News & views related to the war in Palestine …
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December 25, 2025
Palestine Open Thread 2025-298
News & views related to the war in Palestine …
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The Holy Family Church in Gaza has lit its Christmas tree for the first time after two years of Israel’s genocidal war on the Strip Pope Leo decried conditions for Palestinians in Gaza in his Christmas sermon, in an unusually direct appeal during what is normally a solemn, spiritual service on the day Christians across the globe celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Posted by: Apollyon | Dec 25 2025 11:31 utc | 1 Christmas is not a Western story – it is a Palestinian one“Christmas is a story of empire, injustice and the vulnerability of ordinary people caught in its path. Every December, much of the Christian world enters a familiar cycle of celebration: carols, lights, decorated trees, consumer frenzy and the warm imagery of a snowy night. In the United States and Europe, public discourse often speaks of “Western Christian values”, or even the vague notion of “Judeo-Christian civilisation”. These phrases have become so common that many assume, almost automatically, that Christianity is inherently a Western religion — an expression of European culture, history and identity. Christianity is, and has always been, a West Asian / Middle Eastern religion. Its geography, culture, worldview and founding stories are rooted in this land — among peoples, languages and social structures that look far more like those in today’s Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan than anything imagined in Europe. Even Judaism, invoked in the term “Judeo-Christian values”, is itself a thoroughly Middle Eastern phenomenon. The West received Christianity — it certainly did not give birth to it.And perhaps nothing reveals the distance between Christianity’s origins and its contemporary Western expression more starkly than Christmas — the birth story of a Palestinian Jew, a child of this land who was born long before modern borders and identities emerged. In the West, Christmas is a cultural marketplace. It is commercialised, romanticised and wrapped in layers of sentimentality. Lavish gift-giving overshadows any concern for the poor. The season has become a performance of abundance, nostalgia, and consumerism — a holiday stripped of its theological and moral core. Even the familiar lines of the Christmas song Silent Night obscure the true nature of the story: Jesus was not born into serenity but into upheaval.He was born under military occupation, to a family displaced by an imperial decree, in a region living under the shadow of violence. The holy family were forced to flee as refugees because the infants of Bethlehem, according to the Gospel narrative, were massacred by a fearful tyrant determined to preserve his reign. Sound familiar?Indeed, Christmas is a story of empire, injustice and the vulnerability of ordinary people caught in its path. For many in the West, Bethlehem – the birthplace of Jesus – is a place of imagination — a postcard from antiquity, frozen in time. The “little town” is remembered as a quaint village from scripture rather than a living, breathing city with actual people, with a distinct history and culture.Bethlehem today is surrounded by walls and checkpoints built by an occupier. Its residents live under a system of apartheid and fragmentation. Many feel cut off, not only from Jerusalem – which the occupier does not allow them to visit – but also from the global Christian imagination that venerates Bethlehem’s past while often ignoring its present. This sentiment also explains why so many in the West, while celebrating Christmas, care little about the Christians of Bethlehem. Even worse, many embrace theologies and political attitudes that erase or dismiss our presence entirely in order to support Israel, the empire of today.In these frameworks, ancient Bethlehem is cherished as a sacred idea, but modern Bethlehem — with its Palestinian Christians suffering and struggling to survive — is an inconvenient reality that needs to be ignored.This disconnect matters. When Western Christians forget that Bethlehem is real, they disconnect from their spiritual roots. And when they forget that Bethlehem is real, they also forget that the story of Christmas is real.They forget that it unfolded among a people who lived under empire, who faced displacement, who longed for justice, and who believed that God was not distant but among them. So what does Christmas look like when told from the perspective of the people who still live where it all began — the Palestinian Christians? What meaning does it hold for a tiny community that has preserved its faith for two millennia?At its heart, Christmas is the story of the solidarity of God.It is the story of God who does not rule from afar, but is present among the people and takes the side of those on the margins. The incarnation — the belief that God took on flesh — is not a metaphysical abstraction. It is a radical statement about where God chooses to dwell: in vulnerability, in poverty, among the occupied, among those with no power except the power of hope. In the Bethlehem story, God identifies not with emperors but with those suffering under empire — its victims. God comes not as a warrior but as an infant. God is present not in a palace but in a manger. This is divine solidarity in its most striking form: God joins the most vulnerable part of humanity.Christmas, then, is the proclamation of a God who confronts the logic of empire.For Palestinians today, this is not merely theology — it is lived experience. When we read the Christmas story, we recognise our own world: the census that forced Mary and Joseph to travel resembles the permits, checkpoints and bureaucratic controls that shape our daily lives today. The holy family’s flight resonates with the millions of refugees who have fled wars across our region. Herod’s violence echoes in the violence we see around us.Christmas is a Palestinian story par excellence. Bethlehem celebrates Christmas for the first time after two years without public festivities. It was painful yet necessary for us to cancel our celebrations; we had no choice.A genocide was unfolding in Gaza, and as people who still live in the homeland of Christmas, we could not pretend otherwise. We could not celebrate the birth of Jesus while children his age were being pulled dead from the rubble.Celebrating this season does not mean the war, the genocide, or the structures of apartheid have ended. People are still being killed. We are still besieged.Instead, our celebration is an act of resilience — a declaration that we are still here, that Bethlehem remains the capital of Christmas, and that the story this town tells must continue.At a time when Western political discourse increasingly weaponises Christianity as a marker of cultural identity — often excluding the very people among whom Christianity was born — it is vital to return to the roots of this story.This Christmas, our invitation to the global church — and to Western Christians in particular — is to remember where the story began. To remember that Bethlehem is not a myth but a place where people still live. If the Christian world is to honour the meaning of Christmas, it must turn its gaze to Bethlehem — not the imagined one, but the real one, a town whose people today still cry out for justice, dignity and peace.To remember Bethlehem is to remember that God stands with the oppressed — and that the followers of Jesus are called to do the same.” Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 25 2025 12:54 utc | 2 Walled-off let that sink in for a moment. Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 25 2025 13:07 utc | 3 Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 25 2025 13:37 utc | 4 It wouldn’t be the first rape the Zio-monster have committed, and it won’t be the last either. Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 25 2025 13:54 utc | 6 sorry, bad link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Xp8DN3-bQ Posted by: dan of steele | Dec 25 2025 13:55 utc | 7 Four retired senior British Army officers have called on the UK government to enforce a full arms embargo on “Israel” and to ban involvement with Israeli-owned or Israeli-supported defense companies. Posted by: Red Star | Dec 25 2025 13:59 utc | 8 Christmas in Satellite City Time to celebrate the birth If there was a Jesus No pity for the mothers When it’s time to meet your Maker Posted by: ld | Dec 25 2025 14:14 utc | 9 Israel ranks last again in global Nation Brands Index amid sharp perception decline Posted by: Apollyon | Dec 25 2025 14:56 utc | 10 “The most pronounced deterioration was recorded among Generation Z respondents – particularly in Western countries – where Israel ranked last and was widely perceived as a colonial or illegitimate state. Researchers noted that distinctions between Israeli government policy and the diversity of views within Israeli society have largely disappeared in global perception.” Posted by: Apollyon | Dec 25 2025 14:58 utc | 11 Republicofscotlan, thank you for your posts today, in particular #2,3,4. Posted by: JB | Dec 25 2025 15:04 utc | 12 The slaughter rages on no matter what day it is – as Perfidious Albion plays its part. Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 25 2025 15:04 utc | 13 Apollyon@11: Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 25 2025 15:21 utc | 15 The Palestine Chronicle: News, Articles, Live Blogs, Videos Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 25 2025 15:30 utc | 16 Israel Releases the list of the Top 7.93 Billion Known Antisemites Posted by: ld | Dec 25 2025 15:48 utc | 17 see the 1:11 video at the first link Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 25 2025 16:12 utc | 18 R2R: Rant of the Week: ‘GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA!’* Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 25 2025 16:50 utc | 19 From the River to the Sea, Israel is prosperous and free. My joooooo stocks are soarin. Posted by: John Gilbert | Dec 25 2025 18:17 utc | 20 Israel’s Economy on the Brink? Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 25 2025 19:29 utc | 22 Rabbi’s Car Firebombed in Melbourne Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 25 2025 19:48 utc | 23 guess that the Aussie Rabbi whose car was firebombed spoke out against genocide. Likudniks are ruthless with self-hating Jews. Posted by: Exile | Dec 25 2025 20:06 utc | 24 Cui bono? Posted by: Menz | Dec 25 2025 20:14 utc | 25 see the 1:46 video at the second link Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 25 2025 21:46 utc | 26 Four retired senior British Army officers have urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to impose a full arms embargo on Israel and end all UK involvement with Israeli owned or Israeli supported weapons manufacturers, citing documented war crimes and genocide in Gaza and warning of British complicity.■ In a formal letter, the officers rejected claims that Israeli military conduct mirrors British standards and said that amid a fragile so-called “ceasefire,” “now is not the time to return to business as usual with the Israeli government”.■ The signatories, Brigadier John Deverell, Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Graham, Major General Peter Currie and Major General Charlie Herbert, called for sanctions beyond current measures, a ban on Israeli officers attending UK military courses, and an immediate halt to joint activity.■ The letter comes as the British Army considers awarding Elbit Systems UK a £2 billion ($2.70 billion) training contract.Follow us onX andInstagram#VPol Posted by: Jo | Dec 26 2025 0:27 utc | 27 ‘They Want to Cleanse Syria of Christians’: A Community Speaks of Betrayal, Terror & Exile Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 26 2025 1:50 utc | 28 see the 47-second video at the second/third link Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 26 2025 3:01 utc | 29 see the 42-second video at the first link Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 26 2025 3:31 utc | 30 michaelj72 30 Posted by: Giyane | Dec 26 2025 5:55 utc | 31 Wise people of the Moon. Will the hamas -israel ceasefire hold in 2026 or will the relative calm explode ? Posted by: Test | Dec 26 2025 11:57 utc | 32 Ukraine and World Affairs: Weekly Update, 26th December, 2025: Covers Gaza and ME: May be Useful to Some: Ukraine and World Affairs: Weekly Update Posted by: The Busker | Dec 26 2025 12:33 utc | 33 Did anyone catch Huckabee complaining about settler violence in the West Bank, maybe ten days or a couple of weeks ago? Posted by: will moon | Dec 26 2025 13:54 utc | 34 In the end, we will all make sure that the leaders who are complicit with Israel genocide will face justice. Posted by: They Call Me Mister | Dec 26 2025 14:00 utc | 35 The hippy dippy 60’s born generation kibbitznick volunteers who fell hook line and sinker for the bait of death camps just for Jews, not anyone else! Posted by: DunGroanin | Dec 26 2025 15:04 utc | 36 Re: Accountability Posted by: Exile | Dec 26 2025 16:12 utc | 37 Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 26 2025 16:30 utc | 38 Zio-Monster settlers doing what they do best. Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 26 2025 16:51 utc | 39 To Hide A Genocide Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 26 2025 17:21 utc | 40 Jews are not Christians – and I’m pretty sure most Jews have no love for Jesus, or Christians in general – so why do Christians support Israel? Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 26 2025 19:26 utc | 41
Why are people who believe in crazy bullshit easy to convince?! We do ourselves a great disservice letting any religion off the hook. Maybe it is worth differentiating between spirituality (question focussed) and organised religion (answer focussed) but religion takes the most important things we think about and makes them stupid and belligerent. We should have left it behind long ago. Posted by: Rae | Dec 26 2025 19:56 utc | 42 Rae (42). Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 26 2025 20:16 utc | 43 Houthis Stronger Than Ever? Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 26 2025 20:23 utc | 44 DDP: ‘Russia’s Betrayal of Syria Exposed’ Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 26 2025 20:35 utc | 45 see the 40-second video at the first link Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 26 2025 22:40 utc | 46 Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 26 2025 20:16 utc | 43 Posted by: duck n cover | Dec 26 2025 22:49 utc | 47 John Gilberts 45 Posted by: Giyane | Dec 26 2025 22:57 utc | 48 Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 26 2025 23:15 utc | 49 Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 26 2025 23:37 utc | 50 Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 25 2025 18:34 utc | 21 Posted by: David G Horsman | Dec 27 2025 2:02 utc | 51 “Wise people of the Moon. Will the hamas -israel ceasefire hold in 2026 or will the relative calm explode ?” — Posted by: Test | Dec 26 2025 11:57 utc | 32 Posted by: David G Horsman | Dec 27 2025 2:08 utc | 52 “From The River To The Sea. Plaestine will always be. — Posted by: DunGroanin | Dec 26 2025 15:04 utc | 36 Posted by: David G Horsman | Dec 27 2025 2:17 utc | 53 CNN and Le Monde are in tune just like 10 y ago over Syria: the headlines about the suicide bombing in a mosque in Homs do not mention that it was a Shiite mosque. They keep treating Shiism in Syria as an anomaly Posted by: Tom | Dec 27 2025 3:33 utc | 54 see the 2:24 video at the first/second link Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 27 2025 4:02 utc | 55 From The River To The Sea Plaestine will always be, home to the Israeli, living prosperous and free. Posted by: UStillGroannnin | Dec 27 2025 4:10 utc | 56 56 Posted by: Giyane | Dec 27 2025 5:11 utc | 57 see the 50-second video at the link. Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 27 2025 5:22 utc | 58 see the 37-second video at the first/second link Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 27 2025 6:53 utc | 59 Anyone have sensible info about this Israel Netanyahu spin over Somaliland I heard on the radio? He’s supporting them and recognizing as a self-declared nation now, offering trade deals and more. Seems to have come out of the blue. Did it? Posted by: Funny | Dec 27 2025 8:06 utc | 60 Funny (60). Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 27 2025 10:26 utc | 61 🔹@enemywatch : Posted by: JB | Dec 27 2025 12:03 utc | 62 Israel has officially recognized ‘Somaliland’, a breakaway region of Somalia, as its own independent nation. Posted by: JB | Dec 27 2025 12:06 utc | 63 Israel has killed 410 civilians and injured 1134 more since the ceasefire in Gaza officially took effect on October 11th. Posted by: JB | Dec 27 2025 12:08 utc | 64 @ Posted by: UStillGroannnin | Dec 27 2025 4:10 utc | 56 Posted by: DunGroanin | Dec 27 2025 13:13 utc | 65 JB 61 Posted by: Giyane | Dec 27 2025 13:22 utc | 66 @ Posted by: David G Horsman | Dec 27 2025 2:17 utc | 53 Posted by: DunGroanin | Dec 27 2025 13:51 utc | 67 Re: Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, I found this:
Posted by: teri | Dec 27 2025 14:10 utc | 68 Somaliland. Also found this from Kathleen Tyson:
Posted by: teri | Dec 27 2025 14:22 utc | 69 ‘the birth story of a Palestinian Jew, a child of this land who was born long before modern borders and identities emerged.’ Posted by: Dan Kelly | Dec 27 2025 16:53 utc | 70 Actually won WW2, Ukraine 6 7. You however have lost 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1978, 1982, 1987, 2000, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2023. Posted by: Gayine | Dec 27 2025 17:40 utc | 71 @stayfreeworld Posted by: JB | Dec 27 2025 17:46 utc | 72 A longer version of the Mohammad Al-Farrah statement. Posted by: JB | Dec 27 2025 17:53 utc | 73
Likudniks don’t seem to realize that this list is a harsh condemnation of trying to establish facts-on-the-ground. The likud has failed to give peace or Security to Israelis. Posted by: Exile | Dec 27 2025 18:23 utc | 74 Posted by: DunGroanin | Dec 27 2025 13:51 utc | 66 Posted by: David G Horsman | Dec 27 2025 19:32 utc | 75 India & Israel: ‘Brothers in Arms’ Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 27 2025 19:37 utc | 76 “…. along the lines of the Abraham Accords, includes the establishment of full diplomatic relations and strategic cooperation in various fields, indicating that Somaliland will absorb Gaza’s population in return for this recognition….” Posted by: David G Horsman | Dec 27 2025 19:38 utc | 77 Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 27 2025 19:45 utc | 78 Oh. Hi Teri. Thanks for all your efforts here. Great research and fact checking. Posted by: David G Horsman | Dec 27 2025 19:50 utc | 79 “your hatred consumes you.”Posted by: Gayine | Dec 27 2025 17:40 utc | 70 Posted by: David G Horsman | Dec 27 2025 20:03 utc | 80 Posted by: Funny | Dec 27 2025 8:06 utc | 60 Posted by: k | Dec 27 2025 20:07 utc | 81 Somali “Al-Shabaab” movement: Posted by: JB | Dec 27 2025 20:17 utc | 82 Director General of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Munir al-Barsh: Posted by: JB | Dec 27 2025 20:19 utc | 83 Official Website – Hamas Movement https://t.me/+sklEwcJvC2tjNGVk Posted by: JB | Dec 27 2025 20:24 utc | 84 Israeli recognition of “Somaliland” and the expulsion of Palestinian from Gaza Posted by: JB | Dec 27 2025 20:55 utc | 85 see the 1:39 video at the first link Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 27 2025 21:45 utc | 86 The Zionist desire to expel Palestinians is no different than the KKK’s desire to rid the US of Blacks or Hitler’s expulsion of Jews. It’s racism, pure and simple. Posted by: Willow | Dec 27 2025 22:12 utc | 87 Gayine 78 Posted by: Giyane | Dec 27 2025 23:55 utc | 88 Willow 86 Posted by: Giyane | Dec 28 2025 0:09 utc | 89 see the 1:07 video at the first link Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 28 2025 2:35 utc | 91 see the 1:02 video at the first link. The best video I’ve seen this month. Arrest him, put him on trial at The Hague, and then just like at Nuremberg with some of the nazi leadership of WWII….. Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 28 2025 3:06 utc | 92 The Resonance @Partisan_12 Posted by: GreatLakesObserver | Dec 28 2025 3:29 utc | 93 Censored Humans @CensoredHumans Posted by: GreatLakesObserver | Dec 28 2025 3:33 utc | 94 michaelj72 90 Posted by: Giyane | Dec 28 2025 4:45 utc | 95 Bibi is supposedly going to meet Trump in the next couple of days but specific details are not available. ZH has this about the coming meeting Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 28 2025 6:25 utc | 96 One excavator, 10,000 bodies, a sea of rubble: inside Gaza’s effort to retrieve and bury its dead Posted by: Menz | Dec 28 2025 7:08 utc | 97 psychohistorian 95 Posted by: Giyane | Dec 28 2025 7:42 utc | 98 From Reuters Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 28 2025 7:54 utc | 99 “Palestine is recognized by 157 real countries while only 1 usurping & temporary state recognizes a Somaliland.” — Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 28 2025 2:35 utc | 91 Posted by: David G Horsman | Dec 28 2025 8:24 utc | 100 |
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