The escalating violence in Gaza, other Occupied Territories and Israel is horrifying. As KAIROS, we join with many voices in Canada and globally in lamenting the loss of life and condemning the Hamas attacks and the indiscriminate military actions taken by the state of Israel since October 7, 2023. Thank you for your prayers and your support as together we raise our voices to call for immediate ceasefire, safe release of all hostages, humanitarian aid access to Gaza, and an end to the occupation.
At this time of writing more than 10,000 people have been killed, and others injured, in the region. Most of them are civilians, including children – and the majority are in Gaza.
Many of you in our KAIROS community met leaders from KAIROS’ long-time partner Wi’am Palestinian Conflict Resolution Centre who visited Canada during the Climate, Conflict, Gender partner visit a little more than a month ago. We want you to know that we have been in touch with Wi’am staff. Despite facing the devastating impacts of the escalating violence, the blockades, office closures and heightened security risks, they continue to support the communities they accompany, calling for an immediate ceasefire and advocating for human rights. When asked for their message to Canadians they wrote:
“The Palestinian people, like all people, love life and wish to live it, with dignity and freedom, enjoying all that this world has to offer…. We also affirm every person and community’s right to security, and our basic interconnectedness, understanding that our security is also intertwined and must never come at the expense of another.”
We have also been in touch with our Israel-based partner HaMoked, who shared the following message:
“The universality at the heart of human rights necessitates unequivocal support for Israelis’ right to be safe, and the demand for accountability for the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, and unequivocal support for these same rights – security and accountability – for the Palestinian civilians of Gaza. The most important message is that there is no contradiction in working for all of this, exactly the opposite: it is in all of our interests to insist on universal humanity precisely at this time.”
KAIROS has been vocal in condemning the violence and calling for a ceasefire and a negotiated resolution. We are working with member churches, faith groups and other civil society groups to amplify the calls for immediate cease fire, humanitarian assistance and respect for human rights and international law. Our Ecumenical Statement was issued on October 13. To date the following churches and organizations have joined us in signing the statement: Anglican Church of Canada, Development and Peace, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice, Mennonite Central Committee, Presbyterian Church in Canada and United Church of Canada. This list is growing.
Following the Ecumenical Statement’s release, KAIROS wrote to the Prime Minister reiterating the call for an immediate ceasefire, release of the hostages and respect for international law. To date, Canada is one of the few countries in the world that is not calling for a ceasefire to stop the killing of innocent lives and to help negotiate sustainable peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians.
We encourage you to call on Canada to step up. Please write to your Member of Parliament asking them to amplify these calls in Parliament. I encourage you to include a link to KAIROS’ letter to the Prime Minister, its ecumenical statement and/or other church statements.
KAIROS has a more than 22 year-long history of partnerships in Israel and Palestine, made possible through the generous support of committed and faithful people like you. Your prayers and donations are invaluable in providing reassurance to our partners that KAIROS is equipped to continue advocating loudly for justice and peace and committed to long-term solidarity now and in the future for the wellbeing of all.
In peace and solidarity,
Leah
Leah Reesor-Keller, MA
Interim Executive Director
KAIROS Canada
KAIROS Canada and its member churches and agencies, condemn the current violence, against Israeli and Palestinian civilians, in Israel, Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and call on Canada to do everything in its power to support an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated solution.
In response to the spiraling violence, they have issued an ecumenical statement, A Cry to End the Violence and to uphold the rights of all civilians to life and freedom from violence and discrimination. In it, they write:
“We join the voices of those in the region and others in Canada and internationally in urging the Canadian Government to support a ceasefire and a negotiated resolution to this violence. The pain and tragedy of the growing numbers of civilian lives, Israeli and Palestinian, lost in the violence to date are evidence of the need for an immediate ceasefire, not an escalation of violence.”
Read the full statement below:
Ecumenical statement on the escalation of violence between Hamas and Israel:
A Cry to End the Violence and to uphold the rights of all civilians to life and freedom from violence and discrimination.
KAIROS Canada and its member churches and agencies— including Anglican Church of Canada, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, Mennonite Central Committee of Canada, The Presbyterian Church in Canada, The United Church of Canada – are following reports of the
escalation of violence between Hamas and Israel and the mounting civilian death tolls in Israel, Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem with deepening alarm and profound grief.
We condemn the violence, particularly against Israeli and Palestinian civilians, which constitutes a war crime. The level of human loss and suffering is unconscionable and must stop. We lament the loss of Palestinian voices for peace in international media that fails to distinguish between Hamas and Palestinian civilians.
We work with partner organizations in the region, both Palestinian and Israeli, and we hear their cries for a lasting and just peace. For years KAIROS Canada has worked with partners, who are supporting local women peacebuilders throughout the region to know their rights and to
build conditions for sustainable, just and equitable peace on the ground. KAIROS member churches and agencies also work with a variety of partners in Palestine and Israel on programs of peace, development, education, health care, pilgrimage, and humanitarian assistance. These
voices are being silenced, and this work is extinguished by the current violence.
We join the voices of those in the region and others in Canada and internationally in urging the Canadian Government to support a ceasefire and a negotiated resolution to this violence. The October 13, 2023
pain and tragedy of the growing numbers of civilian lives, Israeli and Palestinian, lost in the violence to date are evidence of the need for an immediate ceasefire, not an escalation of violence.
We echo the voices of the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem from their joint statement issued on October 8, 2023, lamenting that Palestinians and Israelis are “currently mired in violence and suffering due to the prolonged political conflict and the lamentable absence of justice and respect for human rights.”
We affirm and amplify statements by Diakonia and others who call for respect for international humanitarian law and human rights by both sides. And we reiterate that attacks against civilians are in violation of international law, regardless of the perpetrator and whether by immediate violent force or by long-term structural oppression. As Amnesty International notes, “Palestinian civilians are not responsible for the crimes of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups and Israel must not, under international law, make them suffer for acts they play no role in and cannot control.” Similarly, civilians in Israel are not responsible for the actions of the government of Israel and should not be made to suffer.
Canada and the wider international community have failed to uphold international law; the international response must comply with international humanitarian law. We urge Canada to take leadership in calling for a corridor to provide humanitarian relief to Gaza.
We call on our members and all people of goodwill to:
We call on our members and all people of goodwill to:
● pray and work for a just and lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis
● write to their Member of Parliament to urge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister
Melanie Joly to call for:
● an immediate ceasefire;
● a safe corridor to provide humanitarian relief to Gaza;
● an end to the misery of the current blockade;
● the immediate and safe release of all hostages;
● the rights to life and freedom of both Palestinians and Israelis;
● support and amplify the voices of faith based and grassroots civil society peace and development organizations in Palestine and Israel who are calling for an end to the violence and a just and lasting peace.
In addition to condemning the spiraling violence and doing everything in its power for an immediate ceasefire, Canada must work with renewed effort toward peace with justice that upholds the rights of both Palestinians and Israelis to life and to freedom from violence and discrimination, and an end to the occupation.
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
Anglican Church of Canada
Development and Peace – Caritas Canada
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
Jesuit Forum
Mennonite Central Committee of Canada
The Presbyterian Church in Canada
The United Church of Canada
Wayne Northey was Director of Man-to-Man/Woman-to-Woman – Restorative Christian Ministries (M2/W2) in British Columbia, Canada from 1998 to 2014, when he retired. He has been active in the criminal justice arena and a keen promoter of Restorative Justice since 1974. He has published widely on peacemaking and justice themes. You will find more about that on this website: a work in progress.
View all posts by Editor
