Why would Shia Muslims and Mennonite Christians strike up a friendship? Part of the answer might lie in their affinity as minorities within their faith traditions. Another possibility is the connection both communities draw between suffering and faith.
In 2015, when a resolution called “Seeking Peace in Israel and Palestine” was proposed at the Mennonite Church USA convention, many of my Latino and Latina brothers and sisters went to the microphone to express their support for Israel. I was not surprised.
The events of Oct. 7 — the largest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust — still dominate Israeli consciousness.
For five months, the world’s focus on Gaza has been intense. But North American Anabaptists have been building relationships with people in Gaza through a twinning initiative for over four years.
MCC staff were reaching out to MCC partners in Gaza to see if they were safe in the wake of days of bombing and military strikes by the Israeli military following a series of coordinated attacks on Israelis by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Mennonite Central Committee is responding to recent events in Palestine and Israel with a call to prayer, emergency food and other relief and advocacy for a just peace.
