Calculated deception: How Israel uses diplomacy to buy time for Gaza’s destruction

Displaced Palestinian families try to survive under challenging conditions amidst the rubble of destroyed buildings following Israeli attacks in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip, Palestine on August 03, 2026. [Abdalhkem Abu Riash – Anadolu Agency]

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by Dr Mustafa Fetouri

Last week’s mass funeral of 112 people—including 44 children from two closely related extended families—was not a new tragedy; it was the agonising, delayed accounting of a crime committed nearly three years ago. The victims, all belonging to the Abu Sharia and Al-Hassayna clans, lived in adjacent residential blocks in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood when Israeli airstrikes flattened their homes on 22^nd and 23^rd November 2023. Entire bloodlines were wiped out in an instant: at least three generations—grandparents, fathers, mothers, siblings, children, and infants—buried side-by-side. Their bodies, recovered only recently from under the rubble after a 17-day excavation or identified from temporary mass graves amid the relentless siege, were finally laid to rest.

This grim scene serves as a harrowing microcosm of Israel’s war on Gaza: a war that not only slaughters entire bloodlines in single strokes of industrial scale of violence, but meticulously ensures that even the dead are denied dignity, safety, or immediate peace.

On paper, Gaza was supposed to be entering a period of quiet following the ceasefire framework announced in October 2025. In reality, peace never arrived. Israeli forces have continued an unrelenting barrage of airstrikes across the enclave, killing over 1,200 Palestinians—including more than 300 children—and injuring nearly 4,000 others since the agreement was signed. With over 90 percent of Gaza’s population long since uprooted, families are squeezed into ever-shrinking pockets of coastal sand dunes and makeshift tent encampments. Yet even these rudimentary canvas shelters are not spared: the Israeli military routinely strikes these designated “safe zones,” targeting displaced civilians in their sleep.

The double standard of Israeli diplomacy has been laid bare once again by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s explicit rejection of the US-backed 15-point peace plan for Gaza. Unveiled by Donald Trump’s Board of Peace as part of a framework to transition Gaza toward Palestinian administration and eventual self-determination... READ MORE  https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260813-calculated-deception-how-israel-uses-diplomacy-to-buy-time-for-gazas-destruction/ 

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1935, Tiberias, Palestine 🇵🇸 Fishermen fixing their nets.

1935, Tiberias, Palestine  Fishermen fixing their nets.

 https://www.palestineremembered.com/Tiberias/Tiberias/Picture96158.html

https://x.com/palsofnations/status/1964744389303111822 

&  https://whatwomenwant-mag.com/lies-debunked-palestinian-life-before-the-nakba/

Palestinian Life Before The Nakba

Due to the religious ties of Palestine, it welcomed all religions with open arms. Neighbors, hospitals, and schools were a mix of Muslims, Jews, and Christians.

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"The moral failure here is not abstract. The 1,000 pastors who enjoyed their free trip to Israel did not seem concerned that Palestinian Christians living minutes away cannot freely access their own churches in Jerusalem and other holy sites without Israeli military permission." ....U.S. Pastors Become Willing Ambassadors for Israel’s War-- More than 1,000 U.S. pastors flew to Jerusalem on December 3–7 for the Friends of Zion Ambassador Summit , a fully funded trip backed by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Munther Isaac's book Christ in the Rubble

 Munther Isaac منذر اسحق

@MuntherIsaac

An important article by my friend Fares

U.S. Pastors Become Willing Ambassadors for Israel’s War

 By

Fares Abraham

When one megachurch pastor in Texas received his invitation to the summit, he reviewed the itinerary and said to himself what any discerning Christian leader should have said: “This feels like an indoctrination trip, not ministry.” He declined immediately. But a thousand others became part of what Israel’s foreign ministry called “ the largest Christian delegation ever to visit Israel.”

 

No modern government has ever invested so much money, coordination, and political effort to mobilize American pastors before now. Why would Israel pay to assemble 1,000 Christian leaders, covering their airfare and luxury accommodations, and choreograph their every step?

 

And more importantly, why would spiritual leaders allow themselves to be used in this way?

 

At a minimum, it raises serious questions about whether American religious leaders should be mobilized to serve the interests of a foreign government rather than the interests of the United States.

 

The summit was not a spiritual gathering. It was a political operation wrapped in Scripture, engineered to manufacture a religious mandate for policies that cannot withstand moral scrutiny. It was statecraft masquerading as spiritual experience.

 

The summit’s own “Before You Go” guidelines made the contradiction unavoidable. Pastors were told that public evangelism and distributing Christian materials were prohibited in Israel, and that they should refrain from preaching altogether. In effect, the very faith that has driven Christians to share the gospel for two millennia was instructed to remain silent in Jerusalem.

 

The attendees did not reflect the breadth of American Christianity. Many of the private invitations were circulated by the  highly criticized  White House Faith Office, led by Paula White-Cain, or through networks of politically aligned activist pastors. No mainline denominations, evangelical institutions, or global church bodies were included. Presenting this narrow political cohort as the voice of American Christianity is as misleading as it is strategic.

 

The itinerary revealed the intent. Pastors were guided through a tightly curated emotional journey of military briefings and visits to selected trauma sites—all designed to produce loyalty, not understanding. They met Israeli officials, not the local church. They heard talking points, not theology. They saw what they were meant to see and were shielded from what they must not see.

 

For Palestinian Christians watching from just miles away, the scene felt familiar. It mirrored a pattern we know from both daily life and the Gospels: political authority and religious influence aligning while the vulnerable bear the cost. In Jesus’ time,

 

Pilate and the Sanhedrin reinforced each other’s power at the expense of justice. Today, Christians in Bethlehem and Jerusalem see a similar convergence that deepens displacement, restricts worship, and silences the very Christian communities rooted in this land.

 

That convergence was reinforced not only by who was excluded, but by what was said at the summit, which paired exclusion with theological coercion. U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee told the assembled pastors that “ there is a growing cancer within the evangelical movement” because some Christians do not interpret Scripture exactly as he does regarding Israel. He even warned that disagreeing with his political theology “borders on blasphemy.”

 

This is theocratic pressure dressed in the language of faith. It is a demand that pastors surrender their moral agency to the talking points of a foreign government. Christian leaders who swallow that logic become political instruments rather than shepherds.

 

The moral failure here is not abstract. The 1,000 pastors who enjoyed their free trip to Israel did not seem concerned that Palestinian Christians living minutes away cannot freely access their own churches in Jerusalem and other holy sites without Israeli military permission.

 

Yet these pastors were paraded as Israel’s spiritual partners while the indigenous church—the men, women, and families who actually bear the weight of life in the land—were treated as an inconvenience.

 

No American pastor should be recruited into a project that ultimately normalizes perpetual conflict or provides religious cover for endless war.

 

Some defenders say this was simply a show of Christian support for Israel. But the summit went far beyond support. The organizer Mike Evans urged pastors to push back against criticism of Israel by dismissing dissent as propaganda from Qatar and others. In other words, he intimated, anyone who seeks to draw attention to the suffering of Palestinian Christians must be part of a foreign plot.

 

Reducing compassion to disinformation in this way is not only morally bankrupt; it is a direct assault on the Christian conscience.

 

As a Palestinian-American evangelical with family in Bethlehem and Gaza, and as someone who leads ministry across the region, I listened to this rhetoric with grief. Christians across history have interpreted Scripture differently, especially on matters of prophecy and politics. Treating theological disagreement as betrayal is both irresponsible and theologically unsound.

 

If anything borders on heresy, it is the idea that requiring unquestioning loyalty to Israel or any modern state is a test of Christian faithfulness.

 

What happened in Jerusalem last week was not a spiritual high point; it was a crisis of Christian integrity. It revealed how quickly the pulpit can be weaponized when pastors forget that their first loyalty is not to presidents, prime ministers, or political alliances but to their God who demands truth, justice, and compassion for all people. 

 

When faith becomes a tool of the state, it ceases to be faith. And when pastors allow themselves to be mobilized as foot soldiers in someone else’s geopolitical campaign, the church loses not only its witness but its soul.... READ MORE https://x.com/amconmag/status/2000230757927686629

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"Nothing says “trust us” like a massive propaganda budget." Assal Rad

Assal Rad

@AssalRad

 

Nothing says “trust us” like a massive propaganda budget.

 

https://x.com/AssalRad/status/1997192358933549082/photo/1 

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Assal Rad

@AssalRad

 

If you’re not writing the truth about crimes against humanity, you’re culpable in them. 

 

... “Evictions” makes it sound like they didn’t pay their rent. An indigenous population is being forced out of their homes, off their land, brutalized by security forces & threatened with violence. Call it what it is. #Palestine

 

https://x.com/AssalRad/status/1390843028072402944/photo/1 

 

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@AssalRad

 

“Tested in Gaza” 

 

Genocide as a weapons experiment.

 

https://x.com/AssalRad/status/1996991382444298675 

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"The Israeli Knesset – which recently voted to annex the West Bank – adopted legislation in 2024 that forcibly removed UNRWA international staff from the occupied Palestinian territory and blocked the entry of our supplies into Gaza. A virulent disinformation campaign has tarnished the Agency’s reputation and strangled funding for our vital work. This September, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, found that the laws adopted by the Knesset to cripple UNRWA’s operations, and the establishment of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, were calculated to block lifesaving aid and create “unlivable conditions of life” leading to the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza – a genocidal act. In October, the International Court of Justice found that Israel is obliged to lift restrictions on UNRWA’s operations, and to agree to, and facilitate, the Agency’s relief efforts. The Court recognized the unique and sustained connection between the Agency’s mandate and the realization of human rights for the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination. In short, safeguarding UNRWA’s mandate and operations is required under international law; it is vital to the survival of millions of Palestinians; and it is essential for a political solution."

#UNRWAworks

 UNRWA

@UNRWA

 

“For two years, UNRWA has weathered existential challenges, delivering its mandate against impossible odds in the occupied Palestinian territory. 

 

 The renewal of this mandate alone will not be sufficient to safeguard the Agency’s work, and the lives and future of Palestine Refugees. 

 

Member States must take concrete steps to delineate UNRWA’s role within a timebound political process and to fully finance the provision of essential services until that process is complete. 

 

To support the Agency is to invest in a political path forward, and to stand in true solidarity with all those committed to a lasting peace.”  

 

— UNRWA Commissioner-General @‌UNLazzarini addressing the General Assembly Fourth Committee Full remarks: 

 

 https://unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/statement-unrwa-commissioner-general-philippe-lazzarini-united-nations

 

Mr. Chair,

Excellencies,

After two years of brutal warfare in Gaza, an uneasy truce offers some respite to a devastated population.

As people return to obliterated homes, search the rubble for missing relatives, and piece together their shattered lives, the future remains deeply uncertain.

The ceasefire is tenuous, with multiple breaches testing the resolve of its guarantors.

It is not enough to merely prolong the absence of war – we must chart a viable path to peace.

***

The humanitarian needs and trauma in Gaza are overwhelming.

My team has endured two years of bombardment, displacement and siege.

They are grieving the killing of countless loved ones and more than 380 colleagues.

They are utterly exhausted, but they have never stopped working.

Their determination has been key to Gaza’s survival.

Today, UNRWA delivers 40% of all primary healthcare in Gaza, providing some 14,000 medical consultations each day.

We bolster public health through immunization campaigns, nutrition screenings, water quality testing, and pest control campaigns.

Our water wells, desalination systems, and waste management services benefit hundreds of thousands of people.

We conduct in-person learning for more than 40,000 children, and support nearly 300,000 children through online learning platforms.

Psychosocial support is integrated into our educational activities – both are critical for reviving hope and preventing radicalization.

Contrary to relentless disinformation, UNRWA’s education programme demonstrates a commitment to tolerance, human rights, gender equality and diversity that is unparalleled in the region.

We have held fast to these commitments, despite strong opposition and intimidation by Hamas and other groups.

We have succeeded in educating generations of Palestinians who are thriving global citizens, enriching communities across the region and beyond, in Europe and North America.

Excellencies,

The viability of political plans for Gaza depends on successful stabilization and recovery.

This requires rapidly scaling up humanitarian assistance and reinstating critical public services.

With its 12,000-strong workforce, and deep reserves of community trust, UNRWA’s capacity to deliver is unrivaled.

However, our operations continue to be undermined by political attacks and precarious finances.

The Israeli Knesset – which recently voted to annex the West Bank – adopted legislation in 2024 that forcibly removed UNRWA international staff from the occupied Palestinian territory and blocked the entry of our supplies into Gaza.

A virulent disinformation campaign has tarnished the Agency’s reputation and strangled funding for our vital work.

This September, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, found that the laws adopted by the Knesset to cripple UNRWA’s operations, and the establishment of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, were calculated to block lifesaving aid and create “unlivable conditions of life” leading to the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza – a genocidal act.

In October, the International Court of Justice found that Israel is obliged to lift restrictions on UNRWA’s operations, and to agree to, and facilitate, the Agency’s relief efforts.

The Court recognized the unique and sustained connection between the Agency’s mandate and the realization of human rights for the Palestinian people, including the right to self-determination.

In short, safeguarding UNRWA’s mandate and operations is required under international law; it is vital to the survival of millions of Palestinians; and it is essential for a political solution.

... READ MORE https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/statement-unrwa-commissioner-general-philippe-lazzarini-united-nations  

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