For decades, we Arab Christians have stood alongside the Resistance because it has safeguarded our existence—our churches, our bell towers, our families, priests, nuns, crosses, and heritage. We have supported the Islamic Resistance in the region and felt abandoned by the Catholic Church and its hierarchy. Our churches are turning into museums because people can no longer find answers to their fundamental needs. However, this is not to say that Christians are foregoing their faith, but only questioning the role of the church during these dire times, perhaps?

This is not a time for blame or accusations against the Holy See. It is not an indictment holding the Church responsible for the deaths of thousands of Arabs. Instead, it is a call from an Arab Christian, motivated not by despair but by a demand for justice. A call grounded in the belief that if Jesus Christ, the Son of God, were present today, He would undoubtedly stand with the oppressed people of the Arab world.

Liberation, not a clash of religions: Unveiling the true nature of the conflict

The liberation of Palestine is often misrepresented by Western propaganda as being a conflict waged by "Islamist Arabs," a term pejoratively used to describe the Resistance movements as being grounded in an overall Islamic ideology and code of conduct that threatens "Israel" for its Jewish identity.

However, since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the true nature of the struggle has become undeniably clear, revealing it to be far more complex and not reducible to mere religious or sectarian-based narratives. The conflict transcends simplistic labels, reflecting deeper political, social, and historical dimensions that expose the broader reality.

Neither is “Israel” a “Jewish country” nor are Arabs, predominantly the Resistance movements that have emerged over the past decades, “barbaric Islamists” that intend to destroy the Christian and Jewish heritage within Palestine, the Levant, or the entirety of the Arab world. 

As described in a previous piece, “Israel” as an entity serves as a barrier state and the most advanced US proxy in the West-called Middle East. Its alleged Jewish identity has been debunked by the thousands of Jews across the Arab and Islamic worlds, not to mention those across the Western world that have renounced Zionism and the actions of “Israel” for decades.

Either Christian or Zionist: Archbishop Atallah

This comes to draw the line between Zionism, as a political project and Judaism as a religious group. In that context, we can point out that Zionism is not just a Jewish political project as the West has tried to portray it to be under the slogan that anti-Zionism is anti-semitism, an argument debunked by many Jewish Rabbis before being objectively debunked on an academic and political level. Zionism has in addition to that, been institutionalized for about a century now, incorporating within it Christian schools that later became known as Christian Zionist churches.

In a rebuttal, Arab Archbishop of Sebastia from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Al-Quds has publicly invalidated “Christian Zionism” in a post on Facebook stating: “There is no such thing as a Christian Zionist. You are either a Christian, or a Zionist.” 

Without delving too deeply into the narrative that frames the war on Palestine as purely religious, it is important to reaffirm that this war is about Arab and Palestinian liberation. Moreover, it is even a struggle in which all religious sects across the Arab world are involved, as their collective existence and future are intertwined in a unity of path and destiny.

That being said, the argument made by self-proclaimed and so-called Christian Zionists in defense of “Israel” fades into the political background of defending Zionism and abandoning Christianity.

What is significant however, is that over the past few months, the Just War Doctrine has once again been brought to the forefront of the discussions addressing the role of the Holy See, the central governing body of the Catholic Church, amid an ongoing genocide.

An argument for the Just War Doctrine

As the Israeli occupation’s genocidal war on the Palestinian people—primarily in the Gaza Strip, but also affecting the West Bank—continues with devastating consequences, and with the ongoing US-backed, and at times US-led, aggressions against Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, it has become increasingly urgent for Christians to invoke the Just War Doctrine. 

This doctrine serves as a moral framework to assess the legitimacy of military action, emphasizing the need for a response that aligns with principles of justice, proportionality, and the defense of the oppressed peoples threatened with grave military action.

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The Catechism of the Catholic Church outlines four essential conditions for a war to be considered just, known as jus ad bellum. Firstly, the harm inflicted by the aggressor on a nation or group of nations must be significant, enduring, and certain. Secondly, all other options for resolving the conflict must have been exhausted or proven impractical and ineffective. Thirdly, there must be a reasonable chance of success in the war effort. Lastly, the use of military force should not result in greater harm and disorder than the harm it seeks to prevent or eliminate. These conditions aim to ensure that any recourse to war is a last resort and is undertaken in a way that seeks to minimize harm and uphold justice.

To justify invoking the Just War Doctrine, we must critically assess whether the genocidal conflict against Palestine and the broader Arab world is not only significant but also enduring and certain. We must confront the reality that resisting the current aggression will inevitably bring about greater harm to the aggressor, but will that harm be valued at a higher standard than the catastrophic devastation currently inflicted on our people?

This is particularly urgent in a world order that often displays alarming patience for the suffering of people of color while exhibiting far less tolerance for the plight of white people with European and North American roots. Among the many issues to address would be this specific form of double standard that has historically undermined our Arab people and the people of the Global South.

This evaluation must weigh the profound and lasting impact of the conflict against the potential consequences of taking a stand, ensuring that the response aligns with the moral imperative of minimizing further suffering.

The call for the invoking of this doctrine comes as the world watches history’s most televised genocide, which has openly sought to ethnically cleanse Arabs from Palestine, initially in the Gaza Strip, where over 42,000 Palestinians have been registered as martyred with tens of thousands injured, trapped beneath the rubble, and families with no one left to register their deaths.

Soon after, the war extended to the West Bank as settlement expansion grew. Israeli occupation military incursions into various cities became more violent and as more than 11,200 Palestinians in the West Bank alone were detained in a span of one year. In the West Bank, the Israeli occupation forces have also killed hundreds through sniper fire, air raids, assassinations, rammings, and many other violent ways.

In Palestine too, one must never forget the Israeli concentration camps of horror where Palestinian men, women, and children are abused, beaten, raped, psychologically and physically tortured, left without food and water for days, medically neglected, and harmed in ways the mind cannot always comprehend.

This does not end here, as with the launch of the Israeli occupation’s war on Lebanon under various pretenses, multiple Israeli occupation settlers and leaders have hinted towards the need to reoccupy Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and even Saudi Arabia. The latest of which were statements of the Israeli occupation’s Finance Minister when he was asked in a documentary whether “Israel” is meant to extend beyond the Jordan River, to which he insisted that that is “absolutely” the long-term goal. “Israel”, the Finance Minister said, is meant to extend “from Jerusalem [al-Quds] to Damascus.”

In Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, the number of martyrs has also exceeded the thousands, and so has the number of injured. And this comes after 70 years of negotiations, peaceful protests, and even a signed Oslo agreement that was allegedly meant to protect the people of Palestine. 

All this and the world has watched. All this and the Catholic Church has attempted to bring an end to the war and has as of this moment, unfortunately failed. 

The oppressed Arab people, across religious denominations, across Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen, have denounced Zionism. They have proclaimed that they will resist this oppression and will refuse to be killed and eliminated from their land silently and without making any noise. This is what the Resistance is in this region.

Earlier this year, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, speaking to journalists about the war in occupied Palestine, stressed that "war is never a just war." He addressed ongoing debates on the concept of "just war," especially in terms of defense, stating, "We know that there is a lot of discussion today on the concept of 'just war' as a war of defense. However, with the weapons that are available today this concept has become very difficult, and I believe that there is not a definitive position, and this concept is being reviewed."

One must ask: Does modern weaponry not continue to mutilate the bodies of oppressed Arabs? Has this advanced arsenal not, for decades, claimed the lives of our people—Arab people—for the sake of military dominance, market expansion, and capitalist interests that place the lives of non-White populations as secondary to profit and luxury? 

In defense of Arabs as Arab Christians feel abandoned: Holy See, we hope you hear us too

The West often accuses true Islamists—those who have taken up arms as freedom fighters defending all Arabs, regardless of religion or ethnicity—of being a threat to Christianity. Yet, where have Christians been throughout this struggle? Has the global Christian community turned its back on us, Arab Christians? And for what? To defend US imperial influence and Israeli occupation? Is this the point where the pursuit of justice is twisted into support for an unjust global order?

In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II stood at the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and made a historic apology, described by The Guardian as an effort to "purify the soul of the Roman Catholic Church" for 2,000 years of "violence, persecution, and blunders." 

Today, the Church has a new opportunity to address another historical injustice by invoking the Just War Doctrine in defense of the oppressed and persecuted in the Arab world. Such a declaration could, in my view, not only offer a chance for the Church to atone for its past mistakes in this region but also foster stronger Christian-Muslim ties. 

As the world transitions towards a potential new order, grounded in what could be described as a God-centered value system, this stance would reaffirm that the Church of Jesus Christ has not abandoned those most in need, not only for the people of the Arab World but for all the people of the Global South.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

John (15:12-13)

Read more: Existential war: Gaza to West Bank & Iran's retaliation