Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza
by Munther Isaac; Foreword by Willie James Jennings
Eerdmans, 2025
Paperback, 279 pages, $25.00

The only human thing is to give the lives and suffering of the dead meaning, not merely by establishing peace in the Middle East, but by establishing the basis for peace which gives fulfillment to the lives of the present and future generations of the Palestinians and other Arabs, and thus purpose and fulfillment to the sacred lives of the dead.

—Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., “A Machiavellian Solution for Israel,” 1978

Aug. 22—The image of “Christ in the rubble” became world famous in December 2023, when a Christmas tableau outside of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, Palestine, showed the baby Jesus in a pile of debris. The church’s pastor, Dr. Munther Isaac, used this powerful nativity scene to call on all people, especially those of faith—of any religion—to intervene to stop the violence against Palestinians, against Israelis, and others everywhere, and to work actively for justice and peace. His ringing sermon at Christmas, 2023, received global attention. That same month, South Africa pressed its case at the International Court of Justice, against Israel committing genocide in Gaza.

Rev. Isaac, a year-and-a-half later, published his book, Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza, to significant attention. He personally toured and lobbied internationally for action to stop the carnage.

But as the grim record shows, his appeal, and related initiatives by many others, have not been heeded. We are today confronted with continuing genocide against the Palestinians, warfare by the United States and Israel, and terrible insecurity for all in the greater Southwest Asia region. The threat grows that President Donald Trump and/or Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would even resort to nuclear weapons.

Mobilizing for Justice and Peace

Dr. Isaac has continued his activity for justice and peace. On Aug. 9, for example, he spoke from the West Bank to the online weekly meeting of Doctors Against Genocide, asserting strongly that it is the “structures” responsible for genocide, injustice, and the denial of Palestinian self-determination that must be exposed, so that they can be fought. “In today’s world, diplomacy is a cover for racism,” he said. He reported that the political frameworks that are currently proposed for Gaza are still not founded in justice. Justice does not feature in any of the discussions. So, he said, even referring to “peace” talks under that condition is “scary.”

Why should one read Dr. Isaac’s 2025 book now? Partly because it is a principled work by a thoughtful theologian of courage, an author of several books, who also provides need-to-know history. He is on the scene in the West Bank, and in every way completely involved.

But secondarily, ironically, one benefits from Isaac’s book by being provoked to understand what the pastor leaves out: How, concretely, can we achieve the new, just structures to serve humanity, which he calls for? His book, and his thinking and courage, provide motivation to understand and promote the Oasis Plan—a mutual-interest economic development perspective put forward since the 1970s by American economist-statesman Lyndon LaRouche.

The Schiller Institute has held a number of conferences, and composed reports and videos to promote attention and dialogue to the Oasis Plan in recent years, for new “structures” of collaboration on programs for development of power, water, transportation, agriculture, industry, and the basis for a future of common prosperity. A compilation may be found on the Schiller Institute website, as is an important video archive from April 2024, of the conference, “The Oasis Plan: The LaRouche Solution for Peace Through Development Between Israel and Palestine and for All of Southwest Asia.”

Furthermore, Mrs. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, initiated the weekly online forum, the International Peace Coalition (IPC), to increase activity toward a new security and development architecture capable of establishing true peace. In November of 2022, she herself issued a discussion document of the Ten Principles which must underlie this goal. On June 26, this year, during the 160th meeting of the IPC, Mossi Raz, a former Israeli Member of the Knesset and former director general of Peace Now, said that neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis would be leaving the region; they will continue to be neighbors and will have to live together. In Raz’s view, the Oasis Plan would be a project that would make living together a good life for all.

Know the Real History

Toward the closing of his book, Dr. Isaac writes, “This war did not begin on October 7, and returning to where things stood prior to October 7 would not resolve it. There must be a comprehensive solution to the Palestinian question that is based on justice and equity, in accordance with international law. We must reach the conclusion that the future of Palestinians and Israelis is one and the same. Our shared future will be ‘either the cycle of violence that destroys both of us, or peace that will benefit both’…. There can be no future, let alone prosperity and security, for one side without the other. We must arrive at a place in which there is no apartheid, no supremacy, and no ‘might makes right’…. Moreover, we cannot and should not advocate for a cease-fire without calling for those who committed war crimes to be held accountable. Otherwise, what kind of a world are we leaving for our children, if we surrender to the idea that the powerful can kill and displace because ‘they can’ and then get away with it?”

Throughout the several chapters of the book, Rev. Isaac outlines the horrible crimes that have been committed against the Palestinian people, actively by the state of Israel, and passively by the so-called civilized world through their continued support, military and otherwise, of Israel, or through ignoring the plight of especially the Palestinians in Gaza.

The author goes through much of the history of the conflict that is well known to readers of EIR. He also refutes some of the narratives that are propagated by Western media, politicians, and churches alike.

On the ideology of Christian Zionism, Isaac points out that the Zionists are misrepresenting and misinterpreting the Bible by, for example, saying that Arabs have always fought Jewish people. But he also emphasizes that what is portrayed by some churches as the concept of reconciliation to justify the continuation of Israeli apartheid, is another misinterpretation of what reconciliation really is. According to Isaac, the Israelis and Palestinians cannot be reconciled without establishing justice. The beginning would be to bring the genocide to a halt.

Isaac points his finger at the West’s support for Zionism, but contrasts Zionism to Christian Zionism. He quotes multiple Evangelical Zionists, most strikingly a discussion between “American Jewish Zionist commentator Ben Shapiro” and “prominent pastor John MacArthur.” The interview was conducted in June 2024, and MacArthur, who has since passed away, is quoted as saying: “This is like the modern version of Amalek. And until they are wiped out this is just gonna go on, and on, and on…. I don’t want to be callous about things, but God has in his sovereignty made a decision for the preservation of Israel into the future, into the kingdom of Messiah…. You can be part of that by coming to the Messiah and a part of his kingdom…. But if you’re trying to destroy the very people that are at the heart and the soul of God’s plan, then you come under the judgement of God.”

Isaac reminds people that the same pastor John MacArthur preached that current Israel is under “divine judgement” and that “they are not righteous people” since “they have not acknowledged their Messiah. They are not obedient to the word of God. They are under a divine curse of God…. As an entity, there could be another disaster happen. There could be another holocaust. There could be another form of judgement that could come from Iran [or] some other source.”

This forces the question: Who are the real anti-Semites? Those opposing the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank, or those hoping to sacrifice Israel and her inhabitants in order to induce Armageddon?

Rev. Isaac correctly points out that this genocide can happen only because the Palestinian people have been dehumanized for decades. They have been compared to animals repeatedly; Palestinian children are considered collateral damage, because their parents might have voted for Hamas. He presents whole sections of international treaties that apply to war conditions but are violated in Palestine. The dehumanization works because the mantra about Palestinians has been repeated ad nauseum.

Colonialism, Racism, and Empire

Chapter 4 of the book is divided into three parts: Colonialism, Racism, and Empire. This may be the most important chapter; where Isaac pulls the veil off Western political and religious leaders, and to some extent from the general population as well.

He takes the definition of empire from the Accra Confession, which is a doctrinal statement adopted by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in 2004, at its assembly in Accra, Ghana. It asserts that the system of “neoliberal economic globalization” acts to impoverish and suppress people globally, and it must be replaced by a system coherent with God’s vision for humanity. Isaac denounces “the coming together of economic, cultural, political and military power that constitutes a system of domination led by powerful nations to protect and defend their own interests.”

What this leaves out is the reality of supranational control networks, operating over and above nations, in particular through financial mechanisms, but also cultural degradation, as well as fear tactics. Whole nations are subjugated by the Wall Street–City of London–Amsterdam and related networks, serving only the dying financial system and its profiteers. So, we see actions by governments that are not only bad for others, but bad for their own national economies and interests. Look at the “war party” movement of Europe, in which nations from Britain, to France, to Denmark, to Germany and many more, are madly pushing for armament, while their economic base is shrinking.

In this context Munther Isaac makes a point about reprehensible national leaders of major nations, such as the United States. He quotes former resident of the White House President Joe Biden in 2024 saying, “If there were not an Israel, we’d have to invent one,” with Biden leaving out what he had said at more length back in 1986: “Were there no Israel, the United States would have to invent one, to protect our interest in the region.”

Isaac also quotes Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and advisor to the President as of 2025, expressing raving supremacist, nationalist views: “It is a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but from Israel’s perspective I would do my best to move the [Palestinian] people out and then clean up…. I would just bulldoze something in the Negev. I would try to move people in there … I think that’s the better option, so you can go in and finish the job…. I do think right now opening up the Negev, creating a secure area there, moving the civilians out, and then going in and finishing the job would be the right move.”

Combine Prayer with Action

At the conclusion of his elaboration of Palestine’s colonization, Isaac makes the assertion that the West’s racist mentality toward the Palestinian people, as well as its unquestioned support of Zionism, is the reflection of a historically deep-rooted sense of prejudice and supremacy—with the primary targets today being Arabs, Muslims, and even Palestinian Christians.

However, when reading the book, it becomes clear that the problem is not racism, colonialism or a combination of the two. Isaac himself points out that, while during the Apartheid regime in South Africa many churches in the West stood with the oppressed population, there is currently a deafening silence in regard to the apartheid imposed on Palestine. Isaac doesn’t really resolve this dichotomy, but he underlines the very strong influence the Zionist ideology has on Western thinking and policymaking.

Toward the end of Chapter 5, Isaac challenges people in general, but emphatically “believers.” He says that prayers for Palestine are important, truly needed, and welcome, but that prayer needs to be combined with action. Prayer should mobilize people to act and make a difference. Isaac writes: “In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus didn’t say ‘Blessed are the peace prayers.’ He said: ‘Blessed are the peace makers.’

Let’s take up the call to be peace makers.