Recently the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, commissioned over a thousand pastors “to stand with Israel and combat antisemitism.” CBN quoted Johnnie Moore as saying that this was “the largest group of pastors at one time that has ever come to Israel, specifically for one purpose: to stand in solidarity with the Jewish state and the people of Israel.” (See the CBN report from which these quotations come at http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2025/december/huckabee-commissions-1-000-pastor-army-at-ambassadors-summit-to-stand-with-israel )

According to CBN, Huckabee downplayed the political dimension of this event by telling the pastors that they were ambassadors “for Christ, His Kingdom, and His word.” It appears, however, that, for Huckabee, being an ambassador “for Christ” means that one stands “in solidarity with the Jewish state” (emphases added). Such solidarity has political implications.

I have two serious concerns. First, this event as reported by CBN promotes a false definition of “antisemitism.” The way this event was presented suggests that unless one stands in solidarity with the Jewish state and approves whatever that state does one is antisemitic. This, of course, is palpable nonsense. There is no state in the world that has always acted justly. The Old Testament prophets had no hesitation in pronouncing judgment on ancient Israel. Jeremiah is representative when he condemns Israel because its leaders have “eyes and heart only . . . for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence” (Jeremiah 22:17).

Second, in the present context solidarity with the Jewish state is almost a euphemism for support for the devastation that Israel has brought on Gaza. It is reported that in the first year of the war 42,000 people were killed, including 17,000 children, 100,000 were injured, and 900 families were entirely wiped out. More than half of Gaza’s homes were destroyed, 80% of commercial buildings, 87% of schools, 68% of roads, and 68% of farmland. Almost the entire population—1.9 million—were displaced. (See the sources for these figures in Munther Isaac, Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2025], 14–15.) 

I wince every time I hear people blithely dismiss these figures as inaccurate or justify this slaughter as necessary for Israel’s defense. Can anyone honestly deny the enormous destruction and loss of innocent life in Gaza? Can we be so flippant about human life? Would we talk this way if it were our family members who were being killed? Can you imagine Jesus justifying such wanton destruction? 

Is this slaughter nothing more than “defense”? Listen to Netanyahu’s own words: “We will take mighty vengeance for this black day [Oct 7, 2023] . . . . We will take revenge for all the young people who lost their lives. We will target all of Hamas’s positions. We will turn Gaza into a deserted island. To the citizens of Gaza, I say: You must leave now. We will target each and every corner of the strip” (emphases added). But Israel (and Egypt) made sure that the citizens of Gaza could not leave. Is this defense—or vengeance? (Isaac, Christ in the Rubble, 23.)

The words of Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, accord well with those of the Prime Minister: “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed . . . . We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” (Emanuel Fabian, “Defense Minister Announces ‘Complete Siege’ of Gaza: No Power, Food or Fuel,” Times of Israel, October 9m 2923, https://tinyurl.com/4utv9fy5)

Raz Seagal is an associate professor at Stockton University specializing in Holocaust and genocide studies. He writes in the journal Jewish Currents, “Indeed, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza is quite explicit, open, and unashamed, Perpetrators of genocide usually do not express their intentions so clearly, though there are exceptions. . . . Galant’s orders on October 9^th were no less explicit. Israel’s goal is to destroy the Palestinians of Gaza. And those of us watching around the world are derelict in our responsibility to prevent them from doing so” (emphases added). See Seagal’s “A Textbook Case of Genocide,” Jewish Currents, October 13, 2023 (http://tinyurl.com/32pum2n5).

Even Amos Goldberg, who is at the Hebrew University in Israel and who specializes in Holocaust and genocide research, admits that the destruction of Gaza is genocide: “Yes, it is genocide. It is so difficult and painful to admit it, but despite all that, and despite all our efforts to think otherwise, after six months of brutal war we can no longer avoid this conclusion. (Amos Goldberg [translated by Sol Salbe], “Yes, It Is Genocide,” The Palestine Project, April 18, 2024, https://tinyurl.com/43vuddw3. For the original article in Hebrew click on https://tinyurl.com/3u9hj5jh .)

In the light of these realities can we say with integrity that the destruction of Gaza is nothing more than “defense”? Haven’t the Israeli authorities made it clear that they intend to remove the people of Gaza? Are not their actions in accord with the present Israeli government’s stated intention of incorporating virtually all of Palestine into the State of Israel?  Could they do this without the support of the US and other western governments? Should not we Christians who have approved this wanton slaughter of human life fall on our faces before God in repentance?

Perhaps this short blog post has not convinced you. I challenge you to read Palestinian pastor Munther Isaac’s book mentioned above, Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza. The statistics and quotations in this blog (along with much else) can be found in his book. Ignorance is no excuse when the truth is readily available. There is another book about Gaza that I cannot yet recommend because I have not yet read it. Its title, however, is striking: One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This (by Omar El Akkad)—but then it will be too late!