#nativity-protest

#nativity-protest

Taybeh, a small hilltop town in the heart of the West Bank, is one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, now feeling under siege and fighting for its existence.

The event was once described by The New York Times as 'a cross between a Jewish summer camp in the Catskills and a progressive jazz concert.' Past incarnations have featured Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Lou Reed.

"In 'break bad (freddy flexing)' (2021), a slim man's attempt to exert physical strength instead displays his fragility. A gentleness in his eyes suggests truer strength beneath the performance."

On March 30, 1976, six unarmed Palestinians were killed during protests against Israel's confiscation of land, marking a significant event in Palestinian history.

Textiles are a window into the communities that created them, with every motif and line signalling a different memory, tradition or identity. Often seen as folk art, these pieces of embroidery and weaving bring together dozens of narrative threads, from Japan to South America. But nowhere is it more fraught with meaning than in Palestine.

As we've witnessed a genocide unfold before our eyes, there has been deafening silence from so many. Robinson has never been silent in standing steadfast alongside the people of Palestine. The story of the Irish, both in Ireland and in New York City, is at one time a story of oppression, of subjugation and of discrimination - as we know it was on Irish soil that the British Empire developed their colonial project.

Israeli restrictions on Palestinian access to the old city of Jerusalem and its places of worship constituted a flagrant violation to international law, including international humanitarian law, the historical and legal status quo, and the principle of unrestricted access to places of worship.

There is a scene in "Morgenkreis | Morning Circle" (2025), a 16-mm film by Berlin-based Palestinian artist Basma al-Sharif, that unfolds at the threshold of a daycare center. A young boy clings to his father, his fists locked into the fabric of his coat, his arms wrapped tightly around him. The father gently tries to pry himself free while a daycare worker crouches nearby, attempting to distract the child and coax him inside. It is an ordinary moment, one that anyone who has ever been a child - or cared for one - recognizes instantly, as well as the gut-wrenching feeling it provokes.

It was less than 24 hours after the news of a horrifying attack at a similar Menorah lighting in Sydney's Bondi Beach reverberated around the globe when Menlo Park's Jewish community gathered in Fremont Park to light the Menorah. Together, those assembled had the victims across the ocean in mind and prayed for them to find healing and comfort. The message of the Menorah has always been the resilience of light, and its message could not have been more relevant for a day which bore such difficult news.

Today Americans are getting a taste of what Palestinians have experienced for decades: state terror. The escalation of state violence in the United States has been unprecedented. In the span of three weeks, two people were shot dead in Minneapolis during anti-immigration raids. Both were branded domestic terrorists. Meanwhile last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents used five-year-old Liam Ramos as bait to get his asylum-seeking father to come out of their home;

Senior clergy say outside agendas are fracturing Christian unity in the Holy Land and undermining their authority. Senior Christian leaders in Jerusalem have issued a warning against outside interference threatening the unity and future of Christianity in the Holy Land, singling out Christian Zionism and political actors linked to Israel. In a statement released on Saturday, the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem said recent activities by local individuals advancing damaging ideologies, such as Christian Zionism, mislead the public,