Sometimes it's simple.

Sometimes when all is said and done, or not said and left undone, the complexities of causes, effects, and blame in wars and other acts of violence can boil down to something quite simple.

Like, right now, do you think a government (Israel) that controls the food supply is entitled to starve a population (Gaza), not just into submission but to death? And do you think in the name of fighting for anything or anyone, for any cause, that starving children to death is justified?

My answer is a heartfelt ‘NO!’

I'm not anti-Israel. I'm not anti-Palestine. I am anti-terrorism, whether it's the terrorism of Hamas and its sponsors, or the terrorism of the Israeli government and its sponsors. I am pro-peace, pro-negotiation, pro-building relationships across the gulfs of difference, pro-helping a vision of diversity and healing flourish in that ancient geographical intersection that is Israel/Palestine. And I’m not naïve. I know such a stance as mine is hard work, complicated, and full of loss and pain.

But I’m not going to stand on the sidelines and turn a blind eye to the deliberate starvation of a whole population. What the UN, the B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights in Israel, Amnesty International, Jewish Voice for Peace, and many other groups are calling genocide.

Our government here in Aotearoa New Zealand is deafeningly quiet in its condemnation of the Israeli government, and in acting in any way to express solidarity with the suffering ones in Gaza. The impression I’m left with is that we don’t want to offend Israel’s greatest ally, the USA. Or that we just don’t care enough to do anything. But I could be wrong.

This week the Anglican archbishops of Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia released a statement on Gaza. Here’s a few paragraphs:

“The Israel and Palestine conflict has reached a grave tipping point, with famine now gripping Gaza… More than 500,000 face famine, one in three go days without food, twelve thousand children were malnourished in July, and food prices have risen eightyfold. Without action to end Israel’s restriction of aid into Gaza, which international law requires to flow, mass starvation is certain…”

“We call on our MPs… to speak out for justice in the knowledge that to do so is not to express a partisan point of view but is an expression of care for our common humanity.  We urge our government to use all the diplomatic mechanisms at its disposal to call for: The immediate unconditional, safe, protected, and ongoing entry of aid – food, water, and medical supplies - into occupied areas…” And then the archbishops list several other things like the return of hostages, the cessation of illegal settlement in Occupied Palestinian Territories, etc.

Last week at our church a number of us watched the film “The Doctor’s Wife,” by Whitiora Productions, which tells the story of Dr Alan and Hazel Kerr spending a good deal of their retirement years working and helping Palestinians. And while the movie is inspiring, the backdrop is the daily oppression and obstacles that Palestinians must overcome. Like a doctor who lives 20 minutes commute from the hospital having to go through a security process (up to 3 hours) every day to come to work. The film doesn’t directly comment on the food situation in Gaza.

I concur with the archbishops that the situation in Gaza is dire and morally repugnant. And I concur with people of goodwill, Jewish, Muslim, of every faith or none, who see the situation in Gaza as dire and morally repugnant. And I concur with the Anglican leadership that our government needs to move from complacency to action, and do something.

When all is said and done, or not said and left undone, it’s simple really: You don’t leave children to starve.

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