By Sam Boutros, Linga

The Church of England’s General Synod recently voted to encourage engagement with the document known as “Kairos Palestine II,” presenting it as an important expression of Palestinian Christian experience.

Yet this decision raises a question that Western churches too often avoid:

Does Kairos Palestine truly represent all Christians in the Holy Land?

For many local Christians in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the answer is clearly no.

Kairos Palestine represents its authors, supporters and affiliated institutions. It does not hold a mandate to speak on behalf of every Christian, church, pastor or believer living in Israel, Jerusalem, the West Bank or Gaza.

Christians in the Holy Land are not a single political or theological bloc. They include Orthodox, Catholic, Evangelical, Anglican, Armenian and Syriac communities, as well as Arabic-speaking, Aramaic and Hebrew-speaking believers. Their views on Israel, Palestinian nationalism, Hamas, Christian Zionism and biblical prophecy vary widely.

Nevertheless, Kairos Palestine frequently speaks in collective terms that may give Western audiences the impression that it expresses a unified Palestinian Christian position.

It does not.

A Theological Document Dominated by Political Ideology

“Kairos Palestine II” was published in November 2025 under the title A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide. The initiative presents itself as an ecumenical Palestinian Christian movement bringing together clergy and laypeople from different church traditions.

However, a careful reading of the document shows that its message goes far beyond pastoral concern for suffering civilians or criticism of specific Israeli government policies.

It offers a broad political and theological interpretation of Israel and Zionism.

The document describes Israel as an “exclusionary settler-colonial entity” and presents the war in Gaza as a continuation of what it calls the Zionist project to control all of Palestine and remove its Palestinian population.

It also uses the language of “Jewish supremacy” and directs severe criticism toward both Jewish Zionism and Christian Zionism.

Although the document states that historical context does not justify the killing or kidnapping of civilians and warns against turning the conflict into a religious war, its overall narrative remains deeply one-sided.

Israel and Zionism are placed at the center of responsibility, while far less attention is given to Hamas, Palestinian armed groups, Islamist ideology or the religious and social pressures facing Christians within Palestinian society.

For that reason, it is difficult to treat the document as merely a pastoral cry from a suffering church.

It is also a political and theological manifesto that seeks to persuade churches around the world to adopt a particular ideological interpretation of the conflict.

Its authors have every right to express their political and theological convictions. But no initiative has the right to present its position as the unified voice of Palestinian Christianity or to imply that Christians who reject it are betraying their people or ignoring Palestinian suffering.

Local Christian Opposition Is Real

Opposition to Kairos Palestine is not an invention of foreign commentators.

There are local Christians in Israel and the Palestinian territories who reject its claim to speak for them and who strongly disagree with its theological and political conclusions.

This disagreement became especially visible when Kairos Palestine publicly criticized a local Christian group that had appealed to Israeli and American officials to take seriously the security and future of Christian communities.

Kairos described such appeals as narrow and sectarian, arguing that Christians should not seek special protection and that Palestinian suffering must be treated as a national rather than a specifically Christian issue.

But this response exposes the very problem raised by Kairos’s critics.

When local Christians speak openly about fear, intimidation or religious discrimination, they should not immediately be accused of sectarianism or political betrayal.

Concern for Christians does not mean indifference toward Muslims or other Palestinians. Christian churches in Gaza have repeatedly sheltered and assisted both Muslims and Christians during times of war.

But serving everyone does not require Christians to remain silent about pressure directed specifically at them because of their faith.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

“Let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
Galatians 6:10

The Church’s responsibility to serve all people does not cancel its responsibility to defend persecuted believers.

The Document’s Troubling Silence on Islamist Pressure

One of the most serious weaknesses of “Kairos Palestine II” is found not only in what it says, but in what it chooses not to say.

The document speaks at great length about Israel, occupation, settlements, Zionism, Western churches and Jewish-Christian dialogue.

Yet it devotes very little serious attention to the religious pressures Christians face inside Palestinian society.

It does not adequately address:

• The persecution of Muslims who convert to Christianity.
• The danger of openly declaring Christian faith in Gaza.
• Social and family pressure against converts.
• Restrictions on evangelism among Muslims.
• Fear of criticizing Islam or Islamic law.
• The influence of Islamist movements and extremist groups.
• The responsibility of Hamas to guarantee religious freedom.
• The inability of converts to Christianity to change their official religious status.
• Discrimination against Christians in conservative Muslim environments.

These are not secondary matters.

They concern the survival of Christian communities, the freedom of the Church and the right of every person to choose, practice and proclaim his or her faith.

What Christian Persecution Reports Reveal

Christian persecution reports offer a far more complex picture than the one presented by Kairos Palestine.

Open Doors has documented strong levels of Islamic pressure in the Palestinian territories, especially against Christians from Muslim backgrounds.

According to its reporting, such believers often face pressure from their families, communities and local authorities. In Gaza, where Islamist movements exercise greater influence and society is more religiously conservative, converts may be forced to practice their faith in complete secrecy.

Some face threats, isolation, rejection by their families or pressure to return to Islam.

In the West Bank, conditions may be less severe than in Gaza, but converts and outspoken Christians can still face social intimidation, family hostility and fear of consequences when criticizing Islam, religious customs or political authorities.

Officially changing one’s religion from Islam to Christianity is also extremely difficult or impossible in practice, affecting marriage, inheritance, family status and the religious identity imposed on children.

These realities show that the future of Christianity in Gaza and the West Bank is threatened by more than war, occupation and Israeli restrictions.

It is also threatened by a social and political environment in which some believers cannot freely declare their faith in Christ.

Yet Kairos Palestine gives these issues little more than passing attention.

Why Does Kairos Avoid This Reality?

It is impossible to prove the private motives of the document’s authors, and responsible journalism should not claim to know them.

But the result of their approach is clear.

Israel is portrayed as the central source of oppression, while Islamist pressure, Hamas rule and Palestinian political responsibility receive far less scrutiny.

The document acknowledges corruption, internal division, tribalism and weak leadership in Palestinian society, but it treats these issues as secondary consequences of Israeli domination.

This approach effectively shields Palestinian political and religious authorities from serious examination.

It also pressures local Christians to suppress part of their experience because openly discussing Islamist persecution might weaken the political narrative Kairos seeks to present to Western churches.

This is not balanced Christian witness.

Biblical prophecy does not condemn only the sins of one’s enemies while ignoring the sins of one’s own community.

A true prophetic voice confronts injustice wherever it is found.

Kairos and Hamas

“Kairos Palestine II” mentions the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, and states that historical context cannot justify the killing or kidnapping of civilians.

However, it largely interprets the attack through the framework of occupation, blockade and Palestinian resistance.

It does not offer a serious theological examination of Hamas’s Islamist ideology, authoritarian rule or views on religious freedom.

It does not ask what freedom would mean for a Muslim who chooses to follow Christ under Hamas rule.

It does not examine whether Christians would be free to evangelize, criticize Islamic teaching, raise their children openly in the Christian faith or participate fully in public life without fear.

Anyone who speaks about Gaza’s future must address not only reconstruction and an end to war, but also the nature of the society and government under which Christians will live.

Christians need protection from bombing and violence.

They also need freedom of conscience, freedom of worship and the freedom to proclaim Christ.

Christian Zionism and the Silencing of Evangelicals

“Kairos Palestine II” describes Christian Zionism as a theological distortion and a moral corruption. It urges churches to distinguish between dialogue with Jews and engagement with Zionism, and to reject Zionist voices it considers complicit in injustice.

But the document’s language does not always remain limited to a clearly defined political or theological movement.

It may place under the label “Christian Zionism” a broad range of believers who affirm the Jewish people’s historical and biblical connection to the land of Israel or who believe that God’s purposes for Israel have not ended.

Many of these Christians do not embrace every idea associated with Christian Zionism.

They do not support every Israeli government policy.

They do not justify injustice, civilian deaths or the denial of Palestinian rights.

They simply believe that God has not rejected the Jewish people and that His calling and covenants have not been cancelled.

These convictions are not identical to unconditional political support for Israel.

Belief in Israel’s right to exist does not mean approval of everything done in its name.

Belief in the biblical significance of the Jewish people does not mean denying the dignity or rights of Palestinians.

By treating these different positions as one morally corrupt system, Kairos Palestine reduces a wide range of Christian beliefs to a single political category.

In the eyes of its critics, the document moves from criticizing specific political actions to condemning a biblical interpretation held by Evangelical Christians in the Holy Land and around the world.

Instead of engaging them as fellow believers with a different reading of Scripture, it risks treating them as partners in oppression.

In this way, what claims to be an invitation to dialogue can become a tool for excluding Christians who reject Kairos’s theology and politics.

Western Churches Hear the Voice They Want to Hear

A further concern is the tendency of some Western churches to invite and promote only those local Christian voices that confirm their existing political assumptions.

Kairos speakers are given platforms, conferences, institutional support and international visibility.

Meanwhile, Evangelical Christians, converts from Islam, Christians living in Israel and believers who reject Palestinian nationalism or affirm Israel’s right to exist often remain unheard.

The result is a distorted picture presented to Western Christians:

Israel becomes the source of every form of suffering.

All Palestinian Christians are assumed to support Kairos.

Any Christian who disagrees is treated as uninformed, extreme, politically compromised or sectarian.

That picture is false.

The Holy Land contains Christians with diverse identities, experiences and convictions.

Some speak primarily about occupation and settlement violence.

Others speak about Islamist pressure, Hamas and the persecution of converts.

Still others speak about both.

Western churches should not select the voice that best serves their political preferences and then present it as the authentic voice of all local Christians.

Kairos Represents Itself, Not the Whole Church

Kairos Palestine has the right to criticize Israeli policy, defend Palestinians and express its theological conclusions.

But it does not have the right to monopolize Christian identity.

It does not represent every Christian in Israel.

It does not represent every Christian in the West Bank.

It does not represent every Christian in Gaza.

It does not represent all pastors, churches or believers in the Holy Land.

Nor should loyalty to Christ be made identical with loyalty to Kairos Palestine’s political program.

Christians who reject the document are not necessarily indifferent to Palestinian suffering.

Many reject injustice against Palestinians while also rejecting terrorism, Islamist rule, antisemitism and the denial of the Jewish people’s connection to the land.

They are entitled to be heard.

A Christian Conclusion

The Church must stand with every person who suffers, whether Palestinian or Israeli, Christian, Muslim or Jewish.

But the Church betrays its mission when it uses the Gospel to sanctify a selective political narrative or when it remains silent about Christian persecution in order to avoid offending the surrounding society.

Christian truth cannot be divided.

Those who condemn attacks by Jewish extremists must also condemn Islamist extremism.

Those who demand that Israel protect Christian holy sites must also demand that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority protect freedom of conversion, evangelism and Christian witness.

Those who grieve for the Christians of Gaza because of war must also care about believers who hide their faith in Christ because they fear their families, communities or Islamist authorities.

A document that speaks endlessly about Zionism while failing to speak clearly about the persecution of believers under Islamist pressure does not tell the whole truth.

For that reason, Christians in the Holy Land have every right to say to Kairos Palestine:

You do not speak for all of us.

Do not use our suffering to advance a political ideology.

Do not demand that the world listen to you while refusing to listen to Christians who disagree with you.

Scripture calls the Church to speak the whole truth, not only the part that serves a political agenda:

“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
Ephesians 5:11