For humanitarian reasons? And I suppose it hasn’t occurred to these august clerics that Israelis should not be murdered on buses and in restaurants — for humanitarian reasons? From the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Octafish:
Leaders of the Christian left in Europe and the US are backing calls by the patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem for the EU and the US to resume aid to Hamas.
On April 11, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches [WCC] , Dr. Samuel Kobia, wrote to the chairman of the Council of the European Union, Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, asking the EU to exercise “respect for the democratic mandate given” to Hamas and to allow “time for the new government to find its feet and demonstrate its intentions.” The WCC warned of “of increasing suffering and new dangers to peace ahead” as a consequence of “decisions being taken these very days by the EU and other members of the Quartet.”
At its April 10-11 meeting in Luxembourg, the EU Council confirmed that it was “reviewing its assistance to the Palestinians” because of Hamas’s failure to commit itself to “non-violence, recognition of Israel’s right to exist and acceptance of existing agreements.”
The head of America’s Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, released an Easter letter on April 13 warning that “an impending humanitarian tragedy is unfolding” in Palestine.
In a “plea to both the relevant government bodies of the world and to our church membership,” Griswold asked that “all necessary aid be made available through non-government and, where possible, through government structures” to the Palestinians.