Child of Gaza

Jesus was a Palestinian Jew, a Jew living in the occupied country of Palestine. He was killed by the Roman Empire, the occupier, on a false charge of treason. On the cross his crime was listed: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”. (INIR). In life Jesus’ crime was speaking the truth to power. Now Palestine is occupied by Israel. Over the last few weeks, in the name of self defense, Israel has killed over 1700 Palestinians in one small strip of land, Gaza strip, many of them children. Israel can only do this with weapons, money and supplies from the USA so the blood of these children is on our hands.

Today I read two articles about Israel and Palestine by men I have been blessed to meet and who I respect. One was called Gaza’s Desperate ‘Prison Riot’ by Professor Daniel Mcquire of Marquette University. Professor Mcquire contributed an article on our Teach War No More web page called Statement on the Military and Marquette.

The other was by Chris Hedges and was in Common Dreams and called Why Israel Lies. Chris was a foreign correspondent for New York Times and the author of many books. Chris has seen the ‘hell’ of war and describes some of what he saw in Gaza. He was a featured speaker at a Catholic Worker Resistance retreat I attended some years ago in Chicago.

When Chris spoke at the Catholic Worker retreat some were taken back from his direct honesty and fearlessness in speaking the truth. The same could be said for Dr. Mcquire in his long career at Marquette. I look to these two speakers and writers as models, like Jesus, of speaking the truth to power. In fact, at the rally before my trial for breaking the ban on me placed by Marquette Dr. Mcquire spoke. I do not pretend to hold the position or have the prestige these two men have in society. I am just an ordinary guy trying to be an extraordinary person, like these two and Jesus, speaking truth to power. I have a long ways to go but the struggle is the way.

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