40 Days and 40 Nights in the Holy Land
Looking for Hope and Truth in the Midst of Genocide and Darkness
Hello!
Welcome to the new subscribers.
I posted a shorter version of the following on Instagram on Thursday.
For 40 days and 40 nights, many of us have wept and experienced grief, heartbreak, helplessness, trauma, frustration, deep sadness, and rage as we watched the savage violence and the indiscreet killing of babies, children, and innocent Palestinians. Many of us have stood for the release of 2.3 million hostages in Gaza, plus the 5,040 imprisoned children and adults in Israel held for many years, and/or the 200 hostages taken by Hamas on Oct 7th for a prisoner swap.
Increasingly, more and more people are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to prevent further death and end the genocide.
For 40 days and 40 nights, Jews and Rabbis around the world marched in protest, declaring: "Never again," "NOT IN OUR NAME," and “Not in God's name.” Jews are calling out Zionists and making a clear distinction between Judaism and a political ideology that is based on a philosophy, not Biblical theology. The genocide in Gaza is a long-held Zionist dream to ethnically cleanse Palestine and expand the State of Israel on both sides of the Jordan. Jews have reminded the world of what happened in the Holocaust, yet Zionist Israel ignores the fact and justifies every action to take over Gaza.
For 40 days and 40 nights, we have seen how governments justify war by calling the oppressed a terrorist, a monster, or a security threat while they act as the victim and proclaim the right to self-defense. We learned that the end goal is always more power, money, and geopolitical control. All of the above is usually in the form of more land occupation and the theft of natural resources at the expense of innocent lives. A recent UN UNCTAD study found that underneath the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), such as Area C of the West Bank and the Mediterranean coast of the Gaza Strip, there are vast reservoirs of oil and natural gas. Studies have found this territory contains 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 1.7 billion barrels of oil. All of this is worth around $524 billion!
For 40 days and 40 nights, we have discovered new voices and thoughtful leaders committed to making the world a better and safer place to live. We want to end colonialism everywhere, fight for social justice and human rights, and stand against all forms of disparity and violence.
For 40 days and 40 nights, Moses, Elijah, Joshua, and Jesus fasted to meet God. Unfortunately, around 50% of Christians (according to research), mainly from White Evangelical churches, espouse the Christian Zionism that unconditionally supports Israel's policies, including the displacement of millions of Palestinians from their homeland, illegal occupation, settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocide. The backing of the US, without asking questions or passing judgment, such as Biden’s “no red line” policy for Israel, has given the state of Israel further impunity to act without accountability. Israel has a long list of war crimes and crimes against humanity accumulated over decades of torture, brutality, occupation, and abuse. Moses would go bonkers with Zionists who cannot even keep the Ten Commandments.
For 40 days and 40 nights, we witnessed notorious indifference, silence, and censorship in every sphere of the world. Western media propaganda and even countries threatening its people with arrests and consequences for supporting Palestine. It is concerning and alarming when the government and social media companies want to block freedom of speech. Nonetheless, the tide continues to turn as the truth surfaces over the lies and the decades of false narratives. We have witnessed so-called democracies fumble their words and actions in failed attempts to frame facts and truth with propaganda. The marches and the protests in support of Palestine continue along with the urgent call for a ceasefire to stop the genocide.
For 40 days and 40 nights, people from all over the world who represent every possible category of diversity and religious backgrounds (or not), have condemned Israel's violent policies and the genocide taking place, right now! Consider that every respected human rights, social justice, and humanitarian organization in the world has condemned Israel’s actions and unethical and immoral policies for years, not this time around.
For 40 days and 40 nights, I have prayed and cried out: my God, my God, why have you forsaken Palestinians and allowed this to happen? I then came across the words of Bethlehem pastor and theologian Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac when asked where is god in war? he responded, "God is under the rubble.”
I had the opportunity to read Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac's sermon preached in Palestine on Oct. 22, 2023 at both the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Beit Sahour and the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, where he said:
“God is under the rubble in Gaza. He is with the frightened and the refugees. He is in the operating room. This is our consolation. He walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. If we want to pray, my prayer is that those who are suffering will feel this healing and comforting presence.”
He goes on and says,
“Beloved, in these difficult times, let us comfort ourselves with God’s presence amid pain, and even amid death, for Jesus is no stranger to pain, arrest, torture, and death. He walks with us in our pain.”
For 40 days and 40 nights, we have learned many new terms, historical facts, geography, how maps change over history and conquests, how political rhetoric works, what war crimes are, how to call out lies and propaganda from I$srael, and how political ideologies work in favor of the oppressor. We have learned more about the people we spend time with at work, school, and places of worship. We learned that being anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism.
For 40 days and 40 nights, the World has seen and heard the oppressors (Israel, the US, and allies) justify and defend the genocide and the 75 years full of brutalities, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Both the US and I$srael use Scripture as weapons of mass destruction and faith as gunpowder. God is nowhere to be found supporting any of this. There is no trace of the Divine in killing any human being, regardless of their innocence or not, just as there is no justification to proceed with the intentional destruction of homes, schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, and refugee camps. Unholy, at the very least. If your religion favors any of this, then your understanding of God is wrong; you see God as a punishing and violent monster.
In the same sermon quoted above, Munther Isaac reminds us:
“There is no mercy. Humanity is gone. There is no one to mourn our death. There is no one to stop this war machine because we are not from a certain people, religion, or race. We are not among the “chosen ones.” The political powers of the world see us as an obstacle, not an ally. We were broken and are broken again every day by the images of death, especially when it comes close to us — our families, our sisters, our relatives, and loved ones to whom we spoke daily. We are all broken. We hear terrifying stories about hell on earth. Hell is a reality in Gaza today. Our Palestinian siblings are in it now.
For 40 days and 40 nights, I realized that raising my voice might offend, bring criticism, and raise walls of separation between the people I love. I speak humbly and in love and peace. Yet the truth is, you either stand for something or nothing. Everything in life worth doing comes at a cost. I’ve felt summoned to write and speak and have no intention of taming the Spirit. I have connected with people with the same passion and zest for a life filled with love, freedom, peace, joy, justice, and equality. These people are the tribe I choose to rally with, and these are the principles I want to instill in my children.
Ultimately, when we are done with our time on earth, we will have to give an account of how we lived and loved ourselves, our neighbors, and our enemies. In that unexpected moment, I want others not to doubt what I stand for and against.
I read somewhere, "In our advocacy for freedom, we are not freeing Palestine; Palestine is freeing us." ❤️
Let us find peace and freedom in our actions and words.
Thanks for reading,
Jorge Fusaro
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