Christ at the Checkpoint

Activities

• The Christ at the Checkpoint is a biannual conference that takes place in Bethlehem. These conferences have featured speakers from politicized NGOs, including Sami Awad (Holy Land Trust) and Naim Ateek (Sabeel Ecunemical Liberation Theology Center).
• Seeks to advance the Palestinian nationalist agenda within Evangelical Christian churches, while simultaneously revives theological antisemitic themes such as replacement theology.
• The Christ at the Checkpoint Manifesto states that the “suffering of the Palestinian people can no longer be ignored” and that “Evangelicals must reclaim the prophetic role in bringing peace, justice and reconciliation in Palestine and Israel.”
• In February 2024, in a sermon in the UK, Director of the Christ at the Checkpoint conferences Rev. Munther Isaac claimed, “Gaza is the moral compass of the world. We either side with the logic or power and ruthlessness, with the lords of war, and with those who justify and rationalize the killing of children. Or you side with the victims of oppression and injustice, and those who are besieged and dehumanized by the forces of Empire and colonization. It is really a simple choice: you either support a genocide, turn a blind eye or justify a genocide, or you cry out: No! Not in our name…This is not a conflict; Israel is not exercising its right for self-defense. Rather; Israel is the colonizer; Israel is a settler colonial entity. We live under apartheid. What is happening in Gaza in a genocide and ethnic cleansing. Continuing to repeat the Empire narrative only serves to empower the aggressors.”
• In October 2023, Christ at the Checkpoint was a signatory on an open letter claiming to “categorically reject the myopic and distorted Christian responses that ignore the wider context and the root causes of this war: Israel’s systemic oppression of the Palestinians over the last 75 years since the Nakba, the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine, and the oppressive and racist military occupation that constitutes the crime of apartheid…The brutal and hopeless living conditions in Gaza under Israel’s iron fist have regrettably emboldened extreme voices of some Palestinian groups to resort to militancy and violence as a response to oppression and despair.” 
• In November 2022, Isaac participated in a webinar for the Balfour Project, stating, “What we have right now is the reality of occupation, or even apartheid: two laws, one that applies to our people, one that applies to Jews. Before we can talk about any peace, any vision for the future, I think we must challenge the occupation. That should be the priority of the church. And that’s where we should challenge Christian Zionist as well, because they are at peace with the idea of the occupation, they don’t even recognise it.”
• The Christ at the Chickpoint’s 2022 conference featured a lecture by Reverend Frank Chikane titled “Challenging the Church in Times of Apartheid.” 
  • Chikane is the moderator of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (WCC-CCIA). In February 2021, Rev. Chikane participated in a zoom conference and portrayed Israel as “demons” and stating that “those who support Israel to brutalize Palestinians, [] the blood of the people of Palestine will be sought from them because they collaborate by allowing this system to continue.”
• In May 2022, according to The Baptist Times, the 2022 Christ at the Checkpoint conference featured “a number of sessions led by South Africans and African Americans, who drew on their experience of apartheid and American racial discrimination respectively to speak very powerfully into the Palestinian situation.”
• In March 2022, Isaac participated in an event titled “Cry for Hope,” discussing the Kairos Palestine publication “Cry for Hope: A Decisive Call for Action.” The publication called on Christian supporters to “take actions to end Israel’s occupation, including boycotts against Israel.”
• In May 2021, Isaac wrote an article claiming that “Non-Jewish citizens of Israel are not just enduring discrimination. They are experiencing apartheid.”
• In December 2016, CATC released a video telling “the story of Christmas from Bethlehem.” The video claims that Mary and Joseph would not be able to enter Bethlehem today “because the big wall is close to Bethlehem. He’ll want a permit from Israel.” Jesus is also compared to modern-day refugees.
• The 2016 CATC conference focused on “The Gospel in the Face of Religious Extremism.”
  • The conference was featured on the Kairos Palestine website. The Kairos Palestine Document was drafted in 2009 by a group of thirteen Palestinian Christian clergy. It calls for BDS against Israel, denies the Jewish historical connection to Israel in theological terms, and blames Israel solely for the continuation of the conflict. Its purpose is to rally churches globally to support BDS, delegitimization, and demonization directed at the State of Israel.
• The 2012 conference coincided with “Israel Apartheid Week” and included representatives of World Vision, Christian Aid, and World Council of Churches (WCC); the latter two play key roles in mobilizing the church BDS effort globally.
• Employs rhetoric accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” erecting an “apartheid wall,” and enacting a “crucifixion system” against the Palestinians.
• CATC regularly features and interviews Micha Kurz in its videos and promotional materials; Kurz was a co-founder of Breaking the Silence as well as Grassroots Jerusalem, and is active in other groups including ICAHD and Ta’ayush.
• Partners with pro-Palestinian activists within mainline churches promoting BDS (boycotts, divestments and sanctions) campaigns, “one-state” frameworks, and the Palestinian claim to a “right of return,” meaning the end of Israel as a Jewish state.

Examples of Antisemitism at Christ at the Checkpoint conferences:

• “If God wanted the Jews to have the land (the land that belongs to my family) over my people’s dead bodies, destroyed homes and uprooted olive trees, I didn’t want that God anymore! I was confused between my Christianity and my feelings of patriotism–until Christ at the Checkpoint conference came to life.” ( “A young Palestinian Christian’s voice,” 2016)
  “Jewish extremism is alive and well in two ways, [] through Jewish religion and Jewish nationalism. First, Judaism is not unique in the idea that ‘God is on my side,’……. Israeli Zionism is an iteration of extremist ideology that blends human exclusivism with divine approval.” (David Neuhaus, Latin Patriarchal Vicar for Hebrew Speaking Catholics in Israel and Coordinator of the Pastoral among Migrants and Asylum Seekers in Israel, 2016)
• “The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph are therefore now fulfilled only through those who follow Jesus Christ since they alone are designated the true children of Abraham and Sarah. Jews who reject Jesus Christ are outside the covenant of grace and are to be regarded as children of Hagar.” (Rev Stephen Sizer, 2010)
• “I’m sure if we were to do a DNA test between David, who was a Bethlehemite, and Jesus, born in Bethlehem, and Mitri, born just across the street from where Jesus was born, I’m sure the DNA will show that there is a trace. While, if you put King David, Jesus and Netanyahu, you will get nothing, because Netanyahu comes from an East European tribe who converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages.” (Mitri Raheb, 2010)
• “Jesus was a Palestinian who lived in Palestine… Jesus was a Palestinian who was born under occupation. Jesus lived under occupation. Everything he taught, everything he said was done under occupation, exactly the way we live today.” (Naim Ateek, founder of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, 2010)