US Gaza Plan

• Audacious and outrageous. Donald Trump has succeeded in uniting most of the world against his audacious and seemingly outrageous proposal for the US to take over Gaza and resettle the 2.1 million Palestinians living there. Many see the scheme as quite unworkable, attempts to forcibly transfer populations being illegal under international law, such expulsion of Palestinians viewed as equating to ethnic cleansing (though the White House has said that relocation will be voluntary). Besides which, of course, both Palestinian and neighbouring Arab leaders have already categorically rejected the proposals (though a small minority of Palestinians are said to favour the plan). Meanwhile, some wonder if Trump's proposals are simply the opening bid in a new round of negotiations over Gaza’s future.
• Israeli Jews support the plan. Nevertheless, around 80% of Israeli Jews say they support the proposal to relocate Gaza’s population to other countries, a survey published ahead of the President’s announcement found. Many believe it will correct historic injustice (read also here). 43% of all Israelis believe Trump’s plan is “practical” and should be pursued, while an additional 30% of Jewish Israelis say the plan is “not practical, but desirable”. 13% of Israelis believe the proposal is “immoral” (54% of Arab respondents and only 3% of Jewish Israelis).
• Christian and Jewish support for Trump’s Gaza proposal. A coalition of prominent Jewish and Christian leaders, organised through the Keep God’s Land movement, has thrown their support behind Trump’s proposal, including former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman. A great many Jews and Christians also support the plan, believing it could reshape not only the Middle East but potentially usher in fulfilment of biblical prophecy. Rabbi Yekutiel Fish of Jerusalem insists that Palestinians, and “all the haters of Israel … cannot be in Israel after the Messiah comes”, rather, only “those who believe He is One and His name is One. This will include Gaza, half of Lebanon, and much of Jordan.”

World Events

• Other major US policy moves. Such has been the media focus on Trump’s Gaza ‘real estate’ proposals that they have almost completely overshadowed a number of other highly significant policy announcements made by the Trump administration in the past week. These include:
•     • Trump has said he will issue an executive order to create a new White House faith office aimed at eradicating "anti-Christian bias" within the federal government. Trump also said he would create a new commission on religious liberty.
      • More than 1,000 EPA employees, including scientists involved in climate change research and policy, have been put on immediate notice by the Trump administration in an attempt to bulldoze environmental policies that Trump believes are wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars. The President would instead open up protected lands to oil and gas drilling to boost the economy.
•     • Trump has announced that the US will withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council and will not resume funding for UNRWA, the agency that provides services to Palestinians across the Middle East. (Israel has also decided to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council).
      • Trump has halted US Government funding for abortions overseas, thus reversing Biden’s support for organisations that promote or conduct abortions as a method of ‘family planning’ outside the US.
      • Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports, the latest in a slew of moves rolling back the rights of trans people. Read also.
      • Meanwhile, Trump has stated that the US will likely announce its position regarding Israeli annexation of the West Bank in the course of the coming four weeks.
• British-Israeli hostage held by Hamas in UN building. There have been renewed calls for Britain to join America and stop funding UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, after British-Israeli Emily Damari, who was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 15 months and was released recently, says she was detained for some time at United Nations facilities. UNWRA have said they will conduct an investigation into the matter. Meanwhile, an article in The Jerusalem Post claims that the Palestinian Authority admits that UNRWA is a political organisation.

Society and Politics

• Growing concerns about assisted dying bill. A letter written to The Times by 14 eminent psychiatrists claims that the assisted dying bill ‘is being rushed’. Groups representing the elderly and disabled agree, also stating they have been blocked from giving evidence to the assisted dying committee. Other concerns being raised about the bill are that mentally ill and disabled people may be able to access assisted dying if they have six months to live; and that the bill will “undermine daily efforts to prevent suicide”, particularly among the elderly and vulnerable. Marie Curie boss Sam Royston has claimed the assisted dying bill offers “inadequate” guarantees over end-of-life care, risking vulnerable people feeling pressured into ending their lives due to lack of support. Meanwhile, an Australian MP has termed assisted suicide a form of ‘suicide prevention’. Read also here, here and here.
• Tragedy of abandoned surrogate babies. The Daily Mail has highlighted the tragedy of surrogate babies – when a woman gives birth to a baby for another person or couple – being abandoned after parents changed their minds. Stories include that of a boy with Down's syndrome who was left behind by a couple who only wanted his twin sister. A Telegraph report shows that the practice of surrogacy has become a global phenomenon, estimated to be worth almost £14.5 billion – with the mothers being its waste product. Between 5,000 to 20,000 babies are thought to be incubated to order annually. In some instances, they come from the most desperate of places and circumstances. It is claimed that many ultra-trim celebrities opt for surrogate births because they struggle to conceive due to their lack of body fat.

Church Issues

• Mike Bickle accused of sexual misconduct with 17 women. An independent investigation released this week reveals that International House of Prayer-Kansas City (IHOPKC) founder Mike Bickle groomed and sexually abused as many as 17 women, some of whom were minors. The report said that the abuse included, “sexual abuse, rape, clergy abuse, and spiritual abuse, perpetrated by Bickle, beginning in the mid-1970s. These acts of abuse have had profound and lasting impacts on the lives of the victims, causing significant emotional, psychological, and spiritual harm.” Read also here.
• Faith in London’s Square Mile. A project to make the City of London the most faith-friendly and religiously literate business district in the world has been launched by the City of London Corporation in an attempt to understand the faith needs of the 678,000 people who work in the Square Mile. The interfaith initiative is seeking to learn from the chaplaincy model at Surrey University, where there are 33 chaplains and prayer spaces for all main religious traditions; from Canary Wharf where there is one full-time and five part-time chaplains; and from the historic 2012 London Olympics, where 119 chaplains were in operation throughout the Games.