churches and individuals and we pray that the recent violence that has blocked people living in the churches from traveling to receive the contributions will soon diminish. We encourage concerned readers to give to Gaza by sending a check to Fellowship of Hope at 1614 S. Sixth St., Elkhart IN 46516 or use the givelify app by clicking the button below. Please be sure to enter “Gaza Relief” in the memo line. 

There are other reliable sources to give assistance which can be found online under “Gaza Relief Agencies” including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

May God bless those suffering and all working to stop the violence and find the true path to peace. Please contact your US Senators and Representatives to call for ending the US support of Israeli military used to destroy Gaza and kill innocent people.

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Upcoming Events, Actions, and Resources

Some of you may recall that MennoPIN was trying to get the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land screened at MCUSA‘s Convention last summer.Despite our best efforts,we were unsuccessful due to distribution issues discussed in the three-minute video above.

That is why we are so pleased to announce that, for the first time ever, No Other Land will be available to rent or own on October 20, on all major streaming platforms (Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play, YouTube, Kinema, and Gathr).

This incredibly important film is a must-see! Even better, it is brought to you completely independently, so all proceeds will go to the communities of Masafer Yatta on the West Bank. What an opportunity to make an immediate impact!

We encourage you to watch the short announcement video (above) that Israelism and the No Other Land teams put together, and then consider hosting a screening in your community.

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Mennonite Action organizers are traveling the country and are inviting you to join them! Share food and worship together and then participate in trainings in grassroots organizing, nonviolent action, and faith-based non-cooperation.

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ICE is terrorizing immigrant, Black, brown, and Native communities while the genocide continues against Palestine. What’s the connection? Come and see. Join CFP for their October Community Call focused on the shared struggle of immigration justice and Palestinian freedom.

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Mennonite Palestine Israel Network

MennoPIN keeps you informed about Palestine/Israel through our monthly update, special alerts, calls to action, important resources and tour possibilities, all from an Anabaptist perspective. To find out more, please visit our website at www.mennopin.org

Feedback, responses, and suggestions for future updates can be submitted to info@mennopin.org

Steering Committee

Bob Atchison (Manhattan Mennonite Church, Manhattan, KS)
Lydia Brenneman (Lima Mennonite Church, Lima, OH)
Dave Janzen (Fellowship of Hope, Elkhart, IN)
Michael George (Landisville Mennonite Church, PA)
Jonathan Kuttab (Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist, Manheim, PA)
Dorothy Jean Weaver (Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, VA)
Zachary Murray (Mennonite Central Committee, Washington, DC)
Adam Ramer (Co-coordinator of Mennonite Action, New York, NY)
David Bluford (Rainbow Mennonite Church, Kansas City, KS)
Gretchen M(Philadelphia, PA)

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When Abouna Firas (Or Is It God?) Comes Calling. . .

by Dorothy Jean Weaver

God is in the business of calling. And God doesn’t give up on the first try, or even the second. Just ask Samuel, the young boy lying awake one night in “the temple of the Lord” in Shiloh (1 Sam. 3:1-18). Or ask Peter, taking a noonday prayer siesta on a roof in Jaffa one day  (Acts 10:1-48). Me? I was just reading my e-mail in Harrisonburg, as I do every single day.

Sunday, August 17, 2025.  The e-mail was extremely brief, just five words long. “Is your email still working?” That was it. No name whatsoever. The sender was, as it appeared, “melkite Catholic” at melkitecatholic@yahoo.com. And the designation below read, “Zababdeh parish, Melkite catholic.” What to make of this strange, brief e-mail? And what to do by way of response? I did indeed have connections, very brief connections from long years ago, with Zababdeh in the northern West Bank. So this could potentially be genuine. But this could just as easily be an e-mail phishing expedition. The extreme brevity and total non-specificity of the e-mail roused my suspicions immediately. It sounded exactly like a hoax. I didn’t respond.

Monday, August 18, 2025.  A second e-mail, not quite so brief and this time with a name attached. “Did you receive my last message? Hoping to get a reply so I know.  Regards, abouna firas khoury” This now began to have the feel of a genuine e-mail. I have met Abouna (read “Father” as in priest) Firas Khoury twice in my life, once in Zababdeh years ago on a trip up through the northern West Bank and once in Bethlehem. But what was this message about? I still didn’t know. And I still didn’t respond.

Tuesday, August 19, 2025.  A third e-mail, this time with a photo of Abouna Firas standing by a bell tower.  And this time there was a brief but substantive message: “After a long time of work and effort, we have built a new bell tower. This bell will ring for peace. For me, building the bell tower is a confirmation of the fulfillment of God’s promises with us.”

My response: “Thanks for your note! I am grateful that you could build a new bell tower. Blessings to you all!” And with this I may have thought that I was finished with the e-mails from Abouna Firas.

But I was mistaken. After a fourth e-mail (Wednesday, August 20, 2025), thanking me for my “kind words and blessings” and assuring me that they “always keep [me] in [their] prayers with gratitude for [my] friendship and support,” I finally learned the underlying reason for this intriguing and unanticipated e-mail chain.  

Wednesday, August 20, 2025.  E-mail number five. “Dear Dorothy Jean, I also want to share with you the situation of our parish during the war—many people have lost their homes. We are making the soaps here and planning to send them abroad. Could we correspond to find out how many parishes and churches would be interested in buying the soaps? Thank you for your love for my ‘living stones’ (our people). With gratitude, Abouna Firas”

Here was the answer. It took multiple tries. But finally Abouna Firas (and God!) had and have my attention. This is a genuine and urgent appeal coming from a Christian Palestinian community in the heart of the West Bank, a region increasingly threatened both by the vicious actions of angry Israeli settlers and the even more ominous calls for total “annexation” of the West Bank by the rightwing Israeli government presently in power.  

And this is an appeal to which I can and must respond, as best I can. I may not know Abouna Firas well. But I care deeply about the people of Palestine and their decades-long struggle as people having lived through the Nakba (“Catastrophe”) of 1948 and the ongoing Israeli military Occupation of the West Bank from 1967 to the present day. And I don’t simply care. I also have connections, useful connections—in this case MennoPIN connections—through which to contact the “parishes and churches” which Abouna Firas wants to reach with his own parish’s soap-selling venture.

So I invite you to join with me in responding to Abouna Firas’ call

Your participation in this project of purchasing this parish’s soap will not end the Occupation. It will not initiate a ceasefire in Gaza. It will not change the course of major world events. But your participation in this project will provide hope and material assistance to the people of one Palestinian village, Zababdeh; people living in the midst of deep threat and profound uncertainty at this moment in time and this place in the West Bank. As Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, President of Dar al Kalima University in Bethlehem regularly says, “Hope is what we do.” And with this urgent appeal from Abouna Firas there is “hope” just waiting to be “done.”

Could this be the “call” to your congregation? Could this be the “hope” which your congregation “does”? If it is, please contact Abouna Firas directly for details at melkitecatholic@yahoo.com and engage with the Zababdeh soap-selling project.  

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Block the Bombs Act

51 House representatives are now supporting the Block the Bombs Act. The bill would proactively block the U.S. government from sending more weapons to Israel in the midst of a genocide.

It is extremely important that Members of Congress hear from their constituents right now that they oppose giving more weapons to Israel. Write your Representative and urge them to sign on to H.R. 3565 (or thank them for doing so) and encourage others to do the same.  

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Christians and the Complicit Corporations Campaign

On Thursday, September 18 a large coalition of over 25 Christian organizations (including Mennonite Action, Friends of Sabeel North America, American Friends Service Committee, Christians for a Free Palestine, and Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace) launched an economic resistance campaign focused on tech company Palantir and Chevron.

The Complicit Corporations Campaign aims to create economic and political pressure to reduce corporate support for the Israel government’s policies and help shift U.S. policy to end the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank.

Why Chevron?

Per AFSC, Chevron runs natural gas extraction and pipelines off the shore of Palestine/Israel, making it a major partner in Israeli energy apartheid, the military blockade on Gaza, and the illegal exploitation of Palestinian land and resources.

During the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, a movement to boycott Shell Oil for its complicity in apartheid gained worldwide momentum with supporters taking part in gas station pickets and major divestment campaigns from the fossil fuel company.

Inspired by the South African liberation struggle, Palestinians and allies aim to build pressure on Chevron through a coordinated boycott until it no longer conducts business that gravely violates Palestinians’ human rights.

Join the Campaign and Sign Christians for a Free Palestine Pledge by Clicking the Image Below

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Mennonite Palestine Israel Network

MennoPIN keeps you informed about Palestine/Israel through our monthly update, special alerts, calls to action, important resources and tour possibilities, all from an Anabaptist perspective. To find out more, please visit our website at www.mennopin.org

Feedback, responses, and suggestions for future updates can be submitted to info@mennopin.org

Steering Committee

Bob Atchison (Manhattan Mennonite Church, Manhattan, KS)
Lydia Brenneman (Lima Mennonite Church, Lima, OH)
Dave Janzen (Fellowship of Hope, Elkhart, IN)
Michael George (Landisville Mennonite Church, PA)
Jonathan Kuttab (Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist, Manheim, PA)
Dorothy Jean Weaver (Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, VA)
Zachary Murray (Mennonite Central Committee, Washington, DC)
Adam Ramer (Co-coordinator of Mennonite Action, New York, NY)
David Bluford (Rainbow Mennonite Church, Kansas City, KS)
Gretchen M (Philadelphia, PA)

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Centering Palestine at MennoCon 2025

by Bob Atchison, MennoPIN Steering Committee Chair

July’s MennoCon 2025 in Greensboro, NC (Mennonite Church USA’s biennial convention) offered more seminars addressing peace and justice in Palestine and Israel than any other national convention I’ve attended. No doubt the genocide of Gaza had our attention, but at least nine sessions, maybe more, provided information on a range of topics from Christian Zionism and Nationalism to Antisemitism.

Amy Yoder McGloughlin’s Looking at Scripture Through the Lens of Land was the first seminar I attended. Amy invited us to consider how the locations of biblical storytelling matters and what their connections are to other stories that occurred previously on the same land. Jericho was one example, where the walls came down for both Joshua and Zacchaeus, just in very different ways. Amy also pointed out that indigenous story telling always makes land a character in the story adding another dimension.

Jonathan Brenneman and Drew Strait presented on White Christian Nationalism and Christian Zionism. Sponsored by AMBS and Mennonite Action, the seminar began by naming the 22 months of genocide that had occurred in Gaza and how the United States has spent 18 billion of our 2025 tax dollars on the war. According to Jonathan, 70% of the bombs dropped on Gaza were made in the US. Drew spoke of the dangers of Replacement Theory, which often fuels Christian Nationalism. Drew also provided a great list of books on how to address Christian Nationalism including his own Strange Worship: Six Steps for Challenging Christian Zionism, which I have found very helpful in taking direct oppositional action.

Nick Martin and Reah Clymer from Mennonite Action presented Stories from a Mennonite Social Movement describing the origin stories of Mennonite Action, the strong role of young Mennonites, and how they have become the leaders of this movement.

Hats off to Johnny Rashid and Erica Lea Simka for taking on the challenging presentation, Palestinian Justice and Resisting Antisemitism. Johnny did a good job reviewing Mennonites complicity in the Holocaust which has been presented at previous MennoCons and Erica tried to help us understand the nuances of taking Israel to task for genocide without engaging in antisemitic behavior. There were some heated discussions following this seminar.

Jonathan Kuttab, provided A Faithful Response to Palestine and Israel, calling us to action to respond to the violence and genocide in Gaza. Jonathan called us to faithfully witness and provided information on the apartheid systems and human rights violations Palestinians experience in their daily lives. At one point a young woman broke into tears asking, “but what can I do to make a difference?” Thank God for FOSNA, Mennonite Action, and so many organizations that continue to answer that question.

There were several other presentations worthy of describing but are beyond the scope of this newsletter. The only regret I have about MennoCon 2025 is not inviting Leila, from the Women in Hebron Cooperative, to speak at our MennoPIN/Mennonite Action Reception! The Women in Hebron sold a variety of Palestinian crafts at their booth. Our family came home with a beautifully embroidered Palestinian pillow. The good news is that Leila will be in the US through February and is available to visit congregations to talk about Palestine, and even provide a Palestinian meal! If this is of interest, please contact Amy Yoder McGloughlin at amy.yoder.mcgloughlin@gmail.com

Bob Atchison and Alex Awad at MennoPIN and Mennonite Action’s shared booth

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As mass starvation stalks Gaza, aid groups plead for access

by Mennonite Central Committee as published in Anabaptist World

As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organizations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes.

As the Israeli government’s siege starves the people of Gaza, aid workers are now joining the same food lines, risking being shot just to feed their families. With supplies now totally depleted, humanitarian organizations are witnessing their own colleagues and partners waste away before their eyes. Exactly two months since the Israeli government-controlled scheme, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, began operating, more than 100 organizations are sounding the alarm, urging governments to act: open all land crossings; restore the full flow of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items and fuel through a principled, United Nations-led mechanism; end the siege and agree to a ceasefire now.

“Each morning, the same question echoes across Gaza: Will I eat today?” said one agency representative.

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The Task Ahead

by Jonathan Kuttub

It is quite clear that significant numbers of organizations and individuals all over the world are truly committed to justice in Palestine. From them I hear much genuine yearning for a just peace, as well as outrage at the ongoing genocide. I hear the clear condemnation of Zionism and of the state of Israel, but I rarely hear any antisemitism or hatred towards Jews. In fact some of the most cogent and principled critiques come from Jews, precisely because they see in the policies of the state of Israel a betrayal of their Jewish values and beliefs.

The real task before us is to translate this worldwide outpouring of support for Palestine into concrete actions to alleviate suffering and bring about steps towards a genuine just peace and end to hostilities. The best opportunity for that may be working for compliance with international law and universal principles of human rights, equality and self determination, rather than resorting to power, force and violence.

It is not true that international law does not have mechanisms for enforcement. What is true is that national governments are not willing to employ these mechanisms when it comes to the state of Israel. The crimes against humanity, war crimes, the crime of apartheid and of genocide all carry universal jurisdiction, which means individual countries can try these criminals in their own national courts. Furthermore, individual states who signed the different conventions are required to “ensure compliance” with the provisions of the various treaties and agreements, even when the UN Security Council (hampered by the U.S. veto) fails to act or where international tribunals like the ICJ and the ICC are too slow and timid to prosecute the criminals.

When states fail to act, it becomes the task of ordinary citizens and of civil society to pressure their own governments to act and to carry out their own nonviolent actions in that direction.

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The genocide in Gaza continues and authoritarianism is on the rise across the U.S. As these two crises escalate, people of faith are in need of training, tools and frameworks to help us respond to, navigate, and rise to meet this tenuous political moment.

How do we continue to demonstrate for people in Gaza and respond to the growing threat that ICE represents in our communities? What tactics and strategies are most effective in this moment, and how can we draw upon our faith to find the courage to act in an increasingly frightening time?

Mennonite Action invites you to join a 4-week online organizing training series called Fall Term Courage School beginning in early September.

The goal of this training series is to provide Mennonite Action participants with the analysis, courage and concrete skills you need to meet this moment.

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Mennonite Palestine Israel Network

MennoPIN keeps you informed about Palestine/Israel through our monthly update, special alerts, calls to action, important resources and tour possibilities, all from an Anabaptist perspective. To find out more, please visit our website at www.mennopin.org

Feedback, responses, and suggestions for future updates can be submitted to info@mennopin.org

Steering Committee

Bob Atchison (Manhattan Mennonite Church, Manhattan, KS)
Lydia Brenneman (Lima Mennonite Church, Lima, OH)
Dave Janzen (Fellowship of Hope, Elkhart, IN)
Michael George (Landisville Mennonite Church, PA)
Jonathan Kuttab (Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist, Manheim, PA)
Dorothy Jean Weaver (Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, VA)
Zachary Murray (Mennonite Central Committee, Washington, DC)
Adam Ramer (Co-coordinator of Mennonite Action, New York, NY)
David Bluford (Rainbow Mennonite Church, Kansas City, KS)
Gretchen M (Philadelphia, PA)

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In this Issue:

In late June, MennoPIN supporters and members of Mennonite Action gathered with 30+ other faith-based organizations as part of the Interfaith Action for Palestine. More than 800 people mobilized online and in-person to disrupt the influence of Christians United for Israel’s (CUFI), the largest pro-Israel lobby in the U.S., during their annual conference in Washington, DC. Actions included a march, multi-faith service, and bannering.

According to the organizers, “nearly 70 IAP participants were arrested for disrupting the lunchtime rush in both the House and Senate cafeterias, shutting down food service with our bodies and our voices. In this act of nonviolent civil disobedience — deeply rooted in our diverse spiritualities — we demanded that our elected officials not listen to CUFI’s calls for further genocide. We proclaimed, “Congress doesn’t eat until Gaza eats,” offered interfaith prayers for food to Gaza, and sang loud with full and heavy hearts.”

In this issue, we hear from one MennoPIN activist’s experience at the recent Interfaith Action for Palestine, and then equip you and your congregations with tools to confront the people and power structures that perpetuate the harmful ideology of Christian Zionism.

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It’s Hard to Describe How Much This Picture Means to Me

by Jacob Janzen

The Interfaith Action for Palestine was held here in Washington, DC, June 29-July 1. The Action was timed to coincide with the Christians United For Israel (CUFI) conference. CUFI promotes the Christian Zionism ideology we believe to be a major root cause of the perpetual conflict between the Middle East and the Western world.

It’s hard for me to watch a group of people doing what they think will make the world a better place, when I believe it is making things far worse. This is especially true when I consider them to be much like myself. Their position on the matter now is pretty much where mine was, before I started studying and learning about the issue.

Because the IAP event didn’t start until the afternoon, I decided to spend Sunday morning at the hotel where the CUFI event was being held. I thought maybe there would be more of a difference made by interacting with people I oppose, instead of spending more time with like-minded people.

As I made my way to the hotel, I saw a lot of cop cars. Ha! I thought. They are scared. We are more brave than they are because we don’t hide behind security forces. When I got to the door, a couple of guys asked for my badge.

Me: “I don’t have one.”

Door Guard: “There is a special event here, and you need one to get in.”

Me: “I’m meeting a loved one here.” (This is true, given that I love everyone, including people I haven’t met yet.)

Door Guard: “Are they guests at the hotel?”

Me: “Yes.”

Door Guard: “Okay, go ahead. Just know that you might be asked for a badge.”

Impressed with myself for my clever half-truth, I started to worry how I would defend it if someone were to challenge me on it. I walked through the hotel lobby and saw a man in uniform, with a long gun. And I remembered the Israeli diplomats that had been killed nearby, just five weeks earlier. I realized just how scared I was, and my opposition’s fear (which I had mocked minutes earlier) seemed entirely justified. 

I bought an overpriced drink from the café, and sat in a lobby chair listening to my heart pound. I thought about what a powerful emotion fear is, and how scared both Israelis and Palestinians must be, far beyond anything I had ever known. I snapped this picture, and sent it to family to let them know I was okay.

As time passed my nerves calmed, and I went about looking for someone to talk to. I

found a guy with an Israeli flag on his shirt, sitting at a high-top table by himself.

Me: “May I sit?”

Fred: “Oh sure. Are you here for the CUFI conference?”

Me: “Sort of, but not exactly. I think CUFI is promoting a horribly destructive ideology.”

What followed was an exchange of mostly the same old talking points, including some anticipated/presumed (he brought up Apartheid, not me).

I listed out several books that formed my understanding of the conflict, and asked him to suggest some for me. He didn’t reference any books, but asked what I thought Israel ought to do. I suggested that they pass a civil rights bill similar to what we had here in the United States, something that would provide equal rights to all persons in the land under military control.

The alarm to catch my bus went off, just as Fred was excusing himself from the conversation that I think each of us were both happy to let go of. It was a cordial veneer over vehement disagreement. I made my way to the IAP event, and was greeted at the door with a much-needed hug from Jonathan Nahar.

At first, I didn’t hear much about how Monday and Tuesday went. But imagine my elation when I saw this photo:

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What is Christian Zionism and why is it so harmful?

Click below to watch this informative nine-minute video entitled Christian Zionism, Deconstructed by @DonnellWrites

Take a Stand Against Christian Zionism: Tools and Opportunities

Join Christians for a Free Palestine’s

July Community Call on Thursday, July 17

8-9:30 pm EST

We’ll hear a report back from the Interfaith Action for Palestine, and share about next steps to build on the momentum of our efforts to challenge Christian Zionism and advocate for a free Palestine.

REGISTER

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For a great primer on the historical and theological background of Christian Zionism, look no further than Friends of Sabeel North America’s Toolkit for Countering Christian Zionism. This toolkit contains audio and visual libraries, links to curriculum for Sunday School classes or study groups, conversation tips, frequently asked questions, and more.

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Recently launched, the Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism (ISCZ) is offering a free a free download of the first volume of their Journal for the Study of Christian Zionism.

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Christian Zionism: An Anabaptist Response

Did you know?

MennoPIN has compiled a number of resources for you on Christian Zionism on our website, including a printable tri-fold brochure for distribution amongst your friends and family.

You can visit our website here.

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Mennonite Palestine Israel Network

MennoPIN keeps you informed about Palestine/Israel through our monthly update, special alerts, calls to action, important resources and tour possibilities, all from an Anabaptist perspective. To find out more, please visit our website at www.mennopin.org

Feedback, responses, and suggestions for future updates can be submitted to info@mennopin.org

Steering Committee

Bob Atchison (Manhattan Mennonite Church, Manhattan, KS)
Lydia Brenneman (Lima Mennonite Church, Lima, OH)
Dave Janzen (Fellowship of Hope, Elkhart, IN)
Michael George (Landisville Mennonite Church, PA)
Jonathan Kuttab (Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist, Manheim, PA)
Dorothy Jean Weaver (Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, VA)
Zachary Murray (Mennonite Central Committee, Washington, DC)
Adam Ramer (Co-coordinator of Mennonite Action, New York, NY)
David Bluford (Rainbow Mennonite Church, Kansas City, KS)
Gretchen M (Philadelphia, PA)

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Update on MennoPIN’s relationship with the people of the Gaza YMCA

by David Janzen

The exchange of bombing between Israel and Iran, and now the United States, has taken the attention of most media in recent days. Many lives have already been claimed and the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank is off the front page. The entire Middle East is in a perilous situation.

In this time, MennoPIN continues to send prayers and food/supply donations to the hundreds of children, women and men living in the St. Porphyrius and Holy Family Churches in Gaza City. Some of the people formerly sheltering there have returned to the relative safety of the two church buildings after attempting to live in their damaged homes during the brief ceasefire period. Our meager efforts cannot touch the needs of the people given the expense of food and lack of medical care. Many have died, especially the young and old. Our main contact at the Gaza YMCA immigrated to the United States and has had relatively consistent internet access to friends in the churches over the past year. However, this communication was cut off recently when all of northern Gaza lost internet access.

The new “Gaza Humanitarian Fund,” implemented by private American contractors in coordination with the Israeli government, is by all accounts, doing a very poor job of getting food/supplies to those who are in need. Much violence has taken place as desperate people try to access the distribution sites. The United Nations has refused to work with this organization because it does not live up to the principles of international humanitarian aid.

So we continue to solicit funds to Fellowship of Hope, 1614 S. 6th St, Elkhart IN 46516 by check or using the Givelify app. Please include “Gaza Help” as a memo line.

Another of our Gaza YMCA friends remains in Egypt seeking a country that will take a Palestinian family of six. The parents are professionals, who along with their children, would make a most positive contribution to a new community. Our friend in the US, also an experienced administrator, has had difficulty finding employment.

We wish we could be more hopeful for a resolution that opens the way to a lasting peace. It seems that only new leadership on both sides can break the stalemate. And as long as the United States provides military hardware for the Israeli government, the genocide will continue. Our friends with whom we connect haven’t lost hope that love can find a way to peace. Keep speaking out for peace to your government representatives.

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+972 Magazine, an independent, online, nonprofit magazine run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli journalists, describes the experiences of Palestinians seeking to receive aid from the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s food distribution sites:

After two months without a single drop of food, medicine, or fuel entering Gaza, a trickle of white flour and canned goods has been allowed in since late May. Most of it has gone to sites in Rafah and the Netzarim Corridor managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), guarded by private American security contractors and Israeli soldiers. On June 10, small shipments also began arriving via aid trucks operated by the World Food Programme (WFP).

But with hunger deepening, people no longer wait for the trucks to move safely past Israeli troops. Instead, they rush toward them the moment they appear, desperate to grab whatever they can before supplies vanish. Tens of thousands gather at the distribution points, sometimes for days in advance, and many go home empty-handed.

Starving civilians gather in massive crowds, waiting for permission to approach. In many instances, Israeli troops have opened fire on the masses — and even during distribution itself — killing dozens as they try to collect a few kilos of flour or canned goods to bring home in what Palestinians have dubbed “The Hunger Games.”

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Upcoming Opportunities:

Take a stand Against Christian Zionism

Next Sunday-Tuesday! You can participate online!

The Interfaith Action for Palestine (IAP) is bringing together a coalition of faith-rooted activist organizations for a critical intervention this summer: we’re coming together to counter Christians United for Israel (CUFI) — the largest “pro-Israel” organization in the United States — during their Annual Summit June 29-July 1, 2025 in National Harbor, Maryland, and Washington, DC. If you would like to participate, either full or part-time in-person or online, please click below to register.  

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Join us at the MCUSA Convention and connect with fellow Mennos who have a heart for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine

MennoPIN has planned a number of activities for the MC USA convention in Greensboro, NC this summer.

We’d love to meet or reconnect with you by having you join us! Let’s forge connections and Follow Jesus

Drop by our booth in the Intersectionality section of the Exhibit Hall anytime Tuesday, July 8 – Friday, July 11 and say hello!

Wednesday, July 9 at 5:15 pmImperial Ballroom DInformal reception with refreshments and updates(co-hosted with Mennonite Action)

Friday, July 11 at 2:30 pmGrandover West classroomSeminar: Harmful Effects of Christian Zionism on the Church with Rev. Dr. Alex Awad

Friday, July 11 at 3:30 pmPebble Beach theatreSeminar: A Faithful Response to Palestine and Israel with Jonathan Kuttab 

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Register for Trees, the Land, and Jesus:  A Working and Learning Trip to Palestine and Israel

Join Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) and Mennonite Men as we travel to Palestine and Israel from February 4-19, 2026, to plant olive trees, meet Palestinian peacemakers, and connect the land to Jesus’ way of peace. 

Our two-week sojourn in Palestine and Israel will bring us into multifold contact with this land. Tree-planting days in the West Bank will give us intimate, hand-to-soil contact with the land itself as we work with Palestinian farmers. We will learn about the occupation of Palestine through relationship building and experiential
learning. We will discover the critical place of trees in the culture, economy, and ecology of the region. And we will see that the olive branch is not simply a symbol, but that olive trees are essential for God’s peace in this land. 

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Mennonite Palestine Israel Network

MennoPIN keeps you informed about Palestine/Israel through our monthly update, special alerts, calls to action, important resources and tour possibilities, all from an Anabaptist perspective. To find out more, please visit our website at www.mennopin.org

Feedback, responses, and suggestions for future updates can be submitted to info@mennopin.org

Steering Committee

Bob Atchison (Manhattan Mennonite Church, Manhattan, KS)
Lydia Brenneman (Lima Mennonite Church, Lima, OH)
Dave Janzen (Fellowship of Hope, Elkhart, IN)
Michael George (Landisville Mennonite Church, PA)
Jonathan Kuttab (Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist, Manheim, PA)
Dorothy Jean Weaver (Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, VA)
Zachary Murray (Mennonite Central Committee, Washington, DC)
Adam Ramer (Co-coordinator of Mennonite Action, New York, NY)
David Bluford (Rainbow Mennonite Church, Kansas City, KS)
Gretchen Merlot (Philadelphia, PA)

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Does the Land Grieve?

Amy Yoder McGloughlin, Conference Minister, Allegheny Mennonite Conference

On October 5, 2023, just two days before the Hamas attacks on Israel, followed by the disproportionate and ongoing retaliation of Gazans by Israel, I met with Hamdan Ballal in the South Hebron Hills community of Susiya. It was an accidental encounter – I was supposed to be meeting with someone else in the village – but our visit deeply affected me.  

Hamdan and his mother invited my Community Peacemaker Teams delegation to join them in their modest dwelling. We drank tea and ate sweets, as one would expect in any Palestinian home, and we talked about their lives and experiences in this village that has been under constant threat of demolition for decades.  

My colleague, Linda, a UCC pastor who shares my curiosity about the relationship Palestinians have to the land, asked Hamdan a question that broke our conversation open, beyond the typical storytelling I experience on a delegation. She asked, “Does the land grieve?” I watched as Hamdan’s eyes sparked with the joy of being asked a really good question, one he’d never been asked by a group like ours.

We talked about the deep relationship of land to Palestinians, especially those in these communities where land is how they feed their flocks, grow zaatar, and plant vegetables to feed their families. He showed us his community’s olive trees, and told stories about growing up in their shade, learning family stories as they harvested olives together.  

Hamdan mentioned that he had finished producing a documentary, and I didn’t think anything of it at the time. But, as it turned out, he was one of the producers of the Oscar-winning documentary, No Other Land. I didn’t make the connection with our visit, until I saw the news of Hamdan’s beating by settlers who attacked Susiya, and his subsequent arrest by the Israeli Military on March 24th, just three weeks after he won the Hollywood award for a film about the region.  

Hamdan’s film has the distinction of shining light onto the South Hebron Hills and Masafer Yatta. The international outcry against the settler and military project in this region has been heartening to residents, but it has also brought increased violence to their community.  

Just a few days after the Oscar nominations were announced, another village, Tuba, was attacked in Masafer Yatta. Ali Awad, Tuba activist and resident, was targeted. His car, the only vehicle that could manage the inhospitable rocky terrain in the region, was set on fire by settlers, as was the food for the sheep. And two days later, the military came to arrest Ali. They zip tied his hands behind his back, threw him in the back of a military transport vehicle, and while his wrists bled, a soldier pressed a boot into his back.  

Two weeks ago, another village in Masafer Yatta, Khalet Al Dabaa, was completely destroyed. Its tents and structures bulldozed, its caves decimated. That village is gone.  

It is a risk for Hamdan and Ali and all the residents of the South Hebron Hills and Masafer Yatta to tell their story. And yet they continue to speak, to confront and to tell their stories. Because the land remembers, they remember, and the people and land are inextricably linked in a web of mutual care.  

I get tired of telling these stories, and perhaps you get tired of reading them. But I take heart from the example of Hamdan and Ali. We have to keep telling the stories, demanding justice, and insisting on the humanity of Palestinians. “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9-10)

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Remarkably, No Other Land, a film about the communities of Masafer Yatta that are being forcibly displaced by the Israeli army and settlers, has no United States distribution, despite winning an Oscar for best documentary feature film at the 97th Academy Awards. MennoPIN is making efforts to get it screened at MC USA‘s Convention in Greensboro, NC this summer.

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Upcoming Events, Actions, and Resources

Each month, Voices from the Holy Land hosts an “Online Film Salon” with panelist discussion. Prior to the salon, registered attendees are encouraged to watch a curated list of short documentaries by Israeli, Palestinian, American, and European film makers on that month’s topic or theme such as Zionism, BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions), and Silencing of Student Voices.  

To find out more, watch recordings of previous salons, and/or register for next month’s salon, visit https://www.voicesfromtheholyland.org/

Voices From the Holy Land Film Series is sponsored and supported by a coalition of interfaith (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Unitarian) and interdenominational organizations nationwide whose members feel called by their faith to work for justice, human rights, and peace in the land that is holy to all three Abrahamic faiths.

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Listen to a conversation about identity, faith and solidarity with Palestinian American Mennonite Michael George on Front Light’s latest episode.  Michael serves on both the steering committees of MennoPIN and Mennonite Action.

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The Interfaith Action for Palestine is bringing together a coalition of organizations to counter Christians United for Israel’s (CUFI) Annual Summit June 29 – July 1, 2025 in National Harbor, Maryland, and Washington DC. CUFI is the largest “pro-Israel” organization in the United States that promotes hawkish, Christian supremacist, and genocidal policies. Last year, hundreds were mobilized to disrupt CUFI’s supremacist agenda in powerful and creative ways. Challenging white Christian Nationalism is even more urgent this year. project of the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), offers analysis, stories, and background information about Gaza.

The project seeks to raise awareness and provide resources for those wishing to organize in solidarity, take part in events and protests, engage elected officials, and work for an end to Israel’s blockade on Gaza.

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Mennonite Palestine Israel Network

MennoPIN keeps you informed about Palestine/Israel through our monthly update, special alerts, calls to action, important resources and tour possibilities, all from an Anabaptist perspective. To find out more, please visit our website at www.mennopin.org

Feedback, responses, and suggestions for future updates can be submitted to info@mennopin.org

Steering Committee

Bob Atchison (Manhattan Mennonite Church, Manhattan, KS)
Lydia Brenneman (Lima Mennonite Church, Lima, OH)
Dave Janzen (Fellowship of Hope, Elkhart, IN)
Michael George (Landisville Mennonite Church, PA)
Jonathan Kuttab (Palestinian lawyer and human rights activist, Manheim, PA)
Dorothy Jean Weaver (Community Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, VA)
Zachary Murray (Mennonite Central Committee, Washington, DC)
Adam Ramer (Co-coordinator of Mennonite Action, New York, NY)
David Bluford (Rainbow Mennonite Church, Kansas City, KS)
Gretchen Merlot (Philadelphia, PA)

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