 |  | November 14th News Bulletin Here’s what’s upcoming and what you may have missed at CMEP and in the news. | | | | 1. Jewish settlers set fire to Palestinian mosque as West Bank violence runs rampant Jerusalem Post "A group of Jewish settlers in the West Bank set fire to and vandalized a Palestinian mosque near Salfit, north of Ramallah, late on Wednesday night. Graffiti containing racist remarks was found on the walls of the mosque, which included messages to IDF Central Command Chief Avi Bluth, who referred to Jewish violence against Palestinians as terrorism. The graffiti read, “Not afraid of Avi Bluth.” Other messages read, “Keep condemning,” “He will repay His enemies,” and “Muhammad is a pig.” | | | | | | 2. Israel has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in Gaza since ceasefire BBC "Israel has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in areas of Gaza that have remained under its control since the ceasefire with Hamas started on 10 October, satellite images reviewed by BBC Verify show. The new photos - the latest of which was taken on 8 November - show that entire neighborhoods controlled by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been levelled in less than a month, apparently through demolitions." | | | | | | 3. Israeli president responds to Trump's letter asking him to pardon Netanyahu in corruption cases CBS "Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he received a letter from President Trump on Wednesday asking him to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial in three separate corruption cases. Netanyahu has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the ongoing court cases, with no ruling yet delivered, and his supporters have dismissed the trials as politically motivated." | | | | | | 4. Israel parliament passes first reading of death penalty for ‘terrorism’ law Al-Jazeera "Israel’s parliament has passed the first reading of a bill that would introduce the death penalty for “terrorism”. The amendment to the penal code, proposed by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, was approved by 39 votes to 16 in the 120-member Knesset on Monday, signalling it has support from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government." | | | | | | | | Still Active: ACTION ALERT "Block the Bombs Act" On May 21st, 2025, House Resolution 3565 was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives, also known as the "Block the Bombs Act." The resolution calls for a limit on the sale of bombs, ammunition (including white phosphorus), and ammunition manufacturing capability. The act comes as Israel has strengthened its assault on Gaza and the West Bank, with an estimated death toll since October 7th, 2023 standing at 54,000 Palestinian men, women, and children. Congress needs to pressure the Trump Administration to protect Palestinian civilians through the passage of HRes. 3565. Your voice can push your representative to support this vital resolution and limit offensive weapon capabilities of Israel, protecting Gazan civilians from relentless bombs. Contact your representative and urge them to support the initiative. | | | | | | | | Peacebuilding Lessons from the Middle East February 16, 23, March 2, 9, 2026 | Noon–2 PM
Instructor: The Rev’d Mae Elise Cannon, PhD, Executive Director of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
Offered at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale In a time of deep global division and conflict, this course invites participants to learn from the lived witness of Christians in the Middle East who embody faith, resilience, and hope amid adversity. Taught by the Rev’d Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, Executive Director of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), the course focuses on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, exploring how the church in the Holy Land seeks justice, reconciliation, and spiritual renewal in the face of ongoing struggle. Through an interdisciplinary blend of theology, history, and practical ministry, participants will engage in spiritual formation, examine models of conflict transformation, and gain tools for peacebuilding and advocacy. Together, we will explore what it means to “love one’s enemy” and move from apathy to action in the pursuit of justice and peace in the Middle East and in our own communities. | | | | | | Call to Prayer for Shadi Khoury On Sept, 8th 2025, after two years and eleven months of procrastination in the corridors of the occupation's courts, after an arrest accompanied by torture, Shadi's steadfastness during interrogation, a full year of house arrest, and thirty-seven consecutive court sessions, the judge issued his decision convicting Shadi. Please join us on Wednesdays 12:30pm EST as we pray for Shadi and all other affected by unjust violence. | | | | | | Call to Prayer Layan Nasir The cautious relief brought by news of a ceasefire deal for Gaza was shattered today with the devastating report that Palestinian activist Layan Nasir has been taken directly to prison following a court appearance. Layan and her family now face the pain of an additional eight-month sentence within Israel’s harsh prison system. The timing of this decision underscores the ongoing suffering and injustice faced by Palestinians, an unrelenting reality that persists even as hopes rise for peace in Gaza. | | | | | | Interfaith leaders call on Trump administration to bolster Israel-Hamas ceasefire in CMEP organized Multi-Faith Letter Baptist News Global "Scores of Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders in 20 countries have urged the Trump administration to bolster the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire and ensure desperately needed humanitarian aid flows to civilians still suffering from two years of war. Churches for Middle East Peace sent U.S. President Donald Trump a letter Nov. 3 demanding both side of the conflict be held accountable for injustices committed after Hamas invaded Israel in October 2023. “For too long, violence, oppression and displacement have brought immeasurable suffering to the peoples of this region,” according to the document signed by Alliance of Baptists co-Director Elijah Zehyoue, Sojourners founder Jim Wallis and nearly 130 bishops, pastors, rabbis, imams and other religious leaders from around the world." You can read Churches for Middle East Peace's Multi-Faith letter HERE and CMEP's cover letter to President Trump HERE. | | | | | | Nov 12, 2025: Joint Statement by U.S. Organizations concerning the potential inclusion of Azerbaijan in the planned International Security Force for Gaza We, the below-listed U.S. nongovernmental organizations are deeply concerned by media reports that the International Security Force (ISF) planned for Gaza under President Trump’s 20-Point Plan may include a military contingent from Azerbaijan, and urge the United States and other partners to reject such a presence. International third party security or peacekeeping forces can be an important element of post-conflict stabilization, but as the performance of certain militaries operating under the MONUSCO mission in Congo and the MINUSTAH mission in Haiti demonstrate, it is vital that such forces bring both impartiality and a track record of respect for human rights. | | | | | | Press Release: Launch of "Kairos Palestine II: A Moment of Truth – Faith in a Time of Genocide" Bethlehem – Friday, November 14, 2025 At its 16th conference held in Bethlehem, the Palestinian Ecumenical Christian Initiative is launching today the second Kairos Palestine document under the title:
"A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide." This document comes more than fifteen years after the release of the first Kairos Palestine document in 2009, which then represented a heartfelt proclamation of faith, hope, and love from the Palestinian experience of suffering. The document received strong support and recognition from local and international church leaders, including the heads of churches in Jerusalem. | | | | | | | | Support CMEP’s Work for Peace
If you value the programs and advocacy efforts highlighted in the bulletin, we invite you to partner with us. Your generosity makes it possible for CMEP to continue hosting events, leading education initiatives, and amplifying voices for justice and peace in the Middle East. If you would like to support CMEP in expanding this important work, please consider making a donation today. Thank you for standing with us. | | | | | | | | | | NOVEMBER 15, 2025: Journeying Toward Justice in the Holy Land: Learning from Palestinian Christians and Peacemakers in the Holy Land Too many trips to the Holy Land miss the unjust realities of life under Israeli occupation and ignore the “living stones” – Palestinian Christians who are deeply rooted in the places we know well from ancient Bible stories including Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Nazareth. What would it be like to travel to Israel-Palestine today? What would we find? Whose stories would we hear? In this session, Julie Schumacher Cohen and Jordan Denari Duffner will take us on a journey into Israel-Palestine to help us understand the struggles and resilience of Palestinians and to walk with Israeli and Palestinian peacemakers who together seek a future ofequality and dignity for all. Sharing stories and photos from their own pilgrimages to the region, Julie and Jordan will also elevate the voices of Christians, Muslims, and Jews they’ve met. Both women are members of the Catholic Advisory Council of Churches for Middle East Peace, and were the co-authors of the 2024 “U.S. Catholic Sign-on Letter on Israel-Palestine.” | | | | | | November 20, 2025 CMEP Let Children Live Vigil Thursday, November 20, 2025
11:30 AM EST - 1:00 PM EST On World Children’s Day, we invite you to join an online Christian prayer vigil for the children of Gaza and the West Bank. Through CMEP's “Let Children Live” campaign, each attendee will receive the name and age of a living Palestinian child—a child with hopes, a future, and a story. Together we will reflect on the conditions Palestinian children are experiencing, and we will intercede for your received child by name, for all Palestinian children, for God’s justice, protection, and restoration. Building on our prayers, this vigil will also be a call to a commitment: to carry the name of the child in ongoing advocacy, to remember that children everywhere are beloved of God, and to stand together in intercession and action that children might live. We hope you will bring your church, small-group or family and join us that evening to lift up the children, the future of God’s world. | | | | | | "Peace by Piece" 2025 Speaking Tour Fall "Peace by Piece" Tour Cities Announced!Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) is excited to announce our Fall 2025 “Peace by Piece” Tour coming to your area in Fall 2025 in collaboration with the Bethlehem Fair Trade Artisans (BFTA)! We invite you to host a meaningful event in your community centered around peacebuilding, economic justice, and advocacy related to Israel-Palestine. In collaboration with Bethlehem Fair Trade Artisans, this program offers a unique opportunity to support Christian-led Palestinian craftspeople while fostering dialogue about paths toward peace and justice in the Holy Land. Our tour will visit select U.S. communities, featuring both a CMEP representative and a BFTA leader from Bethlehem who will share firsthand experiences about daily life, creative resilience, and hopes for peace. This initiative is particularly timely as communities in the region continue to recover from recent violence and conflict. Our presentations will incorporate the most current insights from our team's recent visits to the region, including perspectives from diverse communities affected by ongoing tensions.
Reach out to destiny@cmep.org for more information
Planned Tour Stops: New York-- New Jersey-- Delaware-- Washington DC-- Illinois-- Minnesota-- Michigan | | | | | | | | Receive the Name of a Palestinian Child Alive Today and Lift them up
in Prayer and Advocacy "Let Children Live" More than two million children in Gaza and the West Bank live under brutal oppression, their lives too often reduced to statistics. Yet each child is beloved by God. The Let Children Live campaign invites you to receive the name of a Palestinian child alive today and lift them up in prayer and advocacy. Together, we can remind the world of their dignity, hope, and right to a future. Join Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) and our global partners in this urgent call to stand with children who deserve to live and thrive. | | | | | | | | 5. Trump hosts Syrian president once wanted as 'terrorist' in historic White House visit ABC "The United States says it is halting comprehensive sanctions on Syria for the next 180 days, following a high-stakes meeting between President Donald Trump and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, someone the U.S. once branded a "terrorist," at the White House on Monday. The Treasury Department said that Trump "is delivering on his commitment to give Syria ‘a chance at greatness'" by suspending the Caesar Act, legislation that upholds tough sanctions against Syria which were imposed over alleged widespread human rights abuses by the former regime of Bashar al-Assad." | | | | | | 6. 'Killed because they are Alawites': Fear among Syria's minorities after the fall of Assad BBC "The killer came by night – a masked man on a motorbike who struck without warning and then sped away. It's become a familiar pattern in some corners of the new Syria in recent months, as the country's fragile unity is eroded by revenge attacks and sectarian killings. The main targets are Alawites, the sect of the ousted Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad. But this time, on 1 October, the victims were Christians – Wissam and Shafiq Mansour, cousins who were both 39, and were as close as brothers. As they chatted with a friend over coffee and cigarettes, they were hit by a hail of bullets." | | | | | | 7. Tehran taps run dry as water crisis deepens across Iran Reuters "Iran is grappling with its worst water crisis in decades, with officials warning that Tehran — a city of more than 10 million — may soon be uninhabitable if the drought gripping the country continues. President Masoud Pezeshkian has cautioned that if rainfall does not arrive by December, the government must start rationing water in Tehran." | | | | | | 8. Israeli police order C of E delegation to leave West Bank village after stand-off with armed settlers Church Times "The Archbishop of York was forced to cut short a visit to a family in the south Hebron hills on Saturday, after Israeli police ordered the Church of England delegation to leave the area. Earlier on Saturday, after meeting Palestinians campaigning against the planned demolition of homes in the village of Umm al-Khair, heavily armed Israeli settlers stood watching the Archbishop’s delegation, and subsequently blocked the road to stop them leaving." | | | | | | Contact Us Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
110 Maryland Ave NE, Suite 505
Washington, District of Columbia 20002
(202) 543-1222 info@cmep.org | | | | | | | |
