As the one-year anniversary of the horrific actions committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, approaches, and the subsequent sustained response by Israel in retaliation for the taking and killing of hostages commenced, there appears to be no let-up in the violence that’s left more than 40,000 killed and nearly 2 million people displaced within Gaza. Neither does there appear to be any increased hope for a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, and fears of a wider war within the region increased when Israel launched ground operations targeting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and Iran launched ballistic missiles into Israeli territory earlier this week.
When an Episcopal chaplain at Yale University seemed to suggest that Jews were culpable for Israel’s actions against Palestinians and a related rise in global anti-Semitism, his comments not only led to his resignation but rekindled a debate within mainline Protestant churches about how to respond to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.