Post by Fr David Neuhaus SJ | 7 January 2026
David Neuhaus SJ received the following questions from a Catholic priest from Sudan. He tries to answer the priest from a Christian perspective.
A girl walks inside Gaza during the Gaza-Israel war to get food. Jaber Jehad Badwan, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
1. If our Christian history is true and Christ was born in Bethlehem, and he, like his ancestor King David was a Jew, how can the Palestinians claim Bethlehem as part of Palestine? Can we Christians support that claim?
Before I try to answer your questions, I want to say that I live in Palestine/Israel. I witness up close the brutality of an Israeli regime that is ethnocentric, racist, and far removed from the religious values of the Jewish people. I live alongside our Christian and Muslim Palestinian brothers and sisters, who suffer deeply and dream of a day when all will be equal. Please watch this video about what has been going on in Gaza and the rest of Palestine. Via Dolorosa – Chapter 5 (English) on Vimeo
There are a number of problems with your assumptions in this question.
a. The idea that the Jews from the time of Jesus and the European Jews who began moving to Palestine in the late nineteenth century form one single indigenous group is incorrect. Many Jews living in Palestine during Jesus’ time migrated elsewhere and mixed with other populations. Others who were not originally from Palestine converted to Judaism and became part of the Jewish community. Over the centuries, many of those who stayed in Palestine became Christians or Muslims. Historically, Palestinians today are probably more closely related to the Jews of Jesus’ time than many of the European Jews who later claimed the land.
b. Judaism as a religion has a deep connection to Palestine. Daily prayers in Jewish liturgy mention Jerusalem. But this spiritual link is not exclusive. Christians and Muslims are also deeply attached to the city. Jerusalem should be seen as a place of encounter for followers of all three religions. A religious and spiritual connection does not give political rights or land ownership.
c. In the late nineteenth century, Jewish identity began to be reshaped, presenting religious belonging as national identity. This happened largely because of European racism, which excluded Jews and other minorities. Historically, Jews wanted to be equal citizens in their own countries, like Germany, France, England, Russia and Poland. But antisemitism, which reached its peak in Nazi ideology and the Holocaust, made this impossible. Some Jews then felt they needed their own homeland, and the Bible was used to justify a claim on Palestine.
d. Zionism, which developed as a Jewish national movement, adopted the language and methods of settler colonialism. It promoted the idea, using the Bible. It argued that Palestine was meant for Jews and that the local population should either leave or submit to Jewish rule. Many Jews, however, strongly criticized Zionism and its colonial strategies. Thinkers like Martin Buber and Hannah Arendt, who were initially sympathetic to Zionism, later condemned the settler colonial methods.
e. Zionism was not originally a Jewish idea. It had roots in Christian Zionism, which interpreted the Bible in a fundamentalist way. Beginning in seventeenth-century England, Christian Zionists promoted the “return” of Jews to Palestine as part of preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus. In this vision, Jews were used as instruments in a religious drama.f. The Catholic Church’s position is clear: Christians should understand the Jewish religious attachment to the land, rooted in Biblical tradition, but they should not adopt any specific religious interpretation of it. The existence of the State of Israel and its political choices must be considered not in religious terms, but according to the common principles of international law. Here is the text: “Christians are invited to understand this (Jewish) religious attachment (to the land) which finds its roots in Biblical tradition, without however making their own any particular religious interpretation of this relationship (cf. Declaration of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, November 20, 1975). The existence of the State of Israel and its political options should be envisaged not in a perspective which is in itself religious, but in their reference to the common principles of international law.”
2. Considering contemporary technology, if Israel was really intent on committing genocide against the Palestinians, surely, they would have done it in a simpler way, hidden from the world stage. They could easily poison the food that goes into Gaza, or poison their water, putting the Palestinians to death slowly, without having to go for physical bombardment of Gaza?
Today’s technology makes it very hard to hide genocide. Since 2007, Israel has imposed a long siege on Gaza, blocking many basic necessities from entering. Gazans were trapped, and the Strip became what many called “an open-air prison.”
After October 7, 2023—when militants broke out of Gaza, killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel, and kidnapped around 250—the Israeli government adopted a new policy. Instead of repression, impoverishment, and harsh control, the army began to destroy people, property, and land so that Gaza would become unlivable.
This was presented to the world as a war of self-defense, hiding its true nature. The violence of October 7 was used as justification for the massive Israeli assault that followed. It took time for international bodies to recognize that what was happening was genocide. The blanket bombing of Palestinian neighborhoods and camps, the extreme and disproportionate force and “collateral damage” in the killing of children, the elderly, and unarmed civilians all revealed the reality of genocide.
Genocide here means not only mass killings, but also systematic destruction of homes and buildings (domicide), repeated displacement of most of Gaza’s population, constant attempts to deport large groups, destruction of institutions (hospitals, schools, universities, clubs, places of worship), and suppression of Palestinian identity. These actions fit the definition of genocide.
The Israeli authorities continue to try to hide this by insisting it is all done in the name of “self-defense.”
For more information on the genocide, please look at these two reports by Israeli NGOs: Our Genocide: | B’Tselem and Genocide-in-Gaza-PHRI-English.pdf
3. For us in South Sudan, who have witnessed the Arabs bombing our villages and killing our people and our cattle, we have a very negative perception of Arabs. So, when we hear Israel is fighting with Arabs terrorists in Gaza (Hamas) and that Israel is destroying them, it gives us hope that God does care for the world through Israel. This is not because we take delight in the shedding of blood but because most of the South Sudanese think that Palestine is being supported by Iran, a country that supported the militias in Sudan. We tend to think that Palestine is getting divine retribution.
I understand the emotions behind this reaction. As the child of Jews who survived the Holocaust in Europe, I could easily feel similar anger toward Germans, Europeans in general, or even Christians. Such feelings are human, but they are not the attitudes Christians are called to live by.
There is another important point: the Israeli government says it is fighting Hamas. But Hamas was only created in the 1980s. Israel’s war against Palestinians began long before that. Since 1948, Palestinians have been killed, exiled, repressed, discriminated against, occupied, and denied their basic human rights and dignity.
At first, Israel even supported Hamas, hoping it would weaken the Palestinian national movement. This was similar to the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, where Islamic militant militias were backed against the Communist government. In both cases, the plan backfired, and the militias turned against those who had supported them.
It is also important to remember that of the more than 70,000 killed and 170,000 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza, the vast majority are not militants or Hamas members. They are children, women, the elderly, and ordinary men and women who simply want lives of dignity. Their humanity is equal to that of Jewish Israelis and of every other human being on earth.
Finally, we must be very cautious about claiming divine providence in wars and destruction. Freud called this Schadenfreude (meaning to enjoy the suffering of those we see as enemies). This is not what Christ meant when he preached the Gospel.
4. The Bible is the basis and foundation of our lives as Christians and Jews. It is it is impossible to abandon it as if it is an outdated book, without meaning today. If we cannot abandon the Bible, we need to understand that it speaks of the Land of Israel as a land belonging to the Jewish people. Muslim fundamentalists consider the whole land of Israel, from the river to the sea, as Palestine. But if it is to be a Muslim Palestine, what happens to our Christian faith and its Jewish roots.
We certainly must not abandon the Bible! It is the heart of Christian thought, language and life, giving us the words to speak about God, humanity, and their relationship. The Catholic Church teaches us how to read it properly—understanding its history, the kind of literature it contains, how to interpret texts written long ago, and how to find lessons that guide us today. From this perspective, I want to make several points:
- In the Bible, the land belongs to God. God gives the land, and God takes it away.
- From a Christian point of view, when Jesus came, he broke down walls of separation. For Christians, the land is the entire face of the earth.
- Jews lived for more than two thousand years without a land. Even today, most Jews live outside Israel and have no intention of moving there. In fact, more Jews are leaving Israel than arriving.
- What you say about Muslims contradicts Church teaching. In Nostra Aetate (1965), the Church states: “The Church regards with esteem also the Muslims. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to humanity; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.”
Pope John Paul II also recognized the deep connection Muslims have to Jerusalem and Palestine: “Muslims also call Jerusalem ‘holy’, with a profound attachment that goes back to the origins of Islam and springs from the fact that they have there many special places of pilgrimage and for more than a thousand years have dwelt there, almost without interruption.” - The Church condemns all use of religion to justify violence. This applies to Jews and Muslims who misuse the Bible or other religious texts and of course to Christians too. Personal experiences cannot replace Church teaching. When you speak of Muslims, it reminds me of how my grandmother spoke of Christians who used to say “our people suffered greatly from Christians”.
- Muslims ruled the Holy Land for centuries, yet this never weakened our faith, our understanding of Jesus, or our connection to salvation history. During the long centuries of Muslim rule there were good times and bad times for Christians and Muslims.
- Some Jews in Israel today want to expel all non-Jews, including Christians. Some Muslims want to expel all non-Muslims. These attitudes do not reflect our vision of a land that welcomes everyone.
Finally, let me say that it does not have to be this way. All people in the Holy Land, in Palestine/Israel, can live in equality, justice and peace. Let us commit to this vision.