{"id":112652,"date":"2026-05-13T23:26:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T23:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/112652\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T23:26:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T23:26:24","slug":"christians-rally-to-support-aid-for-palestinians-end-arm-sales-to-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/112652\/","title":{"rendered":"Christians rally to support aid for Palestinians, end arm sales to Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 300 Christian leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., for the three-day Joint Christian Advocacy Summit<\/a> on May 5. The ecumenical group, including over 40 sponsoring organizations, is seeking an end to American arms sales to Israel and a restoration of funding of humanitarian aid to Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of funding war, our faith calls us to feed the hungry, defend the oppressed, and work for just peace. We are here to pressure Congress to enact these values,\u201d Allison Tanner, a Baptist pastor and leader of the summit, said in a press release.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the coalition is demanding the restoration of funding to the East Jerusalem Hospitals Network<\/a> and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency<\/a> for Palestinian refugees.<\/p>\n

The event, which included multiple speakers and advocacy training, involved Catholics, mainline and evangelical Protestants, and Orthodox Christians from across the country. It has been organized in response to more than two years of violence in Gaza, the continued aggression of Israeli settlers toward Palestinians in the West Bank and the recent Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon as part of the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.<\/p>\n

Eli McCarthy\u2014a just peace fellow for the Franciscan Action Network, one of the organizations involved with the summit<\/a>\u2014spoke to America. He argued that restoring funding to E.J.H.N. and U.N.R.W.A. is crucial for addressing the ongoing humanitarian crisis brought on by what he called an \u201cethnic cleansing and genocide\u201d in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The East Jerusalem Hospitals Network, which includes six facilities, provides Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with health care services and procedures otherwise unavailable in the territories. Mr. McCarthy, who also teaches at Georgetown University, said that Israel is blocking Gazans<\/a> from accessing the network. \u201cIt\u2019s a death sentence for a number of Gazans who need things like dialysis and cancer treatment,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the past, the U.S. has not only insured access but funded the network.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. McCarthy thinks that a restoration of funding for E.J.H.N. \u201chas a pretty viable chance at getting some traction in Congress across different parties.\u201d He is less certain about funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. That is \u201cgoing to be a little more challenging,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is certainly pretty broad support across Congress for ensuring humanitarian aid, but there is still notable resistance in the U.S. Congress against U.N.R.W.A.\u201d<\/p>\n

While U.N.R.W.A. still operates in Gaza<\/a>, the suspension of U.S. funding represented a significant blow to its ability to provide aid. The Biden Administration halted funding<\/a> for the agency in 2024 following allegations from Israel that a dozen employees were involved<\/a> in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel led by Hamas that resulted in over 1,200 dead and hundreds of people taken as hostages. Israeli officials charged in March that hundreds of agency employees were members of Hamas and other Gaza-based terrorist groups. U.N.R.W.A. counters<\/a> that these accusations are \u201cunsubstantiated.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 30, 2026, the U.S. Agency for International Development Office of Inspector General released a statement<\/a> claiming to have \u201cfound evidence linking four additional current or former\u201d U.N.R.W.A. staff \u201cto participation\u201d in the attack on Oct. 7. That investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Mr. McCarthy noted that U.N.R.W.A. \u201chas passed the different standards and benchmarks to demonstrate [its] neutrality,\u201d adding that all other major governments have resumed their funding<\/a> of the organization.<\/p>\n

The coalition\u2019s third demand, that U.S. arms sales to Israel be halted, is \u201cthe most challenging and also one of the most critical,\u201d Mr. McCarthy said. \u201cWe have members of Congress who have pointed out that military assistance to Israel at this time doesn\u2019t comply with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961<\/a> and the \u2018Lahey Laws<\/a>,\u2019 which require that countries that receive our weapons meet certain human rights and humanitarian standards. It\u2019s clearly not happening with Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democratic support for blocking military aid to Israel has increased recently, with 36 Democrats voting against the sale of 1,000-pound bombs<\/a> to Israel earlier this year. Those numbers were not enough to overcome unanimous Republican support for the weapons transfer. Still, while Congress may not soon accede to this emerging opposition to the status quo regarding arms sales and aid to Israel, Mr. McCarthy is optimistic that shifts in public opinion will eventually \u201cleverage some pressure on the administration and on Israel.\u201d He also believes changing public opinion on what had been essentially uncritical support for Israel will play a role in upcoming elections, especially in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary.<\/p>\n

Americans\u2019 views on Israel have soured considerably over the past few years. A Pew Research Center survey<\/a> conducted in late March found that 60 percent of Americans now have an unfavorable view of America\u2019s Middle Eastern ally compared to 42 percent in 2022. That number is higher for younger Americans, with 70 percent of people 18-49 having a \u201csomewhat\u201d or \u201cvery unfavorable\u201d view of Israel.<\/p>\n

Support has even dropped among white Protestant evangelicals, long considered stalwart supporters of Israel<\/a>, partially for eschatological reasons<\/a>, with 50 percent under the age of 50 now expressing a negative view.<\/p>\n

The summit also drew attention to the plight of Palestinian Christians in the region. \u201cWe had a particular focus on Taybeh, which is a Christian village in the West Bank that has been facing immediate attacks<\/a> the last few days,\u201d Mr. McCarthy said. He added that Christian communities and leaders in southern Lebanon have similarly faced violence and the destruction of property by Israeli forces occupying the region<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Beyond the summit, the coalition is promoting \u201ca Complicit Corporation campaign<\/a> to expose, boycott and divest from Chevron and Palantir for their role in enabling the Israeli military,\u201d Mr. McCarthy said. \u201cA broad coalition of Palestinian Christians<\/a> have been asking Christians in the U.S. to support such strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a really, really important issue for Christians, and particularly Catholics,\u201d he said. \u201cTaybeh is struggling right now. We need a lot of attention and advocacy around that or they are going to lose their entire village\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. McCarthy also highlighted Pope Leo XIV\u2019s call<\/a> for a \u201cdisarmed peace and a disarming peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to invite, particularly Catholics, but also more broadly Christians, to lean into that,\u201d he said on May 7, \u201cparticularly with Palestine, but also with Lebanon right now, so that we can be the peacemakers\u2014the nonviolent peacemakers\u2014that Jesus modeled and called us to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

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