(Photo by Greg Swiercz, South Bend Tribune.)

On Wednesday of Holy Week I lay “dead” with others on a cold sidewalk for forty-five minutes outside the office of our Congressman Rudy Yakym in Mishawaka, Indiana. (I am the second person from the camera, in the olive jacket.) The Congressman sends out mailings saying, “Israel needs our unwavering support now more than ever as they defend themselves and bring Hamas terrorists to justice.” 

The “dead” on the sidewalk last Wednesday were a visual reminder of 32,000 people of Gaza (largely noncombatants) who have died from that kind of uncritical support for a nation with overwhelming military superiority and a long record of violating Palestinian human rights. 

Surrounding the “dead” on the sidewalk were two hundred other protesters joining a call for ceasefire in Gaza. Organized by Mennonite Action (mennoniteaction.org), the event was respectful, legal, and heartfelt. We sang hymns, prayed, held signs, talked to the press, and held vigil—having been unsuccessful yet again at meeting personally with the Congressman who “supports Israel.”

I also support Israel and condemn the October 7 attack. In this era of resurgent antisemitism, let there be no hatred for Israel or for Jews. Hamas committed war crimes on October 7 and I oppose their hate-filled ideology. But war crimes by Hamas do not give Israel the right to commit continuous war crimes in subsequent months. Since so many American tax dollars end up funding bombs and bullets for Israel, I feel a moral responsibility to speak up.

People of conscience must demand both that Palestinians acknowledge Israel’s right to live in safety and that Israel grant Palestinians dignity, freedom of movement, and basic human rights. This war did not start on October 7. It’s been going on for seventy-six years, during which Palestinians again and again have lost land and lost freedoms.

I write this on Holy Saturday, a spiritually and politically bleak interlude between Good Friday and Easter. Psalm 88 is a prayer for this hard time:

. . . I am like those who have no help, like those forsaken among the dead,
    like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more,
    for they are cut off from your hand . . .

This Holy Saturday, grieve for the dead and suffering in Gaza. Grieve for Israelis who lost loved ones in the terrorist attack and in the war. Call for permanent ceasefire, release of Israeli hostages, and release of thousands of Palestinians in prison. Demand a negotiated settlement that respects both Israelis and Palestinians. It’s Saturday, but Sunday is coming!