A YEAR since the Hamas terrorist attack and Israel’s retaliation in Gaza (News, 13 October 2023), religious leaders have called for Christians, Jews, and Muslims to come together in their “shared humanity”.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, and the chair of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, Imam Qari Muhammad Asim, made their appeal in a letter published on Sunday.
It says: “It has been a year since the brutal Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, and the start of this devastating war in Gaza and beyond.
“During this time, the scale of human suffering has been horrific. As people of faith from Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities in the UK, while we may hold different views about aspects of the conflict, we stand united in our grief and in our belief that our shared humanity must bring us together.
“Our faiths and our humanity teach us that we should mourn for all the innocent people who have lost their lives.”
It continued: “In these challenging times, we must also reject those who seek to divide us. Anti-Jewish hate and anti-Muslim hate have no place in the UK today. We must stand together against prejudice and hatred in all its forms.
“The UK has long been a model of different communities and religions getting along with each other. We commit to upholding and nurturing this proud tradition.”
Archbishop Welby wrote on social media on Sunday that he supported the Prime Minister’s statement about the anniversary in an article for The Sunday Times. Sir Keir Starmer had written about “innocent civilians . . . caught in the crossfire in Lebanon, Gaza, Israel and the West Bank”, and had drawn attention to the fact that, “In Gaza alone, more than 40,000 people have been killed, many of them women and children.”
His article continued: “The flames from this deadly conflict now threaten to consume the region. And the sparks light touchpapers in our own communities here at home. . .
“During difficult times, our differences and diversity should bind us together more strongly, not drive us apart. But there are always some who would use conflict abroad to stoke conflict here. Since October 7, we have watched vile hatred against Jews and Muslims rise in our communities.
“So we will not look the other way as Jewish children are afraid to wear their school uniforms, Jewish shops are defaced, or Jews targeted on the streets. And we will not ignore it when mosques are attacked, and British Muslims are assaulted or told to ‘go home’. Any attack on a minority is an attack on our proud values of tolerance and respect. We will not stand for it.”
The Pope, in his Angelus address on Sunday, called for the “immediate release” of the “many hostages” still held in Gaza. Since 7 October last year, he said, “the Middle East has plunged into ever greater suffering, with destructive military actions that continue to affect the Palestinian population. These are mostly innocent civilians, all people who must receive all the humanitarian aid they need.”
He continued: “I call on the international community to put an end to the spiral of vengeance and to stop any more attacks, like the one carried out by Iran a few days ago, which could plunge the region into an even bigger war.
“All nations have the right to exist in peace and security, and their territories must not be attacked or invaded; sovereignty must be respected and guaranteed by dialogue and peace, not hatred and war.”
He also called for 7 October to be a day of fasting and peace. “In this dramatic hour of our history, while the winds of war and the fires of violence continue to devastate entire peoples and nations”, he said, the Church should “put itself at the service of humanity”.