We, as those who have had historic complicity in this evil, need to take special care that we are not adding to this prejudice and violence — neither in how we protest the actions of the current government of Israel, nor in blindly affirming every call of non-Jewish Palestinian Christians. For example, the Kairos II document is deeply problematic in its painting all Zionism with the same brush; its effectively Anti-Zionist starting point shuts out the majority of Jews as conversation partners. We would utterly reject such an approach in the context of Indigenous relations and repair work in Canada(and in any other circumstance). Antisemitism has often been woven into various forms of Christian nationalism, left and right, the oppressed become oppressor vicious cycles must be broken. Also our near silence on worse conflicts and genocides is not subtle and very telling: Iran, East Turkestan (colonizer name: Xinjiang), Nigeria, Tibet, Syria, etc.).
The Anabaptist tradition at its best is universalist in its moral concern, grounded in the conviction that every person bears the image of God, that no suffering is privileged by geography or identity, and that the church’s prophetic witness is compromised the moment it becomes selective. We have become selective. That requires naming, and it requires change.
Since the original 2016 resolution at the national MC Canada gathering (and 2017 at MCUSA) creating the various PIN networks, massive new research and information has come to light revealing post WWII active antisemitism and in general anti-Jewish biases(Bending the rules: How Canada opened its doors to Nazi war criminals ). I believe we should pursue what Mennonite scholars Dr. Lisa Schirch and Dr. Kampen both call for a serious reckoning with Mennonite antisemitism, something akin to a Jewish-Mennonite Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Mennonite scholar John Kampen's critique of Mennonite advocacy is not that it is too focused on Palestinian suffering. It is that it has not done the prior work that would make that advocacy trustworthy, effective, or theologically honest. A Columbus Mennonite pastor who attended an AMBS symposium (Jewish-Mennonite Symposium on Reading the Bible after the Holocaust, 2023) observed: "For each of the Jewish leaders present, the nation of Israel is integral to contemporary Jewish peoplehood, including being critical of the policies of the Israeli government and seeking justice for Palestinians. Mennonites have emphasized the latter without careful listening to the meaning of the land for Zionist Jews."
The standard Kampen insists on is the right one: would the mainstream Jewish community, hearing our words, experience them as the witness of a community that understands their vulnerability and stands with them in it? The answer, currently, is no. And that is not consistent with Anabaptist enemy-love, with genuine peacemaking, or with the historic Mennonite commitment to the dignity of every person made in the image of God.
We are, first, a church in the Canadian context — therefore we should care for our most persecuted and vilified neighbours, the Jews, and not try to both-sides comparison it away with Islamophobia or anything else.
In the Name of Jesus our Saviour, who was a Jew,
+ Boese